Area-7 - Stevo
Questions: Stuart Millen
Area-7 are one of Australia’s most loved ska punk bands. Forming in 1994, the band released three full-length studio albums and a number of EPs, and had singles in the Top 40 and Triple J’s Hottest 100. Now celebrating their 20th anniversary, the band are hitting the road for one final pub tour before calling curtains on their career with a run of dates on the Soundwave festival in 2015.
Vocalist Stevo called in from Melbourne and spoke to Caught in the Mosh about their current tour, his love of playing small sweaty rooms and having stage lighting provided by Australian Army tanks in East Timor...
You played the first show of the Double Cross Tour last weekend. How’d it go?
Yes! We played in Sydney and it was fantastic! We played the Factory there and it was a really great crowd, a great lineup and it all went a little bit nuts, which I’m very happy about. The show was sold out, which, again, I was happy about. We had really good numbers; a fantastic effort. We had some great support bands playing with us, some of our friends from Melbourne, the Ramshackle Army and the Resignators. Yeah, a really good lineup. We had some trouble getting home again, but other than that, yeah, it was great. It was good to see some familiar faces in the crowd, some old school, some new school, which was great.
The tour heads to Melbourne, Adelaide, Toowoomba and Brisbane over the next month or so. You must be looking getting out of town and on the road?
Yeah! The Melbourne show is going to be great. It’s at the Corner and it’s nearly sold out! But the awesome thing is being asked to come along and do Soundwave next year. That’ll probably be the last tour we ever do! We haven’t really said that to many people but that’s where it’s heading. We’re very honoured that AJ and Chris O’Brien asked us to come along and play on that tour so you might see Area-7 go out on a high at the end of Soundwave 2015.
Wow! Really? I did see a post on Facebook that said “Sydney folk…. your last chance to see AREA-7 in a pub?”. So you think after Soundwave, that’s it?
Yeah, I think so. I think we’ve reached the point where it’s time to do something else. To move out of the way and let some of the newer bands come through. I mean, there are some fantastic bands in Australia, like the Bennies. You know, we’ve had our time in the sun; we’ve done what we’ve done. I always think about Rancid’s Time Bomb and the lyric “Secrets to a good life is knowing when you're through”. And that’s how I feel about it. It might be time to move onto something else. But it’s a fantastic honour to be asked to do Soundwave. I think it’s the only major festival we haven’t done, so yeah, we’re pretty wrapped!
Vocalist Stevo called in from Melbourne and spoke to Caught in the Mosh about their current tour, his love of playing small sweaty rooms and having stage lighting provided by Australian Army tanks in East Timor...
You played the first show of the Double Cross Tour last weekend. How’d it go?
Yes! We played in Sydney and it was fantastic! We played the Factory there and it was a really great crowd, a great lineup and it all went a little bit nuts, which I’m very happy about. The show was sold out, which, again, I was happy about. We had really good numbers; a fantastic effort. We had some great support bands playing with us, some of our friends from Melbourne, the Ramshackle Army and the Resignators. Yeah, a really good lineup. We had some trouble getting home again, but other than that, yeah, it was great. It was good to see some familiar faces in the crowd, some old school, some new school, which was great.
The tour heads to Melbourne, Adelaide, Toowoomba and Brisbane over the next month or so. You must be looking getting out of town and on the road?
Yeah! The Melbourne show is going to be great. It’s at the Corner and it’s nearly sold out! But the awesome thing is being asked to come along and do Soundwave next year. That’ll probably be the last tour we ever do! We haven’t really said that to many people but that’s where it’s heading. We’re very honoured that AJ and Chris O’Brien asked us to come along and play on that tour so you might see Area-7 go out on a high at the end of Soundwave 2015.
Wow! Really? I did see a post on Facebook that said “Sydney folk…. your last chance to see AREA-7 in a pub?”. So you think after Soundwave, that’s it?
Yeah, I think so. I think we’ve reached the point where it’s time to do something else. To move out of the way and let some of the newer bands come through. I mean, there are some fantastic bands in Australia, like the Bennies. You know, we’ve had our time in the sun; we’ve done what we’ve done. I always think about Rancid’s Time Bomb and the lyric “Secrets to a good life is knowing when you're through”. And that’s how I feel about it. It might be time to move onto something else. But it’s a fantastic honour to be asked to do Soundwave. I think it’s the only major festival we haven’t done, so yeah, we’re pretty wrapped!
Well, like you say, you’ve played most of the Australian music festivals in your time, including Warped, Big Day Out, Falls to name a few and now you’re playing the huge, new-format 2-day Soundwave next year. How’d it come about?
