ANDREW NEUFELD of COMEBACK KID: Figure Four And Poppin’ Off
An interview by Sarah Kidd.
They were named after a newspaper headline announcing the return of hockey player Mario Lemieux returning to the NHL and tomorrow Canadian hardcore punk band Comeback Kid returns to New Zealand for two shows in Auckland and Wellington.
Born in many ways from the ashes of Figure Four in the year 2000, Comeback Kid went on to release six studio albums, one EP and a live album; not bad for a band that was originally only meant to be a side project!
Appearing in a double headliner with fellow Canadians Silverstein, I had the chance to have a chat with vocalist Andrew Neufeld about Figure Four, longevity and some very special vinyl that will only be available at their shows!
“Yeah this Andrew, what’s up?”
Comeback Kid was formed by yourself and Jeremy Hiebert; now at the time you were both part of Figure Four. What actually prompted you guys to form Comeback Kid when you were already part of a well-established band?
“Figure Four was you know a pretty heavy hardcore, kinda thrash, crossover metallic hardcore band and I was singing in Figure Four and I wanted – at the time – I wanted to start a band that I could play guitar in so I started Comeback Kid. We were able to be a little bit more diverse with genre and bringing different elements in. I mean even with Figure Four back in those days we were such a straight up hardcore band that even an octave chord would be a sacrilege almost!
We did put like put a hint of melody in but very, very sparingly. But with Comeback Kid we could be a little more interesting with some of the songwriting, like still be a hardcore band but have some of the punk elements we grew up on and I wanted to play guitar in a band … which is funny that I am singing now in the band again after our old singer [Scott Wade] left in 2006 so whatever you know but uh… I got a break from singing for a couple of years there…” [laughs]
Obviously Figure Four are currently on hiatus – are there ever any plans to resurrect the band out of interest?
“It’s funny that you mention Figure Four because the last interviewer mentioned that as well, like what is the thing with Figure Four? I didn’t even know that people knew about Figure Four! Is there like…do you know about Figure Four really?”
Yeah, yeah – people do follow you and like to know the backstory of bands and their members…
“Maybe we gotta get Figure Four out of the ashes and bring them across to Australia?”
There a lot of fans of Comeback Kid who know your history and I think it would be interesting…
“Well see we gotta get ‘Metal’ Mel – that’s the guitar player for Figure Four band, her name is ‘Metal’ Mel – but ever since she had a kid she’s maternal now; so we gotta get Mel and Jeremy to start jamming, get their dates with their kids cause they both have kids with different partners [laughs]. Everyone has babies and stuff in Figure Four, I’m the only freebird here …everyone has to you know leave their family and do their thing.”
Now Comeback Kid has been around for a good seventeen years and as we just discussed you didn’t originally start as the vocalist. When Scott Wade left and you stepped up, was it your intention to remain in that role or at the time did you see it as temporary? And why did you choose to stay singing?
“Nah, it just kinda made sense. It would have been weird if someone else came in, unless you could get someone that kinda emulated Scott a little bit, that was kinda the vibe as well. Luckily we both had like shaggy brown hair at the time and we were both skinny [mutual laughter] and you know he quit singing.
I wrote like all the lyrics with him and stuff so that was really my thing as well you know and I did ultra-vocals when I was doing guitar so it just kinda was natural. I could kinda like pass it off in the same band. I would like try to sing in his style originally. And then luckily that just kind of crossed over and it’s become as you can probably tell from the first record that I sing up until now a different groove, just like found my way, you know my thing and it’s just been cool. I definitely prefer singing Comeback Kid stuff to like when I would just growl in Figure Four you know? I don’t think I could do that all the time now” [laughs]
That style of singing can certainly take a toll on the larynx.
“Yeah and I don’t take care of my lungs as much as I should so …” [mutual laughter]
How do you look back on the last decade or so in terms of evolution and growth of the band?
“You know I was listening to a podcast the other day… fuck what was the term … we’ve definitely like found our groove, we’ve reached cruising altitude you know what I mean? We put out a record, we know what we want on it, we know what we wanna do and we’re able to plan things far ahead and that’s been really, really nice. And that’s all been like in the last few years.
Just to still be in the band and have these crazy opportunities to come to New Zealand or like Australia; we’d never be able to like come without the music. We just found a good groove with writing and putting out music, strategically playing it in the places where we wanna play. Luckily it’s a big, big world so there’s no shortage of places to play I feel so this is why we kinda venture into places that are outside of the box a lot.”
Your latest release ‘Outsider’ has been hailed by many as your best work yet, how do you personally view the album?
“Oh yeah I love it, I think it’s poppin but that’s me [laughs] I don’t wanna like talk up our shit, our music too much but we worked really, really hard on the record. The three of us that really like put the songs into it, we really worked hard on those songs and everyone in the band really brought something to the table. I think this is the first time that everyone – you know who were like in the band and played… feels like really, really tight and everyone was able to contribute in one way or another.
