Here's Five: The Flatliners (Canada) Favourite Tour Moments

Canadian old-school punk and ska / reggae stars The Flatliners are celebrating their 20th anniversary with a debut triple date Aotearoa New Zealand tour. Their long-awaited adventure begins tonight at Kirikiriroa's The Last Place, hitting Tāmaki's Double Whammy! this Wednesday and Pōneke's Valhalla on Thursday, joined for each show by a selection of our most explosive local acts. With six studio records to their name thus far, the Fat Wreck Records veterans have toured relentlessly throughout their two decade plus tenure. As an appetiser for this week's gigs brought to you by Sticky Fingaz Tour Management, frontman Chris Cresswell (also currently singing for Hot Water Music) dipped into his memory banks to reminisce about some of the group's favourite tour moments...

THE FLATLINERS (Canada)
NZ Tour February 2025

Tuesday 25th February - Last Place Tavern, Hamilton w/ Drop off Point, One Bad Weekend (early show, 7pm start)
Wednesday 26th February - Double Whammy!, Auckland w/ Fireshark, Flirting with Disaster (new venue)
Thursday 27th February - Valhalla, Wellington w/ Departure Party, No Sector, Dimestore Skanks

Tickets on sale HERE via UTR (all shows R18)

1. We embarked on our first tour of Europe in early 2008, after releasing our second album The Great Awake only a few months prior. We were booked for something like 28 shows in 30 days, and most of them were headliners in small clubs around Germany, Austria, Italy, France and England. I remember thinking that most shows would be virtually unattended and that we felt like we were going to waste a lot of people’s time and effort putting this tour together for a band who had never been overseas before. To our absolute surprise, we were met each night with people who knew every word to our songs — especially our new record — and who had been waiting for us to arrive for a long while. It was an incredible feeling as a young band to be so far from home and be shown that much love and support. It makes you feel invincible for a time, like anything is possible. The touring way of life and live music industry in Europe at large is an inspiring network of people all working toward a common goal of music, art and culture on display for those who are looking for it. That feeling continues to this day.

2. In the summer of 2008, hot off the heels of our first European tour, we spent 3 weeks zigzagging across Canada with our heroes Strike Anywhere. Rewind 6 years, and you would see a teenage Jon, Paul and myself from the band waiting around by Strike’s van after their show in Toronto supporting Good Riddance and Bane to try to talk to one of our favourite bands. And now, we’re out in the wild with them. The shows were all memorable, but the moments off-stage were even more so. From big BBQ’s in the backyards of people in Prince Edward Island, Timmins and Calgary, to spending the day at Peggy’s Cove in Nova Scotia, hiking the mountains and exploring hot springs in Banff, Alberta — this tour had no shortage of good times. It’s one we talk about often to this day when running into Strike Anywhere on the road.

3. We basically spent 2008-2010 going around the world with NOFX. From sitting on road cases between Fat Mike and Tony Sly listening to decades worth of tour stories all over America, to massive solid out club dates all through Europe, to private after-parties in Tokyo, we learned a hell of a lot from that band and crew. We were in our early 20s at the time, so you can imagine how impressionable and punishing we probably were. But the whole team showed us the way of working your ass off while having a blast doing it. An invaluable experience for our band, and one that helped shape us for all the years on the road we’re still enjoying now.

4. Back in the summer of 2013, we had a full North American tour booked with our dear friends A Wilhelm Scream. It was supposed to be the combined record release tour for our album Dead Language and their album Partycrasher. Both records ended up getting delayed by a few months, but we did the tour anyways. We had already done a lot of touring together all over the world at this point, and we had also heard each other’s new records. So when we both started playing new songs off our upcoming albums at the shows, it was a fun tip of the hat to each other in a room full of unsuspecting fans who were all hearing these new songs live well before hearing any recorded version. It’s rare to have that feeling these days. We were letting everyone in on our musical secrets each night bit by bit, and by the end of that 6 week tour, no one wanted to go home.

5. We celebrated the release of our fifth album Inviting Light with an arena tour across Canada supporting the one and only Weezer. Every show was full of pure pinch-me moments as we played the songs we wrote in our bedrooms in basements in the houses where all the big hockey teams play. The obvious cherry on top was getting to witness Weezer absolutely crush every night. On our last drive home from the tour, we chucked on The Blue Album in the van, only to realise that those songs sound even better now live. A true testament to their power as a live band.

Check out the video for 'Souvenir' from The Flatliners' latest album New Ruin (2022) and go catch them this week...