 By Melissa Hetu Comeback Kid: "Call Me Prissy or Something"What fun it must be to be able to tour the world at such a young age. Getting to meet tons of new people everyday and travel the world for free. Being on the road is also synonymous with having fun and partying a lot, which usually results in some pretty funny experiences. Comeback Kid's guitarist Andrew Neufeld openly shared some of his recent touring experiences. Truth.Explosion: So how's the tour going?
Comeback Kid: It's been going really good. This is the last show tonight. We did about five or six weeks with Bane and With Honor and Silent Drive and it's probably the best tour we've ever done. More than half of the shows were sold out, tons of people getting into the new songs, just everyone being really receptive. Then we had a few days off and we did just this weekend with Moneen, Choke and the rest of Smallman [Record] bands.
TE: These shows different?
CBK: These shows have been cool; it's a little bit of a different crowd for us.
TE: The bands on the Smallman Record Tour aren't all hardcore...
CBK: Yah, you know every band is bringing their different crowd so it's a little different. It's cool though; it's fun to play for a different audience sometimes.
TE: Are you guys getting tired?
CBK: Yah...
TE: You've been on the road pretty much since the album came out in February and you will be back on the road in May.
CBK: Yah, I am pretty tired right now. After this we have a long drive home to Winnipeg. We start the tour with Terror, Modern Life Is War and Sinai Beach on May 10th. We are super excited about that because I think those are some of the best bands in hardcore right now.
TE: I have to ask you about an experience, something you've lived on tour or something that's happened recently that you would like to share.
CBK: Well, this tour has been pretty eventful as far as experiences go. We were in New Orleans, our drummer (Kyle) and our guitar player (Jeremy) were pissing on the side of the road. Jeremy finished, zipped up and walked away. Kyle's was still pissing and a cop drove by. He took Kyle and started reaming him out. He's like "you know you were pissing on the side of the road, how would you like it if I pissed on your house?" And Kyle was like "I wouldn't like it." So then the cop took him in the car and yelled at him for a while. Kyle's like "I am sorry officer; I am kind of drunk right now." The cop was like "you have to go clean it up with something". So Kyle got something from the van, some old shirt and as he was whipping it up as the cop left. Kyle didn't notice that the cop was gone.
TE: So he kept on cleaning?
CBK: Yah, he kept on cleaning.
TE: Do you guys have a picture of that?
CBK: No, this tour has just been a lot of debauchery. I definitely puked in our bunk and Scott puked on the bunk as well as puked on me.
TE: Nice...
CBK: There's just been lot's of crazy shitty things happening, kind of funny things.
TE: Do you guys remember doing these stupid things?
CBK: We do stupid things everyday...(laughs). I wish I could tell you some better experiences but we are kind of a goofy band and we get ourselves in goofy situations.
TE: Do you guys crash at people's houses at night or do you get hotel rooms?
CBK: Um, which night? The puking night? (laughs)
TE: No, no, any night during the tour.
CBK: If we have friends there...sometimes we'll stay at their house, but we usually get a hotel room. Sometimes we stay at houses of people we've just met; it's kind of like here and there.
TE: The guys from Brazil had made a sign earlier today asking for a place to crash...and some guy offered them a place to stay like two seconds later.
CBK: I think that's awesome.
TE: Does it make it easier to tour when you have friends in the city?
CBK: I am 23 now, and I've been touring in some sort of way since I was 18, so I've met a lot; a lot of people. It seems like I know people in almost every city and it usually all works out. Sometimes we prefer to drive a bit and get a part of the drive out of the way and get a hotel halfway. Sometimes we stay at people's houses, it all depends.
TE: Do you guys get to shower often?
CBK: Yah, I shower everyday.
TE: Cause some bands say that when they are on tour, they might go days without showering...
CBK: Call me prissy or something, but I enjoy showers everyday.
TE: What have you learned from touring, being with the same guys everyday for long periods of time?
CBK: I've learned a lot of different things. When you are on tour you have to be able to take things lightly sometimes. Touring can be difficult at times, can be frustrating and can be hard work. You get annoyed with your band mates and people you are with. You sometimes feel like the place you are at the moment isn't where you would like to be. But at the same time, touring is one of the most rewarding things that has ever happened to me. It's a really liberating feeling to be able to go out and play new cities everyday and see old friends. I don't have to be at home. For some people the 9 to 5 is what they want to do, but for me I wouldn't really be able to do that.
TE: Like working in an office?
CBK: Yah. There are things that I am interested in, but I am getting my fingers in little different areas. I feel like I am doing what I want to do with my life right now, I love music, I love playing hardcore and touring with this band. I feel so lucky that people are into this band that I am in. I can see the world for free; you know it's pretty cool.
TE: So what are the bad things about always being on the road?
CBK: It kind of sucks being away from home sometimes but then when you are home it's kind of like vacation a little bit. When you are on tour you just have to know that things don't always go on schedule, things don't always go as planed, and you have to be a bit easy going. You have to be able to know how to treat people around you or take people around because sometimes things get difficult, but I love the people that I am touring with.
TE: So what's coming up next for the band in terms of touring?
CBK: I think we will be doing a tour with Rise Against...
TE: That's awesome!
CBK: In August and September, it's kind of in the works right now. In July we are probably going to do a Western Canada run because we haven't really toured Western Canada that much and we want to get stuff out there. In the fall we are going to go to Europe with Bane. Lot's of stuff coming up, I am pretty excited about things. We've got our new record out and we just did a video that's getting airplay, so it's really exciting.
TE: To finish off, I'd like to know if you could tell me what's the "truth" about Comeback Kid?
CBK: The truth about Comeback Kid? Um, we are just five guys that are really passionate about playing music and we love what we do. Every member of the band is so different so, I wouldn't be able to say there is one thing that Comeback Kid wants to say. We just try to be real, that's all we can be.
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