There’s quite a few acts making their debut appearance at Slam Dunk Festival this year, but there’s no band we are looking forward to catching more for the first time than the fresh Aussie punk rock trio Stand Atlantic! Ahead of their first ever festival performance, we caught up with front woman Bonnie Fraser for a quick chat on everything Stand Atlantic and Slam Dunk Festival!
Hi Bonnie! The end of 2017 saw you guys release your EP ‘Sidewinder’ after signing to Rude Records, how has it been for you guys since finally releasing your EP?
Hi! Yeah, the Sidewinder EP literally changed our lives… People responded to it in a way we just never would have expected and having people connect with your songs is rewarding enough – but then adding to that, we got to tour the UK and EU twice now haha. We owe a lot to that little 5 track!
For those who don’t know much about Stand Atlantic, could you give us an insight on how you guys started the band?
Myself (Bonnie) and Potter (guitar) were in a band together before Stand Atlantic, we decided to ditch it and start fresh with a new name and new songs andwe needed a drummer, found Jonno through our mutual friend and here we are! Also fun fact we all went to the same music school but never really found out until we’d been playing together for a solid 6 months haha.
Do you all have similar musical interests? Who inspires you as musicians?
I feel like we all meet in the middle with Pop and Pop-Punk stuff… and the Shrek soundtrack but other than that we all branch off separately! Potter loves his heavies and progressive stuff, Jonno’s into a lot of indie artists and I dabble in like low-fi/grunge bands.
We are usually inspired by everything we listen to that we like haha. Learn a lot from the bands we play and tour with as well.
You recently released a new video for ‘Chemicals’ which has a great insight into your touring life! You’ve been fortunate enough to tour with the likes of New Found Glory, As It Is, State Champs and many more great bands, it must be great hitting the road with such fun and energetic live bands like yourself?
Yeah of course, we just enjoy ourselves on stage and hope that translates to everyone else. Getting the opportunity to tour with those bands you love and look up to is really cool and will never get old. It’s always interesting getting to learn from the bands that have been doing it for a while too.
We hear that ‘Chemicals’ was one of the more stressful songs for you guys when recording your EP? Why was this?
Yeah that song was one we began writing and couldn’t finish so we had to leave it and revisit it before we began recording. We had to re-write the chorus like 4 or 5 times. Once upon a time it had a punk beat… Potter was sad when we cut it… RIP
What is your favourite track on ‘Sidewinder’ and why?
Literally changes all the time! I’ll speak for everyone and say the general consensus is Coffee haha
You closed out 2017 with a UK tour with ROAM & WSTR, how was that for you guys?
Was the best time! Those guys are really good fun, made some friends for life. The shows were amazing and was hectic seeing people in the crowd who’s first language isn’t even English, yet they sing your songs to you… nothing tops that haha.
If you could tour with any band, what would your dream line up be?
Silverchair, Periphery and Justin Bieber I reckon. Also Nekrogoblikon, because that’s true entertainment.
Slam Dunk is known for its Pop Punk and rock roots, so it’s no surprise to us to see you guys making your debut appearance this year! You must be excited to be coming back over to the UK for the festival?
Yeah we love getting to visit the UK! So grateful to be able to come back, especially for such a massive festival like Slam Dunk. We’ve never played a festival before so we’re excited to see what it’s like!
What does it mean to be a part of such an iconic UK festival? Do you have any expectations?It’s seriously an honour, we’ve heard about Slam Dunk for couple years now and the line up and general atmosphere just looks hella fun. Honestly being on the same bill as Good Charlotte just blows my mind, one of the first bands who got me into music so im buzzing haha.
The line up this year is pretty huge! We presume you’ll be checking out some of the other acts over the weekend, who are you most looking forward to catching?
It’s so insane, I wanna try catch everyone on the line up obviously haha. Definitely wanna catch bands we’ve never been able to see like Good Charlotte, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, PVRIS, Creeper, The Dangerous Summer to name a couple! And of course all our friends in Roam, Milestones and Holding Absence. Will be a sick few days haha.
Finally, what’s in the works for Stand Atlantic for the rest of 2018?
I can’t say too much at the moment but we’ve definitely got an action packed year. We are busy writing so I’ll let you interpret that in whatever way you want so that our manager doesn’t get razzed…
TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets on sale now and are available from http://slamdunkmusic.com/
Cost £49 or £55 including the infamous afterparty. All subject to booking fees.
SLAM DUNK FESTIVAL NORTH – SATURDAY 26TH MAY – LEEDS CITY CENTRE
SLAM DUNK FESTIVAL SOUTH – SUNDAY 27TH MAY – HATFIELD PARK
SLAM DUNK FESTIVAL MIDLANDS – BANK HOLIDAY MONDAY 28TH MAY – BIRMINGHAM NEC
http://slamdunkmusic.com/festival
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