By Andrew Bansal
Scottish pirate metal band Alestorm bring the fun to the stage like no other. Currently they are on their first ever North American headline tour, with two very appropriate support acts Trollfest and Gypsyhawk. The tour began at the Yost Theater in Santa Ana on November 11th, and even for a Monday night, the fans turned up in huge numbers to bask in the glory that is Alestorm’s live show. A few hours before the gig started, I sat down with frontman Christopher Bowes to talk about a variety of things. The conversation veered from touring to In-N-Out burgers to Disneyland and pirates. Enjoy the hilarious chat below.
Christopher, we’re here at the Yost Theater in Orange County for the first show of your North American headline tour. How are you doing today?
It’s actually pronounced Orange Canyon. I’d like to let you know it’s actually a French word, they imported it and it’s pronounced Orange Canyon. So, Orange Canyon, nice to meet you all.. Anyway, I’m great, tour is cool. I’m sorry man, carry on (laughs).
I don’t know what to say to that! Anyhow, you’re doing this tour with Trollfest and Gypsyhawk, and it should be a really fun show for people to come out to.
Yes, it’s all party metal on this tour. We’ve toured before with bands that do serious stuff and sing about their ancestors. You know what, their ancestors were stupid. They should sing about partying. So yeah, we’ve got Trollfest who are these Norwegian trolls who party, and we have Gypsyhawk who are these Southern California gnarly dudes who party.
How much do you know about Gypsyhawk? They are local here, but were you familiar with them before this tour at all?
Yeah, for real! Their singer dude Eric Harris is someone we’ve known for a while. He used to be in the band Huntress. We toured with them and we hung out. He was super cool, and then he got this band going. I got both their albums and it’s good shit. He was like, ‘Dude, we’ve got to tour!’ And so we did it!
Compared to your previous tours in America including Paganfest, this is your own tour, your own show and your crowd. You can just go nuts and don’t have to worry about anybody playing after you. No limits on set times and nothing else!
Yeah, for real. This is our first time headlining in the States, and it feels good. It’s been so long coming. I think it’s our sixth tour, and every time we’ve been supporting we’ve had massive crowds, but somehow we never managed to make the jump to headlining. It’s happening now, and of course it’s going to be a cool thing to see the crowd and realize that they are here for us. It’s a nice feeling, it makes you so happy. You just want to play and rock out. Looking forward to it!
How long are you playing in these shows?
I think we’re doing like 90 minutes. It’s the longest set we’ve ever done in the USA. We’re playing all the good songs, some of the bad as well, and a couple of the new ones that no one has ever heard before.
I was going to say, it’s been a while since you put out your latest album ‘Back Through Time’.
Yeah it was in 2011, wasn’t it? It was ages ago! So yeah, we’ve been long overdue for an album and we’re going to play you a new song from our next album which we’re going to record in January and that’s going to come out next May. So literally the first time anyone would ever hear that song will be tonight. It’s the first track off of the album. We rehearsed it for the first time today, even though we don’t rehearse at all. We just turn up to shows and guess how to play songs. But we rehearsed this song for the first time today and it sounds fucking cool.
So, you don’t rehearse at all before tours?
Our last rehearsal was in July 2011, literally. I’m not even joking. I mean, we always rehearse in soundchecks and stuff, so it’s alright. Other than that , we just turn up and play, and our set is pretty tight. Our songs are really easy to play.
Oh, is that right?
Yeah! It’s a piece of piss. It’s great!
Good to know! So, when you play in those European festivals I’ve never been to one so I’d like to ask this, there are hundreds of bands playing over three of four days, and fans of all these bands are coming together. When you go up there, you’re probably playing mostly to people who’re not your fans. Does that get hard for you, specially for your kind of act which can be described as an acquired taste?
Well, no, I think everyone can enjoy a band because our music is really simple and easy. We’re all about catchy choruses and party music. At a festival, everyone gets drunk and they want to sing along to a song they can recognize and party along with. I think we bring that. We’ve played some seriously big festivals this summer, and played to like 30,000 or 40,000 people. Everyone had their fists in the air, singing along, and it was amazing! People who’re probably not fans, but they were all there and it was great.
What’s the worst experience you’ve had at a show? Have you ever had a bad crowd or anything like that?
