Allday (Tom Gaynor to his homies) has been holed up in the studio cooking up some fresh aural treats of late. His previous album, 2021’s Drinking With My Smoking Friends, veered toward alt-rock territory, so what can fans expect from Allday’s forthcoming fifth album? “I’m going a bit more back to rap stuff, really,” he reveals. “I’ve got a song coming out on the 29th [September], it’s called Runtrack, and then some other fun stuff after that. Time for fun, not too much real emotion.”

When Bryget Chrisfield checks in with Allday, he takes a break from creating bangers to sound off on 20 topical topics – from the monarchy to rapping while stoned, nangs to Adam Levine and everything in between.

Vaping

“Very swag. It’s a good starter for kids to get into smoking [laughs].”

Nangs

“Yeah, I mean they put holes in your brain. Sometimes when I can’t remember a word I think, ‘Oh, well it must be that nang!’ I mean, they’re not that fun. I feel like for the damage they do, they’re not that worth it. But I say that having done a lotta nangs.”

Using a rhyming dictionary/thesaurus to come up with lyrics

“Ha ha, okay. I mean, I swear every musician does it, but it doesn’t give you the good rhymes, you know? It just gives you the obvious rhymes. So unfortunately you’ve gotta use your noggin for the real juicy, fun rhymes.

“The Thesaurus! Now you’re talkin’; the Thesaurus does a lot. I’m not being a dickhead, but I’ve been doing it a long time now. I used to need the Thesaurus a lot when I was making lyrics, but now I don’t so much because I’m 30 and I know the words. But then I did nangs and now I’m back on the Thesaurus [laughs].” 

Adam Levine’s cheating scandal 

“I was in the studio, but I saw the headlines. So he cheated on his wife? That’s one of the most obvious things that I’ve ever heard. [After being updated on the specifics] Oh, my gosh! What a creepy man! That’s still not worse than hearing one of Maroon 5’s radio songs – one of the saddest things ever. Well now we know he’s a coked-up sex freak. It’s a sick world we live in.”

Socks and sandals wearers

“They’re fine, they’re usually nice. They probably wouldn’t cheat on their wives.”

Crocs

“I’m pro-Croc. They’re good for swimming in the ocean at beaches with rocks or pebbles instead of sand. And for fashion, too; I sense that they’ve been in for the last coupla years. It’s not really for me; it’s a bit casual for me. I’m a bit serious. I’ve got too many demons to wear Crocs.”

Cancel culture 

“Oooooh, that’s a big one. I mean, people will whine about everything online, but I don’t see that many people really getting cancelled. So, I dunno, it’s like culture has to change over time and there’s gonna be clashes about it, and so there’s gonna be adjustments. And so hopefully the bad people will get cancelled and the people who didn’t really do much wrong are gonna still have a career.”

Separating art from the creator

“I mean, it’s just up to every person, right? If it makes you feel uncomfortable, you won’t listen to it. I feel like – for myself – when I think of myself and my friends and stuff, and people that I know, everyone I know has done something that they regret in their life. So when I think about musicians, unless it’s a big crime or something I more err on the side of forgiving people and giving people another chance in life, you know? But if someone’s done something truly bad, people don’t want to listen to [their music] a lot of the time. And once you lose that idea about an artist, that’s just what happens.

“But also, they just glorified being off your face all the time, right? And then there’s a generation of people who were like, ‘Yeah, cool I have to be off my face like all these old rock stars.’ But then when they did that in the era of smartphones and Twitter, it’s  immediately like, ‘These guys are horrible,’ you know? So, yeah, that’s what I mean about different times rubbing up against each other and it’s just always – like, you have to move with it.”

Egg Boy

“I think I was on a plane with him once, or he came to a festival – he was hanging around the festivals for while, like, he was getting booked for appearances. Yeah, I mean he seems cool. Is Egg Boy cancelled now or something? I mean, politicians need to be egged. It shouldn’t just be one guy, it should be everyone. If they’re fucking over their population, they have to know that there’s gonna be repercussions and an egg is a perfect repercussion.”

