Talking all things ‘SPY’ ahead of their AU Tour this August

Last Ride Records presents: SPY (USA) live in Australia. Bay Area hardcore punk band Spy will head down to Australia for the first time in August 2024, fresh off the back of their 2023 "Satisfaction" LP. Released through hardcore tastemaker Triple-B Records, the LP is 10 tracks of fast, gross hardcore punk, with support from Australian Hardcore bands The Chain & Engage

We caught up with Peter (singer for SPY) and talked about their upcoming tour, The Bay Area, What bands he is looking forward to catching in Australia, and their 2023 record ‘Satisfaction’

First off, I've been a longtime listener of SPY, and I believe I first came across your record ‘Service Weapon’ in 2020 so Hello! – Who is joining us today and where are you writing to us from?

Hey! Thanks for being down from the start. This is Peter, I do the vocals in the band, and I’m writing from the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California.  

Awesome to hear that SPY will be touring Australia in August! What are you looking forward to the most about touring here?

Looking forward to checking out a new place and seeing what shows are like in Australia! And just generally seeing what Australia is all about, as none of us have ever been there before.

I just noticed that you were here recently with ‘World Peace’ . How was that run of shows?

I’m no longer in the band so I was not there for that run. Christian from World Peace said it was sick though! 

I lived in California for many years back in 2010’s. I feel there’s many similarities between Australia and at least California, maybe not the rest of the US –. Are there any things that wig you out when you're here in AU?

I’ve heard this before from people who have been to both, this will be my first time in Australia so I guess I’ll find out!

Because of bands like Primitive Blast and Speed and then touring with World Peace back in May, i’m guessing you would have many friends in Australia already before bringing ‘SPY’ over, who are your listening to from Australia at the moment, and who are you looking forward to seeing / catching while your here? 

We played a show with Primitive Blast in Los Angeles back in 2022, they absolutely killed it and seemed like great guys too. I remember watching Speed at one of the years we played Sound and Fury (2022?), they were awesome, great energy. Seeing them continue to do their thing around the world has been really fucking cool! Other than that we haven’t had too many run ins with Australian bands out here. Super excited to check out The Chain and Engage, they’ll each be doing a leg of the tour with us. It’ll be sick to see 50 Lions, who we’ll be playing with in Melbourne! I was just listening to Gaoled from Perth recently, they’re sick. Histamine from Sydney too!

It feels like a lot of Bay Area bands keep popping up and doing tours here in AU lately, we just had Big Boy and Sumami out last week, is everyone in the Bay just busting to get over here and tour, and experience our scene? 

I’ve always wanted to go to Australia and play some shows but it also seemed like one of those things that might never actually happen (or would take a reallllly long time before we could get over). But then as soon as you see bands from your area go and have a successful tour it makes it feel a lot more possible and inspires you to make it out there yourself. Also doesn’t hurt that you hear nothing but good things about Australia from the bands who have gone over. Shout out to Tom from Last Ride Records for making it happen for us!

I’ve been following the project for awhile from how has the sound of the band changed and or developed from your 2020 release to ‘Satisfaction’ in 2023, and on-going?

The biggest change from a song-writing perspective is that for the first EP it was just me, then as people started joining the band and we began working on new material more songwriters emerged. By the time we’re working on the LP you’ve got everyone contributing to writing songs and adding ideas, so it’s become more of a collaborative effort over time.

Who did you work with for Production for ‘Satisfaction"?

As with our previous recordings, ‘Satisfaction’ was recorded, mixed and mastered by Charles Toshio at Panda Studios in Fremont, California. 

Who worked across the Creative, and Artwork Direction for the Album Cover for ‘Satisfaction’?

Our dear friend Cain Cox has done all of our album art up to this point, he also did the art for ‘Satisfaction’. We love him and think he’s a brilliant artist. The ideas for the art were contributed by our bassist Thomas, and Cain executed them perfectly. 

Who does SPY draw to for influence for writing a record? 

This definitely varies per member, as we’re all listening to pretty different bands most of the time. Speaking just for me, I don’t typically try to emulate anything or anyone in particular, I’ll usually just sit there messing around on guitar/bass until I come up with something I like and go from there. 

Are there difficulties touring Internationally vs North America?

Definitely yeah. At home we can usually just pick up our merch from Cole at Printhead in San Jose (where most of the band lives) drive down the road to our practice space and load up our gear, and then hit the road and start touring. Everything is much more familiar and definitely easier to navigate.  For international tours there’s just so much more logistical planning that goes into it, and it’s so much more expensive to make it happen with the flights and all that, sometimes we’re even losing money on it, which adds an extra element of stress to the whole thing. Depending on where you go a lot of the logistics are figured out by the people in the country you’re going to, so you kind of just put your trust in them and let them lead you, which is the complete opposite of touring back home where you’re deciding everything you do yourself. In a lot of ways the international experience can be way cooler as you’re getting to see the sick local spots, eat the best food, and meet some of the kindest people you’ve ever met. That’s how it was in Japan and southeast Asia last year, I think everyone in the band would agree that’s been our favorite international touring experience up to this point. So although it can sometimes be more difficult going international, it also has a higher potential to be a much more rewarding and memorable experience overall.

What’s been the coolest show / tour to date for the band to be a part of? 

As mentioned above, our tour of Japan and southeast Asia last year was incredible. We’ve been fortunate enough to have gotten the chance to play some really great shows over these last few years, both years at Sound & Fury definitely stand out, too. For me personally getting to tour with Ceremony was awesome, that’s a band that’s meant so much to me over the years growing up. Never thought I’d get to do any of this, so honestly it’s all been really special. 

When you're not on tour, what are you working on and how’s that downtime feed the cycle?

That’s kind of where we’re at right now, this is our longest break in quite a while. The first half of 2024 was super busy for us so just being back home and not playing shows feels nice to tell you the truth. I’ve been enjoying spending time with loved ones and just the routine stuff, going for walks, going to work, stuff that usually would feel mundane now feels like a nice change of pace after being on the road for so long. 

We enjoy giving back and supporting emerging artists, bands, or creatives from your local community. Are there any you'd recommend we check out?

There are some young people putting together really cool new heavy bands in the East Bay right now, check out Manos De Fierro and Iron Front. Check out Natural Human Instinct and Condition One from San Jose. 

Can we expect a new SPY record this year?

The next release isn’t too far off, whether it be sometime this year or early next!

Looking forward to seeing your Newcastle Show coming up! Thanks for this, and catch you there!

Thank you and see you soon!