ACIDIC hits up Salt Lake City in first headlining tour
Los Angeles alternative-rock act ACIDIC brought its “Electric Cool-Aid” tour – the band’s first time playing a series of consecutive dates as a headlining act – to Utah on Thursday night, taking the stage at Burt’s Tiki Lounge in Salt Lake City. And even though the band wrapped up the tour the following night in Las Vegas, frontman Michael Gossard said he’s getting ready to hit the road again.
“The tour’s been amazing,” Gossard said. “It started out off in Eugene, Ore., and it’s been a really short one – just a week and a half – but good all the same. We’ve been having a lot of fun.
“We’re doing a lot of prepping for the summer touring season, which is why we’re on a short tour right now,” he said. “We have a lot of new material to test out.”
The band ventured out on the “Electric Cool-Aid” tour in support of its fourth full-length album, “Copper Man,” a collection of songs Gossard said are “like Polaroid pictures” of where the band members were at mentally and emotionally during the writing process.
“When we approached making the record, we did it differently,” he said. “We wrote the songs pretty much on the spot and really wanted to capture the energy in the moment, and I think we were successful in that because we’re really proud of it. Everything in there is poignant; all the songs mean something to us.”
ACIDIC worked on “Copper Man” with acclaimed multi-platinum award winner John Ryan, a music producer who has worked with the rock greats like the Allman Brothers, Styx and Santana. Gossard said Ryan put “the right kind of pressure” on the band and helped push the members to the next level.
“Working with a producer who has produced platinum records definitely brings a sense of urgency to the table because we want to be able to deliver,” Gossard said.
“Copper Man” has earned the band a lot of praise from critics, especially in LA. But Gossard said the biggest praise came when Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx named two of the album’s songs as his picks of the week on his nationally-syndicated radio program “Side Show.”
“At first I didn’t even believe it was Nikki Sixx, because he tweeted us himself,” said Gossard, recalling the moment Sixx made contact with the band. “When we got that, I wasn’t sure what was happening. We got a tweet saying, ‘Hey, this is Nikki Sixx,’ and I was like, ‘What? Really?’ and he was like, ‘Yeah, go check how many followers I have.'”
Gossard said he believes the publicity ACIDIC received from Sixx’s show has introduced the band to those who might not have heard its music otherwise.
“Nikki is one of the nicest people in the world,” Gossard said. “He’s very straightforward, he’s very caring and he’s just an all-around good guy. We’ve all really idolized him because Motley Crue was one of our favorite bands growing up, and I’m so grateful that he chose us and grateful that he acknowledged our existence.”
Gossard said he has tried to be as accepting and understanding as Sixx while on the “Electric Cool-Aid” tour, often creating a mutual respect and relationship between the audience and the members of the band.
“I walk up to every single person who walks through the door and I say, ‘Hello,'” he said. “I interact with everybody and try to make everybody feel like they’re a part of it. At the end of the day, that’s what’s most important – making people feel like they’re a part of the action – and that’s what I love to do.”
Gossard and company will take that love of music into the studio, writing and recording a follow-up to “Copper Man” soon after arriving back home in LA.
“I think we’ll be in the studio in the next two months with a lot of our new material,” he said. “I think we’ll have a new album out by the end of this year at the latest.”
– paul.r.christiansen@aggiemail.usu.edu