After announcing their signing to Hopeless Records in 2016, Australian band With Confidence are taking the world by storm. Having toured with the likes of As It Is and 5 Seconds of Summer, and a UK co-headline tour with Set It Off, the band are due to record their second album later this year. Ahead of their Brighton show supporting Mayday Parade, we met up with members Jayden Seeley and Josh Brozzesi to talk about touring, receiving an award for their music video of Voldemort and how they deal with jet lag.
How would you describe your music for those that haven’t heard it before?
Jayden Seeley – That’s a hard one, I guess I would just say we’re an alternative-rock pop-punk band, with influence from Blink 182, Green Day, The Dangerous Summer, Kings of Leon, I don’t know, something like that.
Josh Brozzesi – I’d say live it would be like an energetic experience.
Jayden – If Luke was here he would say baby making music, but we’re not as funny as Luke!
How’s this tour with Mayday Parade going?
Jayden – It’s going great, we’re all massive fans of Mayday Parade, this album for us was a big one, I would probably note them as an influence as well to be honest. We’re playing a whole bunch of places we haven’t played, we’ve never played Brighton before which is cool, so making a bunch of friends, having a good time.
What’s the best part about touring in different countries?
Jayden – Being in different countries, hahahaha!
Josh – It’s cool, especially over here. Going across Europe and having different languages, different food, it’s so different from Australia. Different seasons too as we travel, last year we had two summers, that was really cool.
Jayden – That was weird, we just skipped winter.
Josh – This year we had two winters kind of, which we didn’t plan as well I guess!
Jayden – Mmm, just experiencing the world and I don’t think I would have had the chance to see as much of the world as I have without the band.
Josh – Yeah.
How do you cope with jet lag?
Jayden – I feel like we’re –
Josh – We’re getting better at it!
Jayden – I think you’ve got to plan when you’re sleeping. Sydney to London, I think is one of the longest flights you can get, it’s about sixteen hours to your layover, and then it’s about nine hours after that, so I think you just have to time your sleeps properly, stay up when you need to stay up, so then when you get in at the appropriate time you’re staying up for the rest of the day.
Josh – I remember the first time we came here, we got here around lunchtime and fell asleep, and woke up at like 11pm and for four or five days we’d all wake up at 4am everyday and we’d go to sleep 5 or 6.
Jayden – It took us a while but yeah plenty of sleep, stay up, a lot of coffee hahahaha!
Is there anything you miss about home when you’re touring for so long?
Josh – Definitely my dogs and families.
Jayden – I miss your dogs, hahahaha!
Josh – I don’t know, it’s weird because we’re not home till January so we kind of go back and a lot has changed. I have four siblings so they’ll be dating new people or a girlfriend is now not a girlfriend. It’s pretty weird, a lot can change in five months so it’s just nice catching up on life every now and then.
Jayden – I think I miss my bed mostly. I miss having a space to go to, just like chilling on my bed, reading a book, watching Netflix, just hanging out. It is honestly like the strangest thing leaving home for six months plus, and then getting back and everything’s different and stuff has changed. Life sort of doesn’t feel real on the road all of the time, because I don’t know, we’re doing the same thing everyday it’s kind of like a Groundhog Day a little bit.
Josh – It’s also the best thing ever.
Jayden – It’s the best thing yeah, but I don’t know, my bed probably hahaha!
What do you think of the UK?
Jayden – I like the UK it’s very different to Australia, I think the weather’s the main thing, it actually hasn’t been too bad this tour.
Josh – Yeah this has been the best weather so far.
Jayden – Yeah it’s been kind of hot, it’s actually really hot right now.
Josh – Yeah.
Jayden – In this dressing room it is!
Josh – Haha!
Jayden – I like the UK, I like British culture, I think it’s jovial and cheeky and it just has a nice air to it. I think it’s very different, I guess to what you experience in Australia and America, I think there’s a lot of history in the UK as well and I enjoy learning about that because Australia didn’t have a history until you guys founded it in like the late 1700s hahaha!
Have you had chance to explore Brighton?
Jayden – Yeah!
Josh – We had a little bit of a look, we checked out the old pier and the new one.
Jayden – Just been around, we stayed here with a friend last time we were here, we didn’t play here but I really like Brighton, I think it’s a really cool place.
Josh – Lots of cool bars!
Jayden – Yeah it feels very lively, very youthful, it’s just, I don’t know there’s something nice about Brighton, maybe being on the beach as well helps, if you can call it a beach, I don’t know, the pebbles thing is so new to us, haha!
Josh – Hahahahaha!
How did your Australian tour go?
Josh – Good, it was cool to have a bigger production, we had probably the biggest crew we’ve ever worked with. It took us a long time to take the jump to international touring, so it’s always cool being able to go back home. We hadn’t played there in best part of a year, I think about ten months, so it’s cool to see growth and play at venues we haven’t played before and that everyone’s still playing the album because it’s been out for two years in June.
Jayden – Itâs only just passed a year.
Josh – Ah true!
Jayden – Yeah it’s only been out for a year and two months-ish.
Josh – Yeah it feels so long!
Jayden – Australia was cool because it just feels like this celebration, when you’ve done all the stuff around the world then you come home and do a headline tour. Like Josh said, the album had been out for ten months so we were kind of like, âare people gonna come?â but it just grows while everything’s happening. Itâs a very rewarding feeling coming home and playing to such bigger crowds, and just like a celebration a little bit, it was really fun.
Would you like to include some UK dates on your next headline tour?
Josh – I think the plan is, we’re going to try and record an album before the end of the year. Hopefully it’ll be finished, and I think from there it’ll be, âlet’s do the whole world on the new albumâ, so definitely, we will come do the UK.
