The Hotseat: Ryan Miller of The SideTracked Fiasco
on July 1st, 2012Sydney outfit The SideTracked Fiasco have just released their second E.P ’Enter the Motivational Sasquatch‘ and are about to kickstart the launch tour for it. A video clip for the single ‘547‘ has also just been released. This week in The Hotseat we catch up with the band’s frontman Ryan Miller. Expand this post to check out his answers, the new video clip and their upcoming tour dates.
THE BASICS
Name : Ryan Miller
Band : The Sidetracked Fiasco
Job In Band : Main Vocals
Website Address : www.thesidetrackedfiasco.com
HOME
Hometown : Manly, Sydney
Hometown is best known for : Surfing, drinking and wasted backpackers
Best venue in your hometown : Moonshine Bar, looks like a pirate ship with over 100 rums to choose from. I like rum… and pirate paraphernalia.
Favorite show you’ve seen in your hometown : Mammal a few years back before they closed down the old Fisho’s. Mental!
Favorite show you’ve played in your hometown : The Old Manly Boatshed, we’ve played there a few times now and its always a dirty sweaty party which is just what I like! You head down the stairs underground to find a well used bar and stage which hasn’t ended up being over-trendafied like so many of the good sweaty live venues. We’ll be busting out there again on August 26th.
THE BAND
How did the band first come to exist? My brother Luke and I got it going randomly one day, I was MC’ing at the time doing some solo stuff and wanted to take the music further. I was jamming with some mates at home one day when Like jumped on the drum kit and started talking about getting one having played when he was younger, I was like man lets start a band. So we went out and bought a drum kit the next week. Around a week so later we met and lucha mask wearing slapper who had a bass guitar and a massive thumb the size of a tree trunk! We played around as a three piece just Vox, Drums & Bass for a few years and messed around all kinds of flavors music. A couple of years late we found a guitarist and started congregating as a 4 piece and making crazy funky stuff!
How long has the band been going? Almost 6 years in various shapes and forms
Any particular story behind the name? I started using the name Sidetracked as an offshoot from a previous group WFO, when we put the band together we wanted to extend from that and since we planned on playing every type of music we like all rolled into one, fiasco stuck.
What’s your most recent release? Tell us a little about it… We have just released a new EP ‘Enter The Motivational Sasquatch’. It’s got some hard hitting heavy manic as hell funk! Its music to get you moving, get you up and atom! Hard hitting boogie tunes to shake you body to as if you were stuck to and electric fence. Or in a crump off of sorts! We’re currently touring the single ’547′ it’s a fast manic funk track which go’s out to the guys a grew up with. It’s just saying stuff the stupid shit that went down growing up and look at all the mad times we had, life’s too short to get caught up on the dumb things that happened as kids. We have a pretty crazy video clip coming out for it too!
Got a personal stand out achievement of your band to date? Pulling together as a unit and putting this 16 date East Coast tour we’re doing together. We’re a self managed band and do all the booking ourselves and a lot of hours has gone into getting all these shows going. We work our arses off to put all this together and it feels fucking good to be hitting the road playing shows meeting all these mad people and making a party happen, I live for it and I fucking love it!
OFF THE STAGE
What was your first introduction to music that made you think seriously about playing it? It was when I started to jam on some hip hop tracks with one of my mates, although we weren’t very good I loved it! we played a small show and from that point I was hooked! Now im simply obsessed with it and it rules my every day!
Any particular band / album or song that you personally credit as a major influence? TZU were a massive influence on me when I first started rhyming, i’d listen to their album Position Correction everyday! Also bands like Sublime, Rancid, System Of A Down, The Herd, Faith No More, SNOT, The Cat Empire. I really love it when a band mixes up the sounds and step outside the box, when each album is different from the other and has a different flavor
Your first band name, and what style did you play? The Wizards From Oz. Hahaha what a name… Oz hip hop of course
Most prized music related item you own? My second hand Epiphone Les Paul Guitar, it’s a few years old and has a few scratches but its mine and it sounds sweeeeet!
When you’re not doing band related stuff, what are you usually found doing? Surfing, drinking, surfing, drinking. Did I mention surfing and drinking? I like hanging out with my friends searching for waves and parties and bands, but what I do most of the time is what I like the most and that’s band stuff…
The thing you most look forward to just before a tour is… THE TOUR!!! Playing live is the most fun thing I can think of doing, there’s nothing better than creating the sound and vibe that makes everybody move and lose their shit, it feels fucking goooooood!
