Comeback Kid: “I just loved the hardcore message and I loved that it was about community and looking out for other people”

On Friday, March 15th, Canadian hardcore crew Comeback Kid will release their new EP, Trouble, via SharpTone Records and New Damage Records in Canada. The EP sees the band trying something a little different and stepping outside the boundaries of the hardcore rulebook.

For our latest Cover Story, V13 sat down with Comeback Kid vocalist Andrew Neufeld to chat about the EP, why there are songs on there that will surprise even the most ardent fans of the Canadian outfit and, as a veteran of the scene, what hardcore means to Andrew in 2024.

Read our transcript below and/or listen along podcast-style via the original audio on SoundCloud.

So how’s things?

“Good, thanks. I’m just in Toronto right now, hanging out with my dogs. I’m leaving for Brazil in a couple of days, so I’m just doing my thing.”

What’s happening in Brazil?

“We’re starting a tour in South America.”

Excellent stuff, by the time we run this, the new EP will be out, if my timelines are right, it’s been two years since the last album came out. Could you just talk us through the timeline for this new EP?

“Has it been already two years since our last record? I don’t know. Pretty much these songs, I wouldn’t say it’s the future of Comeback Kid, but it’s songs that we’ve been working on since before the last full-length. A lot of these songs are a bit of a leap for us. The first song that we just did, we did a video for a song called “Trouble in the Winners Circle” which is a little bit of an alt-rock song, maybe a little bit more of a radio rock-like bopper.

We love the song, but we thought it shouldn’t go on the full length. You know what I mean? All these songs are a little bit more of leaps of faith as far as just songwriting goes. Hopefully, I think the people that fuck with Comeback Kid and people that know our band will take the journey with us as we’re going into some creative corners with this?”

“I wouldn’t say it’s the future of Comeback Kid, but it’s songs that we’ve been working on since before the last full-length. A lot of these songs are a bit of a leap for us…”

What prompted that leap of faith?

“Well, these are songs that were written during COVID. These are songs where we’re going into creative corners. We’ll maybe take some chances. Taking some liberties as songwriters. We just wanted to put out a little bit of a selfish record. We’ve got a radio rock song on there. We have a punk song that’s like 90s Nine Inch Nails, an AFI-influenced song that we just put out. The song called “Disruption”, and a couple more songs that are like a song that I would consider an Oi! song. Well, as Oi! as Comeback Kid could get called “Breaking and Bruised”, very Oi-titled. Just some liberties that we wanted to take and indulge our creative juices.”

Hopefully there is going to be a new record in the not-too-distant future. Is that creativity something you’ll be kind of taking into writing that album?

“Nah… I feel like if there’s gonna be a new Comeback Kid record, it’s gonna be, as people would say, hardcore with an H. We want to give it the pedal to the metal with a new record and hit it a little harder. I think these songs are a little bit less focused on the heavy a little more punk and a little more rock and roll. With a new Comeback Kid record it’s gonna be a little bit more metallic again as usual. We’ll see how it goes but we haven’t written one song for the next record. I wouldn’t say that this EP is a reflection of where we’re going, it’s just more a flex on songwriting and just like doing this is for the fans.”

You said it’s a leap of faith for you in terms of songwriting. What did you learn from it?

“I don’t think I learned too much from it. This just shows who we are as musicians. You can hear Comeback Kid on a metallic hardcore track, you can hear Comeback Kid on a punk rock track, but these songs, you can kind of just hear a little bit more of our diversity. I will never start a new band. I will never turn Comeback Kid into like a different style of music band but at least with this EP, you can hear some of the diverse influences that we have and you can hear some of our flexing as far as songwriting I think.”

Let’s talk about the theme for “Trouble in the Winner’s Circle”…

“Yeah people have asked me, and I say it’s about public meltdowns. Straight up, I used to listen to a podcast by a comedian called Neal Brennan. He’s the guy who like wrote Chappelle’s show and all that shit. He had a podcast with a friend of mine and he had a segment on it called “Trouble in the Winners Circle”. It’s a pop culture podcast.

It would talk about celebrities, like Brad Pitt who got caught cheating on his wife or who knows? It was just a take on people in the public eye having meltdowns and that’s pretty much what the song was influenced by. Just this podcast I was listening to and people in the public eye and crazy shit happening to them and everyone just kind of watching and pointing.”

V13 – MagazineCover – Issue51 – ComebackKid

Are celebrity meltdowns something you pick up on like Brad Pitt, Kanye West, people like that? Are you drawn to that?

“I don’t know if I like it when it happens, but I’m interested yeah.”

What about your band? Have there been many meltdowns when you’ve been out on the road? Touring in a van with a bunch of guys, it’s quite a challenge…

“Definitely but I try to minimize my meltdowns.”

During the pandemic, we lost the heartbeat of the hardcore scene when COVID and the pandemic meant live shows got cancelled. What got you through that?

