The War On Drugs Are New Zealand Bound: Interview

The War On Drugs are returning to New Zealand. Here is band leader Adam Granduciel to tell us what to expect when they get here in December.

The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda spoke to Adam about the upcoming tour.

Click here to listen to the interview:

Or read a transcription here:

Marty: So you’re on a little break from…you were just touring Canada, and then you were going off on a couple more shows, and then you have a couple of months off before you’re headed over to New Zealand. Is that correct?

Adam: Exactly, yeah, we were gone for a while and then did some Europe some Canada. We got a couple things in America and then yeah then we take a break and come over there for a wonderful two weeks.

Marty: Yay! Excellent. So when you take this break for a couple of months, do you rest? Do you relax? Do you kind of rethink how things are going with the tour? What’s your process like there?

Adam: I just focus on things that aren’t the tour. I have a four-year-old, so I love to obviously spend time with him and do as many fun things as we can.

I like to think about making music. Right now, I’m not actually making any, but I like to think about what it would be like if I were to. Because I feel like if you’re gone and you’re back… It takes a long, at least for me, it takes like a couple weeks to kind of really get back into like the swing of normal life.

You know, it’s like the first week or two, you’re just really hanging out with your kid. And then you’re like, all right, then like the third week here at the studio, like looking at looking around, but you’re not really plugging anything in. And so, but yeah, the next couple months really just rest, you know, hang with the kid and strum a guitar at home.

Marty: So you guys were on the road quite a bit since the album came out. What have you learned about the songs from the album? Ddo they morph into other things that are surprising to you or how would you describe that?

Adam: Well, I think I probably learned, well, we’re still uncovering things in them, which is always great. It’s like, we’re still finding new ways to end a song or go into the section or something, or dynamic things that can be tweaked.

When we started rehearsing for the record, the summer before it came out, I was like, how are we going to play half these songs? Because we didn’t play them as a band. We didn’t record them as a band. So it just seemed like a massive mountain to try and learn these things and all the little intricacies.

And somehow we did. By the time we hit the road when the record came out, we had the songs in a really good spot. And since then, it’s really just been a matter of obviously playing them every night and just sort of being honest in being like, this part needs work. You know, it’s tough to do that 18 months into a touring cycle where you’re like, can we actually work on the bridge of this?

But everyone in the band is always down to keep moving forward with how we’re presenting stuff. So there’s no sort of there’s no arguing. But but yeah, a lot of them, you know, I’m also mixing like a new live record now. So I’m kind of listening to things and I’m like, oh wow, this is like the definitive version of this song, you know, kind of like for me personally, Thank You and Going To California from the Led Zeppelin BBC Sessions. I consider those the definitive versions. You know what I mean?

Marty: Yep, yep, yep.

Adam: And that just came to mind, but there’s a million live recordings, you know, but I was like, oh wow, this song is kind of like the definitive version of this song. So it’s been a real joy to sort of have these… they’re different than the other it’s great it is we’re so lucky to have such good songs.

Marty: Well that helps. So how much thought do you put into the pacing of the live set? Like I know you go from like Harmonia’s Dream into Red Eyes and that’s kind of an interesting dynamic going on there. Does that change much? Was that set in stone before you hit the road or how did it work out?

Adam: No, I write the set every night. Every night it’s a different set. We have certain things that are kind of… like, for a while when we were touring, the first five songs were always the same. Because it was like, those… we just knew that flow. And so I think when you’re, especially when you’re playing new music, and you’re playing like some big place, you know, you kind of want to come out and just like put yourself in a good state of mind for the first 25-30 minutes, you know?

So we kind of had a flow and then from there it would kind of change. And then over the course of the tour, you know, our lighting guy, everyone sort of gets, becomes a member of the band. So, you know, all of a sudden we had this like intro to Harmonia’s Dream that we didn’t have at the beginning of the tour, both in the lights and musically.

