Music is a forever changing thing, can't wait to hear the album!

see you in LA on the 10th of October!

-The Bards

Venues confirmed, see you at your local.

Also we've confirmed our boys Pants Festival and Bunker 18 as the support acts.

The setup each night will be as follows.

Doors Open 7pm
Bunker 18 7.20 - 7.50
Pants Festival 8.10 - 8.50
Pilot 9.15 - 11ish


See ALL OF YOU there.

Peace

- Pilot

Edited by user 10 September 2009 02:58:03(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

A reporter from Q magazine is accompanying the Pilot boys for the first few dates of their Australian tour to report back to the UK before Pilot get there. Here's an interview with each of the main songwriters taken on the flight to Perth from London.

Interview with Nick Edmondson

Now Nick, you and your wife divorced during the break, how has that affected your songwriting for this album?

Well I wrote a lot of very angry songs with lots of swearing that were pretty terrible. None of them are going to be recorded. Now I’ve accepted it, I’m still not terribly happy about it but I’m at peace. There’s only one song on the new record that’s about the divorce and that’s Sleight Of Hand. It’s not an angry song, the vibe’s more like a shrug. You fucked me over but oh well, sort of thing. Otherwise I think the songs I’ve been involved in writing on the album are pretty true to form for me really.

What about the track If This Is Quicksand I’ll Have The Soup?

I hadn’t really thought of that as an angry song. It’s certainly not about the divorce anyway. I wrote it with Murray and we’re both a bit mad with our songwriting really. I guess it is about futility and meaninglessness…it’s pretty fun though. That may or may end up being a b-side actually.

How do you think the album will stack up as a comeback album?

Well comeback albums are generally pretty shit aren’t they? I think usually you try to recapture the same feeling you had before the split, which clearly isn’t going to still be there 5 to 10 years down the track when you’ve all not been together in that time. Otherwise they try to go completely different and so they don’t give people what they want. We knew that coming in so we’ve tried to push the boundaries a little bit but still keep that Pilot feel about the whole thing, which is what we’ve done on every record really, especially Come Upon New Times and Inside Newtopia.

The album title, Remember The Future, what does that mean to you?

It’s pre-empting that people are going to make this comeback about our past and so we’re saying, sure the past was great but we’re excited about what’s in store, you know?

How’s everyone’s songwriting stood up over the break?

The stuff on the album that Clint and Stephen have written is gold really. They’re really dipping their feet in new areas you know. The stuff we brought together that we’d written in our time apart was shit, and that’s why it’s taken us so long to get our shit together. Obviously the Pilot songs come from being in Pilot, you know? Only one song on the album was written before we got back together, and that was Space Cadet which I wrote. But that’s been fixed up a hell of a lot in that time anyway…What was the question?

How’s everyone’s songwriting stood up over the break? I think you’ve answered it.

Yeah. Good now, but shit when we were apart. Yeah.

Thanks for your time.

Pleasure mate.

Interview with Clint Walkingshaw

Clint, tell me about the album.

It’s good for a comeback album…No, fuck that, it’s good full stop, which is amazing for a comeback album.

How does it stack up against other Pilot records?

You’ve got to be realistic you know. The Leed Balloon is far and away our best record from a commercial point of view, Inside Newtopia I think was our most genius record. We’re not gonna stroll back in after years apart, years out of the game, and be producing anything of that caliber. I’d say it’s better than Come Upon New Times…actually thinking about it it’s probably next best behind those two, though Bullets & Broken Glass always holds a special spot in our hearts as our debut.

What was it like working together with the whole band again?

Excellent mate. The great thing about our situation is there was never a falling out. There was just this feeling after Inside Newtopia of, ‘where do we go from here?’ you know? No-one had any ideas for an album that would stack up well enough against that record. Now we’ve let everything go and we’re just working together and it’s fantastic and good things are happening. We’re all best mates, we all went to school together. The in-jokes are still there after all this time, not that we didn’t catch up with each other over the break.

How’s it going to be, touring?

