Although hardcore punk quintet Comeback Kid was formed in Winnipeg in 2000, only guitarist Jeremy Hiebert and bassist Ron Friesen continue to call the city home. The band, which released its fifth full-length record Die Knowing in March, only features two original band members in Hiebert, and vocalist Andrew Neufeld.

"We got to play Bulgaria and Romania for the first time this year, so that was pretty cool,” Hiebert reports. “You always get a little more nervous about the newer records because everyone falls in love with the first record or two. People don’t want you to change too much, but people still seem into the new stuff so we’re lucky.”

Hiebert says that he moved from the country to Winnipeg when he was 18 because he wanted to play music. He’s been living in his West End house since 2002.

“It’s cheaper to live here, but mostly I’ve stayed because it’s home,” he says. “I like this neighbourhood because I’m close to downtown and close to Osborne Village. I keep the band vehicle, but I much prefer to walk and bike everywhere I have to go.

“Later this month my girlfriend and I are actually going to do the Mantario trail. I haven’t done any multi-day hikes before and am looking forward to the challenge.”

1) GARDEN

“There’s a little community garden nearby and we have our own little patch. My girlfriend is really into gardening. We have potatoes, cabbage, tomatoes, chard and kale, but no corn. That’s the one thing I wish we had.”

2) BASEMENT JAM SPACE

“We wrote all the songs for every record except for the last one [Die Knowing] in this room before we started recording.”

3) GUITARS

“Some of these I play live, while others I only use for recordings. One of these guitars was built in 1976 and I was born in 1976. There’s just something cool about having a Les Paul custom that was built the same year you were born. So that’s probably my favourite.”

4) CAT PAINTING

“This is a painting of Bandit, one of my three cats. He was my old roommate’s cat and her ex-boyfriend actually painted this picture for her.”

5) SWIFFER

“She’s a little street cat. We were on tour and I wasn’t even home for 24 hours, I was heading over to the Garrick for a show with Underoath. I saw her sitting on the steps, so I picked her up and put her in the house.”

6) SHOW POSTERS

“My roommate decided to decorate the bathroom wall by putting up all these old posters I had kicking around.”

Visit www.comeback-kid.com for more information

Published in Volume 69, Number 3 of The Uniter (September 17, 2014)