Voice of London

It happened. The Voice of London sat down with Ollie and Dorian from Broadside to discuss about Paradise, their first ever festival in the UK and dealing with life after Warped Tour.

You just played your last set at Slam Dunk, how was it?

Dorian: It was great, fun. I am not entirely sure about what happened, but they put these gates up to the left of our stage to keep people coming and then they locked up? I think we reached capacity or something, but I also saw people waiting outside the gates.

Oliver: The energy was good, it was probably our biggest crowd we played to, but then again, it’s hard to say.

Dorian: Day 1 even was surprising for us.

Oliver: Maybe Slam Dunk in general. It was more of a consolidated area. There was definitely 800 people every day, for sure.

Dorian: It was very overwhelming, it was crazy.

Did you watch anyone playing?

Oliver: I saw Knuckle Puck today.

Dorian: I watched them two days in a row. I wanted to watch State Champs, but they usually start playing right when we finish so we don’t have time.

How’s food at Slam Dunk?

Dorian: I had some dope-ass burrito.

Oliver: I had some alright rice, but that vegan chocolate cake was delicious.

You played a few shows in Europe before Slam Dunk, how was that?

Dorian: That was a lot of fun. It was so cool to be able to come to Europe for the first time and have such a great time.

Oliver: The turnout was pretty good. It was crazy to hear people sing our songs for example in a German accent.

Dorian: It makes me very grateful.

Did you learn any word in other language?

Dorian: Das ist gut (that is good) and … salut, in French. And Bonjour. French reminds me of waves on a beach, it’s swingy.

Oliver: I don’t know what kind of beach you go to.

Three headline shows in the UK, what to expect from that?

Oliver: London is going to be nuts, and we get to make the rules up, we can waste time and we get to sort of dictate what we want in the set, we’re going to even play songs people don’t like, because fuck it, Iove those songs. We’re playing for like a hour. London is one of my favourite cities ever.

Dorian: Yeah, and it sold out like a month ago.

Oliver: That is crazy, to be our first headline in London. Also, the support acts are our friends.

What’s the difference between “Old Bones” and “Paradise”?

Oliver: “Old Bones” is a personal album. “Paradise” has personal touches but it’s for the people. We had the chance to do Warped Tour and talk to the people who actually listened to us and speak directly to them. We’re still trying to figure ourselves out. But “Paradise” is very promoting perseverance, self-growth, self exploration in any sense of the word. But we get realistic in there too. Because we’re pretty sad dudes at the same time who like to have a good time.

Who’s behind the words?

Oliver: Dorian and I usually but we all collaborate, at the beginning I was the only one and I had this ego telling me I wanted stuff to be the way I wanted them to be, but then I realised that I needed other people’s help. And also, not everyone has the same idea you have which is nice. You don’t want people to tell you “yeah, that’s amazing” all the time, because it’s probably not. You gotta surround yourself with people who have different ideas.

“Summer Stained” is the new video. Why that kind of video?

Oliver: We’re pretty arty sad guys, again, that was a song from us for people.

Dorian: That was one of the personal ones.

Oliver: We did Warped Tour and people love you and they ask you when you’re coming back, then you go home and you realise “oh, I am not killing it the way I should be” or “what am I even doing?”, your sister’s graduating high school, normal life. It fucks you, it makes you human.

Dorian: It’s literally the equivalent of running full speed and then all of a sudden you stop.

Oliver: Especially after Warped, because that’s a lot of emotions. You never have to be alone at Warped Tour. You forget how to be alone.

Difficult position now, what’s better? Slam Dunk or Warped Tour?

Dorian: That’s though.

Oliver: Warped Tour is longer. I would say Slam Dunk, maybe because I am American and I see those things every single day.

Dorian: Slam Dunk is cool because it has a ton of people that come. Every band gets a really good opportunity. Your overlap is actually very minimum.

Speaking about Warped Tour, you get to play the last one too ..

Dorian: It’s pretty sick to be part of the last one. It’s been an iconic festival for everybody for such a long time. It’s a bummer that it’s coming to an end, but I am sure they will do some kind of alteration to it and try to keep it going but as far as being a part of the last cross country, it’s so sick. If you play any instrument as a kid, your goal is to play Warped Tour.

Oliver: With knowing that it’s the last ever Warped Tour, it’s going to be a different kind of energy.

Paradise is out now.

Words: Sal Fasone | Photos: Federica Burelli