We got the chance to meet Andrew Neufeld, lead singer of Comeback Kid, in Bruges on the last date of their autumn tour, to ask him a few questions about his 25-year career.
Mandy : So first of all, thank you for this interview. How are you feeling?
Andrew: Oh, I’m good. This is a show that’s been sold out for like… a minute so it feels good to just kind of be able to come to a room and like play a show that people would like to see you at.
People are waiting for. And this is the last one of the tour. How was the tour?
Andrew: It’s been cool. We were just in Scandinavia. I haven’t played there in like eight years probably or something like that. Chill. I’m good to go there in another three or four years I think. I like being back in like mainland Europe right now but no it’s chill. It’s been relaxed and all the shows are crazy. So like off stage quite relaxed. On stage it’s quite crazy.
According to Setlist.fm, it’s your 33rd time here in Belgium. Is it always a time to come back on a tour in Belgium?
Andrew: There’s a lot of festivals that we play here. And we do at least one show here, maybe every tour, so I don’t know. It seems like a lot, right? Yeah, maybe too much. Maybe we should stay away. Are you sick of us yet? (Laugh)
No we are still happy to see you every time. And also, according to the website, it’s your first time here in Bruges. Did you take some time to visit a little?
Andrew: I know nothing about this town. I walked around looking for a pharmacy. I didn’t find one. But it looks like a fake town. It looks like a movie set.
So you recently signed with Shapetone Records for the Trouble EP. How is the collaboration going so far and are you happy with it?
Andrew: So Sharp tone is nuclear blast so we were on a contract with nuclear blast and sharp tone is like the same label but it’s like a different like version of the label They kind of started off doing a little bit more some scene-y type stuff. But we had the option to move to them within the company. So it’s the same company, but it’s just a little bit different. It’s quite good. But we only do the EP with them so far. So we still have to do like a a full album with them to see how it really is. But so far, so good.
And with this EP, you moved a little bit from your usual sound. It’s still Comeback Kid, but it’s more different influences, more rock, more punk than usual. Is it something you wanted to experiment?
Andrew: Um, it was left songs that we didn’t feel like fit for heavy steps, which is our previous record. So it’s like, just like extra songs that we had. So it’s not like our new sound. It was just songs that we had. I’m not going to call them B-sides. They’re not B-sides, but they’re just different sides. (Laugh) But no, it’s not like a new direction for Comeback. It’s just what existed.
How does the songwriting process work within the band? Is everybody involved?
Andrew: So usually one person will write a song. And then if you write the song, you get to be the boss of the song. And say like Jeremy, for example, writes a song or Stu, they bring the song to the mix and then we work on it together. Maybe I fuck some shit around and whatever, I write the lyrics to it. But if there’s a part that really, really needs to be there, there can be some arguments about it. But the boss of the song usually gets the final say of the song. And if the song doesn’t make it, doesn’t make the cut, then that’s your song. (Laugh) You know what I mean? So it’s like someone can bring the song to the mix. Everyone’s allowed to work on it. But it only gets to the finish line if everyone agrees on it.
Last year marked the 20th anniversary of your first album. And the 20th of Wake the Dead, so you’re now like the veterans of the scene. How do you explain the longevity of the band?
Andrew: Its just luck I mean we’re just it it’s a combination of luck but we’re just like we really want this you know like we really love playing music and there’s nothing else really that drives us in the same way and I think that we’ve created a family within our group that allows us to kind of just keep on going and you know it’s not a situation were its ready to die anytime soon. I think that we’re all going to try to keep this going as long as we can just because we really enjoy playing music and traveling and it’s just a nice thing for us to be doing I think.
Back when this album was released, you were the band’s guitarist. Do you miss playing?
Andrew: I do. I was the guitar player originally until 2006. So I’ve been singing now for like, I don’t know, almost 20 years, which is crazy. I miss playing guitar, but usually when I play guitar, it’s when we’re writing a record, when I’m the boss of the song. When I try to be the boss of the song. (Laugh) Or I have a cover band at home that does like punk covers so I get to play guitar with that but I do sometimes miss yeah playing guitar in the band for sure.
So back to Wack the Dead and more specifically its title track. Did you think at the time you wrote it that it would become your signature song in an anthem for the hardcore scene?
Andrew: That is a crazy one, right? I think we’re quite lucky to have that song. we consider that song to be like a really obviously special moment for our band and like I think some sometimes I think that the song is bigger than our band so that kind. not every band has opportunity to have something like that so it’s kind of cool. Couple funnies about that song. you know now people do tuning with like computers and stuff but Bill Stevenson from Descendants and Black Flag he was a producer he actually had a wheel, an analog wheel, and he took Scott’s vocals and he tuned his vocals with an analog wheel on the chorus to make it that pitch. And then I just remember our old singer Scott being mad, or not mad, but there was a discussion about whether we should have it melodic at the end or not. And imagine if we wouldn’t have made it melodic, it wouldn’t have been the song that it is. So, you know, it’s just a different time and it’s kind of like beautiful to think about like those like memories of like, what if we would have done this or what if we would have done that? Like it’s kind of funny.