Well, once upon a time, AJ was our booking agent in Sydney. He’s always been a great supporter of the band. I went along to the Warped festival last year as a guest, just to watch a couple of bands with my daughter, who’s a big punk rock fan as well, and saw him there. I also bumped into him at the Living End tour and AJ was saying, “hey, would you boys want to come and do another national tour?” It was just a bit of a conversation, it wasn’t really much. Then there was a bit of Twitter feed going on, with people asking AJ if he would put Area-7 on Warped. He said he would but now Warped isn’t coming out so I think AJ’s done a pretty honourable thing and he’s said “you know what I’m going to do, I’m going to put you boys on Soundwave”. So we’re pretty wrapped about that. And you know, there’s some pretty bad publicity that gets around about some of these promoters but look, the guys out there, they put their balls and their money on the line to make these concerts work and I can’t speak highly enough of AJ. So thanks AJ, we really appreciate it. It’s a great way to finish our career.
Things were going pretty well for Area-7 back in the early naughties then you kinda dropped off the scene. What happened?
Our musical career changed, I guess, in just one day. We were offered the Vans Warped tour, which we headlined. We had our single Nobody Likes a Bogan in the Top 40, which had been there for eight weeks. We had a new single ready to go, ready to be released and suddenly, our record company closed it’s doors in Australia in the morning and sacked everybody that afternoon. That was Zomba Records, the big American label. And we spent the next two years trying to get out of our record contract, during which time we couldn’t really do much, because we were signed to them for a number of albums. It’s the same story you’ve heard a few times already. By the time we were free of the contract and able to do what we wanted to do, the horse had bolted. People had started watching shows like Australian Idol, the Voice, and next thing we knew, there was nowhere for us. The music industry had moved on. You know, that’s not still a chip on my shoulder, don’t get me wrong. That’s just the way it happened. That’s the way it is. You know, we’re eternally grateful that we had the time that we did, but at the same time, it just died overnight. We moved on to do different things. But look, we still play. We’ve always played. We never split up or anything like that. We just don’t play as much as we used to and we don’t have the media support that we used to have. But so what??? We never started the band for that in the first place!
You’re celebrating your 20-year anniversary? Given those issues, did you ever think you’d make it this far?
Yeah, that’s a great question. We did some fantastic things, even after that happened. We toured in East Timor, we still did some big festivals. We toured when we felt like it, rather when they told us we had to. Recording an independent release at Woodstock Studios with Troy down in St Kilda. We went back to almost were we stared from. And you know what? I think in some ways, we really enjoyed that. I always liked playing at small punk pubs, where there are mohawks poking you in the eye on stage. So from my perspective, I like the way it evolved. I like the way it ended up. We didn’t just fizzle out. We just did our own thing and went back to the people who made us popular in the first place. And now Soundwave is a great way to end the whole thing and pass the microphone on to someone else to take over. Like I said, there are plenty of great bands out there.
Well, once upon a time, AJ was our booking agent in Sydney. He’s always been a great supporter of the band. I went along to the Warped festival last year as a guest, just to watch a couple of bands with my daughter, who’s a big punk rock fan as well, and saw him there. I also bumped into him at the Living End tour and AJ was saying, “hey, would you boys want to come and do another national tour?” It was just a bit of a conversation, it wasn’t really much. Then there was a bit of Twitter feed going on, with people asking AJ if he would put Area-7 on Warped. He said he would but now Warped isn’t coming out so I think AJ’s done a pretty honourable thing and he’s said “you know what I’m going to do, I’m going to put you boys on Soundwave”. So we’re pretty wrapped about that. And you know, there’s some pretty bad publicity that gets around about some of these promoters but look, the guys out there, they put their balls and their money on the line to make these concerts work and I can’t speak highly enough of AJ. So thanks AJ, we really appreciate it. It’s a great way to finish our career.
Things were going pretty well for Area-7 back in the early naughties then you kinda dropped off the scene. What happened?
Our musical career changed, I guess, in just one day. We were offered the Vans Warped tour, which we headlined. We had our single Nobody Likes a Bogan in the Top 40, which had been there for eight weeks. We had a new single ready to go, ready to be released and suddenly, our record company closed it’s doors in Australia in the morning and sacked everybody that afternoon. That was Zomba Records, the big American label. And we spent the next two years trying to get out of our record contract, during which time we couldn’t really do much, because we were signed to them for a number of albums. It’s the same story you’ve heard a few times already. By the time we were free of the contract and able to do what we wanted to do, the horse had bolted. People had started watching shows like Australian Idol, the Voice, and next thing we knew, there was nowhere for us. The music industry had moved on. You know, that’s not still a chip on my shoulder, don’t get me wrong. That’s just the way it happened. That’s the way it is. You know, we’re eternally grateful that we had the time that we did, but at the same time, it just died overnight. We moved on to do different things. But look, we still play. We’ve always played. We never split up or anything like that. We just don’t play as much as we used to and we don’t have the media support that we used to have. But so what??? We never started the band for that in the first place!
