In times of uncertainty, art is a constant. It molds us, supports us, and provides an outlet for the darkest of days. This concept is not lost on Violent Soho, the Brisbane, Australia-based rock band, who just released their fifth studio album, Everything is A-Ok, on April 3rd. Comprised of Luke Boerdam (vocals/ guitar), Michael Richards (drums), Luke Henery (bass), and James Tidswell (guitar), the group had previously teased their feat with singles for “Lying on the Floor”, “A-OK”, and “Vacation Forever”. The album serves as a critique on a social-media dominated world, in which personal image reigns supreme. In “Vacation Forever” Boerdam ponders, “Why do they see right through me all the time?”

Having recently signed to Pure Noise Records (home to Knocked Loose and Spanish Love Songs) in February, Violent Soho boasts a resume that only veterans in the scene can accumulate. Their debut album, 2008’s We Don’t Belong Here, placed them on the map and was shortly followed by three other works, culminating in 2016’s WACO. This release brought the group a No. 1 chart debut and two ARIAs for Best Group and Best Rock Album. Modern Baseball even paid homage to the band with a Triple J ‘Like a Version’ cover of “Dope Calypso”. After headlining Groovin the Moo festival in 2017, Violent Soho began an extended hiatus which culminated in the release of their first single off of Everything is A-OK this past November.

Following tour postponements and the uncharted territory of releasing an album during a pandemic, I was able to talk to Richards about this nevertheless exciting return for one of Australia’s most beloved alternative acts.

FCS: Congratulations on your recent release! What are you hoping the fans take from this new body of work?

VS: People who are already familiar with us and our previous work hopefully will see a sort of progression into a more relaxed and open feel to our music. There's a sense of placid contemplation that exists within the thematic elements of the album, posing questions or making rhetorical claims about complacent and mundane middle class suburban life. Musically, on previous records we've contrasted these specific thematic elements with a dialectical flavour that points towards a more direct critical claim, taking influence from punk or gothic culture, in criticizing culture or society. On this record we have intentionally made use of a lot of kitsch pop sensibility in order to frame the ideology of the songs, allowing a more familiar space within which a false sense of security can be considered and a sense of overwhelming foreboding can be inserted into the songs. Like an Alfred Hitchcock movie, we use familiar popular elements but hold a foreboding sense of doom within the song. It's something that works brilliantly with Drop D classical grunge guitars, where the ear can familiarise with standard musical pentatonic elements of pop, however the mood is more emotive and offset by the slight shift in melodic intonation.

FCS: Who/ what influenced you the most in the process of making this body of work? What music did you listen to for inspiration?

VS: We usually reference our own previous work as a platform from which to move forward with in our songwriting, so the next album is always a slight cultural shift from the similar frame of messaging and musicality that existed on the previous record. It seems a logical and sensible way of directing yourself onward as a musical project. This is our fifth album, so we have the luxury of a significant prior body of work from which we can platform any newer project that we are working on. I think we each were probably listening to different stuff while the album was being written and produced. Speaking for myself I was listening to a lot of Built To Spill, The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan at the time. I'm sure this would have also directly influenced my playing on this album in some way or another.

FCS: What does a typical writing process look like for you?

VS: Luke structures the song and the more dynamically crucial guitar elements before bringing his demo to the rest of the group, from there I work on building drum sections that function to compliment and contrast the guitars and open and close spaces within the songs. From my own perspective as a drummer, the aim is always to create spaces that push the crucial narrative elements of the melody or contrasting melodies into their most effective spaces. It's always about complimenting the narrative elements of the songs.

FCS: How does this release set itself apart from your previous albums?

VS: I think the previous two records were more about internalised struggle and contained an individual focus on ideas of repression, depression and escapism. The thematic content of this album makes use of similar ideologies however it tells the story from a different perspective by giving a sort of birds eye view of the situation. Looking down and delivering an ironic contrast from people's perception of truth, rather than commenting on personal experience. It's about separating the personal experience of repression and seeing how these ideologies impact us all collectively, as a cultural phenomenon that regards itself as affluent or as being secure within itself. The album comments on the real hollowness and insecurity that forebodes within this type of collective sense of self.

FCS: "Vacation Forever" definitely has some 90's alt vibes. Very nostalgic. Was this intentional?

VS: Yeah for sure. It's very difficult not to summon this type of musical nostalgia when your guitars are tuned to Drop D.

FCS: What has it been like to release an album in this current climate? How has this experience differed from releases in the past?

VS: It's incredibly surreal for sure. The ideas and intentions of the sort of cultural criticisms that are outlined throughout the album perhaps appear as more specific right now I suppose. This has been more an accident of coincidence, however I feel the thematic content of the record is now made more explicit due to the world having been turned upside down in this current moment. It's a truly bizarre thing to be experiencing right now.

FCS: How are you planning on reshaping the way you connect with the community in the upcoming weeks/ months as the world tries to adapt to this "new normal”?

VS: Online communities now need to take themselves more earnestly. The social trappings of the internet have always appeared obvious as it's not really a true version of yourself that you are uploading to these major corporate content machines like Instagram or Facebook. The reality is that this is a projection of how you believe the world needs or wants to see you. We need to make sure we are presenting ourselves in open and honest ways by which we can shape and allow safe environments that fans can enter into for meaningful interaction. Social media can now get rid of this disgusting race to the top of the coolness charts that people tend to obsess themselves over. The internet is no longer just a bizarre place to escape to, it's actually become the community square, an open space by which we as a community can come together and interact. Our role as an influential driver in the cultural community is to represent this type of ideological frame for people. It's about cutting the bullshit so we can progress in solidarity as a global cultural community.

FCS: Are there any plans on upcoming tours, or a way to reach fans live in the future (live streams, youtube performances, etc)?

VS: Yes, we just need to learn when it's safe to do so. More to be announced in the future for sure.

Everything is A-OK is available on Apple Music and Spotify.

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Violent Soho's "Everything is A-OK" Is The Reassurance We Need