For those that haven’t heard of The Academic, where have you been? The Academic are one of the best new Irish bands to date!
The Academic brought their energetic and high-octane sound to London’s Camden Assembly to a sold out show of committed Indie rock enthusiasts.
I caught up with Dean, Craig, Matt and Stephen again backstage where they shared what’s being going on since we last spoke.
You guys just came back from gigging in America, how was it?
S- yeah it was cool!
C- we played SXSW, it was great! It was about five days and we played six shows! It was great to finally play in front of American audiences and see what the reaction was like
How does the American audience differ from a UK audience?
S- I think they appreciated the fact that we were Irish! It’s a big thing over there!
C- we played two shows on St Patricks Day!
You’re currently on a new UK Tour, what can fans expect?
C- we’re hitting a lot of places that we haven’t been before, we actually played our first headline show in Coventry and we played a headline in Brighton
What has been the best advice you’ve received since starting The Academic?
S- ooh that’s a tough one! We got told to always put fresh socks on your rider
C- bring a pillow for the van but that’s self-advice haha!
Who would be one artist that you would like to support or perform with?
C- I’d love to support Vampire Weekend!
D- The Killers
What has been the best moment of your career so far?
M- there’s be lots of good ones, supporting The Strokes in Hyde Park was fun!
S- I guess for me, it was releasing our debut Ep and getting to see people’s reaction to our music because that’s the scariest part about being in a band. Every time we release music, I tell myself that this is a big thing!
C- last year, we played at 3Arena! You go there as a kid and you’re like oh my god, so that was a big deal for me
What advice would you give other young bands that are just starting out?
D- probably just to get into a practice room and try and write as much as you can! No matter how bad you think it is! Just bash it out as long as you can, play any shows you can get!
Are you guys playing any UK festivals?
M- yeah we are!
S- we’re doing live in Leeds this month!
C- we just done one in Derby as well!
S- we actually might be taking a backseat from doing festivals because we done so many last summer!
What is the best thing about being apart of The Academic?
S– the travel, this year we got brought to America as musicians and it was amazing!
C- if we weren’t in the band, I don’t think that would happen.
What are your plans for the rest of the year?
D- to release a lot more music!
S- probably release an album!
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