Zach Stephenson from Hockey Dad on touring Canada and new Material
By Troy Hasselman, December 9 2019 —
Australian surf-punks Hockey Dad will be coming to Calgary on Dec. 10 for a show at the Gateway with fellow Aussies DZ Deathrays.
The band is set to release their as-yet-untitled new album in March of next year, with the lead single “I Missed Out” released last month with an accompanying music video. Speaking to the Gauntlet over the phone, vocalist and guitarist Zach Stephenson said fans can expect some new material at these upcoming shows.
“We’ll probably play four or five new songs,” Stephenson says. “We want to get them out there as soon as possible. It’s good to have some new songs and change the set up a bit. We’ll probably have some old ones that we’ve played in Canada before too. There will definitely be some new songs from the album in the set.”
While Stephenson admits that he does get nervous while playing new material, he has grown more excited with the new songs after they’ve been road-tested for close to a year and is interested to see how the songs change from night to night.
“We’ve been playing one or two songs for a while now, like six or eight months,” Stephenson says. “I get excited to play them now because nobody knows what it is. It’s good to gauge people’s responses every night and see how you go. You can change it up and find the perfect way to play the song too.”
Canada has a reputation as a difficult place to tour for most bands, with cold weather and long drives between shows being a factor. Stephenson is excited for the tour though, being used to the long distances from touring in the similarly isolated Australia and is looking forward to seeing the Canadian scenery.
“Australia can be brutal to travel through,” Stephenson says. “In Australia, every city is a 10-hour drive so we’re pretty comfortable with long distances. Canada also has a different scenery than Australia. It’ll be nice to travel through the mountains and forests.”
In the past, Stephenson has mentioned that it takes him a long time to decide on how he feels about a record after it has been released. He says says he can still feel nervous about new material, he is more confident about the music the band is making now after playing for a few years.
“Maybe not as much as a couple of records ago,” Stepheson says. “You never feel 100 percent confident in a song you write until you show it to other people. It keeps it exciting to play it live. It’s nice to get out there and see how the reception is.”
Tickets are available for Hockey Dad and DZ Deathrays on the SAIT Student Association website.