Hockey Dad is an Australian surf rock band from Windang, New South Wales, Australia. The band consists of two members, Billy Fleming and Zach Stephenson, and has three full albums and one EP released to date.
History
The band was founded in 2013, although the members claim to have played together before being an official band with a third member Bailey Carson. The duo cites a band called 'Abstract Classic' as an earlier project that fizzled out before they became Hockey Dad. Fleming and Stephenson were both born and raised in Windang Australia and lived two doors down from each other on Boronia Avenue in New South Wales where they still reside. The members met in 1999 at the ages of three and four when they were playing a neighbourhood game of football on the street. Continuing to reside in the same town, the duo spends their time surfing at the beach and skating at the local park.
Name
The name of the band, Hockey Dad, derived from a joke on an episode of The Simpsons. On the episode, Hockey Dad is a very quickly shown video game played between Bart Simpson and Milhouse Van Houten. Stephenson and Fleming claim that the name simply stuck as they could not think of anything else.
Influence
Hockey Dad credits the era of '60s garage as their main influence. The duo also credits their musical inspiration to bands such as Bass Drum of Death, Sparkadia and Band of Horses. Growing up, Fleming quotes that listening to his brother's collection of '90s punk music helped develop his musical style. On the contrary, Stephenson indulged heavily into his father's '80s Australian punk and rock musical selection. For music videos, they are said to be based on the band's days growing up in suburban Australia - surfing, skating, and drinking beer.
Record labels
Hockey Dad is currently associated with two record labels. Firstly, they are signed with the Australian independent label Farmer & the Owl/Inertia Music since 2014 for all dealings within Australia and the remainder of the world with exception of North America. The second label they are signed to is the independent label Kanine Records since 2015, for dealings within North America.
Band members
Zach Stephenson
Zach Stephenson was born on November 15, 1994 in Windang, Australia. For Hockey Dad, he plays the guitar as well as provides the main vocals for all their songs. Along with this, Stephenson can play bass and drums and is learning the behind the scenes of recording and producing music.
Billy Fleming
Billy Fleming was born on July 7, 1996 in Windang, Australia and plays the drums for Hockey Dad's records. Fleming can also play guitar and bass and is learning recording and production with Stephenson. Additionally, he is learning mastering in audio post production.
Discography
Albums
EPs
Singles
Music videos
Tours
UK/Europe Tour 2016
In May 2016, Hockey Dad announced their UK/Europe tour hitting 16 shows across United Kingdom, Netherlands, France, and Germany. The tour began on May 12, 2016 in Reading, England and finished on June 4, 2016 in Nederweert, Netherlands. Due to the successful shows, Hockey Dad extended their tour and added another date on June 7, 2016 in Brighton, UK performing alongside other bands.
US/Canada Tour 2016
Hockey Dad also ran a tour across United States and Canada in support of their debut album. Lasting from the 10th of August to the 1st of September 2016, the tour consisted of 18 shows across fourteen states and two provinces. Musical group Muuy Biien played alongside Hockey Dad for this tour for all dates except that in San Francisco. This is the first tour Hockey Dad has performed in North America, previous visits only for music festivals.
Boronia Album Tour
From September 24 to October 8, 2016 Hockey Dad performed a short Australian national tour reaching Brisbane, Brunswick, Sydney, Adelaide, and Perth. This tour was to locally promote their debut album and was completely sold out across all locations.
On November 17, 2016 Hockey Dad announced their 2017 regional tour titled 'Benefit of the Doubt' tour. The tour ran from February 3, 2016 until March 4, 2016 and consisted of 8 shows in 8 cities across Australia.
On January 16, 2018 Hockey Dad announced via Facebook that they would be touring to support the release of their second studio album Blend Inn. The tour ran from the 1st of March, 2018 to the 25th of March. The tour originally consisted of 7 shows across 5 cities within Australia. However, after 6 of these shows sold out within the first 24 hours, the band added an extra 7 shows across Australia bringing the total number of shows played to 14. On this tour the duo will finally be performing in front of their biggest fans, Angus Edwards and Adam Richardson, who have been following the boys since early 2013.
On 18 June 2018, Hockey Dad announced their second Australian tour for 2018. The string of shows was announced in support of their song 'Join The Club', which was released on their Sophomore album 'Blend Inn'. The tour took place in late September and October and included Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane, with every show being sold out.
