Social Code music on fire and ice tour
What happens when you fill an arena with snow, hire extreme snowmobilers to perform stunts and tricks in it, and commission a rock band to perform at the same time? The answer is something called FSX Fire and Ice World Tour, a recent creation featuring Edmonton natives Social Code as its musical entertainment. But if snowmobiling represents ice in the event's title, does that mean Social Code is the fire?
“I suppose! I don't know, maybe the exhaust is the fire,” laughed Travis Nesbitt, lead singer of the band from his home in the west. “The funny thing is I never really questioned it! But I think the concept is [the] juxtaposition between… a band and freestyle extreme sports at the same time… it's kind of a surreal thing to see it for the first time.”
It's been a year of new experiences for the band. Not only is this their first tour of such a bizarre nature, 2009 also saw the release of Rock ‘N' Roll, the band's third, and most straight-up rocking album, produced by John Travis (Buckcherry, Kid Rock). It's a huge departure from the pop-punk influence of Social Code's previous efforts, and prior to its recording, the band had some important directional questions to ask themselves.
“Being in a band comes with its challenges to even just stay focused on what you want,” mentioned Nesbitt. “We sat down at the beginning of this recording and asked ourselves: ‘What kind of band are we? What kind of band do we want to be?' A lot of soul-searching type questions. That's kind of what has worked for us to stay together for three records. It's just about all four guys being on the stage.”
The recording process itself was much different for the band, and on John Travis' suggestion, they even employed techniques from rock and roll's past.
“We recorded live off the floor. That's something they used to do back in the 70s and 60s because that's all they could do, where all the members would be playing at all the same time. Nowadays, what I think a lot of bands do, especially pop bands, is they record things individually and just edit it in the computer and make it sound perfect. But [Rock ‘N' Roll] wasn't about making it sound perfect, it was about having those inconsistencies, that human element to music that we all hear on The Beatles records and Led Zeppelin.”
And of course, like any true rock and roll band, Social Code's first single, Satisfied, is sexually charged, seemingly their answer to Buckcherry's hit, Crazy Bitch. But when asked why songs of such a sexual nature are so popular in the world of rock and roll, Nesbitt timidly laughed, “Everybody does it, right? It's the universal truth I suppose.”
Satisfied charted well on Canadian radio, but their success wasn't without worry. A different set of radio stations were now picking up on Social Code's music, and the more alternative-based stations were dropping them from the playlist.
“By the time we finished everything, we looked at [the album] and said… ‘Are we going to lose fans? I don't know. I'm not sure.' But it's been the exact opposite and we still see all our fans that we played to for the past number of years and they're just as excited as ever. [They're] so great and so loyal to the band anyway that there's this real kind of warm reception for us regardless of whether [Rock ‘N' Roll] is a departure or not.”
Now on the FSX Fire and Ice World Tour, Social Code will be playing several dates across Canada, ending up at the John Labatt Centre on December 5. Just don't expect Social Code to partake in any of the extreme sports!
“Those guys are absolutely insane. They can [do] it!” Nesbitt concluded.
“I suppose! I don't know, maybe the exhaust is the fire,” laughed Travis Nesbitt, lead singer of the band from his home in the west. “The funny thing is I never really questioned it! But I think the concept is [the] juxtaposition between… a band and freestyle extreme sports at the same time… it's kind of a surreal thing to see it for the first time.”
It's been a year of new experiences for the band. Not only is this their first tour of such a bizarre nature, 2009 also saw the release of Rock ‘N' Roll, the band's third, and most straight-up rocking album, produced by John Travis (Buckcherry, Kid Rock). It's a huge departure from the pop-punk influence of Social Code's previous efforts, and prior to its recording, the band had some important directional questions to ask themselves.
“Being in a band comes with its challenges to even just stay focused on what you want,” mentioned Nesbitt. “We sat down at the beginning of this recording and asked ourselves: ‘What kind of band are we? What kind of band do we want to be?' A lot of soul-searching type questions. That's kind of what has worked for us to stay together for three records. It's just about all four guys being on the stage.”
The recording process itself was much different for the band, and on John Travis' suggestion, they even employed techniques from rock and roll's past.
“We recorded live off the floor. That's something they used to do back in the 70s and 60s because that's all they could do, where all the members would be playing at all the same time. Nowadays, what I think a lot of bands do, especially pop bands, is they record things individually and just edit it in the computer and make it sound perfect. But [Rock ‘N' Roll] wasn't about making it sound perfect, it was about having those inconsistencies, that human element to music that we all hear on The Beatles records and Led Zeppelin.”
And of course, like any true rock and roll band, Social Code's first single, Satisfied, is sexually charged, seemingly their answer to Buckcherry's hit, Crazy Bitch. But when asked why songs of such a sexual nature are so popular in the world of rock and roll, Nesbitt timidly laughed, “Everybody does it, right? It's the universal truth I suppose.”
Satisfied charted well on Canadian radio, but their success wasn't without worry. A different set of radio stations were now picking up on Social Code's music, and the more alternative-based stations were dropping them from the playlist.
“By the time we finished everything, we looked at [the album] and said… ‘Are we going to lose fans? I don't know. I'm not sure.' But it's been the exact opposite and we still see all our fans that we played to for the past number of years and they're just as excited as ever. [They're] so great and so loyal to the band anyway that there's this real kind of warm reception for us regardless of whether [Rock ‘N' Roll] is a departure or not.”
Now on the FSX Fire and Ice World Tour, Social Code will be playing several dates across Canada, ending up at the John Labatt Centre on December 5. Just don't expect Social Code to partake in any of the extreme sports!
“Those guys are absolutely insane. They can [do] it!” Nesbitt concluded.
