Australia’s Ocean Grove are a week out from kicking off a headline tour of the country and the excitement is building.
Dubbed the ‘Oddworld Underground Australian Tour’, the run will see the Melbourne outfit joined by US metalcore act Cane Hill, alongside rising local heavies Deficit and Blinder. Kicking off in Perth on Thursday, August 13th, the tour will hit Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Newcastle before wrapping up in Brisbane on Saturday, August 22nd.
In anticipation of the tour, Tone Deaf sat down with Ocean Grove’s Sam Bassal to talk about his favourite touring memories, the biggest challenges, and pinch me moments.
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Sam’s First Ocean Grove Show
I’m pretty sure my first Ocean Grove show was around 2012. We were playing at a venue called Arrow On Swanston in Melbourne. We were supporting someone, and that was actually a fill-in gig for me. Our manager to this day, Ash Hull, knew me. I didn’t know any of the Ocean Grove guys, but Ash knew me from maybe my first ever band, or I’d played one of his all-ages shows that he was doing before anyone else. He was managing Ocean Grove and said they needed a fill-in for the show. I met them, had one rehearsal, and then we played that show. And then the day after that show, it was like, “yeah, you’re just in the band now, you’re going to play every show now”. And that was it!
I want to say this was around 2012, maybe 2013. And I was a baby, I was a teenager, I couldn’t even drive. And a funny tidbit about that show is that I was previously in a band; it was my first ever band growing up. I didn’t really get to do anything with them. But they kicked me out because I was too young. They kicked me out! I was devastated by it, I was like, “It’s ruined my life, I’ll never be in a band again”. And they actually played that same show; they were playing either before or after Ocean Grove. So they were all there watching me play my first ever show for Ocean Grove. It’s a funny extra piece of info that they booted me and then had to watch me play with Ocean Grove quite some time later.
Comparing That First Show To More Recent Shows
I think there’s a youthful innocence to playing your first show. You don’t really know anything other than you’re just excited to get on a stage and play music. Obviously, that has changed these days. It shouldn’t, but it has definitely changed.
Looking back at the most recent show I played with Ocean Grove, we were in Finland, I’m pretty sure. The youthful innocence of playing on a stage for the first time compared to playing somewhere in Scandinavia… I didn’t think I’d ever even be in a place like that in my life, let alone be playing music there!
I don’t think Sam in 2012 or 2013 would believe where things led from that first show to be honest. I’d just been kicked out of a band. I knew I was good at drums, but that’s kind of all I had going for me at the time. Did I expect to be where I am today? Probably not.
Challenges Along The Way
I think all shows become challenging when you’re well into a six-week stretch of playing every night. I think the balance of life, physical health, mental health and being a musician go hand in hand with why a show would be difficult for me.
Present Day & “Pinch Me” Moments
These days, when it comes to Ocean Grove, I get “pinch me” moments anytime we’ve played a big headliner in Australia. In the moment, you don’t really think about things, but then you look back, and there’s the reflection point of like, “fuck, we just played this room to our fans”. And it is a very beautiful moment where you can actually step back and appreciate, “this actually happened”. I don’t think any band really looks at what they’re doing right in the moment and can always be pumped that they’re doing it, or feel that gratitude completely at the time. I think it’s the post-reflection where you can be like, “Okay, we got to do that, that was awesome!” I’ll always remember the feeling of walking out and doing that.
And for myself personally as well, another “pinch me” moment would be playing with The Amity Affliction in arenas, walking out on stage for the first time, not even having touched my drum kit for the day, and just looking out into literal arenas. That’s something I don’t think I would’ve ever thought I’d actually get to do. I hope that Ocean Grove gets to do that one day because it’s a fucked up, amazing feeling.
For complete tour and ticket information, see here.