I love our band right now – everyone is just so on point musically and it’s just a good feeling and as long as I feel like that and it feels fresh to me you know it’s a fun vibe. We try to keep the fun stuff up, sometimes writing songs in major keys, like a lot of our style lines are a lot of those minor key songs you know and we’re taking maybe a little more lighter approach in like mood.”
In a recent interview you stated that the album was quite therapeutic for you, a sentiment that has been echoed by your fans. How does it make you feel when you hear that sort of feedback from the fans – that the album helped them as well?
“That’s like… I mean that’s a really, really inspiring thing to hear. I can relate to it just cause I have songs that have really touched me in that way, you know, by bands that I’m a fan of. I know that sometimes one of our songs or another band’s songs, whatever it means to the songwriter that can also mean something different to the listener and I think that’s a cool thing as well. There are no rules with it; you’re just kinda putting your feelings and your opinions down on paper. It’s weird [laughs] it’s hard but it’s rewarding!”
Do you believe – in reference to the issues addressed in the Outsider Album – that the world is becoming a harder place to cope with? Or is it more due to things like social media that problems have found a way to encroach upon our lives in an easier manner?
“I don’t know, it’s really had to say. It’s easier but it’s harder. I know that – and maybe it’s only a reflection of myself – but I know I feel like anxiety levels are through the roof with people. I mean I face that with myself but I don’t know if I am just noticing it more because I also like struggle with that kinda stuff? It seems to me like societies anxiety is through the roof. But I don’t know if you can just blame social media and the addiction to our phones – I mean we’re the first generation that have grown up without it and with it you know? I often just want to shut it all off, but it’s not that easy.”
Well you are correct, latest figures have shown that anxiety levels across the world have increased, especially in Western Countries.
“Yeah, yeah that’s interesting isn’t it? You know people are always talking about it you know so it’s a funny thing but until you get like your first anxiety attack or something like that it’s really hard to understand I think.”
Oh yeah – most definitely.
So going back to Outsider again – which tracks to you personally sum up the themes of the album?
“Huh. Sum up the themes…it’s just a lot of personal stuff, it’s a lot of just you know, beating myself up, dealing with excess and again there’s just a lot of like hashing out my … just kinda venting, you know what I mean?”
Yeah.
“I think that some of the songs, songs like ‘Absolute’ or ‘Surrender Control’ both of those just kinda talk about sometimes going down and you maybe sometimes shouldn’t be going down [that path] and just working that out. And everyone feels those kinda moments in their life so those two I think could really describe that pretty well.”
Of course you guys will be touring New Zealand soon with Silverstein – which is an amazing double header bill! I take it you are looking forward to that?
“Oh I can’t wait; I love Australia and New Zealand. I can’t believe we are finally getting back to New Zealand; it must have been like eight years or something…I don’t know but it’s been a long time!
We’re eager, eager, eager and it’s going to be a different match with us…last couple of times we’ve been downunder it’s been more like hardcore tours … but yeah it’s going to be cool, playing for the Silverstein fans and hopefully get a few people into Comeback Kid and hopefully our core audience will come and represent – come out early you know?”
How did the idea of touring together come about?
“They just asked us. I live in the same city as those guys and so we’re kinda like friends and you know I don’t see them all the time, but they’ve asked us to do so many tours and for some reason it hasn’t worked out. This one came about and we’re like ‘Ok cool, we can either do a headliner tour or join together’ … again we just wanted to do the tour because I think that maybe we’ll play to some different people and we’ve done a lot of headlining tours in Australia – I know you are in New Zealand …”
[laughs]
“…but yeah we just kinda want to try something out, and we know those guys so they’re chill you know? It’ll be fun!”
Big question, with one hell of a back catalogue to choose from what can fans expect?
“Oh yeah we go back as far as our first song that we ever wrote, like the song ‘All In a Year’, we’ll be playing like ‘Turn It Around’ and ‘Wake The Dead’ for sure and our first demo. But we usually play like a handful, like three or four songs per record. We just play the hits, we just play what people wanna hear so you know if there’s a song that’s in the set for too long and it’s not getting the love it’s usually exuviated from the set, so we try to like get the best of and make it happen. We just want the shows to be poppin off!”
Any message for your New Zealand fans?
“New Zealand I mean yeah, we got this new seven inch coming out – we put it out ourselves – with a new song and a cover of Midnight Oil’s ‘Beds Are Burning’! We’ll have the records, the only place you’ll be able to get the records is just like at the show so we’ve just gone ahead and made this ourselves, so yeah that’s like the exciting news for us!
We just hope to get the new music out, pumped to see what New Zealand thinks about the new record and maybe we gotta get that Figure Four shit going!”
[laughs] Most definitely!
“We’ll do all the Figure Four covers…”
Comeback Kid performs with Silverstein TONIGHT (Tuesday 22nd May 2018) at Whammy! Bar in Auckland, and tomorrow night at Valhalla in Wellington. Tickets are still available from Under The Radar, but get in quick as this is sure to sell out!
