Alien Ant Farm have announced an 11 UK date tour in February 2018. Following their hugely successful anniversary run in 2016 which saw the band play their defining album “Anthology” in full which saw the crowd enjoy favourites such as “Smooth Criminal” & “Movies”.
The tour will see the band roam the country with Nu Metal heroes SOiL in support. They will also be joined by Illinois based post-grunge band, Local H.
Tickets go on sale presale on Tuesday, August 29th and on general sale Thursday, August 31st. Tickets will be available from www.livenation.co.uk
We spoke to Alien Ant Farm’s Terry Corso last time they were in the UK, check it out here:
How are you today?
I’m good, I had a little lunch today by my self. There is a pub round the corner that I go to, I remembered it from last time I was here so I got a little me time. Which is good when you’re riding around in a van and you only have one day off out of however many shows.
How has the tour gone so far?
It’s absolutely incredible. Not even lying, not even fabricating or padding it! It’s been an amazing tour. Everyone has been really sweet and the excitement level has been really high. The shows are sold out and just fantastic. We are having a great time! And honestly for me, ANThology is all my old riffs I wrote in my bachelor pad. Songs that are just really dear to me as well as songs that we haven’t got to play in a long time, a lot of album tracks we just haven’t played in years simple and its just been a blast. Seeing a lot of smiling faces is already really good for the soul.
What caused you guys to go on an anniversary tour with ANThology?
We did once about 3/4 years ago, we wanted to check it out and see if it worked, but this was only in the state of Texas with 6 or 7 shows. We did it and it was a lot of fun and it went really well. After that we kind of just walked away from it and never really thought about doing it again until we came over to the UK last June/May time with Hoobastank and P.O.D our good friends from California. We came over for those hand full of shows, when we were here it had been a minute since we last went on tour in the UK. We kind of realised instead of a couple of songs that charted well we actually had a hit record that people grew up on and went to college with, met there girlfriend with and travelled across the country etc but it was the soundtrack to some peoples lives. It was at Manchester that Dryden (lead singer) posed the question to the crowd “what do you guys think if we did ANThology the whole record on a tour?” and the place went ape shit so that is when we knew it was a simple choice from there. We went home and made the arrangements, now here we are and hoping we are going to take it to more territories that the record did really well in.
Do you think you guys will do that with “truANT” or “Up In The Attic?”
I wouldn’t be opposed to it! “Up In The Attic” is a funny one for me because I wasn’t on that record and was out of the band for a few years. BUT I do love the record and that record is amazing, but I wouldn’t be opposed to any of it. It’s just that ANThology made the most sense. Thats the crown jewel of our repertoire! With the other record I don’t think that was the case.
This is true, It was really difficult to get a copy of Up In The Attic over in the UK so it makes sense really!
The distribution was questionable. It’s funny because all the cylinders were firing on ANThology, it was a very streamlined, well oiled situation due to Dreamworks being an incredible record label at the time. During truANT they were kind of on the decline and we didn’t even realise it. Then eventually they shut there doors and ever since then it has been nothing but label drama for this band. In an industry where things are drastically changing and the record labels are kind of trying to stay as lean as possible in order to stay afloat shit like that happens. Those other records just didn’t get the attention from the label therefore they didn’t get the attention from the public.
How are you finding the industry in the age of Spotify and Soundcloud?
I love it, I embrace it. It’s kind of weird where we do come from that time where things were different and we’ve gone through the change. I can imagine with new bands this is all they are used to, so it is probably at lot easier for them to negotiate. We love the technology of the age, we can write at home by ourselves and email each other ideas to each other and then get in a room! It’s really good for bands who are akin to taking a DIY approach because not everyone is going to get a record deal these days. I think the attention span is WAY down though you know? It’s easy enough for people to be really in to it and them for them to be on to the next thing with a simple click of a link and they are gone and forget about what they are doing. So I think it really translates in to the record buying community.
Would you guys jump on the Vinyl revival and reissue ANThology on the format?
I would love to! I think we did offer some vinyl via out pledge campaign a couple of years ago. That was kind of a good and bad situation, I don’t think we actually pressed any vinyl. I know that that I would love to own a copy of ANThology with a book that I could crack open.
I was reading reviews of the tour so far and a few publications have commented on how you guys seem more retrospective in the way you’re approaching the crowd showing you’re a lot more mature and older. Do you guys feel older now or happy that its the same crowd and you’re happy to play again?
We’re definitely older! And things are different back home. People have homes and families, wives , kids and dogs. So it makes it different to be out on the road, nothing like when we were young and happy to be there . It’s just that bus crash during the truANT tour that changed everything. We would have stayed out for another year if it hadn’t had been for that. When you get out there, it all comes back. It’s like getting on a bicycle, you see the faces and the smiles and everyone reacting to those songs it all just comes right back. Maybe its a bit of a fountain of youth for everyone; the fans and us.
I was listening to the new album Always and Forever, you guys have taken a step away from nu-metal I can hear influences from the likes of U2 so you’re very much alternative rock now.
Yeah, we’ve always had a lot of influences. In the earlier days we were a little more rift driven, whenever anyone would categorise us as nu-metal we’d always be quick to say nu-ro-metal because we always felt a little more romantic that other bands in the genre (that’s if you want to call it a genre). We wrote love songs straight. That was just Dryden’s way and that is why we liked to tell people we were nu-ro-mental like new romantic. I think we have just grown up a lot and you have so many influences over the years we all listen to our own stuff, and we listen to stuff collectively and I think the collective influences are what act as a glue that personally influence us as writers. Always and Forever was the first time we actually wrote with top liners,co writing with people has been interesting and was certainly a new way of getting us out of our comfort zone and try new stuff and learn. We never have a true focus on how it is going to sound, if it is a good song we recognise that and try and nurture it if it will fit in the Ant Farm repertoire. It’s a good thing and a curse at the same time as it is really easy to go over peoples heads or they are disconcerted because they are expecting something.
Final question, what is next for you guys?
We are going to go home and start writing like crazy. As much as Always and Forever was a brilliant record the process of making and releasing that record was such a fucking pain in the ass. Even since we started writing and recording it it was literally 4 years before we got it out. I blame the label we signed with straight up, they had no idea what they were doing and we had the wool pulled over our eyes. We are just really excited to get another record out the right way. If we take this tour to a few other territories and build excitement to a new record to where it will matter a little more. If we do it right and get it out on time and stay true to ourselves we could have another few records as a band. I don’t think we want to dissolve the band this is our temple, we have done it since 1996 when we were kids. The future is always shaky and unclear, I just definitely know we want to start writing new music. This is not the end in any way. I want to do this till I can’t stand on the stage anymore.