On the road with The War on Drugs

Grammy Award winning US rock outfit The War On Drugs are set to return to Australian shores for the first time in five years this summer. Back on the road after their 2021 album, I Don’t Live Here Anymore, the band have continued to refine, and redefine, their trademark sound that combines Americana, folk, psychedelia and more. Ahead of their tour down under, and a Perth show at Kings Park Botanic Garden on Monday, December 11, MICHAEL HOLLICK caught up with frontman Adam Granduciel, to discuss European music festivals, dream musical instruments and what he likes about Australia. 

I believe you’re in Spain at the moment after playing the Primavera Festival. How was that?

We played Primavera two days again and it was a killer show, 30,000 people and it is a real music and party type festival. There’s something in the history of that festival where I think the people that go, they kind of curate it. When you play, you never feel that people are there to watch the band after you because the crowd is so in to all the music. And I find the crowd seems to just casually moves between the stages, it’s a very respectful dialogue.

So you find that people in Europe are as receptive to you as American audiences are?

Definitely. Like at Primavera I felt really at home about us going out there and just doing our thing. I guess that (Primavera) is a little different, like there we were able to open with a song that we never open with, as you just feel that this is the sort of crowd that would be open to that. And then you can kind of  ‘Spaceman 3’ around for about five minutes in the middle of a song, you’re granted an ability to do that. Every audience and every city is kinda different.

Speaking of American audiences, you toured pretty constantly for almost all of 2022. Was that deliberate?

It was deliberate in the sense that we didn’t go where a show wasn’t booked (laughs). It was definitely a lot, especially coming out of a couple of years of not doing much at all. It did take a lot of mental energy to get through the first five months, it was really taxing because of all the COVID stuff and trying to keep these tours from falling off the rails.

But we did it, and we got really good as a band. We are really fortunate that our band likes to hang out with each other and we like to play music and get better together. If you take that out of the equation, you know, how hard it is to be away from family, it would be impossible. But we had a lot of great times together and with audiences.

And do you enjoy going to new places when touring? 

We love going to new places. We went to Brazil for the first time, a couple of weeks ago. It was amazing. That was something that has been brewing for, well as long as we have been a band really, so it was really exciting for us. We did just two shows, but to do it for people who have been like “come to Brazil” for ten or fifteen years and that know our catalogue really well, that was amazing.

We always try to add in a few new places wherever we go. Like on our current European tour, where we are going to places that we love, like Copenhagen and Madrid, we have managed to tuck in a few new places as well, like in Poland. There’s definitely people who have wanted to see us play for a long time. And there’s also going to be people who don’t know much about us at all, and who will have their mind blown hopefully.

Now you’re known for your love of musical gear…

Well, I’ll stop you there. I’m not sure if it is a love or a musical obsession (laughs).

Well, it’s a relatively harmless obsession… but what I was wondering is, if you could work with a musical instrument manufacturer, what sort of thing would you like to work on?

It would, realistically, be a keyboard. A combination of make your ideal Juno-106 and something recording based, like an in-built tape machine. My dream product wouldn’t be a pedal, there’s already so many pedals and I use the ones I love so I wouldn’t really want a signature pedal. So my answer is a recording keyboard, something with everything I want on it.

And finally, you’re coming out to Australia at the end of this year. What sort of feelings does Australia bring to mind for you and the band?

There really is nothing like going all the way to Australia and finding people who know your music and are receptive to you. That’s a real special feeling. And I love going to those beautiful cities, it’s very unique, unlike anywhere else in the world. We are looking forward to coming back to Perth, we have actually done Perth twice before. Last time we did it as part of the Laneway Festival, and I remember it being right on the coast, and it was at night time, it was so serene, it was really magical, so we expect it will be as special again this time.