“Dude, during the pandemic I didn’t skip a beat too much. I had a little bit of downtime, but I started getting into film, I started driving for Movies and commercials and shit like that. I was just driving around with a camera truck and shit. I was just making money and trying to stay afloat. I kind of liked that. Touring is done, whatever. I kind of got into the groove but then as soon as it came back… as soon as Slam Dunk asked us to come, we came through it was no holds barred. Alright, let’s go. America and the UK were not phased, and I was down with that. Canada was still all masked up.”

“I will never start a new band. I will never turn Comeback Kid into like a different style of music band but at least with this EP, you can hear some of the diverse influences that we have…”

Is that what “Disruption” is inspired by? That period in your life?

“That song is about things going well, you know, strolling along, things going well, and then all of a sudden, snap, something happens, and it just fucking crushes you and you have that all the time. Things are seemingly going well and then one little thing can happen and can make things crash down around you that’s kind of what that song is about.”

Going back to the last album, do you think the lifestyle change and the whole situation that went on affected the way it sounded?

“A little, that record was kind of recorded during and after COVID, but it was a work in progress, you know what I’m saying Every time that we have things going on around us, that is going to affect us. Lyrically, I’m not sure. “Disruption” is a 90s homage. We got some Nine Inch Nails influences, we got some AFI influences, and rather than thinking maybe we should shy away from that, fuck it, let’s lean into it, this is 2024, let’s go.”

Looking back at Slam Dunk what do you remember about those first shows? What were they like compared to kind pre-COVID gigs, did it feel like there was extra energy?

“It did, and I think that hardcore has thrived since COVID. Hardcore is almost in the best state that I’ve ever seen it in right now. There are so many bands that have the spotlight and that are taking it to the next level. I just really respect everyone that’s doing their thing straight up. Flatspot is the best label in Hardcore right now. I’m so proud of Ricky. During COVID it felt like Turnstile was the only band that people cared about.

Since then, the glory has been spread amongst so many other bands. I appreciated that. There are so many great bands and so many people getting recognition and glory across the board. Comeback Kid is Comeback Kid is a staple. We never felt… the graph is never going high up and high down, we’re just a steady stream. As long as we can keep on doing it, and I see the bands come up and surpass us doing their thing, I love it.”

Comeback Kid ‘Trouble’ EP Artwork

On the subject of new bands, I’ve seen a couple of interviews where you have talked about bands like Drain. Do you think there’s a new-found aggression in the hardcore scene, given the frustrations of the past few years? Do you think that frustration is coming out in the music? Bands we’ve spoken to, not necessarily hardcore bands, have been saying the material they’ve been writing seems to be the most aggressive they’ve written. Is that something you see across the hardcore scene?

“I wouldn’t call it aggression. I would call it excitement. Bands that have their finger on the pulse a little bit. I don’t think it’s about aggression, I think it’s more about good riffs and sick vocals.”

As for your place within hardcore, you’re somebody who’s grown up in the hardcore scene. I’ve seen you talk about shelters and small festivals back in the day, basement shows and stuff like that. You’ve talked about your excitement at hearing the new bands as well. I mean, if someone asks you to define hardcore in 2024, what would you say?

“Hardcore is on the brink of the mainstream. Great moshing, the most exciting shows that you’ve ever seen in your life before. I hope there’s still a community there. I hope there’s still respect there. It’s getting diluted, but I still believe that there’s a community there, and people still look out for each other.”

Do you think that diluting it and going mainstream is a positive thing for the scene?

“Yeah. I think that people need to hear our music. When it comes to the mainstream, it’s always been this way. It’s going to go up and down. Maybe it’s going to go away in a bit, but we should enjoy this ride as punkers and hardcore people as long as it goes because in a year or two maybe it’s not going to be there anymore. We have to embrace this ride we have right now because it won’t be here forever. I’ve seen hardcore come and go many times. It’ll be popular now. It’ll be not popular in a bit.”

“Hardcore is on the brink of the mainstream. Great moshing, the most exciting shows that you’ve ever seen in your life before. I hope there’s still a community there. I hope there’s still respect there.”

What was it that drew you to hardcore?

“I grew up on punk rock. Propagandhi. NOFX. Then, the more aggressive sound of hardcore… Victory Records, all that shit. Straight-edge hardcore. I think what drew me in, originally, I think I had morals. As a kid, I grew up religious and I just thought I loved the message of hardcore originally. I’m not religious or anything like that nowadays, but I think that just maybe, in the interim, I just loved the message and I loved that it was about community and looking out for other people, other humans.

I think that is something that I was raised on. Looking out for other humans is, I would say, it’s one of the biggest Influences I have in hardcore. Carry your brother and carry your sister. That is one of the most important lessons I’ve learned from hardcore and I hope that I hope that it still matters now. I don’t see it as much nowadays, but that’s one of the things I take away from it.”

Comeback Kid released their Trouble EP on March 15th via, SharpTone Records. Pick up your copy from here.