Sydney-bred pop-punk globetrotters Tonight Alive are going from strength to strength, with album number three in the pipeline and another massive UK tour under their belts. As is the tradition with bands of this ilk, touring with their buddies is a highlight of the high life, so their place on an upcoming All Time Low tour (after recent support slots for You Me At Six) is keeping Tonight Alive psyched almost as much as their spot on this year’s gargantuan Soundwave lineup.
Singer Jenna McDougall is enjoying her return to the Australian sun after an awesome yet seemingly eternal winter in Europe and the UK.
“It was unreal,” McDougall says of the band’s Christmas and New Year break. “We’d had a really big year of touring and writing the record, so we came home five days before Christmas and were able to just hang with our families. New Year’s was a big party at Jake [Hardy, guitarist]’s house and it’s just been able to be summer and that’s all I’ve wanted. We spent so many months in winter just kind of chasing it. No matter how fun the touring was, the sun was going down at 3pm in Europe and it was miserable. It’s just sad for Australians to be in that kind of environment.”
Don’t be fooled, though – it hasn’t been all bad. Tonight Alive are looking at their biggest year yet, and as a band with an amp in many ports, they’re playing to larger crowds overseas than in their hometown. It’s not that they haven’t enjoyed success here – it’s just that the US, UK and Europe have caught on quicker than Australia.
“We played the biggest headlining tour in the UK we’d ever played, and with that came a lot of responsibility,” says McDougall. “There were signings and meet-and-greets and reasons to be up before 2pm. There was minimal time for choice; everything is just kind of planned out for you in your day. Then after that we had a tour in Europe where we were the support band and weren’t needed until eight at night, and so we definitely took advantage of that. We’d jump on public transport and not know where we were going and just ask people to point us to the centre of town.”
It’s one thing to play massive festivals like Soundwave (they also hit the Reading and Leeds festivals last year), but headline shows are their own creature – especially when they sell out. While filling a venue seems to be the ultimate pay-off, the self-doubt and anxiety can creep in. After all, everyone has come just for you – here they are now, entertain them.
“I definitely felt that way with this last UK tour,” McDougall admits. “It was sold out and we were playing to 3,000 people and we’ve never sold out 3,000-seat venues in Sydney, and I was like, ‘How do we handle this? Do bands when they get to this point feel like they’re this big, or do they just act like they’re this big?’ Bands always appear like they’re bigger and more successful than they are because inside your mind you’re always working for the next thing and reaching for the next goal and then you’re like, ‘Do I deserve this?’
“On the day of the show in London, on the day and night I was an emotional mess. The theatre was gorgeous with gold trimmings and a mezzanine with this floor area and it was just all really grand. It was a really emotional day and I couldn’t get it out of my mind – I was crying – and then when I got onstage it was just all on. It’s what I imagine it’s like when you go into space and this rocket is shaking and screaming with speed and once the shuttle or whatever falls off and you’re in space there’s just silence. Once I got onstage I was like, ‘It’s over. I’m here doing what I can do and we’re capable.’ After experiencing that tour I don’t feel like we have to question ourselves as much anymore.”
In their early days, Tonight Alive wrote their music all for their own satisfaction, with no concern for trends or sales targets or how many singles they could pull from an album. But signing to various labels around the world can change all that, and bands can often find a whole bunch of unwanted fingers in their creative pie. Tonight Alive experienced these issues briefly while writing their next record, McDougall reveals, but things are back on track.
“Everyone has had their hearts in the right place and they care about the band, but there were just too many voices involved. In the beginning it was just us, you know? As a songwriter you want to be genuine, and that’s what made people like our music to begin with – if your songs don’t mean anything, people don’t give a shit. We’ve come full circle, back to saying we’re just doing exactly what we want.”
Their lips are sealed on who’s producing the upcoming record, but so far the hints are that he’s male, located on the US east coast, involved in the punk scene and a little scary.
“We’re going to work with an American producer who we’ve met on tour and spent a lot of time with and we feel he’s really gonna push us,” McDougall says. “We’ve heard a lot of horror stories about him tearing you apart, but I think that’s what we need. We just can’t be in our comfort zone again for this record.”
Catch them atSoundwave Festival 2015alongsideFaith No More, Soundgarden, Marilyn Manson, Slipknot, Slash and many more atSydney Olympic ParkonSaturday February 28 and Sunday March 1, ticketsonline.
