Local heroes Kisschasy will soon embark on what they promise to be their biggest national tour to date before taking their brand of energetic pop rock overseas to introduce to American audiences. Guitarist Joel Vanderuit had been making the most of the time before the group takes to the road on the golf course, but was happy to spend some time at the 19th hole talking to Buzz about the upcoming tour dates, plans ahead, and the fact that this may be the last chance Australian fans will have to see the boys for some time.
‘We’re nicking off for a little while,’ Joel explains the band’s plans for after the tour. ‘But people are still buying tickets, which amazes me, because we’ve been touring pretty much for five years non-stop. You struggle to go three months without us coming through your town. So we’re going to give everyone a break here, and go and piss off some Americans, and tour as much as we possibly can over there. I dare say, until a new record is out here, we probably won’t tour again.’
And a new album doesn’t look like it will happen any time soon. When pressed about recording plans, Joel said that the band had ‘nothing in concrete,’ but that the idea had come up. In the meantime, fans can look forward to a possible B-Sides and rarities compilation within the next few months, featuring songs from past EPs and outtakes from the ‘Hymns For The Nonbeliever’ album. ‘We’re going to chuck some of that stuff on there and give some people some new stuff, without actually having to write anything…’ Joel ponders this thought for a moment, before adding with a laugh, ‘It’s just a lazy way out.’
Of course, fans also have the upcoming ‘Bones & Skin’ tour to look forward to, with support from the Getaway Plan and The Donnas. I figured it must feel special to be drawing support from overseas, but Joel took it in his stride.
‘We needed another support, and we wanted the main support to be an international of some description. We didn’t really know who, but we wanted to bring out someone that people might not get to see every other week. So, [The Donnas] were super-keen, now they’re coming out! We’re all fans of theirs’, and they seem like cool chicks from all reports, so it looks like it should be a fun tour. With the Getaway Plan boys too, who are really cool dudes, and a really exciting band, so it should be good.’
Looking over the tour poster as we spoke, I pointed out that as well as good talent, the gigs also boasted some good venues.
‘It’s really cool venues,’ Joel agrees. ‘And that was a conscious decision, to step it up again. Every tour we do, we want to make it a little bigger, the same as every album you write you want that to sell a few extra copies.’
Of particular interest will be the redeveloped Palace Theatre, formerly the Metro in Melbourne, where the band cut its teeth playing in the band room for Goo on a Thursday night on the balcony overlooking the main stage they are now set to take.
‘Yeah, we played when it was Goo,’ Joel reminisced. ‘We played there a couple of times. That was when we made friends with a lot of metal bands, like the Parkway [Drive] guys and the [I Killed The] Prom Queen guys, who we are all still really good friends with. A lot of weird bills went on up there, but it was a really cool kind of show when you were starting out as a band.’
Since supporting Powderfinger and Silverchair in arena shows last year, Kisschasy spent a lot of time perfecting the set list for their own tour to cater to both new and old fans, as well as rehearsing old material for the show. And, in Joel’s case, perfecting his swing. ‘I’m going to go back and play golf now,’ he says, as we finish.
Kisschasy’s ‘Bones & Skin’ tour with The Donnas and The Getaway Plan starts in Melbourne at the Corner Hotel (Under 18 only) on May 28, Palace Theatre (formerly Metro) on May 29, and the Pier Hotel in Frankston on May 30.
From Buzz Magazine, May 2008.
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