It’s like we were both kind of feeding off each other. We’re like, oh, now we have this like intro thing that we didn’t, that obviously isn’t on the record. And then yeah, and then we’re like, oh, we’ll look at the BPMs and we’ll say, oh, maybe Red Eyes should be after this. It’s like one click faster or something. So we just mess around with where things go. And we always put Under The Pressure towards the end, obviously, but we did a show a couple weeks ago in Des Moines where right before we went on, it was a festival, they lost power to like the whole state. It was like some weird thing where like, if we started playing, everything was gonna fry cause there was some ground, I don’t know.

Marty: So that’s always reassuring to know.

Adam: Yeah, they were like, oh, the ground is flipped. I don’t know what it was, but story short, it was like an hour delay. And we, I rewrote the set list standing side stage. And I was like, let’s just go out and play Under The Pressure first. I was like, it’d be cool. Like, you know, it’s like a different energy than coming out. And we did it first, which we hadn’t done in probably eight years. And it was awesome. You know, it’s like, all right, like there’s nothing, there’s no right or wrong in writing a set. You can start with your jam and still jam and still put people on it, do a great show for people. So I have a lot of fun writing the set every night and finding, you know…and it’s really like those little, those three, four seconds in between the songs are I think usually where like the pacing is what it’s all about. Like when to kill it and when to start the next one and what’s the vibe and, you know, it’s a lot of fun when you’re like one with the audience to really just kind of… my ideal show would be no banter. It would be no silence. It would just be continuous noise.

Marty: But you kind of do a banter thing, introducing the other members of the band and things like that, don’t you?

Adam: Yeah, that’s a very good point. I do that. It’s like, I don’t even know when that I mean, I used to obviously announce everyone in the band and towards…we did this crazy tour last summer. We had done like a huge US tour and a huge European tour. And then we came back, we had to do like a tour twice as long in America and Europe. It was like nine weeks or something. And at the end of the first five weeks in America, it was like a hundred and…we were in North Carolina and like the temps were like 110, 112. And I was just cooked. And I think that’s when I started like holding the mic and like laying on my back and started doing like a WWE style thing, but it took on a whole life of its own also because that’s like the last thing that, if you had told me. Even five years ago that I would be like, you know, doing that sort of thing with a wireless mic, running around the stage, laying on my back. I’m like basically one tour away from having Dave put like a purple robe on me. You know what I mean? Like I’m basically like, you need to like…

Marty: You’re like James Brown!

Adam: exactly, exactly.

Adam: So it’s fun though. It’s like almost, it’s more for the band than it is for the crowd, but it is for the crowd because I want people to…I want everyone on that stage to like just get a big, a big hurrah, you know, but it’s fun. You know, those are just the things that like, when you’re kind of in it, when you’re in it deep, deeply, those things happen and everyone has a good time, you know?

Marty: Right. Now, one of the things that I was just reading about before we were speaking on, there’s some banter online about the thing with Cardi B and she had some water thrown on her and she threw the microphone back. Have you been following it? Has, have you had anything like that happen to you? Is that something you guys worry about on stage? Because you’re pretty vulnerable up there.

Adam: Yeah, but I mean, there was one time in Glasgow where we played the Barrelands, which is this like really amazing venue. It’s been around forever and it’s like really notorious, but iconic venue. We played two nights there. And they were like, this was in like Deep Understanding era, and they were like throwing beer at you. And that means that you’re really doing a great job. They’re like hurling fucking cans of beer at you.

And so then we played there, well we played in Edinburgh this past year for this album cycle. And I was like, what the fuck? I was like, no one’s throwing beer at us. What are we not good tonight? And all of a sudden it was like…and my crew was like, why’d you do that? Like now all the gear is soaked in beer. I was like, well, cause I’m insecure. I need the reassure. I wasn’t sure. I would have. I would have left the stage thinking that we were terrible because no one had thrown beer at us.

Marty: So do you worry about that? Do you worry that you’re not going down well while you’re performing?