You’re celebrating your 20-year anniversary? Given those issues, did you ever think you’d make it this far?
Yeah, that’s a great question. We did some fantastic things, even after that happened. We toured in East Timor, we still did some big festivals. We toured when we felt like it, rather when they told us we had to. Recording an independent release at Woodstock Studios with Troy down in St Kilda. We went back to almost were we stared from. And you know what? I think in some ways, we really enjoyed that. I always liked playing at small punk pubs, where there are mohawks poking you in the eye on stage. So from my perspective, I like the way it evolved. I like the way it ended up. We didn’t just fizzle out. We just did our own thing and went back to the people who made us popular in the first place. And now Soundwave is a great way to end the whole thing and pass the microphone on to someone else to take over. Like I said, there are plenty of great bands out there.
You mentioned the Australian Idol thing. A while back Dave Grohl said reality TV isn’t the way to go and that kids should just get out and play music, regardless of whether they know how to or not. Did you guys know what you were doing when you started?
Nah! No! Look, I’ve said this to people before. I’d get friends ring up and ask “can you talk to my son about his band?” There’s no magical formula to do this. You’ve just gotta be doing the right thing at the right time, at the right level. It’s that simple. And it’s a bit of luck. If I look at our own story for example, when Area-7 put out our Road Rage EP, Triple J completely refused to play it. The next thing that came along was No Logic and Pauline Hanson just happened to be in politics at the time. Racism became a big issue in Australia so Triple J jumped on the No Logic song because it’s about racism and violence and the next thing we knew, we were on high rotation and we’re travelling the country. It’s that simple. We were doing the right thing at the right time. Look, I could piss in everybody’s pocket and say we were just really cool, but no we’re not. We’re no better than any other band out there. We just happened to be doing the right thing at the right time. So from my perspective, we were really lucky. And that’s why I’m probably OK to let it go and let someone else have a crack. We’ve been doing this for... I’ve been with bands since I was 15 and I’m the wrong side of 40 now. It’s time for me to move on and do something else and let the Bennies or someone else like that take over with their craziness, you know?
You had plans for your end of May birthday show in Melbourne to have all of your past and present brass players performing. Did that happen?
Nah, that hasn’t happened yet. We’ll be doing that for the Melbourne show in two weeks’ time instead. We’re going to have almost the entire Area-7 lineup there. One guy can’t be there because he’s in England. It’s a bit too hard for him to get back here for just one show. But the rest of the band will be there as the original lineup, our original bassy, our original horn section.
It must’ve been fun to get back together with everyone?
Oh yeah! Absolutely. One of the great things about Area-7 is that despite the fact that we’re really different in ages and really different in musical taste, the common ground that we meet on is Area-7 and we have absolute respect for each other and what we do. When you tour a lot, and Area-7 toured a lot in the early naughties, you get to learn how to get along with each other and we’re good friends outside of the band as well, so yeah, it’ll be great fun and we’ll have a ball! No doubt about that. I think we’ll have a six-piece brass section. So Melbourne Ska Orchestra, watch out, we’re comin’ after ya! (laughs)
Nah! No! Look, I’ve said this to people before. I’d get friends ring up and ask “can you talk to my son about his band?” There’s no magical formula to do this. You’ve just gotta be doing the right thing at the right time, at the right level. It’s that simple. And it’s a bit of luck. If I look at our own story for example, when Area-7 put out our Road Rage EP, Triple J completely refused to play it. The next thing that came along was No Logic and Pauline Hanson just happened to be in politics at the time. Racism became a big issue in Australia so Triple J jumped on the No Logic song because it’s about racism and violence and the next thing we knew, we were on high rotation and we’re travelling the country. It’s that simple. We were doing the right thing at the right time. Look, I could piss in everybody’s pocket and say we were just really cool, but no we’re not. We’re no better than any other band out there. We just happened to be doing the right thing at the right time. So from my perspective, we were really lucky. And that’s why I’m probably OK to let it go and let someone else have a crack. We’ve been doing this for... I’ve been with bands since I was 15 and I’m the wrong side of 40 now. It’s time for me to move on and do something else and let the Bennies or someone else like that take over with their craziness, you know?
