It has been nearly 20 years since Extreme visited Australian shores. Extreme along with another hard rock supergroup, Mr Big, think that’s long enough. Doing a tour of Australia with Adelaide included, Extreme vows to bring a one-of-a-kind rock experience to our minds and souls.
Glam Adelaide caught up with Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt to talk about the upcoming tour and the growth of Extreme.
So I hear you’re in the studio at the moment working on a new album, how is that going?
We’re kinda in the later stages of it for the 3rd album that should really have been out since the last one. It’s taken a bit of time. Not always a great thing cause we keep coming up with new pieces which we like better so at some point we have to put it down and put it out.
Is that a result of being a perfectionist?
I think it’s less of being a perfectionist but more of being prolific and writing too much material all the time.
So what can fans expect with the new album?
I have no idea. We never really map anything out. More of an aggressive side to it. Maybe a bit harder. Saying that we always can’t help ourselves putting some lighter stuff in there.
What’s it like getting back together with Extreme and touring Australia again?
It’s good. Doing shows this time around is a bit more special. It’s a bit ridiculous that it’s taken so long for us to come back to Australia so we have some explaining to do when we get there. The only way to do that is to apologise and do a kick-ass show and do what we do best. There’s going to be a lot of people who haven’t see us for a while and probably a lot who have never seen us so I’m looking forward to that. We’re going to go through the history of all the albums and give them a show.
You’ve been touring a lot. You recently had the European tour and now you have the Australian tour followed by the Asian tour. Does it burn you out at all or is it just about getting back into the swing of things?
We don’t tour as much as we used to. I really wouldn’t call it a specific tour. When we used to tour it would be for 6 or 9 months or a year. This is more of just a run that we’re doing. Since we’re down in Australia it makes sense to hit South-East Asia.
With the events getting so much hype and attention would you say that maybe Glam rock is making a come-back?
I don’t know anyone who’s in Glam rock, haha. I’m not all that sure if we are.
Well you guys have had had a lot of variations on sound so guess it’s hard to categorise what you are.
I don’t think anything is making a comeback. I don’t think anything was ever lost. It is what it is. There’s not a lot of rock and roll out there right now in the mainstream but there still is rock and roll out there. I don’t know what forms they take or what genres they are going to be called. Or where we ever actually belong. People say metal, people say rock or glam metal or hair metal. All I know is that we’re a band called Extreme.
So how has Extreme evolved in the last 20 years?
We’re definitely older. Look, everything has changed and not much has changed. The good thing about seeing a band live, it’s not necessarily every band does this, but we have this switch that goes off whenever we play on stage. No matter how we’re feeling, no matter how old we are. Good or bad moods, we always leave everything up on stage. And we always pride ourselves on not punching the clock. I think if anyone saw us way back in the day they’re going to see the same band up there. We’re not as young but we don’t listen to our bodies or our age. We tend to think we’re 17 and I think that’s a good thing.
I don’t brag about many things but I can tell you that you won’t be bored. You’ll get a full-fledged rock and roll show and more. One thing I do brag about is that live, the band always delivers and the passion is always there.
Extreme will be performing on Thursday the 7th of June at Therbarton Theatre in Adelaide. Whatever your rock leaning this is a show guaranteed to whet the appetite of any rock and roll fan.
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