Ahead of their first trip down under for Warped Tour AU, GOLD from RDGLDGRN talks to ASHLEE KELLEHEAR about recording with Dave Grohl, mixing the genres and meeting kangaroo’s.
Hi there, Gold. How are you?
Hi Ashlee, I’m well. How are you?
I’m well thank you. Just to start of with, I’m from Reverb Online and before we start this morning, I’d just like to say ‘thank you’ for taking the time out of your very busy schedule to chat with us.
Well, I’m very happy to be chatting with you so, thank you for having interest in us.
Excellent, well I guess I’ll get started and straight into it. So often that phrase ‘erupted onto the scene’ is misused when it is associated with bands on the rise. In RDGLDGRN’s case however, it certainly is not. You guys quite literally have blown up and become internationally recognised and in such a very short time frame. What is the pace like for you guys?
Well, it’s something we are very excited about, something we’re pushing as much as we can as well to continue building because it is something we’ve always wanted to do. It’s in our favour and we’re getting closer and closer to playing all over the world to all these people who are familiar with our music so, the pace is obviously pretty quick because but we’ve been working for this for years now and it’s feeling like all the hard work is paying off!
How have your families and friends responded to your success?
Oh, man. Our family and friends are just so-, it wasn’t something I was even prepared for, the amount of excitement! And especially for my parents because my parents were always concerned with the ‘backup plan’ and so on and so forth and not even my parents, specifically, but now they’re seeing the success, they’re going around to like, their different friends houses and they’re like ‘do you know Dave Grohl, my son played with him!’…
[laughter] That’s awesome, I’m sure they’re very proud!
They’re truly proud but at the same time I had to bring them up to speed on who Dave Grohl was, and Pharrell Williams.
[laughter] Oh geeze, well, now they’re down with the lingo! Speaking of Dave Grohl, recording with him, that’s such an accomplishment! So many bands can only dream of saying that! That, and you’ve been announced on the US, EU and AU Warped Tours. That’s quite and achievement already!
It really is and believe me, I played at Warped Tour when I was basically 18 years old. I went to Summer School because I was too involved with my first band when I was in highschool and this was my senior year and so, I basically had to go to Summer School to graduate! And you’re not allowed to take a class off or a day off school and so I had to beg my teacher and explain to him that my band had won a competition to play at Warped Tour on the D.C date and he let me go to perform it. So Warped Tour for me, I was just so happy to be apart of that experience and especially because nowadays, for a band especially that can basically withstand all the heavy heat and just all the hard work from Warped Tour, you can do just about any tour and that was basically the word and we were getting that from absolutely everybody, so I’m really proud of us that we were able to do the tour and I’m truly excited that we get to do it in Europe and Australia as well.
That’s great. So, speaking of Warped Tour. I happened totally by chance to catch your set on this years US leg back in June. To be absolutely honest, you were not what I was expecting but it was a pleasant surprise I must say. Did you guys get that reception a bit?
Oh, really? What location?
I think it was San Diego, if my memory serves me well.
San Diego? Okay, cool. I think that one was the really fun one, if I remember correctly! So, I’m guessing your question was gonna be are people generally surprised by us as far as the live show is concerned or in relation to the music?
Yeah, well I mean, amidst all the hardcore/metal/screamo/punk bands on Warped, did you find that being unique was advantageous?
Oh absolutely. That generally is the consensus at Warped tour, especially these days where it is a lot less traditional punk, which to me is the legendary Warped Tour, you know, bands like Bad Religion. You know, it really changed over the years. We started seeing artists like Katy Perry and Eminem and what not. Jimmy Eat World! People don’t even realise that Jimmy Eat World was there in ’99. I got to see them and meet them and I was like a huge fan of their earlier albums even before they blew up with Bleed American. Warped Tour, these days is definitely advantageous when you are not like, a traditional, I dunno, like post hardcore, pop/punk etc., you just stand out. It’s kind of refreshing for the bands as well cause they get like, a breath of fresh air, get something different, get some variety in their day and I think I understand where they’re coming from. Actually, one of my favourite acts to see on Warped Tour this year was June Wigmore, she was like, blues/rock and kind from your neck of the woods!
Yeah, it was quite a diverse lineup, I must admit. We’re so used to having festivals that are still so static in their lineup’s but Warped was just such a nice mix of music and I think that is the wonderful thing about music and about festivals; it just brings people together. It doesn’t matter about tastes or preferences, if you’re there for the right reason (and that is entirely to support music), then it just makes for such a richer and more wholesome experience!
Absolutely. The culture of festivals like that, that have variety like that, there’s nothing better! It brings people together from all different crowds and it’s funny because when you jump off a festival like that, you immediately feel it when you’re doing other shows, where maybe it’s likely for it to be a little more one-sided as far as like, the style and the culture and so on and so forth. It’s funny you should make your comments about the culture of a festival and stuff like that because when we were actually writing and recording with Pharrell, he was telling us about how he wanted his group N.E.R.D to be a festival band and he was kinda pushing that on to us and saying ‘you guys need to think of yourselves as a festival band that can just win people over because they have open ears and are just ready to take in whatever you have to deliver’. So, that’s the way we were kinda looking at it, going in to Warped Tour which was the most ideal crowd for us but we met people at every single festival and we’d walk around and take pictures and give hugs, so, there was a lot of really good vibes and not to mention those fans are just some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet!
