Recently signed to SBAM Records with a new line-up that includes drummer Sean Sellers (Good Riddance, Pulley) and guitarist Brandon Landelius (Authority Zero), Mad Caddies will tour Australia for the first time in ten years this summer.
Frontman Chuck Robertson was in good spirits when chatting about the band's past and upcoming tour."We're literally scattered around the world. Our horn section lives in France. Jon [Gazi]'s in the Virgin Islands. I'm in California, Sean lives down the road in Santa Barbara, and Brandon's out in Oklahoma. Yeah, so modern world. We don't rehearse anymore."
The band released 'Punk Rocksteady' a few years back (2018) with Fat Mike of NOFX fame and it's a cracker. I thoroughly enjoyed the recontextualisation of some punk classics into full blown rocksteady rubber-dub creations containing all the authentic sounds you'd expect from a release out of the Caribbean; and for the band, it was a natural process.
"Bob Marley and Peter Tosh – we grew up on that stuff real early on. And then in high school, getting into the second wave of the British mod movement of The Specials and Madness and Selector, and all that. Yeah. So we have deep roots. It's always been with us, for sure."
Influences from a broad range of genres including ska, punk, hardcore, reggae, jazz, Latin, polka, and even cowpunk ('Crew Cut Chuck') and sea shanties ('Weird Beard'), can be heard on previous albums.
Their latest EP, 2020's 'House On Fire' is also eclectic. "It was a really personal record for me and was definitely has indie, rock and Americana influences.
"I don't know how you would describe it, but it was my emotions at the time. It was my divorce record and it came out years later, it was weird when it came out."
The album was released a few years after completion to provide space for 'Punk Rocksteady'. "It's frustrating when you record a batch of songs at a time in your life – and then you want to get them out in kind of a linear fashion. But then you sometimes have to realise that maybe time is not linear and that everything can exist."
Their Australian tour is in support of headlining shows at the Ska Nation Music Festival and they are looking forward to being on the road after a ten-year hiatus. "We got some new guys in the band. The band has been around 28 years. I started the band right here.
"I'm sitting on my family compound here in Santa Barbara County up in the hills. And we started the band here in '95. In my parents barn. And yeah, I just did the math during COVID. I wrote down every person that's ever played in the Mad Caddies, and I got up to 35 members. That's pretty wild."
The band have produced seven studio albums and sold over 500,000 records. "It's the only thing that makes me feel complete.
"I was sent here to this earth to make people smile and dance and feel good. Playing live is like the best, the best human experience I've ever had. I could walk away tomorrow and go live out in the woods just be a hermit but it'd be pretty boring. I really like performing."
The band has achieved 15 million unique streams on Spotify, however they're cagey about streaming platforms. "I got like 600 bucks. It's something that needs to change.
"You know, it used to be a penny a play on the radio back in the day but now it's not like point .0008 cents a stream."
Is merchandise the best way to generate an income stream in today's digitised world? "People are listening to vinyl again. We sold a couple of thousand LPs this year and that's the best way fans can support artists.
"Buy direct either from our website or from our shows. That's how we really get the money to feed our kids – that's the best way to support, man."
Mad Caddies 2023 Tour Dates
Sat 9 Dec - Manning Bar (Sydney)Sun 10 Dec - Hamilton Station Hotel (Newcastle)
Tue 12 Dec - Miami Marketta (Gold Coast)
Wed 13 Dec - The Zoo (Brisbane)
Thu 14 Dec - Lion Arts Factory (Adelaide)
Fri 15 Dec - Altar (Hobart)
Sat 16 Dec - Ska Nation (Warrion)
Sun 17 Dec - Ska Nation (Warrion)
Tue 19 Dec - The Corner Hotel (Melbourne)
