[MUSIC INTERVIEW] THEORY OF A DEADMAN – 2023 Australian Tour

Award-winning multiplatinum Los Angeles-based Canadian band Theory of a Deadman (abbreviated as Theory) consistently deliver undeniable anthems rooted in scorching songcraft, experimental vision, rock ‘n’ roll attitude, and clever pop ambition.

After nearly two decades, the musicians landed their biggest career hit in the form of “Rx (Medicate)” from 2017 album Wake Up Call. Not only did it receive a platinum plaque, generate 100 million plus streams, and become their third number one on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, but it also received a nomination in the category of ‘Rock Song of the Year’ at the iHeartRadio Music Awards.

Theory’s seventh full-length offering, Say Nothing then marked the start of a bold new chapter introduced by the 2019 single ‘History of Violence‘. But then a pandemic hit and Theory’s plan to tour the world was put on hold. But now we find ourselves in 2023 and Theory and ready to hit our shores with Halestorm with some shows that are selling out fast.

“Oh it is terrible. I remember when they sent us the email we were like ewwww…gross,” laughs Theory frontman Tyler Connolly when I ask him how he feels about coming back to Australia. “Australian are like Canadians they are just mean – I’m sorry… oh God imagine if people thought I was being real. Seriously though as soon as I saw the email I was like yes and it is such a great package being able to tour with Halestorm… it is not to be missed show and we are pumped.”

“This is also the first tour for us with the new record cycle,” he goes onto explain. “We were like where can we go first and foremost with this album and we went yep its got to be Australia.”

As we talk about touring and the amazing shows that Theory are known for we begin to talk about what it was like getting back out onto the stage after the forced pandemic lay-off. “It was weird at first,” he admits. “It was really weird, it was almost like a post-apocalyptic feel – you would go on tour and then you would start to wonder whether you should really be there, and then you would start asking yourself what was going to happen. Will people show up? But now it feels like I blinked and two years just went by.”

“It is the weirdest thing,” he continues. “I’ll talk to people and I will be like – remember when we went to that thing and they will be like “yeah when was that… oh that was two years ago… oh no wait that was like five years ago.” And I will be standing there looking stunned and going “What…really?” I just can’t handle it it is so weird, but it feels back to normal now – we go on stage and I look at the fans and they are just so happy to be out there and around people again and they can just scream and shout…it’s awesome!”

It is almost guaranteed that there will be a lot of screaming and shouting at Theory’s Australian shows but there is something that Tyler wants to bring to the shows as well. “I want to learn as much Australian lingo as I can so I can look really stupid and embarrassing when I am on stage,” he says laughing again. “We’ve actually only been to Australia once before so I think we are just going to play our hits and we are going to play the songs that our fans want to hear”

“I also want to hang out with some peeps,” he adds. “And I know that you guys don’t really like that Fosters crap down there. It is a bit of a joke like Outback Steakhouse… that is not even really Australian. It is a façade!”

Our discussion soon turns to the fact that Australia was one of the first countries to embrace Theory’s 2005 Gasoline album way before Medicate can out and introduced the band to the more commercial side of things. “It was really strange,” Tyler admits. “I mean we were thankful for it but it is so different to anything else we had ever released. I think that was part of it because it was so fresh sounding but yeah it did introduce us to a bunch of new fans which was really cool because that doesn’t happen a lot, but it is always nice to hear that we have so many fans in a country because that makes it even better when we get down there.”

That leads to us talking about the fact that Theory is now twenty years old and Tyler says that milestone feels strange. “It does and doesn’t feel like twenty years,” he says. “It goes so fast but at the same time when you look at stuff like the eight albums and the amount of work that we have put into it – not only the albums but the tours, the schedule, the travelling, the 1000s of shows and then it does feel like 20 years. But yeah we are pretty impressed with ourselves – the 20 year mark is really special and I even talk about it on stage every night because it is something that we are proud of that and we are proud of the fact that we are probably closer now as a four-piece than we have ever been and we enjoy it more now.”

“I guess that is because we have gotten past all the insecurities,” he explains. “A lot of bands have that – they begin to wonder where they will be in 20 years but we know that and now we can just relax and we can go to places like Australia and drink Fosters beer.”

Theory Of A Deadman begin their Australian tour with Halestorm this week.