Rising alternative rock band ACIDIC will be returning to Joplin on Oct. 1. The band, which is currently touring in support of their new album Copper Man, will be playing with fellow rockers and current tour-mates Smile Empty Soul at Guitars Rock and Country Bar.

“It’s the first show of a 60-date tour with Smile Empty Soul, so it’s going to be a big one,” said Michael Gossard, lead singer for ACIDIC, in a recent interview with The Chart.

Formed in Los Angeles in 2008, the members of ACIDIC took it upon themselves to produce and release their debut album Ironic Dreams, and later began touring Southern California to help support the album.

Since that time, they have released three additional albums, often collaborating with record producer John Ryan of Chicago Kid Productions, and have gone on tour with numerous well-known acts, including Hinder, Candlebox, Filter, Alien Ant Farm, and Marcy Playground.

“Connections happen over night,” said Gossard. “With all [those bands], we had a friend who was really good friends with them, and we had a chance to meet, and they liked [our] material and we liked them as people, and we ended up going on the road.”

ACIDIC has also been praised by rocker Nikki Sixx, bass player and co-founder of the 80s hard rock band Mötley Crüe, who decided to feature the band’s newest song “Copper Man” on his nationally syndicated radio show Sixx Sense.  

“I think I might have broken my hand from waving my hands around screaming ‘yes!” said Gossard in reference to his reaction to Sixx’ decision to feature them.

According to Gossard, the band has visited the Joplin area frequently over the years, despite their growing success. The reason for this stems from the band’s first ever performance in the area two months after the May 2011 Joplin Tornado.

“We played our first show there, and I remember everybody was just kind of … trying to forget, and we were a part of that for some of these people, and we got the chance to—like, you know—be involved in their recovery, and we decided that we were never going to stop coming back,” said Gossard. “We’ve made it one of our permanent markets, and it has been good to us. We’ve played there probably eight or nine times now.”

Tickets for the show, which will begin with the local band Cronus at 8:30 p.m., are estimated around $10.