State Champs are amped to return to Australia with none other than their good buddies Neck Deep this month. Together, they’ve grown and thrived in the worldwide pop punk scene, each new release gaining even more fans by the minute. The upstate New York four-piece, just last year, released their fifth album titled State Champs and it’s set to lure in even more listeners once Australians get a taste of it later this month.
“Everybody’s so awesome in Australia but the thing is, I kind of forget what they’re like because it’s been so long. I’m so excited to finally come back. It’s been three years since our last visit. My favorite part is just how awesome and receptive everybody is of everything we put out. The community seems to grow more and more every time and the community has just grown stronger. We make new fans every time we come out to Australia, whether we’re headlining or opening. So the fact that we’ve got a whole new album to play, it’s now so hard to pick a set list these days. We have five albums out now and we only have so much time. We’re even still arguing between the four of us, what songs to play from which albums and whatnot, we want to cater and make sure everybody has a good time. So if that’s the biggest of our problems, I think we’re going to be okay. It’s going to be a fun time.”
Their self-titled album is a remarkable piece of contemporary pop punk and we think it is their most authentic work yet, as frontman Derek DiScanio wholeheartedly agrees. Through records like Living Proof and 2022’s Kings of the New Age, the band have cemented their upbeat style by remaining consistent and somehow, still pump out songs that bolster new hooks and catchiness that celebrates the youthful spirit of the genre.
“A lot of people ask why we went with self titled for this album, being our fifth album. Most bands do self titled for their first album, or maybe like their third album, but we made it to five, so it’s kind of unique in that sense that, no, we didn’t just call it self titled because we couldn’t think of an album title. I feel like that’s a cop out. I do think though that this album embodies State Champs as a whole, and there’s a little piece of everything that we’ve ever done in our fifth album. We do think it’s the most authentic thing that we’ve put out, and we’re just excited to share it. It’s been going over so well in places like Europe and the UK and in the States out here. Usually by the time you get to five or six albums, everyone’s like, ‘we only want to hear the old stuff’, but that’s not the case here. We’ve been playing a lot of the new stuff while mixing in all the greatest hits from from the old albums as well.”
You could say that this record has seen the boys mature in ways that anyone can relate to. They’re not teenagers anymore and like so many of us, are learning to balance the daily pressures of adult life with their international touring schedules. Perfectly encapsulated on the closing track of the record, Derek assures us that the best of Champs is still yet to come.
“‘Golden Years’ kind of tells a story about growing up essentially, and reflecting on where you came from and upbringing, the people you surround yourself with talks about old friends. It’s almost like a leave this town type song, like, a nostalgic type song. A lot of people are like, is that you kind of saying that you’re over being in a band? No, it’s not about that. It’s basically about reflecting on old hometown friends and being in high school and being in college and just starting out and being a band and not really knowing how to grow up.
When we first started doing this, we were all in, partying all the time and not sleeping, making bad decisions and this and that. It’s basically affirming and making sure that we can do this music thing we love for as long as we can, while also learning how to adult, if you will, and leaving certain things in the past and being able to look forward. ‘Maybe the good things have to change, but that doesn’t mean that they go away.’ That’s one of the lyrics in the bridge of the song. We want to be able to do this music thing and have fun touring as long as we can forever. But that comes with a balance, everything in moderation, finding that sweet spot between fun and reality, stuff that we never had to deal with when we first started being in this band as teenagers. It’s just a growing up song that’s all. We’re not going to break up. We’re going to keep making music.”
Alongside their third trip Down Under with Neck Deep, State Champs also look forward to celebrating the 10th anniversary of their staple release, Around the World and Back. This album saw the band conquer the world and back literally, affirming their status as pop punk pioneers of the New Age.
“When Around the World and Back came out, it was the first time that we did a full World Tour, which was actually with Neck Deep. It started in Australia in January 2016, and it was just the realisation that we are a real band that can headline. We were co-headlining with Neck Deep but beyond that, it was the beginning of our own headliners. We can put on a State Champs show and sell out venues and feel like a real band. That year was also the first time we were bumped to main stage on the Vans Warped Tour. It was just a big turning point in the band’s career, where we would come home from tours with actual money to be like, this is mine. We’re making a living doing this now, we gotta take this seriously and build on this because people really care about this band. Around the World and Back will always hold a special place. We’re going to have to do something special later in the year to celebrate that.”
With this tour marking State Champs’ third visit Down Under with Neck Deep, we’re intrigued to see if they’ve got any surprises planned up their sleeves.
“We have songs together now! But no, we haven’t actually talked to the guys in Neck Deep since When We Were Young Festival in Vegas at the end of last year. But it’s like riding a bike when we tour together. It feels so normal because we go so far back and we’ve grown together. So it doesn’t take us long to to find tricks up our sleeve when it comes to playing shows together. Whether it’s us invading their stage or them invading our stage. Everybody’s going to be in for a treat on this tour.”
Following their Australian run this month, State Champs will join the 30th anniversary of the Vans Warped Tour, where as Derek stated earlier, they have significant history breaking ground in their early days. Kicking off in Washington DC on June 14 and 15, the festival will feature a mix of legacy acts and a new crop of young alternative/rock acts looking to grow their audience in front of new ears. With State Champs no longer seeing themselves as a baby band, Derek feels like they’ve got a bit of a legacy to hold up this year.
“It feels insane to think that we’re not a baby band. I considered us a baby band in the scene for so long, but we’re not a baby band anymore. So I guess we are a legacy act, we owe so much to Warped Tour. We owe our career to the Vans Warped Tour. Needless to say, we started doing it in 2014 and we were on the smallest stage, driving ourselves around in a van. Once we made it through that, we’re like, we can make it through anything. So then 2016 we came back, and we were headlining on the main stage for the first time. Then 2018 was the third time we did it, and that was the last year of the full length Warped Tour. So the fact that it’s coming back to some capacity in a bigger sense, like a bigger festival style, is going to be amazing. The fact that we get to kind of reminisce and dive back into that and get a taste of it again, is going to be so cool and it’ll be 11 years since we did our first one. It’s just a crazy ride to think back on what’s happened since then and now. But, man, it’s going to be very, very reminiscent and nostalgic.”
Watch the full interview below.
Interview by Tamara May
State Champs and Neck Deep kick off their Australian run of shows in Perth on 21 April. Final tickets remain for all shows – purchase here
