Melbourne’s Antiskeptic are back in action with a brand new album on the way. ‘Stare Down The Ocean‘ will be released on Friday 19th September independently. They’ve just announced all their tour dates to launch the record. This week we caught up with Nick from the band to answer our Hotseat questions. Expand this post to take a read of his answers, watch the video for ‘Hey Dissident‘ and see those recently added tour dates.
THE BASICS
Name : Nick Coppin
Band : Antiskeptic
Job In Band : Drummer
Website Address : www.antiskeptic.com.au
HOME
Hometown : Melbourne
Hometown is best known for : Footy, Coffee & Rock n’ Roll
Best venue in your hometown : The Corner Hotel
Favourite show you’ve seen in your hometown : Recently saw UK two piece Royal Blood at the corner and it was the best show I’ve seen in Yonks!
Favourite show you’ve played in your hometown : Sold Out Hi-fi Bar on the Goodbye Goodnight Tour. We were lucky enough to film the show and preserve it for eternity. Grab a copy [Here] if it takes your fancy. Not only was it a kick ass show, but the DVD packaging and artwork is a sight to behold!
THE BAND
How long has the band been going? Antiskeptic has been going for 15 years! We played our first show in 1999! We finished up initially in 2008 and had a 3-4 year break, before realising we still had a lot left in the tank and plenty of fire in the belly!
Any particular story behind the name? Nothing exciting. We’d bandied around a few different names, but they all sucked. Antiskeptic was the least suckiest name we had.
What’s your most recent release? Tell us a little about it… Our new record ‘Stare Down The Ocean’ is our 3rd full length studio album. It’s so cliché for bands to say this, but we can say hands down, this is the best album we’ve ever done. We’ve spent the past couple of years writing and taking the songs and production of the album to a whole new level. We’re really proud of it – It’s the album we always wanted to make!
Got a personal stand out achievement of your band to date? Getting the band started again has been a mammoth task and its one we couldn’t of done without our fanbase who’ve stuck by us and really believed in our vision and dreams for this new album. We started a couple of Pozible crowdfunding campaigns (for the recording and setting up of the album release) and because of our fans (and a contribution from Arts Victoria), we were able to raise over 30K! This was incredible incentive and reassurance that people were backing what we were doing and hanging to hear our music again.
OFF THE STAGE
What was your first introduction to music that made you think seriously about playing it? I saw Silverchair play in 1995. I’d never seen hysteria like that, it was seriously insane. They were about 15 years old, the same age as me and it looked like they had the best job ever! I had something click in me that day that made me want that job haha!
Any particular band / album or song that you personally credit as a major influence? Early on, the first two records I bought out of my own money were Silverchair’s – ‘Frogstomp’ and Green Day’s – ‘Dookie’. I kinda look back now and can see I got a lot of my energy and heaviness in playing from those albums. As a band, we’ve grown up listening to heaps of different genres and styles. Antiskeptic’s always been a big melting pot of influences.
Your first band name, and what style did you play? I had a high school band called Biza. It was really riffy, grunge rock. Some of our song titles were ‘Having Sex With Circus Midgets’ and ‘Show Us The Gateway To Your Guts’… So yeah, looking back, we were quite terrible haha!
Most prized music related item you own? Other than my drums, I have a pretty cool photo of Dave Grohl and I backstage at the Big Day Out in 2000.
When you’re not doing band related stuff, what are you usually found doing? Here’s a fun fact – Jarrod (guitarist) and myself are the official AFL Tiger mascots for the Richmond Football Club. We get to spend our weekend, running around being complete goofballs and get paid for it. It’s like our dream job haha!
The thing you most look forward to just before a tour is… I organise and manage the band, so I’m normally a ball of stress, hoping that everything is in place to run smoothly and that the shows go great! Outside of the shows, I just look forward to being in a different place and finding cool places to get great coffee and good eats!