The thing you least look forward to before a tour is… My day job.
ON THE STAGE
When on offer, what’s your one must have item on the rider? I’m a simple man with simple needs, all I ask for is a lightly glazed roasted quail with pumpkin and sweet potato, a bottle of Merlot no later than 1984, a full body massage and a Cubin cigar. Or a slab of beer, I’ll take whatever.
Favourite place you’ve toured, and why? Brisbane, they know how to party! Drunkin girls falling over on stage landing on pedals in the middle of a solo.. It was out of hand that night, awesomely!
Most memorable show you’ve played? and why? Either the answer from the last question or Old Manly Boastshed from the last tour, people onstage Sasquatches running around and it was just a Fiasco juiced party. My favorite kind!
Got a favorite song to play live? Squeeze the monkey ofF our new ep, definite body movement!
Any embarrassing on stage moments come to mind? Turned up to a show after a weekend long party and no sleep, I was kinda on another planet maybe, it was a nice planet.
Any pre-show rituals? Taking my clothes off and covering my body head to toe in paint. I’m a ribena nightmare motherlickers!
What do you find is the hardest aspect of touring in a band today? Cows on the road and pie shops.
RIGHT NOW
Last song you listened to? TZU, Good dog, 10 years on and im still cranking it!
Last album you acquired? Over-Reactor – Mouth Of The Ghetto
Which band or album is currently on high rotation? Over-Reactor & Hendrix
Tell us an up and coming band or artist you think we should go and listen to right now? Over-Reactor
What’s on the cards for the next few months for the band? The ‘Ignore The Big Scary Dinosaur & Get on The Bus’ Tour. July and August we’ll be on tour playing 16 shows from Adelaide to Brisbane and in between.
IF ONLY…
You can pick any one album for your band to cover in full, what would it be and why? Rancid – ‘Life Wont Wait’, it doesn’t matter how many time I put that album on I never get sick of it, it fucking rules!
You can pick any one band / artist to cover one of your albums in full, what would it be, and why? Rancid, they’re dirty punx!
One band you wish you were able to see live but never had the chance? Pantera
One venue you have yet to play that you would love to? Enmore Theatre, Sydney
The chance comes up to fill in for a member of a band for one tour, which band would it be, and why? System Of A Down, the music is erratic, brutally heavy, full of energy and melodic, one of the best bands I’ve heard! (NOFX would be pretty damn fun too)
A headline tour overseas comes up, tell us two bands you’d take along to support your band. Hack from Brisbane and God God Dammit Dammit from Adelaide.. both awesome!
PLUG TIME
Got any final words? The ‘Ignore The Big Scary Dinosaur & Get on The Bus Tour’ in support of our new single “547” which We’ll have a new video clip for out real soon… maybe now even!
July and August we’ll be on tour playing 16 shows from Adelaide to Brisbane and lots of places in between…. And in November we’ll do it again! We also have some free tracks for download available @ www.facebook.com/thesidetrackedfiasco. Just wanna say thanks to everyone that’s digging our tunes and coming to the shows and making us feel so god damn gooood!- love you for it!
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THE SIDETRACKED FIASCO – Enter The Motivational Sasquatch
EP available now, get it on iTunes [Here].
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Catch them on tour launching the new EP.
JULY
5th – The Port Macquarie Hotel, Port Macquarie [18+]
6th – The Armadale Club, Armadale [18+]
12th – Bendigo Hotel, Collingwood [18+]
AUGUST
3rd – The Squatters Arms, Adelaide [18+]
4th – Worldsend Hotel, Adelaide [18+]
10th – The Pacific Hotel, Yamba [18+]
11th – The Buddha Bar, Byron Bay [18+]
17th – Dicey Riley’s, Wollongong [18+]
18th – PJ O’Reilly’s, Canberra [18+]
24th – The Townie, Newtown [18+]
26th – The Old Manly Boatshed, Manly [18+]
30th – The Beer Garden, Gold Coast [18+]
31st – Lismore Uni, Lismore [18+]
SEPTEMBER
1st – Ric’s, Brisbane [18+]
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