In 2010 Mr and Mrs. Goodman first kissed their son Jimmy The Robot goodbye as he and his Super-Friends The Aquabats set off on their first adventure Downunder to play Soundwave Festival.
After falling in love with our country (and our Moreton Bay Bugs), Jimmy and his super friends are coming back our way for Soundwave 2014.
We spoke to him about touring, TV, detachable robot parts, stage antics and of course, Soundwave Festival. See for yourself why we cant wait for The Aquabats to take the stage next year…
How excited are you to be coming back to Australia again and under the soundwave banner like 2010?
I’m very excited. I had a fantastic time last time and am super stoked to be coming back especially the fact that it’s our winter here and your summer there.
What kind of feedback did you get from us aussies after your first visit here?
It was all very positive. We were really excited. As well as playing the regular festival dates, the sidewave shows and pub dates we played with reel big fish went really well and we saw plenty of followers that picked up on us after we played there, and the tv show aired in Australia, we have done really well and hope to expand on it when we come again.
How did the Aquabats get steered towards television?
We tried and tried for years and finally someone said lets make it. It was always a kind of goal for us. We are a very visual band and made lots of videos. Not just music videos, sometimes just shorts of us messing around, goofing off trying to entertain everybody. It was always something we wanted to do and we tried a couple times making different pilots and finally we found someone that said “ok, lets make a whole season”, so yeah, someone finally believed in us.
Do you think your television efforts has boosted the bands popularity here in Australia?
I think it helps. They are shows that kids will easily gravitate to but also that parents who sit with their kids can also enjoy. We try to put material in there that the adults get, so its not just kids frivolous action. We are having a laugh as well so it’s not just candy but also some substance. Hopefully all the generations can be into it.
You guys seem to have a great time on stage. What would you say are your favourite things about playing live?
Playing live, you get that instant reaction from the crowd. If you do something and they like it, they let you know immediately, and also for something they don’t like. We love filming shows, but playing live is something we definitely look forward to doing. With the tv show, you don’t get any feedback for months sometimes so its definitely a cool thing about playing live. Something we love about playing live.
Have you ever thought about filming your shows in front of a live audience?
The way the show is set up, it would be a little tricky. I mean we always have people around but everything has been on location except for a handful of video shots in front of a green screen or something like that. The majority of the time we are off and running you know, which would be hard to keep an audience up with. In fact, for a pilot we did do a segment of a show from a live concert where we interacted with the crowd and had them there and we kind of like ok, well throw it to this video segment which would have the narrative that would go in between live performances and what not. That didn’t wind up in the show for the regular season but that was an experiment that we really enjoyed.
After falling in love with our country (and our Moreton Bay Bugs), Jimmy and his super friends are coming back our way for Soundwave 2014.
We spoke to him about touring, TV, detachable robot parts, stage antics and of course, Soundwave Festival. See for yourself why we cant wait for The Aquabats to take the stage next year…
How excited are you to be coming back to Australia again and under the soundwave banner like 2010?
I’m very excited. I had a fantastic time last time and am super stoked to be coming back especially the fact that it’s our winter here and your summer there.
What kind of feedback did you get from us aussies after your first visit here?
It was all very positive. We were really excited. As well as playing the regular festival dates, the sidewave shows and pub dates we played with reel big fish went really well and we saw plenty of followers that picked up on us after we played there, and the tv show aired in Australia, we have done really well and hope to expand on it when we come again.
How did the Aquabats get steered towards television?
We tried and tried for years and finally someone said lets make it. It was always a kind of goal for us. We are a very visual band and made lots of videos. Not just music videos, sometimes just shorts of us messing around, goofing off trying to entertain everybody. It was always something we wanted to do and we tried a couple times making different pilots and finally we found someone that said “ok, lets make a whole season”, so yeah, someone finally believed in us.
Do you think your television efforts has boosted the bands popularity here in Australia?
I think it helps. They are shows that kids will easily gravitate to but also that parents who sit with their kids can also enjoy. We try to put material in there that the adults get, so its not just kids frivolous action. We are having a laugh as well so it’s not just candy but also some substance. Hopefully all the generations can be into it.
You guys seem to have a great time on stage. What would you say are your favourite things about playing live?
Playing live, you get that instant reaction from the crowd. If you do something and they like it, they let you know immediately, and also for something they don’t like. We love filming shows, but playing live is something we definitely look forward to doing. With the tv show, you don’t get any feedback for months sometimes so its definitely a cool thing about playing live. Something we love about playing live.
Have you ever thought about filming your shows in front of a live audience?
The way the show is set up, it would be a little tricky. I mean we always have people around but everything has been on location except for a handful of video shots in front of a green screen or something like that. The majority of the time we are off and running you know, which would be hard to keep an audience up with. In fact, for a pilot we did do a segment of a show from a live concert where we interacted with the crowd and had them there and we kind of like ok, well throw it to this video segment which would have the narrative that would go in between live performances and what not. That didn’t wind up in the show for the regular season but that was an experiment that we really enjoyed.
