UTG INTERVIEW: Comeback Kid’s Scott and Jeremy Discuss ‘Turn It Around’ Anniversary Tour

“maysixteenthtwothousandfive” reads the date on a This Is Hell tour poster framed on my wall above the very desk I’m writing this article from. The poster also lists Comeback Kid, Terror, Modern Life Is War and Sinai Beach. It’s numbered 18/30, but that isn’t the only reason it is near and dear to my heart. That show signifies the day I fell in love with hardcore music.

Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond their control, Comeback Kid couldn’t perform at that date, but I’ll still thank them as the reason I was drawn to The Downtown in Farmingdale, NY, a venue that is now long gone.

Wake the Dead (2005) was the last studio album that Scott Wade recorded with Comeback Kid, but for a short European and North American run, the band recently re-united in its original lineup to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of their debut album, Turn It Around. In New York City, I had the privilege of speaking with guitarist Jeremy Hiebert and even original vocalist Scott Wade along with spending an intense 45 minutes on-stage photographing their set. Check out below for this UTG exclusive interview with Jeremy and Scott of Comeback Kid.

The night was an interesting one–it was pouring rain and while interviewing Jeremy, drummer Kyle Profeta approached us anxiously, explaining that he’d locked his keys in the van. After an escapade using my AAA card for roadside assistance, I think the band still needed to call a locksmith. I’m hoping everything worked out well so their rendezvous in Brooklyn was smooth. All I know was the energy in that room during their set was unparalleled, with bodies flying in all directions. Scott Wade’s Rihanna t-shirt only made things better.

Here’s what Scott had to say about playing with the band once again and Jeremy’s insights on a new record:

Scott Wade (vocals, 2002-2006, limited dates in 2013):

How does it feel to be back on the Turn It Around tour playing the classics with the band?

It’s been a lot of fun. It’s kinda been like a long thing in the making. It kind of started with me and Andrew at first joking about it, then maybe seriously joking about it, then it became a little more of an idea from there. For myself it’s been super-fun, it’s cool to revisit these songs 10 years later and still feel like the meaning behind the songs still stands. It’s cool to be able to do that.

Do the kids at the shows still know all the words?

Yeah, it’s crazy. I had expectations of it being rad but it’s definitely surpassed my overall expectations, which is awesome.

What have you been doing the past few years up in Canada?

I live in Toronto, basically moved there not long after I quit, I left Winnipeg. Then I went to school for graphic design. I finished that about a year ago, I’ve just been working in the mean-time. It’s working to work in a particular field, because the school I went to was a specific three-year program.

So what kind of graphic design work do you do?

I’ve done some freelance stuff, but because of this tour I’ve been trying to hold off from finding a job at a firm, so when this all ends I kind of have to hit the pavement. So reality is coming to slap me in the face.

The only time I got to see you perform with Comeback Kid was on tour with Rise Against, From Autumn To Ashes, and The Loved Ones. Needless to say you guys have played with some awesome bands. Who were some of your favorite bands to share the stage with?

We were really lucky from the get-go, because we did one full tour by ourselves, after that people just started taking notice of us and we got put on some rad packages. Right from there we were on a tour with Terror and Every Time I Die then we did a Bane tour not long after that — we became good friends with them from that. Bands like Modern Life Is War, Blacklisted when they first started out- we took them out. Just all these really amazing bands. It’s just crazy to look back on how lucky we were. Even now, the bands that we have now on the shows are bands that we all really like and are really into, so I’m just as lucky playing with these exciting bands that are going on now, like Incendiary, Suburban Scum — it’s been great.

Are you passionate about anything else besides music? Do you have any hobbies?

I’ve always been a big fan of music, so I love going to shows. I love everything from hip-hop to new wave, post-punk, everything. In Toronto, I wouldn’t say I’m a DJ by any means but a lot of bars will pay you money and give you free beverages to provide music at the bar for that night, so that’s pretty fun because that way I end up getting able to control what I hear in the bar and I don’t have to pay for my drinks. So that’s a fun thing to do, and I usually coerce my friends into hanging out with me, it’s not a bad gig.

