We chat to the renowned punk group before they drop Down Under.
It’s been nearly four years since Fucked Up last visited Australia. Talking to Mike Haliechuk, lead guitarist and main driver behind the band’s most recent album Dose Your Dreams, he expresses his keen interest to come to Australia and visit places like Tassie, Uluru, The Great Barrier Reef or “just drive down the highway and see what the gas stations look like”.
Haliechuk hasn’t had the pleasure of experiencing these quintessentially ‘Australian’ activities yet, as the tours here involve going straight from one place to another and gigs are often based in metros. This tour will mark the fifth time Fucked Up have been in the country, in 2011 opening for Foo Fighters on their Australian tour and playing several times at Soundwave Festival, including the last one held in 2015.
Traditionally a hardcore band, 2018’s Dose Your Dreams shows a new side. Stepping out of the traditional hardcore punk sound, this being their fifth studio album, the
record taps into some new sounds including disco-inspired tracks. Listen to ‘Normal People’, ‘House of Keys’ and ‘Torch to Light’ to get you moving, but maybe not in the thrash style that accompanied earlier records such as as 2008’s The Chemistry of Common Life. The new album, although different in composition, can still be recognised for those distinct vocals of Damian Abraham.
Many may recognise the band through Abraham and his on-stage antics. For reference, watch the 2008 MTV Live video where Fucked Up perform ‘Twice Born’ and destroy a MTV studio bathroom. Though Dose Your Dreams is the vision of Haliechuk more than Abraham, Abraham’s vocals are still prominently heard while lending growth to the band in a way not evident on past albums.
Hailing from Toronto, Haliechuk discusses the music scene which exists there and how it changes and evolves with the limited space there seems to be for music culture, as well as issues like finding music venues. Haliechuk sees the stakes are small in Toronto in a global sense and the bands formed there tend to mainly play locally. He notes the diversity of music that comes from Toronto; once the dance scene was at the forefront and currently the scene seems weird, sporadic and fun, but mostly difficult to describe.
For the past seven years Haliechuk has been booking music for Long Winter, a DIY space for all ages, pay-what-you-can events featuring different art forms, including music, theatre and dance. Being involved in something so essential to Toronto and booking around 80 acts a year, Haliechuk doesn’t venture too much outside the immediate realm. When asked about any Australian bands of interest, he suggests that Canada is so far removed, it’s like “knowing what bands are like on the moon”.
Luckily, the distance doesn’t stop a tour and Fucked Up will be playing in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane alongside Melbourne locals Loser. Haliechuk mentions the fact Fucked Up have never played a tour like this in Australia, it’s not like opening for the Foo Fighters at a stadium gig. This will be more intimate, but that doesn’t mean less energy – “Fucked Up is adventurous on record, live we’re just trying to be a big fat mess,” he says.
You can expect to hear music off the new album with the usual backing track and synth accompaniment and some old favourites, including those hard and fast songs.
Fucked Up hit The Corner on Wednesday October 9. Tix via the venue website.
