Sleeping on the job rock and roll style

IT is a cold, bitter Wednesday night and as I am led down the winding corridors of the Birmingham Academy dressing area, I have no idea just what to expect from young up and coming rockers Black Tide. I have been told they have a number of rock and roll stories they could tell me.

In fact, exact words were: ‘they’ve seen and done things that 15-year-olds shouldn’t.’ If that’s not intriguing, I don’t know what is! Yet, if I was expecting a wild party in their dressing room, alcohol flowing and loud, bawling music, I am a little surprised to find guitarist Austin Diaz fast asleep, slumped across a sofa and dead to the world. It is not until his tour manager gives him a prod and mutters ‘interview’ when he stirs.

He gets up slowly, looks around, spots a man with a camera and sits up. Rubbing his eyes, he utters, “cool, let’s erm…go somewhere. Like, to interview and stuff. Not in here though.” And before he is on his feet, bassist Zakk Sander wanders through the door looking just as lost.

“Interview,” murmurs Austin and points my way. Cool, let's go somewhere else to do it,” Zakk repeats. And you get the sense that Black Tide really do not know what they are meant to be doing at the moment. Such is their appeal and huge touring schedule that all they look like wanting to do is sleep. This is light years away from a normal teenage life.

So they lead out and pick a nice quiet place to sit and conduct an interview. Well, we sit on a staircase where we get constant interruptions from security but it doesn’t look as though the two are quite up to walking any further! “We’ve got some real crazy stories,” Zakk boasts and in many ways I am quite glad he is there, as Austin looks just about ready to drop off to sleep again any second.

When asked if he will be OK, Zakk replies with a brief insight into the crazy life of Black Tide. “Oh yeah, he’ll wake up on stage. It was our singer’s birthday last night and we met up with the guys from Bullet For My Valentine. They made us drink loads of different crazy drink mixtures until God knows when. It was a great laugh but it looks like Austin can’t take the pace!”

It seems Austin is far to tired to even let rip a fierce comeback. He just sits sloped on the stairs, barely awake. Having formed six years ago, Black Tide have pretty much grown up as the band that are surely just too young! Their current vocalist is just 15 but as 20-year-old Austin explains (yes, he is awake! Just!), they have been doing this for a while now.

“When we first started making serious music, that was when Zakk joined us. Basically we went through some line-up changes and friends of friends came in, friends of friends went out – I’m not even sure myself who was in and out most of the time!” And I’m not sure he’s in fit enough shape to be thinking about it too much!

Luckily, Zakk continues. “Yeah, so I was playing on stage with a ten year old singing lead vocals! That must have looked so crazy to most people! I wasn’t really too bothered though because I could notice his talent and his supreme voice! It was cool!” All goes quiet as they become preoccupied with the increasing footsteps on the stairs. Yes, we receive our first interruption as someone heads up stairs to tell Austin when he is due on stage.

His reply? “Er, yeah. Interview!” Zakk translates: “Sorry, we should have gone somewhere else for this really. They kind of need an interview room or something like that in this place. That would be good! I like it here,” Austin randomly throws into the mix. “People in Birmingham and generally in the UK are more up for a gig than those in the States where we are from. Over there, if they haven’t heard of you, they don’t care how good you are but in the UK, fans give you a chance.

“We were in Plymouth yesterday and it was a really good crowd so I hope you guys are up for it tonight!!” We certainly are, it’s actually him I’m slightly concerned about! So, you would assume then that Black Tide are shifting more merchandise and winning over more fans during their time in the UK than they did overseas? I don’t know. We get some good, big crowds here but I don’t know if they are buying anything,” admits Austin.

“If they like us and then go and buy our CD after the show, that’s all we can ask for. “We’re happy. We’ll give you a show in return. We may be young but we grew up with Maiden, AC/DC and Metallica so we have picked up a thing or two about heavy metal music,” says Zakk, as Austin proudly sports his Iron Maiden t-shirt, pointing out their logo.

It is a little too hard to see us receiving a great, explosive show tonight though Austin begins to drop off once again. However, my faith is well and truly restored when I mention photographs. “Yeah, let's have a photo,” says Austin and leads back down the corridor. “How about taking it by this wall. I like this wall. It’s nice and wall-y. Best wall I’ve seen since I arrived here!

“What shall we do?” And as soon as you ask for a ‘rock and roll pose,’ the two spring into life, clenching fists and pulling faces and you receive a glimpse of the excitement and energy they can potentially bring to their live performances and into the studio – just don’t get them too drunk first, eh Austin?

Surely the story of Black Tide is one that will live on for a while and their current diminished shells are a product of the energy and passion they put into their music.

* Wondering how they fared live? Check out the review on the nights out page.
* Black Tide’s debut album, Light From Above is out now on Interscope Polydor records. Check out the review on the albums page.