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Leave Expectations At The Door: BANKS ARCADE Talk Aussie Tour And New Album · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It's Josh here from Banks Arcade, and I'm here talking
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: with Chris from Heavy Mag about our new album, Second
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Place Superstar.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: Fantastic, Josh. Thanks for joining us today, brother.
• 0:10
  Speaker 3: Thanks for having me.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: My pleasure, man.
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  Speaker 4: So, as you say, Banks Arcade dropped your new album,
• 0:15
  Speaker 4: Second Place Superstar, on September 25th, which isn't far away now, man.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: How are you feeling?
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: Very excited. I can't wait for people to hear this music.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: We love it so much, so I'm hoping that other
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: people love it as much as we do.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, cool. Can you tell us a bit more about
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  Speaker 2: it from a musical point of view, bro, and what
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  Speaker 2: you were going for with it?
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  Speaker 1: I think it is a very refined version of what
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: we've done in the past. We've tried to take all
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: of our eclectic influences and put them together in a
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  Speaker 1: much more cohesive package.
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  Speaker 3: And I think that it's a more mature, evolved version
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  Speaker 3: of the band.
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  Speaker 1: So, you know, I think it'll help expose us to
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  Speaker 1: a lot more people, but I think that people that
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: already like Banks Arcade will get the project that they've
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: probably wanted.
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: You've done well if you've done that, because you never
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  Speaker 4: hear the words eclectic and cohesive together.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: So if you've managed to do that, you've done pretty good.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I think that that's been an issue for us,
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  Speaker 1: is that we've always had the eclectic part down pat,
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  Speaker 1: but we haven't managed to bring it all together in
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  Speaker 1: one sound that really sounds like us, and it doesn't
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  Speaker 1: sound like a bunch of disjointed ravings of madmen.
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  Speaker 3: So I think we think that it is.
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  Speaker 1: that that it's a lot more cohesive and that we're
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  Speaker 1: happy with the way that it's packaged and it'll be
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  Speaker 1: interesting to see how to see how it's received.
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: Yeah cool today you released the singles rockstar don't miss
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  Speaker 4: mirror and yuck so overall are they.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: Good sonic representation what do you expect you.
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: Think yes and severance as well yeah yeah.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Um no i i think that that they're a good
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  Speaker 1: representation of the album for sure and they are some
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  Speaker 1: of the top tracks but i will say that in
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  Speaker 1: the single choosing process it was very much like we
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  Speaker 1: didn't even we were like yeah pick anything we like
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  Speaker 1: all the songs it wasn't clear that like oh these
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  Speaker 1: songs have to be singles so i say that to
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: say that like.
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  Speaker 3: You know there's a lot more songs on the album.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: That i think are really awesome and very.
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  Speaker 3: Much could have been singles Yeah, very cool, man.
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  Speaker 4: The title Second Place Superstar, it feels deeply layered and
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: a little bit ironic, mate.
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  Speaker 2: What's the core narrative or mindset behind that title?
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  Speaker 1: I think it's rooted in an underdog mentality that we've
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: always had, coming from New Zealand and being in a small...
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: We're all from small towns and it's hard to break
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  Speaker 1: out and to start anything, let alone go over and
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  Speaker 1: tour in America and tour in Europe and try and
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  Speaker 1: take on that sort of daunting financial burden for a
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: few guys that that don't have um have heaps of
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: money backing us or anything like that like it is
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: it's hard but we've always come in into it with
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  Speaker 1: the attitude that it doesn't matter if we're the best
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  Speaker 1: or if we're on the top but we're gonna we're
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  Speaker 1: gonna swing until the last fucking bell and that's That's
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  Speaker 1: how we've approached things and that's the sort of stuff
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  Speaker 1: that gets us excited.
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  Speaker 3: When we see people who might.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: Be a little bit of an outsider or they might
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: not be the favorite that's picked to win, but they
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: come out and they finish second, but everyone loves them
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  Speaker 1: more than the asshole that takes the gold medal.
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  Speaker 3: That's what we'll call it.
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  Speaker 2: Nice analogy.
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  Speaker 4: So the early reviews and the teasers from the album, mate,
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  Speaker 4: like there's a strong emphasis on the fact that no
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  Speaker 4: two tracks sound the same. Like you sort of touched
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  Speaker 4: on this before, but how do you balance like all
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  Speaker 4: that sonic experimentation but still keep the distinct Banks Arcade
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  Speaker 4: sound and identity?
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  Speaker 1: Well, I would push back on something that you said
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  Speaker 1: there in my answer, which is that I think that
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  Speaker 1: we have– managed to not experiment as much with the sonics.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: Like I think that across the album, the actual, you know,
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  Speaker 1: the guitars, the sounds, they all kind of exist within
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  Speaker 1: the same world, but we've kind of tried to use
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: that as a paintbrush over the whole thing. And it's,
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  Speaker 1: it's more so like the types of, the types of
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  Speaker 1: song structures and the types of melodies and ideas that
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: we lean into on the different songs. But we've tried
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: to keep the actual sound more cohesive. I think that's
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: largely been due to.
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: James, who's the drummer, his input in the production in
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: this one.
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  Speaker 1: And he's just gone so deep into electronic music production
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  Speaker 1: and working with a lot of these things. I think
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  Speaker 1: the combination of him and then working with Sammy from OG,
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  Speaker 1: who did the mix in the master and his ability
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  Speaker 1: to kind of pick what to showcase at different times,
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  Speaker 1: I think that that has really helped to bring it
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  Speaker 1: all tight and allowed us to still experiment in the
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  Speaker 1: other areas.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, cool.