Adam: I mean, that’s 99.9% of my brain power is that line of thinking, but it’s not really that. It’s just like…I know when the band is cooking and everything and sometimes you’re just like…well, when it’s our own show at this point, I know that people there, especially after the pandemic, when people are going out to a show, they really wanna go. If they’re at a show, they wanna be there. And that sort of thinking has stopped for me. But when we were coming up, yeah, like years ago, I used to really think that every tiny mistake I made had lost the audience and that everyone was laughing at us and… But, you know, you need something to push against.

Marty: Right, so the band has been pretty consistent over the years since like 2014. Nothing has changed personnel wise. I think you’ve added Eliza playing some keys and guitar. So how does that affect you? Do you, do you have to kind of change things up different ways since you have the same people playing the same song, kind of the same songs all the time? Do you have to do anything to avoid getting complacent?

Adam: Not really. I think you kind of do have to like…I think finding something to pick at is a good thing. Like if you’re in a soundcheck and you’re like, let’s just work on this little bridge quick. I don’t know, like breaking it up into little pieces can be helpful, you know, even if there isn’t really anything to find.

And like I used to, you know, in the last album cycle, I’d be like, let’s… I always thought that you could just get up on the stage as a band. and just immediately reinterpret a song. You know, I’d be like, can’t we just try playing this song differently and then someone does something like, well, not like that, you know?
And you’re kind of like, well, you know, I mean, you recorded the song this way. I mean, that’s basically, that’s how we, just what we, you know, that’s our ver- we can like try doing it acoustically, but how are we gonna reinvent this song in the moment? You know?

But those are the kinds of things I think that just- Trying to like just bringing them up and trying something can keep people sort of not interested, but like, because everyone’s interested and dedicated. It keeps it ever sort of changing. And, you know, we took those from covers in there once in a while that we try too.

Marty: Well I was going to ask you about the covers because that’s a good way of kind of keeping things on. And do you, when you do cover like a Warren Zevon or a Neil Young, are you trying to recreate it? Are you trying to make it your own? How do you approach it?

Adam: Really try to make, I mean usually what inspires me to cover a song, I think besides Like A Hurricane, although Like a Hurricane is so fun to play and then I listen to Neil’s and I’m like, oh right, I don’t, that’s not at all what he’s doing on the guitar. But it feels like maybe he would be, you know? I’m just wailing.

But the Zevon thing it’s definitely like both Zevon songs we’ve covered Accidentally Like A Martyr and now Play It All Night Long on Nightlong. I’m attracted to them because I think they’re so good and I could never, like I wish I was that good. You know, like I have no interest in covering like, oh, let’s cover a Feelies song or something. Not because it’s not good, but because like, although Feelies is a bad example because that, I would actually cover maybe A Deep Fascination or something, but you know, somebody wanted to cover a Cars song once. I was like, no offense, I love the Cars, but. I don’t have any desire to cut play…I don’t wanna be a, I’m not trying to be a wedding band, you know?

But the Zevon stuff is like, it’s so good on a level and it’s like, it hits me in a way where it’s like, man, like even like Play It All Night Long, that we’ve been playing, like it’s like a song about the American South. And I don’t really know. I didn’t really grow up in the American South, but I just like, man, like what an amazing sort of two and a half minute sort of like vignette of this weird little bit of life, you know. I was just like, man, I just, I wish I could have written that or I wish…I want to be connected to kind of this songwriting, you know, and this, this weird sort of genius. So it’s a lot of fun. And then I listened to the recording like this morning, actually, I was like, Oh, we play it so differently, but we kind of do our thing. You know, we just play like The War On Drugs would play it.

Marty: So are there any new newer artists, songwriters that have kind of caught your ear that or do you have time to even do that while you’re on the road?

Adam: I tend to be a little bit of an introvert, but I do, I do, um, I think Wednesday is a great band. They’re from Asheville and Dave, our bass player, you know, co-founder, he’s from Asheville and he’s been talking about them for a long time. And now they’re finally getting some really great publicity and doing some great touring and the record’s killer. And, um, really happy for when you see bands like that, they’re just kind of doing their thing, playing, you know, rock kind of, you know, good old rock music and sort of getting a lot of fans. And, and yeah, that’s a great, great band. We did some shows with War Paint in Europe and I just, I think they’re real one of a kind sort of like The Beatles or something.

