When Middle Kids released their mini-album New Songs For Old Problems, the six track collection of guitar pop goodness cemented the Sydney trio as one of the most exciting indie bands to come out of Australia.
But right up until the record’s release, Hannah Joy, Harry Day and Tim Fitz haven’t stopped. Prior to their biggest ever sold-out headline Australian tour to date, the band had a massive 2018.
Their ARIA Top 10 debut release last year, Lost Friends, earned the band an ARIA nomination and saw them tour the UK and Europe with Bloc Party, and are now in the US, where they are on tour with Local Natives.
As the record traverses the globe with its future classics like ‘Big Softy’, ‘Real Thing’ and ‘Beliefs & Prayers’, Tone Deaf asked the band to reflect on what it’s like to tour New Songs For Old Problems, and offer a few on-road stories from their travels.
Check out our Q&A with Middle Kids below:
What’s your fave track from New Songs For Old Problems to play live?
We open our set with Salt Eyes at the moment, which always feels good. It kind of allows us to both relax into the set and bust out a little at the end, and people always seem to connect with that line at the end ‘You’re never mean but you’re never that kind’. Real Thing is feeling good too, it’s been getting some radio play so you can see people starting to sing along.
Stream New Songs For Old Problems below:
Given most of the crowds you’ve played to hadn’t heard the mini-album in full, what’s the reception been like from audiences whilst on tour?
Playing new songs live you pretty much get instant feedback on which songs translate and which ones fall flat. You either see the energy flowing in the room, or not. ‘Beliefs and Prayers’ has been getting a cool reaction on this run, even though people haven’t heard it yet. Sometimes people cheer and you’re like ‘wow, they like it?’
You’ve done a fair few local and international tours now, what are some of your on-tour habits that not many people know about?
We have about a million nicknames and in-jokes that we will literally never talk about when we’re off tour and then AS SOON as we’re in the van they all come back into circulation. So that’s some kind of weird habitual behaviour. Each tour adds more of these, so it becomes a complex language of jargon.
Do you have any funny on-road stories for us from this particular tour?
Hmm, nothing really springs to mind, except we stayed at this bizarre hotel in Montana which had all these hot tubs and fake rocks with stuffed mountain goats on them in the lobby. A very strong vibe.
What’s the most left-of-centre (re: weird) gift you’ve ever received from a fan during a tour?
In Atlanta, we got given these silk pillows with photos of ourselves from the internet printed on them, like a big collage. It was a lot to take in.
Watch Middle Kids take us through the art of peach pie:
