Voodoo Glow Skulls Bring Skacore Fury Down Under with Hey Smith

“The few times that we’ve been [to Australia] have been incredible,” Casillas reminisced. “We’re so excited to be coming back, obviously. It’s been a while. We’re really stoked to come back with this latest lineup, which is a great live unit. We’ve had some crazy times there with, you know, with like weird, weird promoters. And, you know, we’ve been through some stuff, but the shows have always been incredible.”

Casillas promises a blistering live show packed with fan favourites and newer cuts alike. “We’ll always play the classic stuff and the old songs, you know what I mean? All the old stuff is what we kind of have to play. That’s our bread and butter,” he said. “But we’re going to play four or five off of the last record (2021’s Livin’ the Apocalypse) too.”

That album dropped nearly a decade after their previous one, featuring VGS’ current solidified lineup with new vocalist Ephraim Villanueva (ex-Death By Stereo). “Well, we’ve had Ephraim since Frank quit about seven, eight years ago. And he just brought this whole different thing, you know? It was exactly what the band needed that at the time. It was all meant to be, you know. He just brings like this kind of positive, hardcore frontman energy.”

Casillas continues, addressing the obvious question before clarifying the lineup. “His voice is, it’s not the same, but he can do a lot with his voice, with our music, you know. So he saved the day, you know what I mean? But we’ve had him, and our current drummer, Stephen, for about five years, and then our two or three same horn players for about seven, eight years now. So it’s been the same for a while.”

Sadly, we won’t get a new album ahead of the tour, but the band is sitting on a treasure trove of embryonic material. “We have about 20 to 25 demos that we’re just kind of just waiting to see, you know, when we have time to add more tracks,” Casillas revealed. “If anything now, I think we have a solid, like a strong EP.”

Rather than rush out a full album, Casillas hinted they may go the retro singles route initially. “We’re gonna just try to drop singles, like the old days, man, like the 50s. Put out a song, make sure it’s a cool song that you’re fully behind.”

VGS’ unique “ska-core” sound fusing ska ebullience with punk riffs has long courted controversy from purist factions. “Back in the day, we, we like, we cut our teeth, man. And the school of, you know, some hard knocks in the scene,” Casillas recounted of the early days. “People would like vandalise our van and stuff like that…we just kind of made it into like our meat and potatoes, hardcore punk with ska.”

As for the long-simmering tensions with former singer Frank Casillas after his bitter 2017 exit, Eddie admits things remain strained despite olive branch efforts. “We’ve tried to reach out…but ends up being like a toxic thing thrown back at us. Like we did something wrong.”

Lineup tensions aside, Eddie says VGS pushes forward, driven by their steadfast punk resolve. “We’re not trying to live in the past, man…we’re just trying to do it with the right people that want to be there, you know, that want to keep it positive.”

Voodoo Glow Skulls’ ska-core fury joins Japanese ragers Hey Smith and local favourites The Resignators for a triple-helping of ska-punk madness down under this November. Don’t sleep on scoring tickets for this bountiful tour package brimming with bouncy riffs, up-stroked guitars and raucous brass explosions.

FOCUS MUSIC GROUP & UPBEAT SOUNDS PRESENTS
HEY SMITH Japan)
with special guests
Voodoo Glow Skulls (USA) + The Resignators (Melb)

Wednesday November 27 The Gov – Adelaide, Tickets
Thursday November 28 Brightside – Brisbane, Tickets
Friday November 29 Factory Floor – Sydney, Tickets
Saturday November 30 Ska Nation Festival / Colac Showgrounds – Colac, Tickets

Tickets on sale Thursday June 20 from 9am local time.