The thing you least look forward to before a tour is… As I said, I manage the band, so logistically it can be a nightmare and everything can be quite expensive. There’s so many things to think about and organise, which can be quite taxing when we lead busy lives as it is! I’ve got two daughters and my beautiful wife at home, so I also hate that I have to leave them behind!
ON THE STAGE
When on offer, what’s your one must have item on the rider? Spiced Rum
Favourite place you’ve toured… and why? I always love going to WA. Incredible beaches, wineries and great vibe going on over there.
Most memorable show you’ve played? and why? The first show we ever sold was the main room of EV’s which is an all ages centre in the eastern burbs of Melbourne. I used to go to shows there growing up, so to sell it out and have people coming to see my band was a big deal. I remember rocking up to the venue and kids were lined up along the street for ages. It’s something I’ll never forget.
Got a favourite song to play live? ‘When the Night Comes In’ off the new album is gonna be a banger to play live.
Any embarrassing on stage moments come to mind? It’s always embarrassing when something goes wrong on stage. We’ve had plenty of times where we’ve messed a song up, or an instrument has broke. The worst was probably AK’s guitar going out of tune while he was singing an intro in front of 10,000+ people at Rod Laver Arena. We made sure we gave him a good roasting afterwards haha!
Any pre-show rituals? We just fire each other up usually and do a little band prayer to get focused.
What do you find is the hardest aspect of touring in a band today? We’re a bit older and have family to consider now, so it’s not like we want to be on the road for weeks at a time, sleeping on floors and making no money etc. We did 1000 shows in 9 years, so we’ve well and truly done enough of heavy touring. We just have to be considerate of everyone’s needs, be well planned and for tours to be profitable – which is not always the easiest thing to juggle!
RIGHT NOW
Last song you listened to? I’m kinda obsessed by a song called ‘Seasons’ by Future Islands. Everone needs to check them playing this song on Letterman…The dude has moves.
Last album you picked up? I recently delved into my CD collection in the garage and pulled out Cave In – ‘Antenna’. This is a killer album and one that was pretty influential on the skeppers in the early naughties.
Which band or album is currently on high rotation? Royal Blood
Tell us an up and coming band or artist you think we should go and listen to right now? Move To Strike is one of my favourite Aussie bands…criminally underated.
What’s on the cards for the next few months for the band? Our new album ‘Stare Down The Ocean’ drops on September 19th and we’ll hit the road to promote this over September / October. We can’t wait to get out and do more shows, so hopefully our summer is jam packed with them!
IF ONLY…
You can pick any one album for your band to cover in full, what would it be and why? Hmmm…tough question. It’d be really difficult agreeing on one! One of our collective favourite albums is Motorace’s – ‘Five Star Laundry’. So many bangers on that album and great dynamics that would be fun to tackle!
You can pick any one band / artist to cover one of your albums in full, what would it be, and why? Wow… Imagine getting Something For Kate! We love those guys. I’d love to hear our new record interpreted by someone like them. I think AK would die of pure joy hearing Paul Dempsey cover one of his songs!
One band you wish you were able to see live but never had the chance? Nirvana
One venue you have yet to play that you would love to? The Forum in Melbourne would be up there. Such a beautiful venue!
The chance comes up to fill in for a member of a band for one tour, which band would it be, and why? I’m a hack rock drummer, so give me ACDC. I’d love to lay into some of those grooves, with a massive production and ridonculous size crowd…that would be next level!
A headline tour overseas comes up, tell us two bands you’d take along to support your band. Hmmm…there’s loads of rad local Aussie bands I’m digging…Young Lions, Move To Strike, My Echo, The Sinking Teeth, Ceres, Alibrandi.
PLUG TIME
Got any final words? Our new album comes out September 19th and we’ll be playing Sydney, Newcastle, Adelaide, Brisbane & Melbourne throughout September/October…come say G’day!
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ANTISKEPTIC – Stare Down The Ocean
Available Independently on Friday 19th September.
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