Interview: Comeback Kid

As a part of our Bled Fest coverage, Jeremy Hiebert of Comeback Kid took some time to discuss the band’s future, what it’s like being an older, more seasoned band and their involvement with Victory Records.

MEB: To start could you say your name and your role in the band?

Jeremy: My name is Jeremy Hiebert and I play guitar in Comeback Kid.

Alright sweet. So you guys are kind of known as the veterans in the hardcore scene.

Oh god now we’re old!

You’re a little older and you’ve been around for a while, so how do you embrace that veteran role?

Well I guess just to give you a snapshot of what goes on in my head, I still feel like we’re a band that is still trying to break out and explore new territories and stuff like that. But I do realize that we have four records and we’ve been a band for going on 12 years now. So you realize you’re a lot older when you come to a fest like this. I overheard a 22-year-old saying he felt he was old being here…I’m 36. So…(laughs)

But yeah it’s cool. I still feel like we are very lucky to be in the position that we are because I think that a lot of bands put in a year or two of touring and then they either just can’t handle each other anymore or just quit. So we’ve been able to push through and still be able to enjoy what we do and be able to play these fests.

Did you ever think that Comeback Kid would make it this far?

I never really had long-term goals or expectations. I still don’t. If this all ended after this tour I’d look back and say that we were very fortunate to be able to do what we’ve done. But at the same time I feel like, like I told you I’m 36 but I’m still good to go for a while. I don’t feel like I’m out of place even if other people think I do (laughs). I’m still having fun. Touring, writing music. This is just what I love to do. So you know as long as I still feel like I’m somewhat relevant, I would love to carry on.

Are there any upcoming bands that you would like to mention or have people know about?

I guess that bands that I feel are newer maybe aren’t as new anymore. I know some bands that we have gone out with recently like Living With Lions, they’re from Canada. They’ve been around for a while, but in my eyes they’re still little. I guess everybody’s younger than us right now! But yeah right now we’re on tour with another feline, this band called Lions Lions. They’re from Boston and they’re super cool kids.

Alright so you mentioned Living With Lions. So Stu (ex-vocalist of Living With Lions who has been filling in on guitar)…is he in the band or is he “in” the band?

Well it’s just one of those things where we talked about it. We’ll just do the tours this year and we’re all on the same page and he’s feeling it and we’re feeling him.

So he’s on board.

Yeah, yeah. We’ve been friends with him forever so as long as we’re still on the same page like as far as touring and everything, he’s gonna be a member of Comeback Kid. Right now he is technically filling in but all that aside, we’re good friends and we know what we’re doing.

You released your last album about a couple years ago. Are there any plans for another full-length/EP/split or anything?

Yup. There are always plans. We’re not in motion right now like full-on songwriting, but we’re…Kyle [Profetta, drummer], Andrew [Neufeld, vocalist] and myself usually do all of the writing. We’re just talking about time to set aside for that because right now we’re really spread out as far as where everyone is based out of right now. We’re all technically from Winnipeg but everybody’s kind of doing their thing all over the place. It’s not like it was at one time where we all lived five minutes from each other. So we’re gonna set some time aside in the fall or winter to start putting our ideas together. We’re always jamming on some riffs or whatever.

So should we expect a 2013 release, probably?

I’m not gonna promise anything but I think it’s a safe bet that there will be something coming out then. Not sure if it will be a full-length or what. Unless something unforeseen pops up or we have some huge falling out that I don’t foresee there should be some new stuff coming out next year.

I kind of noticed that you recently you guys have been touring with more pop-punk bands than your basic hardcore bands. Is that something that you as a band wanted to do?

We just like the balance of it. For example this tour, Rotting Out was supposed to be on it but they had to drop off because some family stuff that happened I guess a couple of days before the tour. The tour before that we had Foundation and Living With Lions and Such Gold so if we’re putting the tour together we don’t like to have it all the same.

Are there any touring plans after Bled Fest?

Well today is the last show of the tour. And then we’ll be heading over to Europe at the end of June for some festivals and club dates for a couple weeks. It’s not a super long one but we’ll be over there for about two to three weeks.

And what bands are you going out with for that?

Um, oh boy I completely blanked. They’re bands from Europe. They’re bands that we have never played with before that our booking agent recommended so I have yet to be friends with these guys, but I will be in a few weeks. I’m old so my brain is slowing down I think.

So with all this being said, do you see an end in sight for Comeback Kid?

Well kind of like I said earlier, I can’t speak for the other guys but me personally, I still think we have a lot of ideas and energy to take us for a while. Like it could all end tomorrow, but I certainly hope not. I’m still good for a couple more years and a record or two or maybe more. Who knows? It’s like I still love what I do.

One more thing before we wrap this up. There’s been a lot of scrutiny going along with Victory Records for years, more recently with a band like Streetlight Manifesto. How has the label been to you guys?

Well see labels are one of those things where, I get asked this question quite a bit so I get a kick out of someone from Victory maybe reading these interviews but I mean the way I usually describe it is labels are a necessary evil. I mean unless you’re dealing with a small DIY band or whatever…these people know how to make money and they know what they need to do to do it. They do what they do! And a lot of times younger bands get locked into contracts that they didn’t realize they signed when they were young and when they get older, [there is] all the money that is just flowing right past them that they probably should be entitled to to some degree. It sucks that legally you’re screwed but at the same time it’s too bad someone took advantage of you. It’s been going on for a while; like bands like Hatebreed from a decade or more ago, they had these problems. And then Hawthorne Heights had some problems, A Day To Remember…you know it’s always gonna happen unfortunately. As far as our relationship with them, we’re not one of their big bands. To be honest I don’t think we’re getting our fair share piece of the pie (laughs). But at the same time we knew what we were getting into.

So is there anything else that you want to say to the fans?

Well like you said before, we’ve been around for a while so just we appreciate the support that we have gotten over the years.