What is your favourite memory from soundwave 2010?
That was the first time we had ever been to Australia so everything we saw was brand new. The concerts were fantastic. We also went down to the Sydney fish markets and had Morton Bay Bugs which was awesome. Everywhere we went we got some awesome food and everybody we met was fantastic, everybody was on the same page and onboard so we really had a good time. We felt at home immediately. It’s not entirely different from California but it was fun to see the little differences. We were super stoked and on our sideshows we played, the fans knew our songs which was awesome and it was a great deal of fun and I can’t wait to come back.
Do you find its more fun being on a festival line up rather that headlining your own shows?
I think so. It certainly helped us out a lot being in a country for the first time. We got to play in front of lots of people who maybe didn’t know a whole lot about us, which is great. They don’t have to commit to a whole night of a band they don’t really know, but are able to walk by casually and hopefully stick around and be entertained and what not. To try to break into somewhere you have never been, its fantastic. Playing the sideshows with reel big fish was great. They brought their fans and I think we brought ours and I think our fan bases overlap quite a lot so it helped us a whole lot.
How do Mr and Mrs. Goodman go with you travelling overseas and being so far away?
My parents? (laughs) they’re good for it they’re happy for us to get out there and experience the world you know. That’s the whole point. They thought I had abandoned them but it was really more about remembering your roots and also about exploring everything the world has to offer. Australia is a nice chapter to add to that experience.
You have detachable robot body parts. Does that impress the ladies anymore than a normal man would?
I haven’t tried that out so I couldn’t speak from experience but I cant imagine it would hurt.
What advice would you give any up and coming bands trying to break into the music industry?
Fortunately for us, we had some success early on. We had a little bit of a different thing. Not the same old band which allowed us to form a pretty steady and sturdy fan base. We put out a couple of records, had a little success on the radio and this was in the 90’s you know, when mtv made a big difference in the world of music. Now it’s all on the Internet. Mtv doesn’t even play music anymore so we use the Internet a whole lot to keep our fans informed about what we are doing. Giving them new material and if it wasn’t for the fan base we had we would have ended a long time ago. I guess I would say to be true to yourself for a start and make something that you believe in and hopefully other people will believe in that as well and anytime you get low, self esteem wise or musically or whatever, you’ve got to lean on the fans because they’ll give back to you and that will give you the strength to keep moving on forward you know. We would have given up years ago if we didn’t have people lifting us up all the time like” we need more material, we love you guys” you know. They fed us and hopefully we can feed them.
That was the first time we had ever been to Australia so everything we saw was brand new. The concerts were fantastic. We also went down to the Sydney fish markets and had Morton Bay Bugs which was awesome. Everywhere we went we got some awesome food and everybody we met was fantastic, everybody was on the same page and onboard so we really had a good time. We felt at home immediately. It’s not entirely different from California but it was fun to see the little differences. We were super stoked and on our sideshows we played, the fans knew our songs which was awesome and it was a great deal of fun and I can’t wait to come back.
Do you find its more fun being on a festival line up rather that headlining your own shows?
I think so. It certainly helped us out a lot being in a country for the first time. We got to play in front of lots of people who maybe didn’t know a whole lot about us, which is great. They don’t have to commit to a whole night of a band they don’t really know, but are able to walk by casually and hopefully stick around and be entertained and what not. To try to break into somewhere you have never been, its fantastic. Playing the sideshows with reel big fish was great. They brought their fans and I think we brought ours and I think our fan bases overlap quite a lot so it helped us a whole lot.
How do Mr and Mrs. Goodman go with you travelling overseas and being so far away?
My parents? (laughs) they’re good for it they’re happy for us to get out there and experience the world you know. That’s the whole point. They thought I had abandoned them but it was really more about remembering your roots and also about exploring everything the world has to offer. Australia is a nice chapter to add to that experience.
You have detachable robot body parts. Does that impress the ladies anymore than a normal man would?
I haven’t tried that out so I couldn’t speak from experience but I cant imagine it would hurt.
What advice would you give any up and coming bands trying to break into the music industry?
Fortunately for us, we had some success early on. We had a little bit of a different thing. Not the same old band which allowed us to form a pretty steady and sturdy fan base. We put out a couple of records, had a little success on the radio and this was in the 90’s you know, when mtv made a big difference in the world of music. Now it’s all on the Internet. Mtv doesn’t even play music anymore so we use the Internet a whole lot to keep our fans informed about what we are doing. Giving them new material and if it wasn’t for the fan base we had we would have ended a long time ago. I guess I would say to be true to yourself for a start and make something that you believe in and hopefully other people will believe in that as well and anytime you get low, self esteem wise or musically or whatever, you’ve got to lean on the fans because they’ll give back to you and that will give you the strength to keep moving on forward you know. We would have given up years ago if we didn’t have people lifting us up all the time like” we need more material, we love you guys” you know. They fed us and hopefully we can feed them.