Words by Amar Gera June 28, 2021

The struggles of being a touring band in 2021…

Windang duo Hockey Dad have issued a pretty sobering statement after they felt the full brunt of COVID-19 restrictions this past Saturday in Brisbane. For those not familiar with the situation, the duo (made up of singer/guitarist Zach Stephenson and drummer Billy Fleming) had just finished the first of three performances at Fortitude Music Hall (which they had already rescheduled three times) and were about to walk back on stage for an encore, fans cheering and begging for more.

Yet, at the last second, their manager informed them they had to leave the show and immediately head into a 14-day hotel quarantine, adhering to advice from Queensland Health following Greater Sydney being declared a COVID-19 hotspot. You can probably imagine how gutted they were, with the encore-awaiting fans forced to leave and punters still to come informed that their upcoming shows wouldn’t be going ahead.

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Now, they’ve opened up on the whole ordeal, with drummer Billy explaining “The hardest part for me was just being on such a high from the show and dropping to such a low in an instant. We felt amazing as we walked off stage. We really felt like we had pulled off something special. Despite all odds we were finally playing these shows after over a year’s worth of postponement. As the crowd started yelling for us to jump back on for an encore, we got the tap on the shoulder and were escorted away from the stage to receive the bad news.

“Everything was going so well up until that point. We did everything by the book. And it all just fell apart so quickly. It was really hard for us to comprehend. And it still is.”

Singer Zach has also opened up on the lead up to the show and thanked fans for their support, adding “The past week leading up to these shows has been probably the most stressful time in my touring history playing in this band. Ever changing goal posts continually keep pressure on artists/venues/crew/promoters/punters to make sure they are doing everything correctly in accordance to state and federal guidelines.”

“Just want to say thank you to our entire crew and everyone at the FMH for their support and understanding during this time. Biggest thanks go out to our fans who bought tickets and held them for over a year and still stick with us through these times. Thank you also to the whole aus music community for your support. The messages we have received already from our peers offering to help out in any way they can has been overwhelming and gives me great hope for the music industry in aus.”

Pretty heavy stuff, we definitely feel for the Hockey Dad boys and all affected by the cancellation. For the fans that missed out on seeing them at Fortitude Valley Music Hall, new dates will be announced soon. In the meantime, if you’re craving a Hockey Dad fix, you can tune into triple j’s Live At The Wireless today from 8pm, which will be broadcasting the band’s performance from Forum Theatre in Melbourne earlier this year. You can also suss the dates to their upcoming regional tour below, with tickets available here.

Thursday 12 August – The Seabreeze Hotel, Mackay QLD SOLD OUT

Friday 13 August – Dalrymple Hotel, Townsville QLD

Saturday 14 August – Tanks Arts Centre, Cairns QLD

Friday 20 August – The River, Margaret River WA

Saturday 21 August – Prince of Wales, Bunbury WA

Friday 27 August – The Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle NSW SOLD OUT

Saturday 28 August – The Sunken Monkey Hotel, Central Coast NSW

Sunday 29 August – Big Top Luna Park, Sydney NSW (RESCHEDULED SHOW)

Thursday 2 September – Coolangatta Hotel, Gold Coast QLD

Friday 3 September – Coolangatta Hotel, Gold Coast QLD SOLD OUT

Saturday 4 September – NightQuarter, Sunshine Coast QLD

Thursday 9 September – The Northern, Byron Bay NSW