With Confidence Discuss Life On The Road, Warped Tour, and Cute Kangaroo Stories

With Confidence Discuss Life On The Road, Warped Tour, and Cute Kangaroo Stories

With Confidence from Australia recently made their way to the Southern California area, playing shows at The Observatory in Santa Ana and The Teragram Ballroom in the wilds of Downtown L.A.  On tour with the headlining State Champs, With Confidence unleashed a set of powerhouse pop punk anthems that had even the girls in the audience slamming and crowd surfing.  Performing songs from their recently issued Better Weather magnum opus on Hopeless Records, With Confidence is sure to be headlining their own dates the next time they make their way to the States, especially if their dynamic performance at The Teragram is indicative of greater glories ahead.  Prior to their show in Los Angeles, we caught up with the members of With Confidence in the alley behind the venue to discuss life on the road, Warped Tour, cute kangaroo stories, and a whole lot more!  Read on…

Introduce yourself and tell me what you in in With Confidence.
Josh: Hey my name is Josh and I play drums.
Luke: I’m Luke and I play guitar.
Jayden: I’m Jayden, I sing and in play bass.
Inigo: I’m Inigo and I sing and play guitar.

How has the tour been going, what have been some of the highlights?
Jayden: Tour has been going incredible. It’s our first time doing venues around America. Last time we did Warped Tour. We didn’t really know what to expect coming in but a lot of the crowd have been sort of singing along, really getting into the set, crowd surfing, circle pitting. It’s a lot better than what we expected. We’re all pretty stoked on it.

For those who are about to miss it tonight, what can one expect from a live With Confidence show?
Inigo: A lot of very bad jokes. What else?
Luke: I t think you can expect a lot of energy. A lot of fun. Some bad jokes like Ini said. I don’t know, just a good time.
Josh: Our pretty much role on this tour is to get the crowd riled up to see State Champs. I think that’s what we’ve been doing every day. We just want people to climb on top of each other, sing our lyrics, do whatever they want to do to show us they’re having a good time.

You spent last summer on Warped Tour. What advice would you give a band about to attempt this year, since you’re veterans now?
Josh: A bus or bandwagon. The dudes who did it – we toured with a band Reckless Serenade, who had the most happy go lucky attitude, they loved it. They had the best summer and they broke up two months later. It’s just because the pressure you go through trying to do it, everyone we talk to was like “don’t do a van.” Because we were going to do it and try and save some money and we ended up going for the bandwagon. Just having somewhere where you can retreat, where you can find your personal space. Something that’s air conditioned on a 100 degree day. You need it. We’re not a luxurious bands by any means. We do it DIY, but for Warped Tour, you’re in the sun for two months straight and your days are long. And your nights are long too if you know what you’re doing, so [laughs]. You need somewhere air conditioner.

With Better Weather approaching a two year anniversary, how close are you to writing and recording new material?
Jayden: We’re in the process of writing right now. Every spare moment we have when we’re home, we’re writing. We’ve got an acoustic guitar with us and we’ve been writing with every single day. Trying to build up a massive repertoire of songs that when we get home, we can work together as a band and formulate something new, something fresh and something bigger and better. I reckon we’re about halfway through the process at the moment.
Inigo: Just writing, not recording.

When you look back on your two EPs, what do you think of them now?
Josh: I would love to remix Youth. [laughs] I’m still proud of them. I think we are where we are because of those EPs and every time we go and record music, we learn something new and I’m excited to see where album two takes us. I think there’s growth release to release. Hopefully we’re doing something better, otherwise we’re definitely doing something wrong.

Has Green Day heard or commented on your cover of “Wake Me Up, When September Ends?”
Luke: I wish. I’m a huge Green Day fan. I think all of us grew up on Green Day in some form. Getting the opportunity to cover such an iconic song was both an extremely cool experience for us, but also a nerve wrecking one because it’s hard to touch such a classic song and do it justice. If Green Day are out there, please listen and take us on tour.

If the music of With Confidence was a donut, what flavor would it be?
Luke: Freshly glazed, organically.
Jayden: I’m gonna say, a smooth caramel donut.
Inigo: I like almond croissants with cream filling.
Josh: Fucking bagel.

Has any member of With Confidence every pet, ran over or otherwise been assaulted by a kangaroo?
Inigo: Definitely pet.
Luke: I’ve been ran over, but it was by a car. We’ve had kind of the opposite. Fortunately we haven’t been on any kind of car crash on tour but there was one time in particular where we were driving between Melbourne and Adelaide, big stretch in Australia. Like a 16 hour drive. I think in the space of an hour, we counted 300 kangaroos across the side of the road and they are big dudes. If they jump out in front of your van, you’re gonna crash and it’s not gonna end well.
Jayden: I did have an experience with a kangaroo when I was a kid. I think I might have been 4 or 5 years old, and I was a little shit of a kid, still am by the way. I was at the zoo with my grandparents and I was in a real terrible mood, apparently, and as soon as we went into the zoo, I saw a kangaroo and like hit it with my hand. I was just so mad, right? And this thing just looked at me and I kind of walked away. A few hours later, as we were leaving, the very same kangaroo ran up to me and jump kicked me right in the face. It remembered me.

That’s the best story ever!
Luke: They stand up on their tails and kick you with both legs. They can kill animals if they kick the in the head. It’s like a horse.
Jayden: I deserved it, though.

KM: What’s up next for With Confidence after this tour?
All: We’re gonna punch a kangaroo!
Luke: We’ve got a lot more touring plans for this year. Basically I think we’re gonna, obviously continue writing for the second record. But I think we’re gonna be pretty much on the road until the end of the year and then hopefully get in the studio late this year or early next year to start working on that release.

With Confidence is:
Jayden Seeley – vocals/bass
Inigo Del Carmen – guitar/vocals
Luke Rockets – guitar
Josh Brozzesi – drums

(Interview and Band Photo by Ken Morton – Live Photos by Jack Lue)

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