You had plans for your end of May birthday show in Melbourne to have all of your past and present brass players performing. Did that happen?
Nah, that hasn’t happened yet. We’ll be doing that for the Melbourne show in two weeks’ time instead. We’re going to have almost the entire Area-7 lineup there. One guy can’t be there because he’s in England. It’s a bit too hard for him to get back here for just one show. But the rest of the band will be there as the original lineup, our original bassy, our original horn section.
It must’ve been fun to get back together with everyone?
Oh yeah! Absolutely. One of the great things about Area-7 is that despite the fact that we’re really different in ages and really different in musical taste, the common ground that we meet on is Area-7 and we have absolute respect for each other and what we do. When you tour a lot, and Area-7 toured a lot in the early naughties, you get to learn how to get along with each other and we’re good friends outside of the band as well, so yeah, it’ll be great fun and we’ll have a ball! No doubt about that. I think we’ll have a six-piece brass section. So Melbourne Ska Orchestra, watch out, we’re comin’ after ya! (laughs)
You mentioned that you’ve been playing music for well over 20 years. Do you have any favourite moments? Something that when you look back you can’t help but smile?
Oh yeah. Too many to mention. But for me, being asked to play for the Australian troops in East Timor during the war was fantastic. To arrive in the middle of the jungle and be surrounded by tanks with their lights on, providing lights for the show, was a pretty unique experience and something you just don’t get to do. That blew me away. Or walking out on stage at Homebake to 25,000 crazy people... But some of the best ones for me are playing at the Arthouse to 250 hot and sweaty punk rockers that are going nuts in a room where the walls are sweating. That, to me, is what it’s about. That’s what it’s really about. So yeah, there are a lot of cool things. I have a daughter and at the time, she was two or three, coming along to shows with big headphones and standing on the stage at Warped. They’re some of the really great memories we’ve had. We’ve been pretty lucky and that’s why, in the end, we’re pretty happy to say well, that was a good time and I’m really thankful for it.
Yeah, it’s great to see bands’ kids, in earmuffs, on stage, experiencing live music at a young age.
Yeah. My daughter is 15 and I took her to see the Amity Affliction on the weekend and I was the oldest guy at Festival Hall by a long shot. but it’s great to be able to go to a punk rock show with your daughter. I just love it.
Do you get much of a chance to get out and see live music?
I do love to see bands and I’ve got so many mates in bands. Bands like Doubleblack, who are a grungy roadhouse rockabilly band. One of my favourite bands is the Murder Rats, featuring some really cool mates of mine. I love those guys. I get out and see quite a few bands. And like I said, I love the Bennies and I love the Resignators, so we’ll get out and see as much of those guys as we can. We’ve still got a great scene. It’s fantastic.
You recorded a cover of the Cure’s Boys Don’t Cry for 2000’s Bitter and Twisted album. Do you have any other covers you really enjoy playing?
Yeah. There are quite a few. Area-7 always tried to do things a little different to the norm. there was the whole ska ting with the checkers and the black and white and all that. So many bands do that and they really well. But we didn’t want to do that. We stayed away from that. And the same with the covers we played. We could have easily done some Madness covers, or some Specials covers, but we wanted to do something different. We did covers of the bands we really dug. We did songs by the Angels and Duran Duran. The Specials, we did do, but as a tribute. We’ve done Midnight Oil’s Read About It. We do a little bit of AC/DC, a little bit of Van Halen. We try to do things a little bit different. My favourite tracks to do would be any of the Operation Ivy covers. I’m an old school punker at heart and I love Operation Ivy and their songs mean a lot to me. For me personally, I love the old Op Ivy songs.
Are you playing any covers on the Double Cross tour or perhaps at Soundwave?
We’re doing one actually. We’re doing Rumble in Brighton. We did it as a bit of a tribute when we were doing the Living End tour. We thought that the Living End boys could never do a Stray Cats cover because it was too stereotyped, so we thought we’d do it for them. So we did Rumble in Brighton, which we had a bit of fun with actually. But it was great with the horn section, so we’ll probably do that on this tour as well.
Well, good luck with the rest of the Double Cross Tour and I’m sure everyone will be looking forward to seeing your potential final shows at Soundwave next year.
Thank you very much. When you guys come to the Soundwave shows, I’ll be walking around in the crowd, so come say hello!
