For the better part of the last decade, Fiddlehead have been regarded as innovators amongst the modern day hardcore scene, but until now, the Boston based outfit have never had the opportunity to make their way down under.
Not because they hate Australian fans– if anything, it’s the opposite, with each band member pining to make their way to our beautiful country for many years now, but struggling to find the time alongside work and family commitments.
So when it was announced that they’d be coming over for a headline tour in support of their third album, Death Is Nothing To Us, Aussie fans were absolutely ecstatic. As were Fiddlehead, who openly admitted that they “never thought this would happen.”
“It’s super exciting that it’s finally happening,” remarks the groups guitarist Alex Henery, who recently made his way to Australia to work as a videographer on the highly talked about Turnstile/Speed tour earlier this year.
“It was honestly amazing to see the response to both bands every night on that Turnstile tour. You could definitely sense that there is something going on in Australia right now, especially within the Australian hardcore scene. Watching young kids and older fans coming together in such unison was a really amazing experience.
“And while I was there I kept having people come up to me asking, ‘When is Fiddlehead coming out?’, and I was texting our band group chat relentlessly being like, ‘people actually know our band down here.’ So I’m super excited that it’s finally happening.”
A sentiment backed by the group’s vocalist Pat Flynn, who added, “I can’t stop thinking about it. I’ve been on a million tours in my life but I hadn’t been away for this long in over a decade.
“I was just in a constant state of gratitude about being across the world and having people interested in what we’re doing.”
But while it may be a surprise for the group to find such a prominent fanbase amongst Australian crowds, for many living down under it’s a tour that’s been a longtime coming, with a large portion of Australian hardcore enthusiasts having long admired the group for their emotive and uplifting take on the genre.
Which was something particularly evident on the group’s most recent effort, Death Is Nothing To Us, which skyrocketed to the top of Australia’s alternative charts as listeners marvelled at its profoundly enriching take on depression and grief.
Speaking on the album’s subject matter, Flynn, who also works as the group’s primary lyricist stated, “You know, one of the first punk rock songs that I ever heard was the song ‘Depression’ by Black Flag. Which as you may be able to guess is a song about depression, but the chorus is ‘depression, it’s got a hold on me, and I’ve gotta break free.”
“I’ve always loved the simplicity of that line and how there’s elements of hope, fortitude and motivation within it. It’s that idea of, ‘I’m not going to get pinned down,’ and to me that is the spirit of punk music, and is definitely something that’s at the core of how I go about writing music.
“I really hope people read the lyrics,” backs Henery in mutual appreciation of Flynn’s lyrical ability.
“I mean, people usually do, because Pat is really good at being able to wrap everything up and unpack a lot of things. I don’t have the ability to write lyrics in that way but I think there’s a lot of honesty in what Pat’s saying– that the world is really dark but there is a light that we should be able to aim towards.
“There’s just so many lyrics on this album that make me think, ‘damn, you’ve really nailed that,” he continues. “There’s one in particular on ‘Going to Die’ that’s, ‘Hell and death to my demons that want to see me die, I just can’t trade this richness of life,’ which I think is such a bold claim of how, there is darkness but you don’t need to let it win.”
“And I think that’s important, because I’m someone who tends to look on the happier side of life but not everyone does, so it’s important to remind people that at times it’s okay to get stuck in the darkness for a minute.”
“It’s one thing I appreciate about the changing of social norms,” concludes Flynn.
“I feel people are a little more open than they were 20 years ago, and maybe a little bit more outward about the struggles of life, and the woes of it all. So I’d like to be a part of that process, you know, creating a healthy process of being like, ‘yeah, I go through it too, and I also teach history, and I also eat lunch, and I laugh.
“I’m not this ‘Prince of Darkness’, who’s brooding over long form poetry. I just want to showcase the complexities in the multitudes of human beings existing.”
Fiddlehead’s emotive and thought-provoking third album Death Is Nothing To Us is out now on Run For Cover Records.
