WELLINGTON band The Outsiders have only been around a couple of years, but they’ve already toured the world, and will open for a major US punk band.
The band is to play alongside Strung Out, an 18-year-old punk rock band from California, which is set to grace New Zealand for a highly anticipated national tour this month.
“When I was a teenager I listened to them a lot – we’re definitely fans,” says The Outsiders guitarist/singer Niam Hegarty.
The Outsiders are using the tour to promot their debut album The Words Will Write Themselves, which was mixed and mastered by Andrew Buckton, of Midnight Youth and The D4 fame.
If the success of The Outsiders debut EP is anything to go by, the album should fare well.
In 2009 and on the back of the EP, the band toured New Zealand, Australia, the UK and Europe and performed sold-out shows.
“When we played in Amsterdam we supported a popular South African band (The Parlotones) who had performed at the President’s inauguration in South Africa. The show was sold out, and we were scared, but [the crowd] ended up loving us – we were signing autographs,” says Hegarty.
The Outsider’s time on the road was filled with memorable and quirky occurrences.
Hegarty’s been lost in the sparse Belgium countryside, he’s proposed (after a night of partying) to the band’s German booking agent (who happened to be the girlfriend of one of the members of the band The Outsiders were touring with), and he discovered the delights of German hospitality.
In Germany, after performing at a squat, The Outsiders got served a banquet.
“There was caviar, grapes, meat, and champagne – it was pretty surreal. I’d gone somewhere and come back, and all the guys were sitting there eating this banquet – I was like, ‘what’s going on?’” Hegarty laughs.
The band hopes to get back on the overseas road again after their Strung Out tour.
Strung Out with The Outsiders, San Francisco Bathhouse, June 25.