Jeremy Hiebert (Guitar, 2002-Present):

You guys are doing this tour celebrating 10 years of Turn It Around, are you guys playing it front to back?

We’re not gonna play the whole record but its focused on the two albums that Scott was with us, since it was a one-time thing we figured we’ll just mix it up with the first two records. What motivated us, well it’s been quite a while since we’ve all been together on stage, 10 years — why not celebrate it? It changes it up for us because we’ve been done our own thing so it’s fun to go blast from the past for a little bit.

How is it having Scott back up on the microphone?

Its cool, it’s a completely different dynamic because Andrew and Scott have very different styles of singing. With Andrew back on guitar it’s different for me as well. It’s cool though, it’s like an old glove that just fits.

What was the whole reason that Scott Wade left to begin with?

It was kind of a difference of where we were at the time. I can’t speak for him but I think he just got to a point where he wasn’t into the heavy touring schedule like we were. The other four of us- there was a different guy in the band at the time, but Andrew, Kyle, and myself, we’ve always had a bit of a rotating other person in there, but we love being on the road, we love touring. That’s basically what I think it was.

You guys are all cool, right?

Of course, if we weren’t cool, we wouldn’t be doing this. We’ve had a great time. We had that European run and this one, it’s been awesome.

How were the shows you did over in Europe?

Yeah it’s been crazy. It’s good because it’s given some people a chance to see that lineup that were too young or missed their chance when we had this lineup going up until 2006. The response has been good. We’re not doing a full tour, it’s more like some select spots. That gets people a little more excited travelling distances.

What are your favorite countries to play in?

I think Germany has probably been one of the most consistent countries right from day one since we’ve been there we’ve always had a crowd that’s really stuck with us for the long haul. A lot of other scenes, one day you’re at the top and the next day no one wants to be seen with you. Europe in general seems to be a lot more focused on being interested in your career rather than your hit song for a month or a year, or your 7” that was popular back when you started, or maybe it even wasn’t. It’s a lot of fun to play there.

Do you have local openers in Europe, what’s the hardcore sound like over there?

A lot of the times we’ll put together a package or we’ll be part of a bigger package so there will be anywhere from 2 to 6 touring bands, international or whatever, if it’s a smaller bill we always try to have one or two local bands play as well. It’s good for those bands and it gives them a little more exposure, for some reason it’s pretty hard for European bands to come over to North America for some weird reason and try to make it here. I guess the least we could do is when we have room on the bill, have locals.

Is their sound similar to American hardcore?

There are definitely a lot of similarities. We’ve been all over, we’ve done tours in Japan, Australia, different places in Asia and Europe, there are bands that draw influences from the same bands that we do.

Your last album, Symptoms + Cures, was released in 2010 — when can we expect to see some new music?

We’re working on it. Right now we have tentative plans, nothing in stone, to record something later this year and release it earlier next year. We’ve got a little more touring left to do then the focus is going to shift to that. We’ve got a handful of songs written already but we need to polish those up and write a few more so that’ll be the task at hand.

Will you be putting it out on Victory Records?

Yeah, we have one more record with them. I’m not sure what’s gonna happen after that.

Andrew will be back on vocals, right?

Yeah, I know it’s a bit of a confusing thing playing with Scott now, but this is just a one-time thing with Scott. We have three more shows with him, and then we’ll be carrying on as we were.

I feel like in every picture I’ve ever seen of you, you’ve been playing an SG. Is that your committed choice of guitar?

It just kind of worked out that way. I had an obscure Canadian made guitar that my friend worked for the company as a rep. It was a company called Fury. I got them to make me one, I played it and loved it, then it got stolen in I think 2000. Then I thought I’d give an SG a whirl, they sit different on your body than most guitars do. Once I got used to that thing, I’ve never went back. Always on stage I’m using SGs. I have some other guitars at home, but that’s my baby when I’m standing up.