And Always, I have loved Always for a long time and now they’re like, you know, superstars and I love it because to me they’re so, yeah, there’s a lot of, there’s a lot of amazing…everyone’s been talking about the same thing for 25 years. Like, is guitar music dead? And every year I’m like, you’ve been saying the same thing for like 30 years now. It’s like, you need a break, you know? God, it’s so old. It’s like, they look around, it’s like, oh, there’s so many great bands. Like, whatever.

Marty: There’s so much out there. It’s hard to even take it all in these days

Adam: So many great kinds of music and people doing all sorts of cool things and um yeah, that’s just a couple of them. But yeah There’s always amazing bands in New Zealand in Australia. It’s like, where are they from? It’s like, oh, they’re from there. Wow makes total sense, you know.

Marty: I get bombarded with emails from new bands every day from New Zealand and they’re all amazing.

Adam: I know, it must be hard, I know.

Marty: So you were last here, what 2018, I think you played Laneway. And then before that you were at the Power Station. So do you have any memories? I just saw a Slow Dive were here a couple of days ago and they were at Laneway…

Adam: Oh, our buddies! Our great buddies. Memories, well, I remember that, actually a lot of memories, I remember we played with…on the same stage, like we played after Billie Eilish. She was like, it was in the afternoon, it might’ve been Adelaide or something, and there was like two stages next to each other and I didn’t know anything about her. And now look at her, which is awesome.

It was like a separate stage, but I remember watching it. I was like, well, this is awesome. And then I didn’t know where she…I didn’t know anything about it. I didn’t know if she was from America or Australia or what. I remember I bought a really great guitar in Adelaide, that, now the prices on guitars have jumped so insanely that I can’t believe I ended up getting that guitar. So yeah, just same old thing. Just playing with great bands, meeting great people over there. I mean, we just have the best time.

We’ve done Auckland once or twice. Actually, whenwe played the power station, when we were in a soundcheck, we had rented some equipment and I rented an amp and a guitar. This is, I don’t know, 2016?

Marty: In 2014 it was.

Adam: 2014, yeah. And in that soundcheck, I wrote The Strangest Thing, that song on A Deeper Understanding. I wrote it in soundcheck on Auckland because I like picked up this… backline Strat and this AC 30 and they sounded so good and I just started playing this riff and I was like whoa and then we played the riff for like 20 minutes and soundcheck and then I went to the hotel that night and wrote the whole song in Auckland. So I have a very good memory of it. But um, but yeah, it’s like…to come all the way over there…it’s like and it’s just like as amazing as it is. It’s so, it’s such a special thing we get to do

The War On Drug tour New Zealand in December.

Joining The War On Drugs for the tour will be one of rock’s most acclaimed acts, Spoon. Austin’s most esteemed rock ambassadors have released ten albums to date, including a string of five straight top 10 records: Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (2007), Transference (2010), They Want My Soul (2014), Hot Thoughts (2017), and Lucifer on the Sofa (2022). Hailed by TIME as “one of the greatest American rock bands”, Spoon topped Metacritic’s chart as the single most critically acclaimed band of the aughts.

Last here in 2017, Spoon will tour both countries for the first time since the release of their Grammy nominated tenth album ‘Lucifer On The Sofa’. More than two decades into their career, Spoon returned with this loud, low-down, melodious rock record which The Guardian called ‘Timeless Perfection’ and Rolling Stone said, ‘Might Be Spoon’s Best Record Ever’.

Opening for all shows will be Australian singer songwriter Indigo Sparke.

 THE WAR ON DRUGS

WITH SPECIAL GUESTS SPOON
PLUS INDIGO SPARKE

ANDERSON PARK, WELLINGTON                              FRIDAY DECEMBER 1

SPARK ARENA, AUCKLAND                                        SATURDAY DECEMBER 2

For complete tour, ticket, and VIP Experience information

visit: livenation.co.nz

Click here for dates and tickets.