It’s been a hard slog of rehearsals to get it all back, our own personal abilities and that gel with each other. We’re there though I reckon. We’re just doing a small, 15 date tour first to test the water but I think it’ll be great. Plus we’ll be with my boys Pants Festival who are amazing and Bunker 18 who I’ve not actually heard their stuff but it sounds exciting.

Thanks for your time.

Cheers man, peace.

Interview with Stephen Holland

Stephen, what’s your take on the album?

It’s solid man, really solid. We’re moving into new territory and staying right where we are at the same time. We’re like an empire you know. When you invade France you don’t go live in France. You keep some people in Germany and some people in France, you expand, you don’t move. That’s what our sounds doing, expanding…Shit, I’d call something Empire after that but Kasabian beat us to it.

How’s everyone getting along?

Great, really great. I mean, Clint’s gone sort of hippy-ish with all this ‘peace’ bullshit, but that’s ok. I’m the biggest prick of the lot of us and I’m getting on with everyone and vice-versa so we’re in good shape.

You guys are getting on a bit these days, is the energy still there?

Fuck yeah mate. Still young at heart and all that. I think Nick’s gonna be super energetic on stage, 5 years away from it and with all the shit that’s happened, shit’s gonna get broken, guaranteed. Nah, actually we’ve had to get into fitness regimes and stuff, We’ll be playing sets probably just shy of two hours, that’s a long time to be banging on drums, and they’re usually high-energy songs. But we’ve all been keeping ourselves fit so should be golden mate.

Why the idea to release a covers album and what’s happening with the covers you’ve recorded now that you’re not releasing them in an album?

Did you call me old you c**t?

Ah…

Nah, you’re right mate. Umm, we were playing covers to get the groove back, as well as some of our old stuff. I think it was just great fun to be playing the covers rather than the songs we’ve been playing for 15 years plus, you know? So we thought, let’s make an album of them. That was when we hadn’t written anything new that we were happy with. Then the songs came together pretty quickly once they started coming so we scrapped the covers album idea. A lot of the b-sides for this album are going to be covers, and most are of bands you probably wouldn’t expect, all part of us expanding our empire you see. Haha *winks*

Sounds great. Thanks for your time.

No worries mate, thanks for yours.

Pilot walked onstage with confidence you wouldn't expect from a band playing their first gig in over 5 years. Nick and Clint seemed to be sharing a joke as they walked on. Nick was laughing as he approached the mic and greeted the crowd with, "God I've missed this. How you doing Perth? Remember us? Here's our opener." And so Pilot kicked off their set with the repeated chant of ...An End Has A Start Has An End..., the opener from Inside Newtopia.

As that song was fading out they suddenly burst into Neon, from the same album. After being stationary and, kind of ominous looking, for the opening track (which is an ominous sounding track to be fair), the band came alive. The energy was back! Nick was relishing the opportunity to again be able to act like an idiot on stage, standing above Murray on the keyboardist's chair to sing a large chunk of the second verse, also lying down and trying to stretch his head out into the crowd during the instrumental section.

And so the gig continued in the general chaos that is a Pilot concert. Clint was confident enough to play the guitar solo to Satellite standing atop Stephen's base drum...Mind you, he has been playing that song at just about every show the band has played in the last 17 years. He and Murray also stood face to face, egging each other on during most songs in which they both played guitar.

To get the crowd even more involved Stephen produced a blow up doll and got the crowd to pass it around like a beach ball during Russian Bride and (Absinthe Makes You A) Whore. At the end of ...Whore Nick called for the doll back and then popped it with a kebab skewer sticking out of his fly.

The band also played three new songs, expected to be part of their upcoming album, apparently to be titled 'Remember The Future.' These songs were all received fairly well, particularly Space Cadet which has all the makings of a typical Pilot, instantly catchy single.

Continuing on from the last two tours, the barnstorming, arm-round-your-best-mates singalong Brothers & Sisters closed out the main set, while the epic, spacey Lightyears from third album, Six Inches Under Denver, closed the three-song encore.