Jayden – Yeah.
Josh – I think we’ll be looking at a headline off the next album so that will be pretty fun.
What are you most looking forward to for the Knuckle Puck tour?
Jayden – Well I guess watching Knuckle Puck every night’s going to be pretty sick!
Josh – Yeah!
Jayden – We’re fans of Knuckle Puck, we love their music. We’ve got this thing called bandwagon for that tour, I don’t know if you guys know what that is, but basically it’s like a small-scale bus, so we get to travel in basically a portable home with bunks and showers and a kitchen and stuff for two and a half months. I’m looking forward to it, we’ve only done it once before in the US, but you have a place to go to and it’s super comfortable touring on the road rather than getting a new hotel every night, and staying on friends’ floors and stuff, so I’m keen for that hahaha!
Josh – Definitely, that will be good!
You recently won Best New Artist Video award for Voldemort, how did this feel?
Jayden – It felt pretty sick!
Josh – Yeah it was cool, he was actually there to accept the award, we were all watching on our computers at home at like 7 or 8am I think it was. So that was cool, I was just like, âoh, ah there’s Jaydenâ!
Jayden – I didn’t even know we’d won because I was drinking and we were nominated for two awards that night, I thought we were going to win the other one! I did not think we were going to win this one, there was a bunch of people talking about insider knowledge, someone was like, âyeah I think you’re winning one but not that oneâ. So I was just drinking with some old friends and I was just having a chat, and then someone came up to me and they were like, âyou won the awardâ, and I was like, âoh seriouslyâ, so I literally just put my drink down, or I didn’t put my drink downâŚ
Josh – Yeah, you ran up with it!
Jayden – I carried my beer with me and I just ran up and grabbed the award. It was a really cool moment. There’s a certain beauty to unexpected moments.
Do you have any funny stories you can tell us about from your tour with Set It Off?
Jayden – HAHA!
Josh – Oooh Set It Off, they were really funny!
Jayden – I think there are a bunch of stories, those guys are hilarious! I love those guys, I think the most impressed I was with anyone drinking alcohol was this⌠so it was Luke’s birthday and we hadâŚ
Josh – Ohhh yeah!
Jayden – We had a bottle of, Jameson was it?
Josh – Jameson or Jack.
Jayden – We had probably half a bottle, and it was an hour and a half drive to the venue, we don’t advocate drinking at all, but it was his birthday and we were like, âyo let’s try to finish this bottle off before we get to the venue because we’re celebrating for your birthdayâ, and by the time we arrived, there was still quarter of a bottle left, and we were like, âobviously we’re not going finish thisâ! Dan from Set It Off greets us at the venue when we arrive, and we were like, âhey man, we’re trying to finish off this bottle, do you want to help us out?â he was like, âyeah sureâ, grabs the bottle and he just starts chugging it for a good twenty seconds until the whole thing was empty!
Josh – That was good!
Jayden – I’ve never seen someone drink that much that quickly, I thought that was funny hahaha!
What are your plans once touring this year finishes?
Jayden – Album.
Josh – We’re actually going to spend Christmas in America this year, so we’re going to do a road trip from LA down to Florida way, then we’ll be there for New Year too. Then we’re back off to Australia for some festivals, it will be pretty fun!
Jayden – We’re recording an album before that!
Josh – Oh right.
Jayden – Once touring is done.
Josh – True.
Jayden – So we’ll record a second album, that will be very cool.
Josh – I forgot about that!
Jayden – Hahahahahaha! Are you just looking forward to the road trip?!
Josh – Yeah!
Jayden – Yeah, record our second album, I’m really excited about it, I think it’s going to be a big step up for us. We’re working with a guy named Mike Green, he’s done some incredible things, he did Paramore’s first album, he’s worked with State Champs, Fall Out Boy, 5 Seconds of Summer, just a whole bunch of really great people. I think it’s going to be a really good experience, and then we’re going on a road trip around the US as a celebration hahahaha!
What music did you grow up listening to?
Jayden – Probably all the ones I just said hahahaha!
Josh – I guess Green Day, Blink 182, Sum 41, Good Charlotte.
Jayden – I listen to All Time Low personally.
Josh – It’s always changing. I feel like every year we have a different playlist.
What would you say is your best achievement from being in the band?
Josh – I don’t know, I always just wanted to tour full-time! That was pretty much my personal goal, it was really tough when we were in the middle of touring and having a job, trying every few months to get a month off, that’s a bit of a nightmare in itself. Then to finally crack it and just be able to tour and worry about music is so good. It’s so good to not have to go home and try and work like crazy to save up money to go and tour again.
Jayden – Yeah that’s pretty cool!
Josh – It’s cool to just do the band thing as a job.
Jayden – For me it would be signing to Hopeless Records. I always go back to that because, although it seems like it’s a bit different now we’ve been with Hopeless for a while, we’ve done so much stuff and it’s all incredible. I think as a band that had just recorded a few EPs by ourselves, having an American record label come forward to us, it felt like such a major achievement. It was the thing that changed everything because after that point, that was when we started touring internationally and released our first album and stuff really picked up. So for me, I always go back to that as itâs a major achievement for the band.
Who writes your songs?
Jayden – We all kind of do. So the way we usually work is, either myself or Inigo will come up with lyrics, chords and melodies, and bring kind of half-finished products forward to the band. Then we’ll just jam it out in a band practice space, it will just come together. Sometimes, just out of jamming together in band practice, we all just come up with something from nothing. It’s always kind of different, but it’s mostly something like that.
Josh – Yeah haha!
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