The Stress of Leisure launches latest album It Goes Away With The Heat (Valve Records) at the Cave Inn on Friday October 4, alongside McKisko and Locust Revival. The album is a return to the embrace of the tropics for the band. The title is also reflective of the age of hyper-politics we’re all living through. It’s somewhat post-punk, somewhat faux-wave, and unsurprisingly dabbles on the edges of weirdo, as you’d expect from this quartet.

Recorded at Phaedra Studios in Coburg, Melbourne by John Lee (Mod Con, Blake Scott, Laura Jean), the band opted for a rawer more live sound reminiscent of early Modern Lovers recordings: minimal takes, the right energy throughout. It’s reflective of the rawness in the Brisbane music story, the endless humidity, the sweaty passion, the cross pollination of punk and other influences. 

‘The world feels like it’s moving too rapidly and, at the same time, it’s moving much too slowly.’ Pascalle Burton (keys/vocals) notes, ‘That’s one thing the album tries to capture. It reminds me of summer storms in Queensland. Full of tension, with brooding heat and simmering quiet between thunderous and dangerous outbursts. On both a human and structural level, I think the songs also probe the impacts of people’s actions on others.’

Locust Revival

Mysterious purveyors of tropical goth post-punk Locust Revival don the leather and shades, and they do rock. Originally conceived on the wrong side of the tracks of Stones Corner, the band started out as the bedroom project of Steven Schnorrer (Barge With An Antenna On It/Pleasure Symbols). The relatively recent addition of Kelly Schinkel (Blussh) on bass and Matt Deasy (Ultra Material) on drums is fantastic and packs a punch. Latest album The New Cure Album in title alone is exactly the tongue-in-cheek wryness you’d come to expect. Their performance at the just held That Sound Over The Fence festival was mighty impressive. 

McKisko

Ever since the debut record, 2009’s Glorio, McKisko has continued to entrance audiences. The nom de plume of Helen Franzmann, Helen also plays in Mess Esque with Mick Turner of Dirty Three fame, and tours the world. This is a sublime and adventurous artist in our midsts who keeps making great music and who, if they lived in the more populous northern parts of the world, would be suitably adored on a much vaster scale. 2019 album Southerly proved this beyond doubt, and only drives us to yearn for more! 

Today we launch our new album Faux Wave to the world. You can find it on most of the usual online platforms.

What a crazy year, and to think that this is a small consolation prize for all the upheaval of the last several months. We were lucky to record this album just before the lockdown happened around the globe.

Faux Wave is probably our best album. I say ‘probably’, because you can never tell with the midsts of time what is ‘the best’. It somehow feels like a renewal even though it’s a continuation. There is something special about it which doesn’t make me flinch when I hear it, and also gives me that feeling of “Why didn’t we try this earlier?!” It’s a collaborative effort, all of us bring something to this album that gives it a unity unlike before.

On about Day 4 of recording, I asked John Lee (who recorded, mixed and mastered Faux Wave) what kind of genre he thought we were. “Are we post-punk or art rock? What are we?” After some back and forth, John thought we had a No-Wave vibe to what we do. That was a high compliment in my book even though I’m thinking we’re nowhere even approximating Teenage Jesus and the Jerks or The Contortions. But, what would I know…. Later, in the evening when we were having dinner I was reflecting on the genre conversation again. Jessica Moore, without missing a beat simply added “No-Wave? More like faux wave!” We were simultaneously thrilled. The name stuck.

The title Faux Wave is interchangeable as our newly defined genre, or simply it is the encapsulating theme of this new album. And well, what an age we live in. The age of ‘fake news’, the age of products with shorter and shorter lifespans, of short-termism, environmental distress, more plastics, of reckoning with colonial heritages, upheaval, upheaval, upheaval. The list could go on and on….

So….let’s hear it for our favourite waves – ocean, sound, micro, blow, tidal, x-ray, radio and faux.

And, may this Faux Wave find you safe and well.

Ian

Okay! Today we launch a new single Banker On TV. It is a short faux wave ditty about a never-ending story we all know – money, wealth, the empire of greed, swiping right with consequence.

We’re multi-taskers alright, so of course the subject matter is an arterial spray of constant vigilance. Actually, the song contains many of the sort of topics we get really excited about at The Stress of Leisure. None of this “Do they love me?”, “Who am I?” mumbo jumbo. We’re hardcore realists/fantasists!

New album Faux Wave comes out November 13. You can discover the single Banker On TV here and here, and also here….

Spiral Stairs, aka Scott Kannberg, co-founder of the legendary band Pavement, is playing Brisbane Easter Saturday (April 20), and The Stress is proud to be joining him and band on the night. Also on the bill are those non-excitable top notch types Eyes Ninety and the emerging Electric Zebra. This is going to be better than a date with Ikea and what’s more, it’s in our old stomping ground of Stones Corner.

Hark back to the early nineties and a younger Ian listened to Pavement almost relentlessly, lots of lyrics basically being imprinted on Ian’s cerebral cortex. Have loved seeing both Spiral and Malkmus play out since their Pavement days. So much great music. The quality continues.

We can’t wait to play this one. We’re ready to be hyp-no-tized!

The Stress of Leisure are playing one final gig for 2018 at The Bearded Lady, Saturday December 22. We’re part of the festivities for radio station 4ZZZ’s End Of Year Party, and will be playing alongside Bad Bangers and Adele Pickvance and the Chandeliers. Catch us under the mistletoe…

2018 has been a great year and we’ve played all over Australia, from Cairns to Hobart to Perth and Adelaide, joining friends Regurgitator and Custard on tour. Got to support the mighty Kid Congo and The Pink Monkey Birds as well around May, and also play alongside many of our friends here in the Brisbane music scene at many fine events such as this 4ZZZ one.

We’ve been in the rehearsal room working up ideas so hopefully 2019 will see a whole swag of new material from us. In fact the fun part of being in a band is coming up with new tunes.

So I guess, on that note, and considering we’ve had a year to remember, we’re surely CHRISTMAS POSITIVE.