"Thanks Perth, we love you. See you next time, probably at Subi (Subiaco Oval)" Nick announced to close out the gig, hopefully pointing to a stadium tour to follow this reunion tour of smaller venues.

Setlist
...An End Has A Start Has An End... [Inside Newtopia]
Neon [Inside Newtopia]
Dream Police [The Leed Balloon]
Bag Of Bones * [New Song]
Virtual Fantastic [Inside Newtopia]
Sally Thirtysomething [Bullets & Broken Glass]
Goodness Gracious [Love Is For Fools]
If You Want It [The Leed Balloon]
Amy [Six Inches Under Denver]
If You Remember * [New Song]
Russian Bride [Come Upon New Times]
(Absinthe Makes You A) Whore [Standalone Single]
Braindead [Six Inches Under Denver]
Can't Sit Still [The Pied Piper]
Satellite [Satellite EP]
Space Cadet * [New Song]
Brothers & Sisters [Come Upon New Times

---

Song To Fall In Love To [Inside Newtopia]
Part-Time Assassin [Bullets & Broken Glass]
Lightyears [Six Inches Under Denver]

So we find ourselves in Manchester, about to do a rehearsal for tomorrow nights show before we take it easy tonight. Glad to be in the UK and excited about playing these shows. The Australian crowds may have just been excited and responding warmly coz we're Australian. These shows, if we're shit we'll know it. That's good, that'll keep us on our toes and help us play some belters of shows. Be sure to catch a show if u can. Come backstage afterwards if you'd like and share in the celebrations.

We'll be sure to let you all know how the Manchester show went too.

Adios

- Nick Edmondson.

Well, we've just arrived in London. Pretty amped about our Brixton show tomorrow night. That place is a special venue. I know we said we'd touch base after the Manchester show but its been prety Helter Skelter so we'll let you know about last nights show in Leeds instead.

We came out and played ...An End Has A Start Has An End... as usual. The incessant build up of chanting seems to build up tension in the crowd nicely, which leads to them going apeshit if we play a song they're very fond of up second. Last night we went with Neon second, that seemed to work nicely.

Let me tell you, the energy's back. Towards the middle of the set last night we strung SXFX, Kamikaze and new song Accelerate together. Those are three of the highest octane songs we've got and we tore through them. Nick was naturally all over the stage like he was having seizures, climbing amps, jumping down infront of the crowd, even throwing the mic stand in the air, halfway across the stage before catching it and launching into a chorus of Kamikaze.The rest of us were moving about a bit too, just making sure it didn't look like we thought he was a complete tool.

We threw b-side The Queen Of France into the mix last night. Not everyone was down with it but a lot of the fans seemed pleasantly surprised. It's nice to throw in the odd unexpected song at this stage of a career and I maintain that's the best b-side we've got.

Towards the end of the set, Nick got into dedicating songs to people. New song Space Cadet was dedicated to "Harry the dealer. Thanks for hooking us up for the last 15 years man." Main set closer Brothers & Sisters was dedicated to Raven. Song To Fall In Love To was dedicated to, "the most beautiful girl in the world." We're pretty sure we know who he means but our lips are sealed.

Last night and in Manchester we closed the set with Lightyears with Klaxons cover Golden Skans played towards the end of it before finishing with some more of Lightyears. We did that on The Leed Balloon tour I think it was, and it worked a treat so we're doing it again. Still think it's working a treat, personally.

Setlist

...An End Has A Start Has An End...
Neon
Amy
Bag Of Bones (new song)
Wouldn't Mind A Milkmaid
SXFX
Kamikaze
Accelerate (new song)
Virtual Fantastic
Goodness Gracious
If You Want It
The Queen Of France
Can't Sit Still
Sally Thirtysomething
NYE In NYC
Space Cadet (new song)
Brothers & Sisters

---

Song To Fall In Love To
Part-Time Assassin
Lightyears / Golden Skans (Klaxons Cover) / Lightyears (Reprise)

Be sure to catch a show if its somewhere you're gonna be. Bunker 18 and Pants Festival have been playing some crackers of support shows too. It definitely value-for-money entertainment

Peace

- Clint Walkingshaw