Antiskeptic

Antiskeptic are an Australian rock band based in Melbourne. The band has enjoyed over twenty years of successful touring nationally, releasing four full-length albums, three EPs, one live album and two DVDs. The band have toured with many successful groups, including Midnight Oil, Jimmy Eat World, Anberlin, The Get Up Kids, Unwritten Law, Millencolin, MxPx, Jebediah, Bodyjar and Dashboard Confessional. Antiskeptic are known for their energetic live shows and powerful performances as much as the uplifting and encouraging lyrical content of their songs.

Antiskeptic are an Australian rock band based in Melbourne. The band has enjoyed over twenty years of successful touring nationally, releasing four full-length albums, three EPs, one live album and two DVDs. The band have toured with many successful groups, including Midnight Oil, Jimmy Eat World, Anberlin, The Get Up Kids, Unwritten Law, Millencolin, MxPx, Jebediah, Bodyjar and Dashboard Confessional. Antiskeptic are known for their energetic live shows and powerful performances as much as the uplifting and encouraging lyrical content of their songs.

History

Reformation and Stare Down the Ocean (2011–2015)

In March 2011 it was announced via the band's Facebook page that its members would reunite for a special one-off performance at Melbourne's iconic punk/metal venue The Arthouse to commemorate its closing. Tickets for the show sold out in minutes and the band was joined by fellow Melbourne rock trio Horsell Common. The band played a brand new song titled "The Kids Aren’t Scared" and was also the first time people could purchase the full-length CD/DVD Goodbye Goodnight – Live at the Hi-Fi 2008. Following the show, Kitchen and Coppin decided they wished to continue on following the success of the Arthouse show. Following a series of discussions, Coppin and Kitchen decided to reform the band permanently, without Daly; "We got some feedback that Antiskeptic was the chemistry that we all had, but Nick and I were keen to proceed," recalled Kitchen in a 2012 interview. "We all talked about it. A few days after we made that decision, Nick and I walked in on a new frontier. We had gigs booked, and with only two active members. A day or two later, one Bodyjar show was confirmed and we knew we made the right decision from then on." Coppin also expanded on the reasons for the band's reunion and why they would reunite without Daly in a 2012 interview; "weʼd had discussions about doing Antiskeptic again after The Arthouse show, but it was clear that he (bassist Sean Daly) was not on the same page as Andrew and I. This was the reason why things had finished in the first place, so after having had three years to think about the dissolution of the band – there was no way I was going to allow myself to be put back into that position of limitation and constriction. With all due respect to Sean, I now feel that we can lift off the park brake in the car and move on and dream again." In early November 2011 the band's complete reunion was formally announced, with the addition of new members Tavis Wardlaw of No Love For Lexi and Ryan Mclerie of House Vs. Hurricane. At this time, Antiskeptic announced a reunion tour of Australia; combining club shows with festivals, including headlining performances at Easterfest in Toowoomba (Queensland) with P.O.D., Rapture Ruckus and Mercyme in April 2012, and Victoria's Forest Edge Music Festival with Ivoryline in March 2012. The remainder of the dates will include shows at traditional live venues in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. The band also played a one-off show with its contemporaries Bodyjar and One Dollar Short on 31 March in Melbourne, to celebrate the limited edition release of Bodyjar's landmark album No Touch Red on vinyl When queried on the future of the band, Coppin stated in January 2012 that it was open-ended; "the plan for Antiskeptic is to have fun. We are now in a position where we are open to anything. We have four dudes in a band that are passionate about playing music and performing for people and that is feeling really exciting and invigorating. We want to continue to tour, we want to record and we want to have a blast doing it!" In late March 2012 Kitchen announced via the band's Pozible webpage that the quartet would head into the studio to record an album which would be released in 2013¹. The band will be tracking the majority of the album in Kitchen's studio and are having it mixed and produced by Forrester Savell (Karnivool, Dead Letter Circus, Cog). Antiskeptic performed at the Black Stump festival in September/October, and was part of Newcastle's two-day CityFest lineup in November with Evermore, New Empire and Stan Walker. Antiskeptic announced in February 2013 that Ryan Mclerie had left the band due to commitments to House vs Hurricane. He was replaced by Jarrod Salton of City Escape. The band played with MxPx on the Adelaide leg of their national tour in early March, before making a second appearance in as many years at the Forest Edge Music Festival, also with MxPx. The band began recording the new album in May. 'Stare Down The Ocean', Antiskeptic's third full-length album was released in 2014¹ and was met with positive critical reviews Australia wide and became the Album of the Week on the national Triple M 'Homegrown' radio program. In support of the album Antiskeptic undertook an extensive national tour with Queensland rock band Young Lions in support. Throughout 2015 the band hit the road for separate tours with American rock bands Switchfoot, Everclear and Lifehouse before calling it a day at the Lifehouse show at Melbourne's Forum Theatre.

Reunion Instincts (2019–current)

In May 2019, Antiskeptic performed a one-off show in Melbourne with their original lineup (Andrew, Nick and Sean), supporting Anberlin on their 2019 Australian tour at The Forum. The response was so positive from fans that the band made their return official and followed with a tour supporting The Get Up Kids in October that year. December 2019, Antiskeptic celebrated their 20th anniversary playing to a sold out show at the Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy and announced further shows in 2020 and that writing had begun on new material. In March 2020 the band performed alongside fellow rock/punk veterans For Amusement Only, Seraphs Coal and Wishful Thinking for a successful run of shows on the east coast which was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022 the band released a 20th Anniversary Remastered Vinyl edition of the 2002¹ debut album Memoirs of a Common Man and tolerated a hardcore/metal band called Dark Antiskeptic releasing heavy and twisted re-recordings of the bands back catalogue which coincided with the vinyl release. In November 2022 Antiskeptic made a triumphant return to the stage with fellow Melbourne 3 piece Horsell Common for a sell-out hometown show where the band announced their new album Instincts was in development and performed new material live for the first time in 7 years. The band spent the majority of 2023¹ producing the album and released the first single and video clip for the track Young Hearts in September 2023.

Members

Current

Andrew Ridley Kitchen – vocals and guitar (1999–present) Nick Coppin – drums (1999–present) Sean Daly – bass guitar and vocals (1999–2003, 2003–2008, 2019-present)

Former

Shane O'Keeffe – bass guitar (2003) Corey Sleap – bass guitar (2003) Ryan Mclerie – guitar and vocals (2011–2012) Jarrod Salton – guitar and vocals (2013–2019) Tavis Wardlaw – bass guitar and vocals (2011–2019)

Discography

Studio albums

EPs

Live albums

DVDs

Late in their career, Antiskeptic released a number of DVDs. The first was packaged with the EP Monuments and contained studio footage, as well as a selection of videos from the band's performance at Rod Laver Arena. Memoirs of a Common Band was released prior to the beginning of the Goodbye, Goodnight tour and features extensive footage of the band throughout their first ten years, including interviews, performance videos, live clips and sundry. Goodbye, Goodnight – Live at the Hi Fi captures the band's 2008 performance in Melbourne, at the time believed to be the band's final show. Unlike earlier releases, this DVD features the entire concert. The special features of Goodbye, Goodnight include Memoirs of a Common Band in its entirety.

Singles

Video clips

A number of video clips have been commissioned for Antiskeptic to promote singles/releases. The following is a list of official promotional videos.

References

External links

Official website

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1376056645 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.