No question over Answer’s commitment

Nov 28 2009 by David Whetstone, The Journal

The Answer have travelled across America supporting AC/DC, but the boys are back in town tonight, as Simon Rushworth reports.

EVERY night for the past eight months, The Answer have been learning from the masters – and now it’s finally time to put those lessons into practice.

“We’ve spent most of the year playing with AC/DC and we’ve watched them every night,” said the Answer’s bass player, Micky Waters. “We’ve learnt a lot from watching those guys do their stuff – we’ve seen how simple gestures generate a great response.”

AC/DC’s Geordie frontman Brian Johnson is, of course, the master of the simple gesture, and his longevity as a leading vocalist commands respect. Yet, according to Waters, there is no rock star ego attached to one of the genre’s biggest names.

“We were lucky that we got to know Brian really well on the tour,” he added. “He became a regular in our dressing room, having a beer and cracking jokes.

“He’s got so much character and he’s definitely one of the most charismatic front men around.

“He comes across as quite shy when you don’t really know him, but he puts on such a good show every night that you can’t argue with anything he does.

“He can still sing every note and he can still strut around the stage for two hours.”

Two years ago, The Answer would have laughed at the suggestion that they would be handpicked to open up for one of the biggest rock and roll bands in the world. Yet their own reputation as rising stars of the classic rock scene secured a prestigious slot the envy of acts across the globe – and huge exposure to boot.

“We’ve only been back for a couple of weeks after spending most of the year with AC/DC,” added Waters. “We’ve had a few days to reflect on what the whole experience meant to us and the fact is we’ve played in front of more than two million people as the opening act for one of the biggest bands on the planet.

“We’ve played 118 shows with AC/DC and The Answer has had some unbelievable coverage. We even started to get used to the AC/DC stage by the time we completed the last leg in America, and at that stage we were playing to full houses every night.”

And a full house is on the cards in Newcastle tonight as The Answer finally achieve another of their driving ambitions – to play the main room at the city’s O2 Academy.

“It’s a stage we’ve wanted to play for a long, long time, and we’re finally going to get there,” added Waters. “For us, it’s as significant as playing Belfast’s Ulster Hall.

“The likes of Newcastle Academy, Nottingham Rock City and the Ulster Hall are places every British rock band wants to play right now. The only downside to spending so much time on the road with AC/DC is that we’ve neglected our British fans, and they’re still our main audience.

“We haven’t had the chance to play the new album, Everyday Demons, to the majority of our fans in the UK and Ireland, but this tour is our chance to put that right.

“We know where our real fan base is, and it’s right here.

“We could have stayed on tour with AC/DC forever – they invited us to join them in South America and Australia – but we wanted to come home.

“There comes a time as a band when you have to do your own thing.”

The Answer play Newcastle o2 Academy tonight.

Simon Rushworth is editor of North East based website RUSHONROCK.COM