Since forming in 2000 in Queens, Punk Rockers Bayside have proven to be one of the hardest working bands in the genre. They’ve survived tragedy and each other, releasing five records along the way and embarking on countless domestic tours, the hard work has paid off for the group, with a dedicated fan base both at home and around the world – including here in Australia – and the opportunity to work with producers like Gil Norton. who they worked with on their last full length, Killing Time, in 2011.
Three years on and the band are readying the release of Cult, their long awaited sixth full length, which will be released in Australia and New Zealand on February 21st. I had the chance to chat to Bassist Nick Ghanbarian about its release, trying to get a gauge on when the process for this new record began, “We definitely planned to release it sooner,” he admitted, “but then we got on the Alkaline Trio tour (in 2013) and that was just too good to turn down. So while we had most of the album demoed in late 2012, it was a year and a half process from there to get to its release.”
“There was a lot of waiting… but it’s great to be releasing Cult. We feel very lucky to be in this position… not a lot of bands get to put out six records. And with each record we find a bigger, better reception. As our fans grow, so do ourselves, as songwriters.”
The release of this record will also herald a change in their touring plans, at least in the States, where they have seen years of co-headline and support tours around the country over the last five years, “We’re doing our first proper headlining tour since 2009 here in the US, in support of the record’s release, so we’re looking forward to that.”
By moving away from the co-headline and support tours, the band is able to flesh out longer sets, which is one thing Nick admits he’s both excited and nervous about, “I like to think of it as ‘fun anxiety – we have six albums to play with now, so we’re always going to leave songs out… we’re not going to be able to please everyone in the room. So we have to be careful and make sure we’re working out the right set.”
And of course their new record will be a cornerstone of their focus, with every track from the record, with one exception, having never been played live before. When we spoke, the album had just been given a pre-release stream online, and Nick had started to see feedback from fans, who were hearing all the music for the first time. I asked him if anything was sticking out as something they’d want to focus on live, “Nothing is really running away with being the top favourite. It’s good to see that everyone has different favourites…”
So with all this new live material, does that mean they’ll be spending a lot of time preparing for the tour? “We’ll be rehearsing for a couple of days before the tour. We’ve been a band for so long that the older songs are second nature. We’re super comfortable as a band… we know what it takes to do what we need to do.”
As for what’s next, ‘directly after the US tour we’re back to supporting Alkaline Trio.” Except this time it will be through Europe and the UK. I asked Nick what his experiences were like touring with Alkaline Trio last year, “It was great, though we actually toured with them for the first time back in 2008. It was a brief two and a half week tour… this time around (in 2013) it made a lot more sense.”
I asked him to elaborate, “We have always, justifiably or not, been compared to Alkaline Trio… but by the time this most recent tour came about, we’ve both been around long enough that we’ve created our own identity. I do think there are more dissimilarities than similarities, but for many it was a dream tour. Some people love both bands, and we love the Alkaline Trio guys too. We’ve always looked up to them. So to be able to share the stage is always rad.”
And after that… maybe Australia? “It’s sort of frustrating for me, we should have been able to get out there more recently… we’ve only been there three times. Last time was when Killing Time first came out (in 2011). We haven’t come back since. Part of us having signed with Hopeless last year, was that with their international successes we hoped to get more international touring, and so with that in mind we know we’ll be down to Australia at some point this year.”
He admitted though part of the reason he loved coming to Australia so much, “We’ve had to work for years to get to the point we are in the USA, but when we come to Australia we’re given such a great reception, even though we’ve only been down there a few times! The ratio seems off! But it’s always an amazing experience down there because of it.”
Bayside’s CULT will be in stores on February 21 in Australia and New Zealand via Hopeless Records/Unified.