Oh yeah. Too many to mention. But for me, being asked to play for the Australian troops in East Timor during the war was fantastic. To arrive in the middle of the jungle and be surrounded by tanks with their lights on, providing lights for the show, was a pretty unique experience and something you just don’t get to do. That blew me away. Or walking out on stage at Homebake to 25,000 crazy people... But some of the best ones for me are playing at the Arthouse to 250 hot and sweaty punk rockers that are going nuts in a room where the walls are sweating. That, to me, is what it’s about. That’s what it’s really about. So yeah, there are a lot of cool things. I have a daughter and at the time, she was two or three, coming along to shows with big headphones and standing on the stage at Warped. They’re some of the really great memories we’ve had. We’ve been pretty lucky and that’s why, in the end, we’re pretty happy to say well, that was a good time and I’m really thankful for it.
Yeah, it’s great to see bands’ kids, in earmuffs, on stage, experiencing live music at a young age.
Yeah. My daughter is 15 and I took her to see the Amity Affliction on the weekend and I was the oldest guy at Festival Hall by a long shot. but it’s great to be able to go to a punk rock show with your daughter. I just love it.
Do you get much of a chance to get out and see live music?
I do love to see bands and I’ve got so many mates in bands. Bands like Doubleblack, who are a grungy roadhouse rockabilly band. One of my favourite bands is the Murder Rats, featuring some really cool mates of mine. I love those guys. I get out and see quite a few bands. And like I said, I love the Bennies and I love the Resignators, so we’ll get out and see as much of those guys as we can. We’ve still got a great scene. It’s fantastic.
You recorded a cover of the Cure’s Boys Don’t Cry for 2000’s Bitter and Twisted album. Do you have any other covers you really enjoy playing?
Yeah. There are quite a few. Area-7 always tried to do things a little different to the norm. there was the whole ska ting with the checkers and the black and white and all that. So many bands do that and they really well. But we didn’t want to do that. We stayed away from that. And the same with the covers we played. We could have easily done some Madness covers, or some Specials covers, but we wanted to do something different. We did covers of the bands we really dug. We did songs by the Angels and Duran Duran. The Specials, we did do, but as a tribute. We’ve done Midnight Oil’s Read About It. We do a little bit of AC/DC, a little bit of Van Halen. We try to do things a little bit different. My favourite tracks to do would be any of the Operation Ivy covers. I’m an old school punker at heart and I love Operation Ivy and their songs mean a lot to me. For me personally, I love the old Op Ivy songs.
Are you playing any covers on the Double Cross tour or perhaps at Soundwave?
We’re doing one actually. We’re doing Rumble in Brighton. We did it as a bit of a tribute when we were doing the Living End tour. We thought that the Living End boys could never do a Stray Cats cover because it was too stereotyped, so we thought we’d do it for them. So we did Rumble in Brighton, which we had a bit of fun with actually. But it was great with the horn section, so we’ll probably do that on this tour as well.
Well, good luck with the rest of the Double Cross Tour and I’m sure everyone will be looking forward to seeing your potential final shows at Soundwave next year.
Thank you very much. When you guys come to the Soundwave shows, I’ll be walking around in the crowd, so come say hello!
Area-7 play what is most likely their last ever pubs shows on the Double Cross Tour. Catch them in a sweaty room while you can!
Fri 19th Sept - Melbourne, the Corner Hotel
Fri 17th Oct - Adelaide, Black Market at Enigma Bar
Fri 24th Oct - Toowoomba, the Spotted Cow
Sat 25th Oct - Brisbane, the Prince of Wales Hotel
And the band will play their final shows as part of the huge 2-day Soundwave festival in 2015.
Sat 21st and Sun 22nd Feb - Adelaide, Bonython Park
Sat 21st and Sun 22nd Feb - Melbourne, Flemington Racecourse
Sat 28th Feb and Sun 1st March - Sydney, Olympic Park
Sat 28th Feb and Sun 1st March - Brisbane, RNA Showgrounds
Weekend and Single Day tickets are available now from Soundwave
Fri 19th Sept - Melbourne, the Corner Hotel
Fri 17th Oct - Adelaide, Black Market at Enigma Bar
Fri 24th Oct - Toowoomba, the Spotted Cow
Sat 25th Oct - Brisbane, the Prince of Wales Hotel
And the band will play their final shows as part of the huge 2-day Soundwave festival in 2015.
Sat 21st and Sun 22nd Feb - Adelaide, Bonython Park
Sat 21st and Sun 22nd Feb - Melbourne, Flemington Racecourse
Sat 28th Feb and Sun 1st March - Sydney, Olympic Park
Sat 28th Feb and Sun 1st March - Brisbane, RNA Showgrounds
Weekend and Single Day tickets are available now from Soundwave