We’re cursed as a band, and our gear always seems to break. But we’ve got used to that. We have a lot of contingency plans for when guitars break, when drums break, basses break, keyboards break and our voices break (laughs). So we’re used to that, but the worst thing is when you’re playing a show supporting another band and their fans just hate Alestorm, and you can tell that everyone just wants you to get off the stage. That happens a lot, you know.
Give me an example of one such band.
Many years ago, we toured with a German band called Grave Digger. And those were hard times, man. Specially when you get to Eastern Europe, they are really serious about their metal. In the States has everyone loved us. It’s great here and I love coming here, but in Europe it can be a tough crowd, man.
I just noticed that you’re wearing an In-N-Out Burger shirt, and I just have to ask you about that ..
And shorts and a pair of socks. I really, really like In-N-Out Burger.
Dude, I’m glad I noticed that because I love it too and people give me shit for it all the time. But I’m all about burgers, specially In-N-Out.
Before this tour started, I was literally counting down the days till when I could come to California and get In-N-Out. I actually turned up here a week or so ago. Aday before Halloween, I landed at LAX and within half an hour I was at In-N-Out, eating my Double-Double. I was happy for the first time in my life (laughs).
That’s what I do too whenever I land at LA from somewhere else. That’s my tradition, to eat an In-N-Out burger.
It’s a Southern California tradition. You’ve got to do it man!
What did you do for this past week in LA though?
I went to the beach, just enjoyed the weather, ate a lot of cheeseburgers, saw the sites. It’s been all over. And I went to Disneyland! I’d never been there before. It’s very rare to do that kind of stuff when you’re on tour. You might think that going on tour is great and you get to see the world. You don’t! You see a tour bus, you see the back stage and you see the highway. So this time I was like, fuck it! The tour starts in LA so I’m going to fly in a week early and just see something for once. So I came here and had a really amazing time, just ate cheesburgers and went to Hollywood.
You’re right, and I’m glad you did that because on tour you just go from venue to venue, even though geographically you’re covering so many countries. But you don’t really get to see them.
Incredible distances. Touring America is insane! Every day is a 13-hour drive, and specially in the Western half of the country there are a lot of long drives. As soon as the show is over, we get in the bus and it drives and drives and drives, and we turn up 3 PM the next day, load in, soundcheck, play the show. There is no rest. So you’ve kind of seen the entire world but not, and it sucks.
But what did you think of Disneyland? Did you like it at all?
I preferred the California Adventure Park, because you can drink there and I like Tower Of Terror. That’s my favorite ride. It was such a fun time!
We have the same choices. I prefer that park and love that ride too.
You’re a good guy!
I hated Disneyland. Last time I went was in 2007 and I never went back after that at all.
Well, I liked it because it was my first time and I had to go in the Pirates Of The Caribbean ride, of course. In a roundabout way, that ride is the reason I’m here today (laughs). If it wasn’t for that ride, there wouldn’t be the pirate movies and people wouldn’t give a fuck about pirates. So it’s a chain of events that led up to us being here today.
So, would you say that the whole Pirates Of The Caribbean thing has created your fan base more than it’s created your band?
Oh yeah, I was writing songs about pirates way before those movies came out. And suddenly, the movies came out and everyone loved pirates. Before that, pirates weren’t a thing for kids but then suddenly it was like, ‘Yeah! Johnny Depp! Suck my dick!’ All that happened. We have a mutual relationship, us and Disney (laughs).
I guess you have to thank them for that.
Thank you Walt, you’re a good guy!
Related: Alestorm Orange County gig review
Visit Alestorm on the web:
facebook.com/Alestormband
twitter.com/Alestormband
Remaining Tour Dates:
11/22 Chicago, IL Reggie’s
11/23 Westland, MI Token Lounge
11/24 Cleveland, OH Peabody’s
11/25 Columbus, OH Shrunken Head
11/26 Pittsburgh, PA Altar Bar
11/27 London, ON Music Hall
11/28 Toronto, ON Mod Club
11/29 Ottawa, ON Mavericks
11/30 Montreal, QC Club Soda
12/01 Quebec City, QC Le Cercle
12/02 New York, NY The Studio @ Webster Hall
12/03 Teaneck, NJ Mexicali Live
12/04 Baltimore, MD Soundstage
12/05 Atlanta, GA Masquerade