The Furthest Thing From "A Gimmicky Kid Band"

Believe it or not, the chilled surf-rock issuing forth from Illawarra duo Hockey Dad has been labelled 'punk' while touring overseas. "We played like this hardcore punk venue [in Germany]. And this hardcore punk band opened up for us," explains Stephenson. "They think we're punk over there, it's so weird!" interjects Fleming. "Like, surf-punk band. I dunno. Singing about chicks is like, heaps anxty, I dunno. It was a fun show, we did it in San Diego too." "Oh yeah, we played with these fucking crazy punk bands, real brutal, it was scary," says Stephenson, quite seriously. "I didn't even want to play, I was like 'this is going to be so shit," adds Fleming. "They were super heavy and this was like, going to be like the biggest 180 right now. You get to play a bit harder, you always like turn a bit of distortion up on the amp at those shows."

Stephenson and Fleming practically epitomise 'The Aussie Coastie' — arguing about where to get the best chicken schnitty: a bowlo or an RSL, nabbing a surf at every chance they get, and employing jargon unique the true blue Aussie battler: 'heaps sick', 'fully', 'sloshy' and so on. The band's inception is even a classic — Stephenson and Fleming both wanted to play guitar. Fleming had learned a few bits and bobs on the drums at school, and Stephenson and another mate "had already shotty-d guitar… so I got stuck on drums," laments a forlorn Fleming. You just gotta love 'em.

There's not a whiff of pretension anywhere in the enclosed space of The Music's office sauna that's doubling as an interview room while torrential rain hammers the usual tables outside. But this lack of ego isn't something they always observe in other groups. "You do see a few bands trottin' around like they're sick. At festivals you see it heaps ay. Just cocky little goers," laughs Fleming. "But they're actually shit" Stephenson jokes, trying to think of an example without naming names. "Tell the story!" Fleming eggs. Stephenson gives in. "It was at Party In The Paddock, just heaps of people going like 'so how's your little band?' That's the biggest one, I love that, that's such a good one." "Argh," groans Fleming. "Little band."

"The only thing that helped us in the start was just being mates with everyone. And then you slowly find mates everywhere, and they're like 'oh we got a show here, we got a fezzy here'," explains Fleming. He's referring to the way Hockey Dad got over the hump of being 'those kids that play in a band' while under the age of 18. "I kinda copped it for ages too, because in an earlier band I was 13 trying to play in pubs, so it was pretty skitz, I just copped that for ages. Just from the venues... we'd play the set and have to leave straight away. We just played harder to get people to notice us." Stephenson adds "I think all people see is like a gimmicky kid band as well. I dunno, I thought people thought of us like that at the start, like 'oh they're good, for kids'. But now we're older, I don't think we get seen like that anymore."