Dorian Cooke of Broadside from Vans Warped Tour Las Vegas – The Highwire Daze Legacy Interviews

Dorian Cooke of Broadside from Vans Warped Tour Las Vegas – The Highwire Daze Legacy Interviews

Original Published August 31st, 2016. From the Van Warped Tour 2016 in Las Vegas!

Introduce yourself and tell me what you do in Broadside.
Hi, my name is Dorian and i play guitar and sing in Broadside.

How’s Warped Tour been going so far and what have been some of the highlights?
It’s been pretty unreal so far. Like the feedback we’ve been getting is pretty overwhelming and we’re really surprised that people came out and supported us in the way they did. We couldn’t be more thankful and i’d say the biggest highlight was definitely today here in Las Vegas today we got bumped up to main stage and we played a stage like way out of our league but we had a really cool crowd and really energetic people and everyone on the staff like everyone that works hands on the stage were so helpful and everyone was really nice and it was like the coolest experience plus, this venue itself is absolutely gorgeous and I wanna play here as often as possible so today probably. It’s insane.

How easy or difficult was it to shoot your current video, “The Simple Type” on Warped Tour?
It was pretty easy; everything fell into place really well. they came out the videographer came out for a in town show which was obviously really really sick because it was in our hometown and, the next day was the first day we got bumped up to a bigger stage and we played Cyclops the next day and the crowd there was really sick so it just kinda fell into place so well and naturally we’re like silly, little stupid guys that mess with each other and like flick each other’s ears or whatever you know we’re just goofy dudes all the time so they kinda just showcased who we are as like goof balls for the most part and it and it really cool crowds so happens to coincide with that so it was awesome.

What does the title of the album, Old Bones mean to you?
To me it’s basically, it wasn’t ideally my concept but the way i relate is like, Old Bones is just a….for me it represents like the opportunity as someone who is a bit older in their twenties trying to chance a young man’s game you know trying to fight your way through this forest of like really young and like full of energy kids, bands, artists what have you and you trying to do your best to showcase all the passion that you’ve had the whole time that you necessarily didn’t get an opportunity to showcase in earlier years kinda thing so, I think that for me that’s what I think it represents.

Any strange or scary happenings while on the road on Warped Tour?
Oh man…strange or scary? Strange I got you. So we’re playing it was another day were we fortunate to get bumped up to a bigger stage and we played this gorgeous amphitheater and just for the life of me cannot remember where it was. Maybe Indiana I’m not a hundred percent but it was a gorgeous amphitheater, and we were playing last on Cyclops and we were playing right after I See Stars and, I See Stars is playing and those dudes fucking killed it, they rip so hard we love watching that dance to be honest like we love their performance is unreal. So their doing their thing and they’re making everyone jump and it’s like an unreal show and all of a sudden before their last song they’re like, we need to don’t tell people to jump anymore because they broke three support beams underneath the stage, they broke the floor, and no one was allowed to be there anymore. So, for our set everyone would clear the pit area and our fans were only allowed to sit like 30 yards away in the seats that’s the only place they were allowed to stand so it was like the stage and the barricade and then wayyyy out then there’s people I felt like an animal at a zoo exhibit, it was really weird. We got through the set, and it ended up being really cool but, it was just really odd because we’ve never encountered anything like that before. It was insane.

That’s crazy. Now, what advice would you give a band about to attempt Warped Tour for the first time next year?
Let’s see, if you can do work Warped Tour not in a van, that would be ideal. I know that’s not an easy thing to come out and do but, if any way you can give yourself AC in your rig like get a generator you know window unit, ceiling unit whatever. if you can rig your rig to have AC in your van or whatever it will make the tour so much more comfortable and less stressful I know that sounds crazy but air conditioning like cool temperatures the knowledge you can escape to not a piping hot place it’s so important to be and if you can do it I know it’s easier said than done, if you can do it please try to do that. Some people don’t have AC and it’s brutal. We went without AC for a week and a half because our generator went out and it was the suckiest week, man. It was so hard. If you can, please, get AC.

Does your van have a name?
Our RV does, yeah. We’re in a 36-foot RV and it’s called The Highway. It was in a movie called Highway to Havasu my friend made. I was fortunate enough to take the RV out on tour because I met him on a previous tour. It was really cool. It’s called The Highway. The Highway to Havasu.

If the music of Broadside was a donut, what flavor and why?
Ok. It’d be a vegan cream filled donut with frootloops on top. Yes. That’d be it, because a lot of our crew don’t eat meat and they’re vegan. So, there’s that. I think the sprinkles on top are the little kitschy stuff we try to do in our music. Then, the cream filled is just the substance we try to put into it. I’m not good at analogies, that was just off the top of my head.

That was pretty good. If Broadside could open for any band either now or from the past, who would it be and why?
I would open for Bring Me The Horizon. That’d be sick. That’s a lot of shoes to fill as far as an opening band, but that’d be so tight. That band is awesome.

How close is Broadside to recording a new album?
D: We’re close, actually. This fall we have some pretty cool plans going on and then after said plans, we’re gonna get right into writing and pre-production and hopefully early next year we’ll be in the studio doing #2.

What’s the first thing that you’re going to do when you get home from Warped Tour?
I’m gonna go into my room, I’m gonna watch Netflix for about 3 hours and then I’m gonna get up and complain about how I need to go somewhere because I’m so used to going going going, and you go from that to standstill and your body is like, no! You need to get up and do stuff. Even though everyone is like, yeah, I want to go home and relax. I’ll be home for three hours and then I’ll call everyone and be like, you want to go somewhere and do something? I don’t know. That’s what’s going to happen, I know it.

What’s up next for you guys after Warped?
After Warped we’re going to be announcing some really cool fall plans that we’re really excited about. Really stoked. Then, we’re gonna be writing some stuff. Shut up. Then we’ll be writing our new record, hopefully get into the studio and early next year we have some really sick plans in the US. A bunch of really cool tours lining up, so, we’re excited about it.

(Interview by Ken Morton – Live Photos by Jack Lue)

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