A Day To Remember are once again looking forward to escaping the American winter for the scorching Australian summertime this December, when they’ll be touring their imminently dropping sixth album Bad Vibrations alongside US bros Of Mice & Men and our very own Tonight Alive.
The Florida hardcore collective are regular visitors to our shores, especially in the warmer months, and despite their forthcoming tour plans being locked and loaded, ADTR are already casting their sights further into the future.
Speaking with Music Feeds, frontman Jeremy McKinnon says the band would be keen to expand Self Help Fest — their own US-based pop punk and metalcore music festival that’s designed to generate good vibes (unlike their new album, ayooo!) — to Australia at some point, if all the pieces were to fall into place.
“It’s all about logistics,” he explains. “We’d LOVE to have Self Help over there. It’s just about the right time and making sure it makes sense.
“You know, obviously it’d be pretty expensive – to be Americans and throw a festival in Australia,” he says. “It’s kind of complicated because of taxes and stuff. So we’d love to do it, it’s just gotta get figured out and we’ll see what happens.”
Self Help Fest has made sporadic stops across the US in the two years since its inception, and has seen appearances from some huge-name acts like Bring Me The Horizon, Of Mice & Men, The Story So Far, Memphis May Fire, Attila, Letlive, Motionless In White and The Wonder Years.
McKinnon actually hatched the idea for the inaugural Self Help Fest, which was held in California in 2014, while talking to his girlfriend.
“She told me that most people who come [to our shows] respond like it’s more than just a concert to them,” he said at the time (via ABC News Radio). “It’s like the music is genuinely helping them. Thus we titled our festival Self Help, because at the end of the day, that’s what music’s all about.”
During his chat with Music Feeds, McKinnon also speaks nostalgically of Australia’s now defunct Soundwave festival, which ADTR played three times (in 2010, 2012 and 2014) prior to its demise last year, and tells us that ADTR would be keen to perform at whichever future summer rock & metal fest comes along to fill its shoes, whether that be Self Help or not.
“We’re always keen on coming to Australia and it’s always in summertime,” he says. “My birthday is December 17th and I’ve probably had six or seven of my birthdays in the last ten years in Australia… it’s just such a great time to be there, people are going to shows, it’s usually when those big festivals were, but I’m sure you’re gonna have some new big thing that takes over soon and we’ll see you there.”
In the meantime, you can catch A Day To Remember touring our shores this December with Of Mice & Men and Tonight Alive, and don’t forget their new album, Bad Vibrations, hits shelves this Friday, 2nd September.
Check out our full interview with Jeremy McKinnon, in which he also discusses life on the road with Blink-182 and how ADTR’s new album basically saved the band, right here.
