DS Interview: Let’s talk to Hockey Dad
Hey there, friends! It’s been one hot minute since I last had the chance to sit down with a band hailing all the way from the sunny shores of Australia. Today, I’m beyond thrilled to introduce you to Hockey Dad, a dynamic duo straight out of Windang, New South Wales.
Since its beginning in 2014, Hockey Dad has been making waves with their infectious tunes and energetic performances. I had the pleasure of talking with Zach from the band about their upcoming album, Rebuild Repeat, which is out on June 14th.
In our chat, Zach gives us a little sneak peek into the creative process of Rebuild Repeat, how it differs from some of the other albums, their upcoming tour – where they share the stage with Militarie Gun for four dates around Australia, and their fall EU/UK tour with Ocean Alley.
I hope you enjoy getting to know them as much as I have done!
DS: Hi, I’m Karina and congratulations on your upcoming release of Rebuild Repeat.
Hockey Dad: I’m Zach. Nice To meet you. Thank you, I appreciate it.
It’s out June 14th.
Right.
How does Rebuild Repeat differ from your previous work, both musically and theme-wise?
That’s probably a little softer in a lot of aspects. I think we wrote it in a slightly different way, more from an acoustic start. A lot of songs just started on acoustic and just like acoustic tonality. Compared to a lot of the older stuff, we started with a full band from the gecko, so a lot of these, I think, are a little more fragile, maybe. Fragile string arrangements and a softer sound throughout. And it sounds like it’s got a little bit of a melodic sound, almost like our first EP, and our first record kind of pushes back into that realm more so than the last two records we’ve done.
Oh, see, that’s interesting because I was listening to the first album, Boronia. And from the singles I’ve heard from Rebuild Repeat, they sound similar but still different. So, I get what you’re saying. It’s a throwback to the beginning for you.
Kind of. Yeah, I think so. I think the songs came pretty quickly, as well. We made it a point for these on this record. We were going to like to push through, not spend so much time on the ins and outs of the songs, just writing them. I think that was how we used to do it a long time ago as well. Everything was, you know, half an hour, an hour, and it was finished, and you’d leave it alone. So, we took more of that approach with this record again. And I think you can definitely hear it in the songs. They have a similar vibe, but I mean, obviously (were) recorded a little differently. We’ve changed; our sounds have changed a little bit. So, it’s like a throwback, but a fresh, fresh throwback.
The album title Rebuild Repeat suggests a cycle. Can you tell me about the concept behind the title and how it influenced the creative process of the album?
You hit it on the hip. It really is a cycle-based thing. The kind of simple version of it is, really. It’s an album cycle. Bands do an album cycle. We’re thinking of this as you know, this is our 4th record now. We’ve done this a few times. You make a record, and you release it; you do the tour, you make videos, and you go back, and you write another record, and you release that. ‘You Are Here’ again, and I really like coming back into the start of this, like the start of the writing and the recording process; you really do kind of start fresh. Destroy everything, rebuild from there, and sort of start again. And then you repeat the process. It’s kind of like the life of a band really for us.
Yeah, because the last time you released a song, it was in 2022. And then you released the first single for the upcoming album in 2023. I was surprised to look at the track list and saw that “T’s to Cross” wasn’t on it.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Typically, it’s like we have this song that we released in ’22 that we’ll put on as a bonus.
But when you listen to it, it sounds different from the singles you’ve released so far.
Yeah, definitely, yeah. “Ts to Cross” came from a time when we were really just recording in our locked down COVID kind of time. We recorded a bunch of stuff, and not a lot of it saw the light of day. So that was kind of in a different studio at a different time. So yeah, that song now, especially compared to the new record, which was all done roughly in the same time frame with the same people, had a whole different scope. So yeah, I don’t know if I don’t think we ever would have put it on the record. I don’t think it would have fit. I think we had enough ammunition with the newer stuff, and we really just wanted to push in that direction. So, it’s nice that single that, that single just kind of gave us something to do, gave us something to tour around during 2022. And yeah, now we move on.
Exactly. And I think you definitely show that you move on with the new album. But… One of the things that I enjoy hearing is some of the fun things that happen in the studio. Do you have any memorable experiences from when you were recording?
Ah. I think, yeah, we recorded in two or three different blocks over about six months, and we kind of did it in different studios every time. That’s because we had no real time to book a studio for an extended period, and it was cheaper this way. So, we kind of just moved around. And so, really, this record is from sort of like three different times. I’m just pushing into this one little record. I remember we were working in a studio close to home, and we had nothing really funny that I could think about. Usually, we’re just pretty relaxed and pretty chill in the studio. We had some cool names for some guitar amps we were using. We had a tiny little Amp called Danny DeVito, and then we had a huge guitar amp called Arnold Schwarzenegger, a bunch of stuff like that—just weird amp names.
There are always a few like phrases that kind of like stick phrases and in-jokes that stick while you’re making a record with the producer and stuff. I don’t know. We’re using things up a lot that that got thrown out. But that was it. I mean, most of the time, we were pretty relaxed and had a good time. We did it in the BMG studios up in Sydney, so there are like our publishers and our label. They’ve got a fantastic studio there now with artificial UV light. So, it looks like daytime in the studio. Anytime you can be inside, but it feels like you’re outside, kind of. So that was a nice touch from being in a studio all day. You actually have some sunlight and vitamin D, so that definitely made it. Maybe a little more relaxed, it probably comes out on the record as well.
