On January 7th at The Social in Orlando, I had the pleasure of interviewing Comeback Kid guitarist Casey Hjelmberg. During the interview we discussed their new album “Symptoms & Cures”, side-projects and future plans.
Comeback Kid played with Florida’s own The Attack and Casey Jones. It was a great show! Check out the interview here.
In what ways do you feel your latest album “Symptoms and Cures” differs from “Broadcasting”
Well broadcasting it was the first record that Andrew switched from guitar to vocals. Musically it was a big departure. We wanted to change up the sound a little bit and do some experimentation with different structures and feels. We moved away a little bit from the typical Comeback Kid sound. Vocally Andrew was kind of trying to meet between his natural voice and Scott’s so it didn’t sound too much like a new singer. The difference between that and “Symptoms and Cures is that I think it’s a little closer to the first two Comeback Kid records musically. Vocally it sounds like Andrew’s natural voice. It sounds exactly like what he sounds like live. It came together and is the place where everyone wants to be at.
What’s your favorite song off of the new album and why?
My favorite song off the new record is probably “Get Alone” because it’s a song I never expected Comeback Kid to write and have on the record. I think it’s a really cool idea. Really different but still sounds like Comeback Kid. We’ve never played it live but I really hope we do.
Andrew, is in another band called Sights & Sounds. Do you know if he working on any material for Sights and Sounds?
I can’t speak on behalf of him but Comeback Kid been going super hard so he hasn’t had a lot of time to do that, I do know that the other three have been writing a lot in Toronto. He’s been doing as much as he can while being on the road, sending songs back and forth through e-mail and stuff. As soon as Comeback Kid takes a little time off he’s definitely going to be keeping busy with Sights and Sounds.
You and Matt are in a band with Stu from Living with Lions called Lowtalker. Are you working on new songs for that?
Yeah, it’s the same kind of deal. We’ve been so busy that we haven’t had a chance to do it. As soon as we have time and energy we want to have at least a seven inch and possibly a full-length coming out within a year hopefully.
If you could put together your dream tour with Comeback Kid with any bands that are currently playing or disbanded who would it be with?
Casey: I would have Blink 182 headlining. Then Comeback Kid, Led Zeppelin and Prince.
Really?
Yeah!
I had another question for Andrew I’m not sure if you want to answer it but I was going to ask if he felt more comfortable singing since Broadcasting? How well have the fans received him since Scott left in 2006?
I can say for sure that’s he’s comfortable singing. He misses playing guitar quite a bit. He’s a natural front-man and singer. He is more comfortable now than Broadcasting. His vocals are his vocals on the record are a little bit truer to what he does live so he doesn’t feel like he has to go outside his boundaries to pull it off live. He can do what he does and it sounds like it does on the record.
So what has Scott done since being in Comeback Kid?
I heard that he had a few projects with some people in Toronto. I don’t know if any of them came to life. We see him every time we go through and he’s just chilling out. When we played Toronto a couple years ago he sang a couple songs and Andrew played guitar again. I just sat on the side of the stage and watched it. That was super fun.
What are your future plans with Comeback Kid?
We’re going to do these shows in the southern states of America, We’re going to go to California and then Japan for a little bit. Then we’re going to do South America and possibly Mexico and a little bit of Canada. This spring and summer we’ll be going to Europe for some of the festivals.
What would like to accomplish that you haven’t yet accomplished in Comeback Kid?
We’d all really like to get to Africa because we’ve been to most places that we really want to go maybe South Africa playing all those continents would be super fun. We can’t really ask for more than what we’ve done for a band like this. We’ve accomplished what we set out to do so there’s not much left to be desired.
What are some bands that you think people should check out?
Living With Lions, Sights and Sounds, Lowtalker, Devil in Me from Portugal, Your Demise from the U.K., Grave Maker are good friends of ours and have a new record out.
Any last words?
No, just thanks for doing the interview!