Rain, wind and even snow were attacking Sheffield’s Corporation but nothing was going to stop California punk rockers Zebrahead from taking to the stage. Taking some time out from playing games in their dressing room, rhythm guitarist and lead singer Matty Lewis met us backstage for an interview before the highly anticipated show.
Since the band formed in 1996 they have released over 24 singles, 9 full-length studio albums and countless hysterical music videos but was their latest release Get Nice! living up to the band expectations? “I honestly think so, this was the first record where it was hard to cut down songs to put on the album and this is the first time where this has happened”.
Those who have listened to Zebrahead in the past will know how hard it is to skip their tracks, which is hard to come by with the majority of artists around the globe. “Well, my parents tend to skip over a lot of the songs we put out, but thank you.” The 11 date UK tour was coming to a close with only a couple of dates left to play and was one of Zebrahead’s biggest tours to date. “The last eight days has been hard, we’ve been sick most of the tour, threw up a lot, drank a lot, threw up a lot, drank a lot.” Same old then? “Yeah! We’ve played Sheffield before, this time we’re playing in the smaller room for the first time and it’s one of the smallest on the whole European tour, but we have played the main room with Bowling for Soup which is always a blast.”
It was a quiet summer in the UK for the La Habra quintet after their previous slots at Reading/Leeds and Download festivals. “They’re both very different, I like Download because there are more metal bands.” In 2008, the band opened the whole festival, which was a turning point in their UK timeline. “We were the first band of the day and it was awesome because everyone had just been let in and the entrance was right by our stage, but no the set kicked off like we expected.” As far as 2012 plans go for Zebrahead they couldn’t confirm anything just yet but they were happy to come back to Europe and the UK for a couple of months. “I’ve got some great memories of that festival, I partied with Axl Rose and Sebastian Bach, as the story goes, then later made out with Cindy Crawford.”
The infamous “Yorkshire, Yorkshire” chant at shows in the North can sometimes be ‘misinterpreted’ by many bands not from the UK and having already played Leeds a few days before, Matty shared his thoughts. “I heard that before, is it definitely ‘Yorkshire’? If we go up on stage tonight and start chanting it I’m sure they will all love it.” The band must like it up north, having filmed their latest music video for ‘Nudist Priest’ in Manchester during the ‘Get Nice! Or Die Trying’ tour.
When we escaped from the winter of Sheffield to the warm depths of Corporation, it was a pleasant surprise to see the band electing to play the smaller clubroom. “We just wanted to make it tight and as crazy as possible, we even have a Tiki bar on stage to go along with the theme of the tour. We’ll be downing drinks, I won’t be near the Tequila, but this is going to end really badly. I don’t recommend it, stay in school.” Wise words? I’ll leave that to your own interpretation.
With such an extensive back catalogue of songs, the set tonight is going to be unpredictable to everyone in the room having a different favorite. “It’s always fun to play the new songs, because we haven’t played them before as much compared to the others which we play over and over and over again. It becomes almost automatic to us so we like the new songs because it’s almost a challenge for us.” Confident everything they play will go down well, Matty laughs, “We don’t even know what we’re playing yet”.
Overall, with the excitement and reputation Sheffield has for stage diving, crowdsurfing and circle pits, Matty and the band welcome with open arms everything Corporation could possibly throw at them.
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