Beddy Rays Hit The Road To Celebrate Their Debut Album

Renowned for undeniably boisterous live show, Beddy Rays have officially kicked of their national album tour to celebrate the release of their self-title debut album which includes a stop at The Gov in Adelaide tonight. Produced by Brock Weston and Beddy Rays, and recorded at Brock’s Place in Brisbane, Beddy Rays features the aforementioned thrasher Sort It Out, the chaotic Week On Repeat, the explosive Wait A While, a rowdy dose of Milk, the mosh ready beast On My Own and the anthem that started it all, Sobercoaster. Hi Fi Way spoke to vocalist and guitarist Jacko Van Issum and lead guitarist Lewy McKenna about the album and tour.

Congratulation on your debut album, how exciting was release day?
Jacko: It was definitely a big day and a big week for us and we took a big trip down the east coast to celebrate and sell some records, good fun.

How did you celebrate release day?
Jacko: We’ve started our album tour where we’re going all over the country. Bakers Eddy are supporting us for the whole tour which will be awesome. It is one long celebration playing the entire album.
Lewy: Each night we are getting more clapping on these songs, that little acoustic tour we did helped bring the songs back to their raw form. I think we are a lot tighter now with those songs from the album. It will be great to crank up the guitars amps in these places.

Can you believe how much practice, rehearsing and work in general went in to making the album?
Jacko: Yeah, yeah! A lot of work goes in to it not just with the recording. There’s the writing and releasing aspects and we are lucky we have such great management that help us get things done the right way. We are useless at that sort of stuff.
Lewy: We wouldn’t of been able to do it without them that’s for sure.

When you played the album back for the first time what was your reaction?
Jacko: We were so stoked, it was so exciting particularly with the test pressing when it came in the mail. I held myself back from opening it up so I could get the boys over to open it up together and play it together. It was a real special moment to hear it all back and we have no regrets at all.
Lewy: We just sat there so happy with the way it all sounded and it was quite surreal hearing it back for the first time. I listened to the test pressing and then didn’t listen to it for a few weeks letting it do its own thing. The day it came out I took time out for an hour or so, put my phone on do not disturb and just listened to the album straight through which was nice. I think I was crying at one point and at the end I was thinking we had done it.

Are you able to listen to the album like a fan would without critiquing yourselves?
Lewy: We can’t change it now!
Jacko: We didn’t want to get stuck in that rabbit hole where we should have done this riff or that part there, I think it would be easy to always say those sorts of things and critique your own stuff. It is easier to just cop it! Just be proud of it!

As the album started to take shape did you have that feeling you had a batch of songs to really nail it?
Jacko: Definitely! The initial decision was whether we go for these ten or chuck the others on as well. We are stoked that we did and we had that feeling that we had a good album on our hands.
Lewy: There were a couple of songs at the end where we had some help with the structure and teething issues of the song.

Did everything go to plan in the studio?
Jacko: The studio got flooded which threw a spanner in the works! We didn’t actually book the studio out for a month to record it. It was recorded over a long period of time, quite sporadically over weekend sessions as we were working full time. We did as much as we could when we could and the flooding of the studio was tough but we worked around it. We were lucky our producer had his own studio and we went in there to finish the album off.
Lewy: I don’t think anyone could tell the difference, one half recorded in the studio and the other half in a granny flat.

Were there many songs left over that might make their way on to something else?
Jacko: The songs that are left over, I don’t know, they might pop up on something or might not. It depends on how we feel about it and whether we like them or not.
Lewy: It wasn’t like they were bad songs, it was simply not enough room as we were already up to fourteen songs on the album.

Is it too early to have a favourite song?
Jacko: I’ve had a favourite for a while – FOTU, it has been my favourite for a while.
Lewy: Coffee Stops! We haven’t been able to test them out completely on the road yet so after this tour will be a good gauge.

How good was it playing at Spin Off in Adelaide?
Jacko: Oh yeah! That was a crazy good festival and so many people turned up early for our set. It was incredible and such a good experience.
Lewy: After we were able to kick back and watch all the good acts, it was awesome!

Looking forward to The Gov and will you be playing the album in full here?
Jacko: The Gov is a great joint, get a great meal there, beer garden is great! We’ll be mixing it up and see how it goes. A few oldies will be chucked in there as well and maybe a few surprises as well.
Lewy: We have a few big stage ideas!

Beyond the tour what’s next for Beddy Rays?
Jacko: We’re looking forward to chillin’ for a bit before getting cracking on the next album.
Lewy: There will be some summer festivals to the backend to cap off the year.
Jacko: We’re playing on heading over to Europe and the UK which will be fun.
Lewy: We haven’t been overseas so we’re keen to experience it.

Interview By Rob Lyon

Catch The Beddy Rays on tour with Towns and Bakers Eddy on the following dates, tickets here…