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  Speaker 2: Like you say, man, there's so much going on with
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  Speaker 2: you guys musically.
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  Speaker 4: Like, if you were to sort of narrow it down,
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  Speaker 4: there's elements of metalcore, hip-hop and electronic that go into it.
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  Speaker 2: But in the creative process, bro, like, how do you
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  Speaker 2: find the balance? Like, how do you know if you've
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  Speaker 2: gone too far in one direction or not far enough
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  Speaker 2: in another direction?
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  Speaker 1: I think that the most important thing as an artist
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  Speaker 1: really is just taste and your own intuition.
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  Speaker 3: That's what sets you apart from other people. I think
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  Speaker 3: nowadays everyone's experimenting with all this different stuff.
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  Speaker 1: It's not unique to be like, oh, we're a metalcore
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  Speaker 1: band that also has electronic stuff and this everyone's doing
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: that and so it really comes down to whatever your
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: taste is and being able to tune into yourself and
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: what you like and if you can do that then
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  Speaker 1: i think you create something authentic and then it's up
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  Speaker 1: to other people whether that resonates but you know when
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: the magic happens is when you have people with great
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  Speaker 1: taste And then everybody else aligns with that and you
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  Speaker 1: really see something start to grow. You've seen it with
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: examples like Thornhill, who I think is a perfect example
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  Speaker 1: of a band that has fantastic taste in all the
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: things that they do.
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  Speaker 3: None of their music is like, it's not like.
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  Speaker 1: They're doing stuff that's crazy different in all of these ways.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: But what they're doing is they're approaching something with a
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: different lens.
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  Speaker 3: There was a period of music where.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: People would find a new pedal or they would find
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: a new way of doing things and it would like
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  Speaker 1: change the sound.
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  Speaker 3: And, you know, you had like people like Tom.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: Morello from Rage Against the Machine being like, I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to experiment with all these crazy things.
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  Speaker 3: So much of that's already been done now.
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  Speaker 1: So it's not about, it's not really that there's these
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  Speaker 1: kind of gimmicky things that like blow people up.
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  Speaker 3: It is more so about really being able to look
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  Speaker 3: at everything and make good choices.
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  Speaker 1: And I think that that's what we've tried to get
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  Speaker 1: better at and that's what our favorite bands do the best.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, cool, man.
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  Speaker 4: And a couple of weeks after the album comes out,
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  Speaker 4: you're going to be hitting the road of support with
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  Speaker 4: From Ashes to New, kicking off in Sydney on October 9th.
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  Speaker 4: Then you hit Melbourne, Adelaide, finishing Brizzy on the 15th
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  Speaker 4: of October. Not a bad way to celebrate a new album,
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  Speaker 4: stepping out with those boys.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, that'll be really exciting.
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  Speaker 1: We're looking forward to playing the songs to people who
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: have heard them.
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  Speaker 3: And seeing what goes well and what doesn't, I guess.
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  Speaker 2: And how do you think your sound will complement from
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  Speaker 2: Ashes to New in the Live Arena?
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  Speaker 3: I guess we'll have to see.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: I mean, I think that there's, you know, they've obviously
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: got the big anthem at Cooks and some of those
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: same things that I think are on this album. I
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: feel like our old sound wouldn't have really complemented them
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  Speaker 1: at all, almost. But there are moments on the new
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  Speaker 1: album where I think that we share some similarities. And, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: I'm excited to see how their fans respond to it.
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  Speaker 4: And just say someone's gone long to see from Ashes
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  Speaker 4: to New and they don't know too much about you guys.
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  Speaker 4: What three songs of yours should they listen to before
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  Speaker 4: they go so they get an idea of what to expect?
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to go from the new album and I'm
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  Speaker 1: going to say the number one song will be Last Time,
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  Speaker 1: which is like the second, third to last song on
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  Speaker 1: the album. Then I'm going to say Severance. And then
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to say Rockstar. We'll go with those three.
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  Speaker 2: Nice.
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  Speaker 4: And that covers probably about the next month and a
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  Speaker 4: bit of your existence, mate. But what's Bank Sarkade up
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: to after that and.
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  Speaker 2: Moving into 2027? I think that.
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  Speaker 1: We're going to put a big focus on really trying
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: to drive home the content for the album.
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: And we're going to, you know, for us, the release
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  Speaker 3: day of.
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  Speaker 1: The album is the start of a new phase of
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: promotion for the band and of really trying to like
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: communicate with our existing fans and build more community around
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  Speaker 1: what we're doing.
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  Speaker 3: And so we're going to put a lot of focus
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  Speaker 3: into that.
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  Speaker 1: And then I think into next year, we're going to
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  Speaker 1: have some show announcements and stuff of some smaller runs
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: throughout this period. But then next year from the middle
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: into the end is when we'll start like the heavy
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: touring for the album. So I think we're going to
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  Speaker 1: let it simmer for a little bit and really try
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: and get that, get it out to the world via
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: social media a bit more than we have in the past.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: And then try and embark on the road again and
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: hit some dates again into 2027.
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  Speaker 2: And where's the best place for people to go to
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: order themselves.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: A copy of the album everything's on our website so
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  Speaker 1: on our website it's got links to all of the
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: global stores so if you're in australia or new zealand
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: you can buy it directly from our website um and
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: then there's also links on our website to the uk
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: europe store and the american store Fantastic, Josh.
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: Well, thanks for your time, bro.
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: The album, Second Place Superstar, is out 25th of September.
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: Then you've got The Road from Manchester to Newborough, so
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: exciting times ahead.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: Good luck.
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: Awesome. Cheers. You have a good one, yeah?