State Champs: "We are VERY excited for Slam Dunk"

Isn't everyone?

If you’re a fan of rock music, you’re probably gonna be hyped about Slam Dunk.

This year’s line-up has legit legends Jimmy Eat World, Good Charlotte, barnstormers PVRIS, Frank Carter & his Rattlesnakes, Taking Back Sunday, Twin Atlantic, the awesome Creeper, Every Time I Die and loads, loads more. Held across three legs over three days in Leeds, Hatfield and Birmingham, it’s a late May bank holiday delight not to miss.

So, Dork sent our Slam Dunk Q&A to a few of the bands playing to figure out their plan for clean pants and stuff. Next up, State Champs.

Hey Ryan, how’s it going? I’m doing fantastic.

What have you guys been up to so far this year, are you having a good 2018? This year, as far as touring goes, has been pretty quiet. We’ve only played one show, and it was Self Help Festival in San Bernardino, California. It felt good to be back, because we’ve taken a few months off while recording our new record.

Are you ready for festival season? How do you prepare, is it just lots of rehearsing and stocking up on clean pants? Festival season is always a blast because it brings about a completely different vibe than playing club shows. You get to hang with a lot more friends, and your music is exposed to so many people who are potentially hearing you for the first time. Rather than stocking up on clean pants, it’s more clean socks for me. You do not want to see or smell the state of my socks after a day at a festival.

We can’t wait to see you at Slam Dunk - what have you got planned for your time over here? Are you going sightseeing? I can positively say that we are VERY excited for Slam Dunk. We played back in 2014, and it was our first time over in the UK, so we had no idea what to expect. What we received was a massive warm welcome - so we have been anxiously waiting to come back. We typically try to sight-see as much as we can, but we don’t always get the chance when we’re there on a tight timeline. We’ve still never seen Stonehenge, dammit!

Do you have anything interesting on your rider for shows and festivals? I don’t know if alcohol is necessarily “interesting” per se, but yeah, alcohol.

How do you cope with all the travel of touring, it must get a bit boring stuck on planes and buses all the time? Touring is an amazing experience and a cool lifestyle, but you definitely have to develop another hobby, no matter how big or small, to pass the time. I can’t speak for everybody, but something I picked up recently is photography. Picking up a camera when we travel as much as we do and seeing all these once in a lifetime places made perfect sense. It’s helped me stay creative when things can get stagnant at times on the road. Also reading is a great joy of mine. There has never been a time-sucker like reading, except maybe Netflix.

What else do you guys have coming up? We have a new record coming soon! That’s pretty much what we’ve been pumping all of our time and energy into lately, so it’s all building to this!

Slam Dunk will take place in Leeds, Hatfield and Birmingham from 26th-28th May.

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State Champs: "We are VERY excited for Slam Dunk"

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