Coming into 2019 red hot, The Southern River Band have announced a national headline tour taking their jaw-dropping live show all over Australia – including a stop in good old Geelong! We chat to lead singer and guitarist Cal Kramer ahead of the Gather No Moss tour.
Welcome back guys! The last time we spoke, you were just about to hit the road in July and August to promote your single release ‘Vice City’. Seems you’ve been busy since then! How has the last months shaped up for you guys?
G’day! Good to be back, I trust you’ve been well. The last months? Well, the holidays were a blur. Woke up one morning and it was January 6th. But shape wise, there’s been a lot of similarities from last year, so we’d be a parallelogram.
Your ‘Gather No Moss’ tour kicks off in a couple of weeks for a 12-date run. Give us a run-down of what a tour would look like for you guys – do you all pack into a van, is it go, go, go, does someone play dad etc.?
Two words – Excess and Regret. Well that’s three, but the ‘and’ is like a silent P in Psychology if you get what I’m saying. We rotate our levels of responsibility depending on the circumstance, which is definitely that way to roll. Adapt, overcome, persevere, conquer.
You’ve played a tonne of shows and festivals the past few years which is quite a feat, what’s the weirdest/craziest thing you’ve ever witnessed at one of your own gigs?
I’m not touching that one with a ten-foot pole. If you’d like to try to one up it though, whatever it may be, please be our guest and give it a burl, we’ve got those little plastic medals ready to drape around someone’s neck as they’re escorted out of the venue.
Is there anywhere (venue/festival/street) that you guys really want to play?
I’d like to run a festival in my street, like a real good one, and not tell any of the neighbours, but get it ok’d by the cops and council, and let every motherfucker in the street know that without a shadow of a doubt, I am, King of The Street. That and Wrestlemania.
Last year you were hand-picked by The Rubens to be part of the ‘Support Acts’ campaign presented by YouTube, Universal and EXTRA which been designed to help give up and coming Aussie musical talent a boost in their career. Tell us a bit about that one.
There’s no more to tell! A great thing to help unsigned Australian bands get seen by far more eyes than they would otherwise, of which we are extremely grateful for!
How was it like working alongside The Rubens; was there anything you took away from them that you’ll apply to your music?
They all smelt really nice, and none of them are actually named Ruben. The singer is a real fucking handsome bloke too, and that’s what I aspire to be one day, one day, Forte.
Now we hear an album is afoot, set to be released this year? What’s this one like compared to your debut?
It’s gonna change the face of music FOREVER, man. Nah, um, it’s songs, that we play, that we’ve recorded. Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Good time, love makin’, hip shakin’, get up and go rock n roll!
Did you take away anything from your debut that you maybe won’t do again, or that you could improve?
Yeah… the last album didn’t sell a million copies so we hope that this one will improve on that.
We’re looking forward to having you come through Geelong again! Any last words for G-town?
SRB can’t wait to get back to the Workers Club and put on a Ginormous Rock n Roll Dance Party the likes of which will leave everybody in attendance with permanent smiles tattooed on their gorgeous faces!
When & Where: The Workers Club, Geelong – February 14. Tickets from thesouthernriverband.com