Neighbours: The Finale  

“I was actually in England at the time that it finished so people were talking about it a lot, because it’s quite famous there and, yeah! I mean, I used to watch it – it was on after [The] Simpsons so, you know, rest in peace. It does suck that there’s not many Australian TV shows now. It’s a shame, but I guess the budget just got cut and cut. Like, where are we gonna get our new actors from?”

Bubble tea

“Oh, I’m a big bubble tea man. There’s an oat milk kinda coffee one that they have at a place I used to go to in the city, I can’t remember what it’s called. Do you know I mentioned bubble tea in a song recently?” 

“On Smith Street, got a Banh Mi / On Swanston, I got a bubble tea”

– Good Thanks by Allday.

Homemade kombucha 

“I’ve had homemade kombucha, it’s nice until you get the sloppy thing in your mouth. The SCOBY is disgusting. Yeah, you gotta be careful with the homemade kombucha or you could end up in hospital.”

Hard seltzers

“Yeah, they’ve been a really great introduction to the shelves. I’m a big fan of hard seltzer, it’s a good one for the park.”

Pre-show warmup rituals 

“Just drinking. I’ve been a bit of a vodka man – or, like, just whiskey or vodka or something – but, you know, there’s a sweet spot where you’re feeling nice and limber, but also you haven’t lost all your hearing yet. It’s a very fine line to walk. You lose frequencies when you get drunk; you can’t hear as well, so that’s why you don’t sing as well.”

Rapping while stoned

“I don’t know how the memory works exactly, but you go from one sentence to another and your brain is just, like, doing it for you. You don’t really have to be that present if it’s a rap you already know. You can be quite stoned and get through a show and then afterwards be like, ‘Did I just do a show? I was a little bit, like, just standing in the middle of the stage, but it was alright besides that!’ [laughs].”

Pineapple on pizza

“I’ve never been a fan, but it’s fine. I wouldn’t kick someone off my table for eating it, no. Peace and love.”

TikTok 

“I do it. It’s quite fun. I make little skits with my girlfriend, actually. I have more [TikTok followers] than I have on Instagram. I’ve got 209,000 [TikTok followers] at the moment. I don’t really even do the other [social media options] now. I would do them if I felt like they were still helpful for spreading my music – that’s the only reason that I ever do them is because it’s like: if you show your personality to people they’re more likely to like you and listen to your songs. But, you know, Facebook and Instagram and stuff, they’ve become – like every social media, they get to the point where they want to monetise their users and you don’t get any organic reach or whatever.”

OnlyFans

“What’s that all about? You’re telling me now for the first time [laughs]. I mean, get your money! It’s hard to live under capitalism; get your money however you can. Do I subscribe to them? No, that’s not me; I’ve got a girlfriend and that so I can’t be paying women for their porn. But I appreciate that people have to get money however and put food on the table.”

Photos of cloud formations going viral

“I thought the Queen Elizabeth one looked like a LEGO man wearing a cowboy hat! I mean, hey, we are looking up at the sky and we’re pondering where we fit into it all so it’s only natural we look at clouds and think that maybe there’s something in them.” 

The monarchy

“I’m all for a public holiday, no complaints. Thank you, Queen Elizabeth, thanks for dying… If it were up to me, I’d kill the rest of ‘em while we’re at it [laughs]. I mean, it’s embarrassing – I didn’t watch [Queen Elizabeth’s] funeral. But, you know, Oscar Wilde said something like, ‘If you find yourself disagreeing with three quarters of the British public on any one issue, then that’s the first sign that you’re sane,’ or some quote like that. So how I feel about the monarchy is sane, at least. 

“To disagree with three-fourths of the British public is one of the first requisites of sanity”

– Oscar Wilde

Thursday, November 4
Magnums Hotel, Airlie Beach QLD
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Friday, November 5
Pier Bandroom, Frankston VIC
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Saturday, November 6
Edge Hill Tavern, Cairns QLD
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