Yeah, I can imagine and in saying that, I’m sure it’ll be quite similar when it comes to our version of Warped, we’re a welcoming bunch of blokes down this way and we do enjoy our music!
Trust me, we’re really excited! We made friends with Hands Like Houses and Tonight Alive and I know even Bert from The Used lives in Australia these days and there is just so much exploring that we have to do and I’m just so excited for it! I know the weather is going to be lovely-
[chuckles] oh, yeah.
A little different to the super cold tour we’re about to do in Europe! Believe me, we cannot wait to be welcomed by your fellow countrymen.
Excellent, well that just answered my next question which was, ‘considering it’s your first trip to ‘The Land Down Under’. Are there things you’re excited to experience about our culture?’ But you’ve kind of just summed that up, but maybe just going on from that are there things you’re excited to do, like pat a koala or a kangaroo?
Oh, oh, absolutely! To be honest with you, I became friends with Trent from HLH and I was telling him the whole time we were hanging out that-, because we knew half way into Warped that we were on the bill for Australia and this is actually the funny thing, so I woke up that day and and I walked outside and was, you know, getting my stretch on and walking to get some food and all these bands were congratulating us and for Warped Tour in Australia and I was like, ‘oh, did that just get confirmed!?’ cause I didn’t even know that and then I went on Instagram and people were tagging us and so, I actually found out through the live feed that we were going to be on Warped and it was really funny-, but I was talking to Trent and told him that I have been wanting to see a kangaroo my whole life, you have to make this experience happen for me please, you know and at the same time I was saying I really wanted to catch a rugby match cause the boys were watching different matches during the summer, but I actually understand that it’s not the season for rugby so, unfortunately I’m not gonna be able to check off that.
Yeah, unfortunately we wrapped up only a couple of weeks ago so you’re only missing out on it by ‘this much’.
Naww!
I guess that it’s such an ideal situation for you guys cause you’ll be amongst familiar faces in an unfamiliar country! I’m sure the guys in Hands and the guys in TA will show you the ropes and teach you all you need to know about Australia.
Oh yeah, believe me, having familiar faces and people in your circle when you’re in unfamiliar territory, it makes it so much better when you’re in that territory-, it’s just gonna make it feel like home and your opinion of a location is always contingent on the people that are creating that experience for you and I know we’ll have a lot of good people around and it should be an incredible time and I think that we’re going to create some memories that we’ll never forget!
Excellent! Well, I guess the Aussie version is just a tad different to the US version; it’s definitely not as long and certainly doesn’t have the same number of artists but I think this will be an ideal Warped comeback for Australia. Are you excited to experience a calmer version of Warped, perhaps have a little more time to pace yourselves and take it all in?
Absolutely. I think that, with the break and whatnot, it’s only gonna allow us to-, to be honest with you, we’ve been touring non-stop since Warped tour in the Summer and we just did another full length tour and I think we’re gonna do another one in January as well, so really for us any time we’re playing outside the United States, you’d be amazed at just how grateful all the people are and how open their ears are so, we absolutely cherish playing to people outside of America just because of the warm reception we get so, for us, either way it’s, believe me, it’s gonna be a win-win.
Wonderful. I mean, I think it’s gonna be quite an experience and we honestly can’t wait to have you guys. Just quickly before we wrap things up, you guys released your first full length album this year. How have crowds responded to hearing it live?
Well, alot of times, like you said, not what people were expecting. Like, ‘Million Fans’! ‘Million Fans’, is like a hip-hop track…and it’s funny cause when you see it live it’s like, that song sounds like Rage Against The Machine, you know, so what people don’t know about us is that we start in the studio, like, not like a lot of bands, at least from the culture I come from, which is the conventional Warped Tour culture I think, because most bands do it this way, maybe not nowadays but back in the day you would basically create a song at practice stage and then you’d play it live and then after that, you’d record it. But the way our group has been doing this for years now is we’d always started from the studio and really built off our talents in the studio as far as recording and so on and so forth, having out tracks down and then we’d carry it over to translate it live. And…uh, I’ve kinda lost my train of thought…what was I talking about [laughs]?
[laughs] Um, it was ‘How have crowds responded to hearing the album live?’
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah! Sorry about that [laughs]
[laughs] Nah, you’re right! Totally go for it!
So, yeah…There’s some songs that translate very similar to the record and there are other’s that are quite different…it’s the coolest thing in the world, you know. We always wanted to combine rapping and hip-hop culture with rock culture because both have such history and so many people have failed to try and combine those two and I kind of hope that people can get where we’re coming from.
I think you’re doing it quite well. Rightio, well I guess my final question for you guys is, the fact that you’re coming out here for the first time, what can people expect from you guys? I know that it’s kind of ‘expect the unexpected’ with you guys but you’re very energetic and you’ve got such an entertaining live set, so is that something people are going to see from you guys out here?
Oh, absolutely. I mean, the energy is always gonna be high and that’s something we never intend to take away. Honestly, we’re young guys and there’s nothing better than when you get in front of a crowd, like that energy, it gives you life, it gives the crowd life
RDGLDGRN will be touring this November and December on Vans Warped Tour Australia.
Vans Warped Tour Australia 2013 tour dates
Friday, 29th November
RNA Showgrounds, Brisbane
Saturday, 30th November
Coffs Harbour, Showground
Sunday, 1st December
Sydney, Barangaroo
Friday, 6th December
Canberra, Exhibition Park
Saturday, 7th December
Melbourne, Birrarung Marr
Sunday, 8th December
Adelaide, Ellis Park