THE show was so intense it left Hockey Dad guitarist and vocalist Zach Stephenson lost for words.
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There were young fans actually jumping from the balcony of the Enmore Theatre so they could enter the mosh pit below, that was heaving to Hockey Dad’s anthemic surf-rock track I Wanna Be Everybody.
These were the scenes at the second of two sold-out shows at the 1600-capacity Newtown theatre. Just over a month on Stephenson still can’t comprehend it.
“I don’t know what else to say? They were epic,” Stephenson from his hometown of Wollongong.
“They were definitely the biggest thing we’ve ever done.”
The performance earned a 4.5 star review from veteran Sydney Morning Herald journalist George Palathingal, an effort Stephenson and his drummer and childhood friend Billy Fleming could never have imagined was possible when they were jamming in their Windang bedrooms.
Momentum has been gathering pace for Hockey Dad since the release of their debut album Boronia in 2016.
The album’s hazy slices of surf-rock, with Ramones and Nirvana influences, perfectly tapped into the youthful energy of endless summers.
The songs told simple stories of partying, meeting girls and catching waves.
That spirit was refined in February when they released their second album Blend Inn, which debuted at No.6 on the ARIA charts.
“We never thought it would get like this,” Stephenson said. “It feels good and it’s making us more confident and play better shows.”
Stephenson and Fleming are both keen surfers and previously took a laid-back approach to music. But Stephenson admits the rapid growth of Hockey Dad means the band has become a serious proposition.
“I guess you have to take a bit of professionalism into it and approach it like a job in that sense,” he said.
“But we never think about it as a nine to five, just-to-make-money [thing].
“It is our job but it’s pretty much our whole lives as well.”
Stephenson met Fleming over a neighbourhood game of football before the pair had started kindergarten. The two grew up two houses apart in Boronia Avenue and bonded over sport, before discovering music.
The close friendship is particularly important as Hockey Dad’s fame grows.
“It makes the transition a bit easier to playing bigger shows, becoming more successful and becoming busier,” Stephenson said.
Hockey Dad play at the Noisy Heeler festival at Simpson Park in Muswellbrook on October 20.