Hockey Dad Are Crossing Their T’s

Image: Hockey Dad promise a set filled with old songs they’ve never played live before, plus some new songs, for their Mackay show

When Windang’s favourite sons Hockey Dad had to cancel Mackay from a rescheduled tour earlier this year, fans were left disappointed and having to travel to Airlie to catch them play. Being as down-to-earth and true-to-their-word as they are, the boys have made it up to the sugar city, with a show at the Seabreeze Hotel next Friday. Sam had a chat with Billy Fleming and Zach Stephenson before they make their way up the coast.

Sam: How did you guys become mates back in the day and then start Hockey Dad?

Billy: I was out the front playing footy with my dad and Zach lived a few doors down so he would see us playing out the front and we were just like, ‘You wanna hang out?’ Since then, we went to school together from kindergarten to year 12 and, yeah, just kept going. The band thing didn’t really happen until I’d just got into high school so year 7, Zach would’ve been year 9 I guess but, yeah, before then, we were just hanging out as kids do just riding pushies, surfing, skating, all the good stuff. Then, literally, the music just took over.

Sam: Were you playing music separately before Hockey Dad started?

Billy: Yeah, Zach, definitely, you were doing guitar lessons for a good while.

Zach: Yeah, I was doing guitar lessons from primary school then we kind of started a high school band, Billy and I and a few other mates, that went on for a few years, we played in that band and learnt how to be in a band and play songs and that finished up towards the end of high school for both of us and Hockey Dad was birthed out of the ashes of that, I suppose.

Sam: Unearthed High was a big step for you guys. What’s your take on what Unearthed and triple j does for the up-and-comers of the scene?

Billy: Unearthed is a really cool platform. The whole premise behind it is sick. Just put up a song and hope for the best. The Unearthed High thing was just because I was still in high school, we were like, ‘We may as well do it.’ We knew we were going to be a band, we kind of had Dan, our manager, looking after us already. It was good but he was just like, ‘You might as well throw it up and see what happens.’ We were going to be touring anyway so it was a good moment for us to just jump into that scene and the reception was really good and yeah, it was definitely a good stepping stone.

Zach: I think it’s a good little entry point for any young people who want to come in. It gives you some experience and you meet fresh people who are important in the scene and you meet radio personalities and you kind of get your foot in the door and get a little bit of exposure and get your name out there. It’s great for that and really good for kids in high school to get a taste of what the music industry’s like and what it’s like to be putting songs out and working in the industry, so it’s a great program.

Sam: Does your approach to playing live change when you’re playing in a small room compared to playing a big festival?

Billy: It’s still always so good doing the smaller regional shows. I feel like that’s where the life is, it’s where all the strongest fans are. Regional touring is the best. You can’t really beat it. Obviously, it’s good playing bigger headline shows in major cities, but we love regionals, it’s the funnest thing. I feel like that’s the core of Australian music. You’ve got your little, dingy venue 20 minutes down the road and if your favourite band comes through, you’re like, ‘Hell yeah, I’m going there for sure.’ Especially for a regional town, it’s kind of like word of mouth, it makes it more special and the vibe is way better, in a way, than a larger scale thing.

Sam: We got ‘T’s to Cross’ earlier in the year, is that leading into a fourth album?

Billy: Yeah! Pretty much. We’ve got to finish mixing it and all that and figure out when to put it out, but, yeah, we’ve got some songs in the bank. We kind of put ‘T’s to Cross’ out because we were like, ‘We’ve got to get something out, it’s been a few years.’ We were hanging onto it for a little while and trying to get a plan happening, but we were like, ‘Let’s just get a song out.’ The reception’s been sweet. We haven’t played it in Australia yet so Mackay’s going to be the first one.

Zach: Yeah, we got a bunch of new songs we’re going to play that we’ve just recorded so we’ll play a few on these new shows coming up and we’ve also got a bunch of old songs that we’ve never really played. We tried to refresh the whole setlist for these shows now that we’re back from the States. It’s kind of exciting, playing all new old songs again. It should be an exciting set.

WHAT: Hockey Dad supported by Nortica

WHERE: Seabreeze Hotel

WHEN: Friday, October 7 from 8pm

TICKETS: Oztix

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