AC/DC’s opening act has The Answer

BY BRANDY McDONNELL Comments 2
Published: November 4, 2009

Front man Cormac Neeson hopes eventually he won’t get so many questions when people learn the name of his band is The Answer.

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AC/DC with The Answer

→When: 8 tonight.

→Where: Ford Center, 100 W Reno.

→Ticket prices: $90.50.

→Tickets and information: (800) 745-3000 or www. okfordcenter.com.

The Irish blues-rockers have spent the past year getting priceless exposure as opening act for AC/DC’s worldwide "Black Ice Tour.” The tour will make a stop tonight at the Ford Center.

"Part of the experience is soaking up a few tricks of the trade from these guys that have been in the business for so long, and you combine that with obviously the exposure that The Answer’s getting by playing in front of these massive crowds. It’s just a perfect tour for us to be on right now,” Neeson said in a phone interview earlier this year from the road.

The tour has taken the hard-rocking quartet all over the United States (including an appropriately icy January date at Tulsa’s BOK Center), throughout Europe, back to the States, into Canada and back to America. Along the way, the band has played "Late Night With David Letterman,” put a song on "Guitar Hero: World Tour” and released a new album, "Everyday Demons.” This month, The Answer is releasing "Comfort Zone,” the soulful new single from the album, the band’s first full-length record to get an American release.

"It’s all coming together and all combining to really build up a strong momentum,” he said. "It’s our second album, so thus it’s the first album that we actually had to sit down and write over the space of three months as opposed to a collection of songs over the previous couple of years.”

Their globe-trotting trek started with the band’s formation nine years ago in Northern Ireland. Neeson, guitarist Paul Mahon, bassist Michael Waters and drummer James Heatley secured a U.K. record deal in 2005 and released their debut album "Rise” to keen reviews and solid sales.

Among others, the album captured the attention of Australian rock gods AC/DC, who handpicked The Answer for the hotly anticipated "Black Ice Tour.”

"We were in the running with another 200 bands, and I think if it had come down to industry politics, we wouldn’t have been within a hope in hell of getting it. So, it’s quite refreshing to know that a band like AC/DC still has the humanity to give it to a band that really needs it and, we feel, deserves it,” Neeson said.

Though the influence of AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Black Crowes and Free echoes through The Answer’s music, Neeson said the band has steered clear on any rock-retro blues cliches and worked to establish a distinctively modern sonic identity.

The band’s winding journey with AC/DC is ending later this month, as the Irish lads embark Nov. 25 on their first headlining tour of the U.K. Along the "Black Ice Tour,” the group has played a few solo shows, including Tuesday night and a January event at Ardmore’s Two Frogs Grill.

"They’re the best live act I’ve ever seen at Two Frogs,” said owner Aubry Harris, whose venue recently hosted Bret Michaels and Vince Neil. "They’re a no-name in the States right now, but they’re smoking good. It’s only a matter of time before they hit big.”