After a few years of silence, San Diego Punk rock group SPRUNG MONKEY are back after a lengthy hiatus, joining brothers in arms Unwritten Law on their Australian tour. LINDSEY CUTHBERTSON catches up with vocalist STEVE SUMMERS before they embark down under.

LINDSEY CUTHBERTSON: Sprung Monkey have been a bit quiet of late and this is your first time in Australia in a while. How are you feeling about coming back again?

STEVE SUMMERS: Personally, there are two sides why I’m so excited. One; we’ve been on a little bit of a hiatus so we’re now just getting together again and playing and writing music, and second of all, we’re playing with Unwritten Law and they do really well in Australia, so it’s going to be insane.

LC: What made the band decide to go on hiatus?

SS: We needed to get away from each other for a while so we could appreciate each other again. It wasn’t fun anymore. But I feel like, because we’ve been out of the public eye for a while, the pressure is off us now. We forgot how to be a band – we became a business. Right now it’s all fun again. Expectations are none. The way I see this tour is as a paid vacation, so it doesn’t get better than that.

LC: What did you miss the most about touring as a band with Sprung Monkey when you were on hiatus?

SS: I missed the camaraderie, the unified bond. We were all involved in the same thing for the same mission for the same cause. And traveling – I love the hotel vibe. I can’t wait to travel again. We never really took the time to look around when we previously went on tour, because we always thought we’d be back. This time around, I think we’ll appreciate that aspect more.

LC: Before you tour Australia, you are playing three shows in the USA, one being in your home city of San Diego. Is there a lot of difference between playing at home and playing in Australia?

SS: I’d like to say none, but it depends on what club you play over here. Not many clubs let crowds slam dance or let mosh pits go down, because everyone’s so sue-happy over here. A kid falls down, the club gets sued. I do the stage production for one of the clubs in San Diego and we stopped doing all-ages shows all together, just because so many kids were falling down and getting hurt and then their parents would try and sue the club. But when they do let that stuff go on, those shows feel very much like playing in Australia. The southern California vibe isn’t far off what Australia is like. A show is a show, but the fortunate thing about Australia is that it’s always a good show when we play there.

SPRUNG MONKEY support Unwritten Law at the Coolangatta Hotel on Thursday Aug 14 and The Arena on Friday Aug 15. Elora Danan are the local support for both dates.

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