From what I’ve heard so far, the album sounds very coherent. There’s a flow to the songs, and it doesn’t sound like you’re trying to be a different band from your roots. Which I think is nice because you have been in a band for 10 – 11 years now.
Yeah, ten years probably.
That’s a long time.
It is. I think that was kind of a driving force behind these new records. We really wanted to throw ourselves kind of back to the beginning to make kind of exciting again. I mean, the first record we did or the first EP, we were just so excited to be making music and making records. It’s so different. It’s so new. And you know, kind of, you get used to it, and you know, it becomes more work. It just becomes a regular thing. So, we really wanted to throw all that away and start really fresh and try and make another, you know, first record or something like that.
That’s probably why you sound so relaxed. Because the last album you released was in 2020, and apart from “T’s to Cross”, you did have a break, you could say.
Yeah. It was a forced break for a while. Which I think was probably good. We did a lot of writing during that break, but a lot of that stuff that was kind of where, like “T’s to Cross,” was made during that break. But a lot of the other stuff, we kind of just moved on. I mean, like, after sort of that COVID period almost like ended. It felt like those songs didn’t really make sense anymore. We needed a fresh start again to really just build up and create a new album from scratch. So, I think it was nice to really cut everything off from those last two years of just not doing a record and just waiting around. We kind of pull that away and started fresh again.
It does sound fresh. I mentioned I loved “Base Camp” and that it has those spring vibes to it. So, I was thinking, what’s the story behind “Base Camp?”
We did this like a little writing session. I think it was like the opening intro riff. We’re just mucking around. I think that came out first. During the whole process, we were aware of how corny it was; even the intro, everything, and the riff were pretty corny. It’s very poppy. I mean, we’re kind of in these two minds the whole time. It’s really corny, but it’s still. It’s just fun to play, and it still just works. So, we kind of almost just leaned more into it, like, OK, we’ll put the “da da’s” in there. You know, all the vocals in the intro, and we kind of pushed it as far as we can go. What we thought maybe was that corny. And I think it just works out because that spirit is kind of there. It’s not really trying to fake anything. And it’s just like it’s a bit pop-banger. It’s like 2 1/2 minutes. It’s just like in and out and done. And I think that was kind of just like a lot of the record ended up being made like that was, you know, a 10-second idea, like the riff. And we just pushed it out really fast and went with it. Just let it take over. And we got that feel with a lot of the songs, like on “Base Camp”. It’s just a happy, bouncy, springy song. It is, and I love that about it.
And now You’re going on tour in Australia in this, well, in your winter, but our summer, and then you’re going to Europe and the UK in September.
Yeah, that’s right. The Australian tours are going to be fun; we’re doing some of our biggest shows, really stepping it up and trying to make it a really good live show.
And yeah, to the UK and Europe with Ocean Alley, a couple of good friends of ours. That’ll be good. We were there, maybe this time last year. And sure, it would be nice to be back, and the weather should be pretty good. And then I think we’ll be coming back to the States later on in the year, as well before the end of the year.
Because I noticed that on three of the Australian dates, Militarie Gun would be joining you. Are you going to do a tour with them over in the States?
I mean, we would love to. That hasn’t been discussed or really organized yet, but yeah, we would love to. I think it would be great to hang out with them down here and show them Australia. Then, maybe they’ll come over and do it with us and be up for that because they’re a great band; I love those guys.
So, back to the album. How would you describe the evolution of your sound compared to the previous releases? Because now you mentioned that you go back to the sound on the first album. But, still, some things have changed because it’s not as rough.
I think it’s less guitar-driven. For sure, it’s like electric guitar-driven in the last two records. They were kind of like every song had at least probably three guitar tracks playing at the same time. You know? Really thick, thick guitars. That was kind of pulled back a lot for this record. It was a lot cleaner, with fewer guitars and just less guitar playing. Try to move more into using keys and synths and just playing guitar differently as well. Instead of just kind of the same thrashy thick wall of guitars that the last kind of records were like, I think that changed a lot of it. It definitely opened up the sound of the record and softened everything up. And it made room for more vocal, like, you know, about melodies and different interesting keys, parts, or whatever, you know, throughout the whole record. I think a lot of it’s probably got to do with the lack of thick guitars, like driving guitars through a lot of it. It’s more like pop guitar work and more than kind of like an indie-like grunge guitar sound compared to the last ones. It’s kind of just pop-like groove beats, more danceable beats than kind of a moshable beat, I would say.
Last question, OK, if you could have it…suppose there’s a dream collaboration, if you could have any collaborator on the album. Who would you have?
I don’t know. I will probably get somebody like Jeff Tweedy to come in and write a song. That’s kind of what I’ve been loving the last few years. I’ve fallen in love with Wilco and all that stuff. So, I would say Jeff Tweedy and Wilco, or even anyone from Wilco, just come in and show us how it’s actually done that would be.
Thank you so much for your time, Zach! It was nice meeting you.