Tag: FBi Radio Australia

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Aussie Punk Outfit CLAMM Wrestle with Impatience and Yearning in “Something New”

With the release of 2020’s full-length debut Beseech Me, the Melbourne-based punk outfit CLAMM — Jack Summers (vocals, guitar), Maisie Everett (bass, backing vocals) and Miles Harding (drums, backing vocals) — quickly exploded into national and international punk scenes. Originally released by the band on cassette, the album received airplay and praise from Aussie radio stations 3RRR and FBi. Reissued by UK-based label Meat Machine last year, the album earned best punk nods from the likes of Spin, Bandcamp Daily and KEXP.

Adding to a growing profile, the band has played with Wolf Alice, Civic, Amyl & The Sniffers, The Chats, Vintage Crop, and The Murlocs — and they’ve made their way across the Aussie festival circuit with stops at Boogie Festival, Melbourne Music Week, and Meadow.

The rising Aussie punk rock band’s sophomore album Care was released last week through Chapter Music globally — with the exception of the UK, Europe and Asia, where it was released by Meat Machine.

Recorded during any free moment they had last year in one of the most locked down cities in the world, the band’s sophomore album was tracked at Rolling Stock Recording Rooms and Sound Park Studios with Nao Anzai. The album also features Anzai playing synth — and he has joined the band on stage at recent shows. Mangelwurzel‘s Anna Gordon (sax) contributes sax on a number of the album’s songs.

Care, much like its predecessor sees the band exploring the confusion — and perhaps seeming hopelessness — of being a young person trying to live an honorable life in a fucked-up, mad world. Thematically, their songs are frequently about trying to navigate systems of power and oppression while retaining a healthy sense of self and mental health. Community, creativity and catharsis are what they hope to achieve through their work.

Care‘s third and latest single “Something New” is an urgent, mosh pit friendly ripper centered around enormous power chords and thunderous drumming, propulsive basslines paired with rousingly cathartic hooks and choruses, Summers’ urgent, yearning delivery and some sax wailing from Anna Gordon. The song manages to capture and evoke youthful impatience, the subtle and creeping recognition of mortality just over your shoulder, and the yearning desire for meaning and peace in such a mad, fucked up world in a visceral way — so visceral that it hurts, because we’ve all been there. Or maybe we’re still there despite age and perceived wisdom.

“‘Something New’ is a song about searching or yearning,” CLAMM’s Jack Saunders explains. “It is about impatience and time, and its title refers to the process of facing seemingly new stimuli throughout life.”

Frequent visual collaborator Oscar O’Shea directed the accompanying video for “Something New.” Shot on Kodak film, the video follows the members of CLAMM storming around Melbourne and its surroundings, starting with a house near the train line, a lakefront, an abandoned warehouse and the beach with the city just over the horizon.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Introducing Up-and-Coming Australian Singer/Songwriter Grace Turner

Last year was a breakthrough year for the up-and-coming, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia-based singer/songwriter and guitarist Grace Turner as her single “Dead or Alive” received attention in North America, landing on Spotify US’ Viral 50 Playlist and Apple Music’s Best of the Week. Following the track’s release, Turner opened for Alex the Astronaut, Gabriella Cohen, Jess Locke and Kingswood — and since then, “Dead or Alive” has amassed more than 500,000 streams. In her native Australia, Turner was named a triple j Unearthed Artist of the Week, and her latest single “Easy I Fall,” which was released a few weeks ago in Australia received airplay on triple j and FBi. 

“Easy I Fall” was recently released across North America and the track will further cement Turner’s growing reputation for a sound that meshes elements of indie rock with alt country, compete with jangling chords during the song’s verses, fuzzy power chords during the song’s soaring hook and chorus. Bearing an uncanny resemblance to the work of Bryde, Eliza Shaddad, Ruby Boots and others, Turner’s latest single is centered around an unvarnished and unfiltered honesty. In this case, the song’s narrator openly talks about a relationship teetering on the brink — and while the narrator’s love interest is trying his best, the narrator realizes that the relationship is over, and that it’s been over for a while; in fact, she’s been trying to tell her lover that she’s wanted to leave for some time. And as a result, the song captures the indecision, fear and awkwardness of relationships as they inch towards their inevitable end. 

Filmed, edited by videographer James Rhodes and co-produced by Rhodes and Turner, the recently released video for “Easy I Fall” was shot in Super 8 Film at The Royal Exchange, a quaint theater in Turner’s hometown. Standing in front of a floral background that recalls the work of Frida Kahlo, the video features Turner in two dresses made by designers Millie Shorter and Ellie Hannon from scratch — an 80s inspired, big-shouldered flower print dress and a simple white dress with jewelry shaped like enormous third eyes. The video captures Turner in some visually overstated scenarios while she performs with an understated yet candid presence. 

Building upon the growing buzz surrounding her, the Newcastle, Australia-based singer/songwriter and guitarist announced that she’ll be playing at this year’s SXSW and a run of solo dates with Grinspoon’s Phil Jamieson.