And so for this album, you’re making a little local show for celebrating your anniversary. Can we maybe expect like a little tour around it or is it just gonna be like a home show?
Andrew: No, we’re gonna do a tour. We’re gonna tour the world with it, actually. But not Belgium, actually because we’re going to come and support Propaghandi and Pennywise instead. So, sorry. (Laugh)
Since COVID, the costs of touring in Europe have risen and many artists are just no longer coming to Europe due to this. How do you manage to keep doing this?
Andrew: I mean, I feel like Europe is one of the places that kind of helps me keep this career alive somehow. We were able to play a lot of shows here ever since COVID, for sure. During COVID, I was driving a camera. I was driving trucks for like… filming for like Hallmark movies. I was driving the camera truck. It’s like going on tour and never playing a show. So luckily I’m back on tour.
The hardcore scene has evolved a lot since your early days. What’s your take on the new generation of hardcore bands?
Andrew: Pretty awesome. Ever since COVID, like you said, you know, that’s been kind of different. But yeah, like there’s been a lot of really, really good bands that have come out of the ashes of COVID. You know, I know a label called Flatspot Records, who has probably some of the best hardcore bands right now. from New York and I don’t know I just think there’s a lot of exciting bands and it seems like they’re doing really well and people know what bands look like now because of YouTube and like it’s just a little bit more of an accessible scene and I think people can find out what’s going on kind of easier I think now so.
We have bands like Knoked Loose and Turnstile that are in the spotlight right now and they get to go to shows from Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel and getting involved in festivals like Coachella. What do you think of this phenomenon? Do you think it’s something positive for the hardcore scene to reach a wider audience?
Andrew: Yeah, I think it’s great. You know, being on a mainstream platform or something. Coming back here to a funny one where I was just kind the same, we keep our nose down, we’re laughing, like we saw this festival like Vainstream the other day, Vainstream Festival, and we looked, we’ve been playing there since like 2007 or something, and we’re always in the middle of the festival, like Paragraphs and you see these panacea, you know, bring me the horizon architects, whatever They started this at the bottom and you see them good come back. It just stays the same Same line the whole way through hey, at least they know the font at least they know the size of the font We just laugh we just laugh, you know, we’re trying to we try to be humble and like just like low-key, you know.
Your second band Sights & Sounds released its first album Monolith in 2009 and the second one No Virtue in 2019. Are we going to wait 10 years for a third album?
Speaker 3: I don’t know if that band exists anymore, actually. Because, our last show, was right before the pandemic. And, I just don’t know if like, it really like, hit, really. Because I love the music, so much. But, it cost me so much money, to play in this band. And, um, we got opportunities, to tour with bands, like, Bring in the Horizon, Billy Tallent, like, all these big bands. And, just never like, we never like, it always was such a, struggle, to try to be in it. It’s the hardest work, trying to be in this band. And, it cost, like, my friends, were buying like, fucking, houses, and I was spending all the money, on records. So, it’s just, this is, I’m sorry, this is like, it feels like a depressing interview, or something like that.
No, no, I thought it was just like, shit, I have like, the worst question ever (Laugh)
Andrew: I just thought, I tried so hard with that band, and I put so much of my heart, and soul into that.
(Mike intervention) : Your first album, is a masterpiece.
Andrew: Thank you so much. And, Devin Townsend, so often too, you know, like, with the production and stuff. And, a lot, the music still really speaks to me. I just, I tried so hard with that band, and I, it just never, like, caught, legs… yeah. At that time, in like the, like, 2010, 2015, whatever, there wasn’t really any bands, to tour with. Now, I feel like there would be so many bands, to tour with, but I think we were just a little bit, before our time. So many bands sound like us now, but at that time, we had nobody to tour with. It was all either like, it was all like, metalcore, or like, emo, or something. And we were in that kind of like, rock, kind of like, spacey world. Now, again, it would be amazing, I think, for the band. Yeah.
And, back to Come Back Kid; what are your favorite songs, across the seven albums?
Andrew: Lately, I’ve been really enjoying playing, GM Vincent and I, because it’s like, goes crazy. It’s like a, do, do, do, like, ring around the rosy, punk rock song. Um, there’s a song called, Somewhere, Somehow, that I wasn’t about, I didn’t love it as much earlier, but now, that did get a great reaction. A lot of people like to sing that one, itMakes me feel like a good singer and Crossed is fun for me, because I wrote the song. I was the boss of the song. (Laugh)
Well, thank you. Do you have any final words?
Andrew: Thank you so much. I, I’m sorry for my scratchy voice and see you later in the pit!