Being from Winnipeg, are you a big hockey fan?

I would call myself a moderately large hockey fan, I don’t know every statistic like I would’ve back In the early 90s, but I also had a 15-16 year hiatus from enjoying hockey because my Winnipeg Jets left, but they came back from hiatus 2 years ago, so now I’m acquainting myself with all the new players.

Who do you think is going to win this year’s Stanley Cup?

I’m with Chicago. That game last night was crazy, triple overtime. So game one is in their corner now. But I don’t know, Boston, they’re a tough team, so many big jocks on that team.

What do you prefer, small shows or big festivals?

My preference is always the smaller crazier ones. There’s nothing better than having a room that holds 150-200 people and cramming in 250-300 people and just having it go off. We play a lot of festivals too, especially in Europe. That’s really cool because it gives us a chance to play for people who might be into us but have never had a chance to see us. Or someone that’s never heard us before. It’s good to get that exposure but we’re definitely most at home playing small clubs.

What was Groezrock like?

Groezrock is definitely one of my favorite festivals to play. This last time it was insane. We usually play the second stage but this time we asked to play the small stage because we didn’t want a barricade there for doing this Turn It Around thing. They were okay with that, so we banged it out and it was crazy.

What is the craziest show you’ve ever played?

I don’t know if I can answer that. There are so many shows that always seem like they’re the craziest ones, but to pick one…I guess in my head I kind of would have to put that on a different level. The craziest shows that you didn’t expect would be a good way to categorize this. The first time we played Indonesia, it was one of the most mind-blowing experiences — 600 kids just losing their shit. We had just a whirlwind of a day just getting into the country, that’s a whole different story. Just to see the reaction, like, “Whoa! These kids know everything.”

Did they know all the words to the songs?

Pretty much! If not, at least they knew the syllables. They were familiar with it, and we were being told by one of the guys who was bringing us from the airport that there were kids there that had gone two or three days without eating just to be able to buy a ticket because they wanted to come to it so badly. Just the culmination of that was insane.

What are your favorite songs to perform off the newer albums?

“Do Yourself a Favor” is a pretty straight-forward hard song, so that’s always a pretty fun song to play. Depending on how my vocals are feeling, “G.M. Vincent & I” is a fun song as well. We don’t have too many singy-sing-a-long parts besides like “Wake The Dead” but that song is always fun to do when we are all feeling at the top of our game.

What music are you really into now?

I don’t listen to a lot of music but the music I listen to is very random. I can get into anything from Strapping Young Lad to Arcade Fire to Abba to Lamb of God. A little bit of everything, when I’m at the gym I’ll listen to hardcore bands like Terror and Bitter End. I’m not gonna lie, I’m 37 years old so I don’t seek out new music like I would’ve 20 years ago. But anytime I hear a new band that I like I’m always down with it.

Do you have any hobbies besides music?

I love cooking. My favorite place to be in the house is in the kitchen. My dream one day would be to own a vegan restaurant and see what I could do with that. The road is too busy right now but I’m sure I could have time down the road if I keep it all together.

Is there anything that you guys would like to do as a band that you haven’t yet?

Play Africa. We’ve had opportunities but it just hasn’t quite happened yet. We’ve had some close-calls with South African shows but they just haven’t been able to pan out yet. That’s one place we’d definitely love to hit up.

What can we expect to see from Comeback Kid in the future?

We’re pretty predictable — we tour then we put out a record, then we tour again, then put out another record. We don’t have too many gimmicks or tricks up our sleeves. We just love doing what we do. We’ll put out this record and hit the road as hard as ever next year.

Written and conducted by: Derek Scancarelli
For more pictures from the show, visit D. SKANK PHOTOGRAPHY.

Derek Scancarelli
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