THE EARLY NOVEMBER // Staying Cool Without Trying

It’s the Taste of Chaos tour, just hours before the New Jersey rock quintet blow the non-existent roof off the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado, and frontman Ace Enders is awestruck.

The vocalist’s excitement is tangible as he gushes about the venue being “probably the coolest place I’ll ever play”, having been carved out of a mountain. His anticipation extends to an upbeat reflection on the overall tour vibe as “the best of any we’ve ever had”, no surprise given the band have been sharing the road with emo flag-bearers Dashboard Confessional and Taking Back Sunday. “It’s going fantastic, and everybody has been perfect, exactly how you would want a tour to be. There are just so many cool venues, places and people that we are getting to share the stage with every day that it’s awesome. We knew almost everyone coming into it … It’s been a great tour.” It’s a different sort of feel that the boys are expecting down here in Australia.

They’re set to join punk stalwarts Mayday Parade on their tour in October. For Enders, it feels like jumping into the deep end and a chance to expand their horizons because the headliners “draw completely different fans, which is awesome.” “We were really excited about the idea of trying to go for it, because we know the guys but not really well, just from doing festival shows and stuff with them. So this is going to be really cool, to spend more in-depth time [with them],” he affirms. Only time will tell if there’s a surprising congruence between the two fanbases, but the anticipation is certainly mutual. Refining that raw, heavier sound that permeates the band’s 2003 debut The Room’s Too Cold and growing as a songwriter means Enders stopped chasing “what’s not really out there”.

He knows first hand some people “try and write every song to get a massive hit, That’s what it was for me long ago, I just wanted to be cool.” Now 34 grown out of that mindset, latest record Imbue is all about “just really trying to understand what you ‘are’. Obviously none of us are super young, we’ve all been doing it for a long time at this point … So just figuring out what makes you ‘you’. That’s why the album is so back and forth, there’s a lot of positive feeling even though it doesn’t sound like it.” Emotion certainly runs rife on the album, with one of the band’s personal favourites Circulation exploring the claustrophobia of being trapped inside your own anxieties while actually being written on a flight from Philly to San Francisco to start a tour.

“That’s always the best part; when you leave a positive impact, and I think hearing people bring up the new and old days or whatever, and then you being able to deal with all this garbage that sometimes comes with this lifestyle. On several occasions that’s definitely what kept me from saying ‘Alright well I’m done now’, you know? It’s awesome.”

[ACE]

Yet for such a deep songwriter like Enders, who has plenty of experience in both self-production and collaboration, nothing beats “[absorbing] every single bit [of experience] that I possibly can.” “With a record like Imbue, I knew everything that was happening, like if it was an emotional or straight part … I enjoyed having that type of control.” However, something that none of the band members could have foreseen was being signed back in the early 2000s to Drive-Thru, a California-based record company who pushed the pop-emo scene to new heights.

With the conversation moving to that scene taking on its own cultural identity and shaping musicians and fans alike, Enders says that “It’s crazy how influential that was on so many people, and we hear it every single day.”

“That’s always the best part; when you leave a positive impact, and I think hearing people bring up the new and old days or whatever, and then you being able to deal with all this garbage that sometimes comes with this lifestyle. On several occasions that’s definitely what kept me from saying ‘Alright well I’m done now’, you know? It’s awesome.” Things come full circle as he delves into his own experiences of early November, a change of the seasons or calm before the storm. After some consideration, he offers “I guess you get used to the way most relationships work when you have this lifestyle, and it’s always a touch-and-go type of thing. I mean, there’s always going to be the people that have been with you forever, like my wife was my girlfriend 20 years ago so we’ve been together for quite a long time.” “As far as all the other relationships you make on and off the road, sometimes it’s just like that because of the lifestyle, but we try and stay cool.” Enders chuckles. It all becomes clear they’re no longer trying to be the cool kids, so that’s what they turned out to be.

WATCH: The Early November video for Better This Way

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See two worlds collide when The Early November join Mayday Parade this October:

Thursday, 6 October: Eatons Hill Hotel, Brisbane – Licensed All Ages

Friday, 7 October: The Metro Theatre, Sydney – Licensed All Ages

Saturday, 8 October: Arrow on Swanston, Melbourne – All Ages

Sunday, 9 October: 170 Russell, Melbourne – 18+

Wednesday, 12 October: The Gov, Adelaide – 18+

Thursday, 13 October: The Astor, Perth – All Ages

Tickets and VIP packages available from Select Touring