Asking Alexandria At The National 5/5/2016

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Asking Alexandria, who are currently out touring in support of their latest release “The Black” recently played The National in Richmond, VA in support of Bullet For My Valentine. The album, which is the first with new vocalist Denis Stoff has seen a lot of success on the Billboard charts and the singles “I Won’t Give In”, “Undivided”, and “The Black” have been getting plenty of radio play.  Prior to the band taking the stage to a near capacity crowd I had the chance to speak with Denis about the tour, the album, and how the fans have accepted him as the new front man. Below is the interview, setlist from the night, and remaining tour dates.

Side Stage Magazine: So What about this weather today?

Denis Stoff: It could have been better.

It’s not the Florida weather from this past weekend.

Absolutely.

So the first tour with Bullet For My Valentine was so successful you guys decided to do a second leg.

Yeah, the first one was nothing but a good time, we had a blast. This one is just getting started but it’s been amazing so far.

You just played Welcome to Rockville, what are your thoughts on the festivals?

The festivals are really cool, I love the lineups this year so we’ve had a good time.

What are your thoughts on how large the festivals are getting?

Yeah, that’s awesome, it’s good that the festivals like that are actually growing in America. Usually it’s Europe that holds the biggest ones. So it’s awesome to see how they are growing in the states.

So how do the U.S. festivals compare to the ones held in Europe?

The European festivals are insane, shit like Reeding, Leeds, Rock AM Ring, and all the Download festivals. The shits huge and is always great.

So are there any bands your excited to see?

Uh, we’re playing a bunch of different festivals and the lineups are kind of different, I know for a fact 100% one band that I’ve never seen live unfortunately but I really want to see them is Rob Zombie.

You just released “The Black”, which is your first with Asking Alexandria. How have the fans reacted with you as the new vocalist?

We’re blown away by the support we’ve gotten. You know no one was expecting it to be this whole transition, this new album, and the new singer thing being as easy as it’s going right now. We’re just happy and blessed, everything is great right now.

What about being out on the road have the fans accepted you as the new vocalist?

Yeah exactly, I honestly always thought it was going to be like 50/50 kind of, but everything has been great.

Was it difficult for you to take over the role as the new front man for the band?

Not hard at all, you know it felt really like home straight away.

Do you feel your vocal style takes the band in a new direction?

Absolutely, I’m a different singer and I have my own style of writing and performing. The guys were definetly up for trying something new and yet keeping the same vibe and energy that they’ve always had on their previous records. I’ really happy with the way this album turned out.

The album is only a couple of months old, but at what point do you start thinking of the next album?

Honestly, we’re that band that really likes writing. We’re writing a lot, and I think this summer we’ll start writing more. I’ve already been disscussing stuff with the band and we definetely want to start writing more, just for the sake of having new shit ready and see where our heads at right now. But the next album is deffinetly not happening anytime soon for sure.

So what do you have lined up for the rest of 2016?

There’s a lot of stuff lining up for sure. This summer we’re going to do a bunch of different festivals in the states as well as in England. We have a bunch of stuff in England, we have the Kerrang! awards, Open Air Gample, and Radio One BBC. We are going to do a lot of touring in Europe probably in August.

Do you think you will tour the states again before the year is over?

Absolutely, I think we’ll come back winter or best case scenario autumn.

Ok well I want to thank you for taking the time to speak with us.

Absolutely.

 

Setlist:

I Won’t Give In
Run Free
The Death of Me
Here I Am
To the Stage
The Black
Not the American Average
A Prophecy
The Final Episode (Let’s Change the Channel)

Tour Dates:

Appearing at “Rock On The Range”
Fri 05/20/16 Columbus, OH Mapfre Stadium

Appearing with Bullet For My Valentine
Sat 05/21/16 Fort Wayne, IN Piere’s Entertainment Center
Mon 05/23/16 New Orleans, LA House Of Blues
Tue 05/24/16 Memphis, TN New Daisy Theatre
Wed 05/25/16 Nashville, TN War Memorial Auditorium

Appearing at “Festival Vivo X El Rock”
Sat 05/28/16 Lima, Peru Estadio Nacional

Appearing at “Rock USA”
Thu 07/14/16 Oshkosh, WI Ford Festival Park
Fri 07/15/16 Oshkosh, WI Ford Festival Park

Appearing at “Chicago Open Air”
Sun 07/17/16 Bridgeview, IL Toyota Park

Appearing at “Dirt Fest” (Birch Run)
Sat 08/13/16 Pontiac, MI Crofoot Festival Grounds

Mon 08/15/16 Southampton, United Kingdom Engine Rooms
Tue 08/16/16 London, United Kingdom Koko

Appearing at “Summer Breeze Festival”
Thu 08/18/16 Dinkelsbuhl, Germany Airfield Aeroclub

Appearing at “Open Air Gampel”
Fri 08/19/16 Gampel, Switzerland Open Air Gampel

Sun 08/21/16 Cologne, Germany Gloria

Appearing at “Strand Festival”
Wed 08/24/16 Siofok, Hungary Strand Festival Grounds

Appearing at “Reading Festival”
Fri 08/26/16 Reading, United Kingdom Richfield Avenue

Appearing at “Leeds Festival”
Sat 08/27/16 Leeds, United Kingdom Bramham Park