Irish rock band The Answer opening for AC/DC tonight in Oklahoma City
The Answer
From Wednesday’s Life section of The Oklahoman.
AC/DC’s opening act has The Answer
Frontman Cormac Neeson hopes eventually he won’t get so many questions when people learn the name of his band is The Answer.
The Irish blues-rockers have spent the last year getting priceless exposure as opening act for AC/DC’s worldwide “Black Ice Tour.” The tour will make a stop tonight at the Ford Center.
“Part of the experience is soaking up a few tricks of the trade from these guys that have been in the business for so long, and you combine that with obviously the exposure that The Answer’s getting by playing in front of these massive crowds, it’s just a perfect tour for us to be on right now,” Neeson said in a phone interview earlier this year from the road.
The tour has taken the hard-rocking quartet all over the United States (including an appropriately icy January date at Tulsa’s BOK Center), throughout Europe, back to the States, into Canada and back to America. Along the way, the band has played “Late Night With David Letterman,” put a song on “Guitar Hero: World Tour” and released a new album, “Everyday Demons.” The Answer is releasing this month “Comfort Zone,” the soulful new single from the album, its first full-length record to get an American release.
“It’s all coming together and all combining to really build up a strong momentum,” he said. “It’s our second album, so thus it’s the first album that we actually had to sit down and write over the space of three months as opposed to a collection of songs over the previous couple of years … so there’s a consistency there, there’s a kind of fluency in statement that we’re trying to make.”
Their globe-trotting trek started with the band’s formation nine years ago in Northern Ireland. Neeson, guitarist Paul Mahon, bassist Michael Waters and drummer James Heatley secured a U.K. record deal in 2005 and released their debut album “Rise” to keen reviews and solid sales.
Among others, the album captured the attention of Australian rock gods AC/DC, who handpicked The Answer for the hotly anticipated “Black Ice Tour.”
“I don’t whether it’s a case of them maybe seeing a bit of themselves in where we’re at at the moment — you know, a band (that’s) a native of Good Brit in the States — but luckily enough, they were willing to give it to us,” Neeson said.
“We were in the running with another 200 bands, and I think if it had come down to industry politics, we wouldn’t have been within a hope in hell of getting it. So, it’s quite refreshing to know that a band like AC/DC still has the humanity to give it to a band that really needs it and, we feel, deserves it.”
Though the influence of AC/DC, along with the likes of Led Zeppelin, Black Crowes and Free, echoes through The Answer’s music, Neeson said the band has deliberately steered clear on any rock-retro blues clichés and worked to establish a distinctively modern sonic identity.
“When kids listen to a band, they want a band that’s gonna sound fresh and something that they can really attach themselves to and be a part of,” he said.
The band’s winding journey with AC/DC is ending later this month, as the Irish lads embark Nov. 25 on their first headlining tour of the U.K. Along the “Black Ice Tour,” the group has played a few solo shows, including Tuesday night and back in January at Ardmore’s Two Frogs Grill.
“They’re the best live act I’ve ever seen at Two Frogs,” said owner Aubry Harris, whose venue recently hosted Bret Michaels and Vince Neil. “They’re a no-name in the States right now, but they’re smoking good. It’s only a matter of time before they hit big.”
In the event they become breakout rock stars, Neeson said The Answer will have some valuable insight into mounting a massive tour.
“It’s a lesson in how to pull off a tour of this magnitude. We (previously) spent 2 ½ years touring all around Europe and Japan and Australia and places like that. You know, we’re no strangers to life on the road, but … the sheer scale of the whole thing … you really have to pace yourself and come to terms with it as soon as you possibly can. You can’t let it kind of overawe you.”
In concert
AC/DC with The Answer
When: 8 tonight.
Where: Ford Center, 100 W Reno.
Information: (800) 745-3000 or www.okfordcenter.com.
-BAM
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