When someone leaves a band, or it becomes clear that the band needs to move in a different direction from one or more of its members, it always raises questions among those remaining. It can be quite an ominous feeling, walking back into the studio knowing that you’re now a man down and not knowing when, or even if, you’ll be able to fill those shoes. Truth be told, on more than one occasion this year, the “I’m not sure I want to continue” brainworm reared its ugly head. The thought of having to go through an entire back catalogue of material with a n00b to show them the ropes is tedious at best, and utterly soul-destroying at worst.
If you’re lucky, you’ll stumble upon someone who can pick everything up quickly and not have to cancel gigs that have been booked for months. Or longer. If you’re very lucky, you’ll also land on your feet and end up with someone who fits in with the ethos of the band and who has the grit and determination to put everything they can into driving the band forward. And if, by some grand cosmic aligning of the stars, you end up with someone who not only does both those things but also immediately slots in with the individual and collective personalities of the band and the senses of humour therein, then you know you’re on to a good thing.
And we did. We sure as shit did.
The cold feet that started to take hold in February and the sense of treading gloomy waters for months thereafter are now distant memories. The Tantrum that opened the door to 2022 is a very different beast from the one that leaves it behind. We tentatively turned the handle at the start of the year, warily poking our heads around to see if it was safe to proceed, and we trod carefully and uneasily for more than half the year. The Tantrum you see before you now, though, is already kicking the fuck out of the door to 2023 and is more than ready to take it by the balls horns.
We played our last gig of 2022 on December 9th at Ivory Blacks—it was a short set, and we couldn’t hear a single thing on stage, so we had no idea what any of the other members were doing. We all played by ear, following Billy, who was also playing by ear as he couldn’t hear us either. But we still nailed it. We nailed it, and we had a great time doing it. We hope that you’ll all join us again for what is already shaping up to be an amazing 2023—a new album, gigs already booked as far as October, two festivals, and the best lineup we could ever hope for. We are evolving.
Baz, Billy, Mark, Micah, and Stoo.
