What’s The Most Important Part Of Going On Tour?

Typically we’re the ones asking the questions—but then again, it’s usually surfers on the receiving end, not musicians.

In the lead up to the recently announced (free) Summer Sessions tour, presented by our friends at Summer Bright Lager, we had our co-headliners, Cub Sport and Middle Kids, mix things up and interview each other.

Passing the baton over to our talent seemed like an intelligent (and rather novel) way of deepening our acquaintance. We are, after all, only a few weeks out from joining them on the road with the fine gents of Life Without Andy. 

So what’d we learn? Their tours differ a lot to ours, they’ve got a lot less lay days between performances and food seems to be of significant importance.

Let’s hand it over.

Cub Sport: I remember the day you guys released Edge Of Town and being completely blown away. You burst out of the gates and have just gone from strength to strength. Is Middle Kids the first band you’ve played in? ‘Cause you’re all pros!

Middle Kids: That’s so kind of you! We’ve all played in a bunch of other projects. Hannah has been writing songs for years, studying composition and is a classically trained piano player, but actually picked up guitar so she could record Edge of Town! Tim has played and produced a number of punk/DIY projects around Sydney for a few years, and Harry played a lot of jazz and r’n’b stuff before joining the band. I guess we’re all music fans and fans of a lot of diverse styles (which we can tell you also are), so it feels great to be bringing those influences into a rock context.

You’ve played some seriously big, cool festivals over the last 12 months – do you have a fav? And where did you get the best catering?

We LOVED Splendour in the Grass. Playing in front of a big crowd at Spendour was a bit of a lifelong dream for all of us, and obviously being such an iconic Australian festival it has a special place in our hearts. We also got to play to an amazing crowd at Lollapalooza in Chicago which was wild, it started raining during Edge of Town and it was one of those perfect moments! The BEST catering by far was O’Sheaga in Montreal, where a celebrity chef ran the kitchen, and they had ridiculous gourmet food, all day, all you could eat. Good catering is such a game changer.

I find that the hardest part of touring is leaving behind our beautiful dogs Missy and Evie – do you guys have any pets and if you do how do you go leaving them behind?

That’s amazing that you have 2 dogs and tour! Respect. We all had pets growing up (except Tim, and this explains so much), but currently we all don’t have pets and the hardest part is leaving behind family and friends. One day Harry will get a magnificent large dog to stride by his side and Tim and Hannah might buy a little kitten and call him Ringo.

What’s the best thing you’ve done with your downtime while on tour? We saw Shania Twain’s show and went to the Caesar’s Palace breakfast buffet while we were in Vegas – still two of the best experiences of my life.

That sounds like a huge experience! In Chicago we went to a Cubs baseball game and all went and got deep dish pizza which was so damn good. I guess so much of the hang revolves around food when you’re out on tour, but the best times are when we can see something of the city we’re in, take in some of the culture or the beauty. We often like to do different things though. Sometimes we’re finding exercising or a quiet morning alone are the best things to do with downtime.

What’s your fav tour van snack?

Ooft. Huge question. Probably the most important question of all. Cheeze Itz, Doritoes, M&Ms, brownie bites, yoghurt covered pretzels, oranges (harry peels them and all the juice runs onto his fingers and he just leaves it there until he can wash his hands, he’s legit a psychopath).

[Bonus content!] Sitting in the back of their tour bus somewhere on Highway One, the Sydney outfit were kind enough to string together a Spotify mixtape for us to spin. Hit play and don’t forget to cancel all plans on the below dates.

SAT 21 OCT – WOLLONGONG – Towradgi Beach Hotel
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SUN 22 OCT – NEWCASTLE – The Cambridge Hotel
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SAT 28th OCT – SYDNEY – The Bucket List
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SUN 29th OCT – COOLANGATTA – Coolangatta Hotel
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SAT 4th NOV – BYRON BAY – Secret Location
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SUN 5th NOV – SUNSHINE COAST – Secret Location
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