THE ANTICS

Writer: Keeley Thompson

Images: Andy Gearing @gearingandy, Chris Kroll @chriskroll_gigs + Jacob McCann @blokeyoucantrust

Nothing travels faster than a Tradie in a white Hilux on a Friday afternoon, speakers blasting Mother by Danzig and unadulterated longing for debauchery coursing through their veins.

It’s that youthful urge to play silly-buggers, or the human equivalent of the canine zoomies.

They swing by to pick up their mates, tear through a school zone, and yell “you can’t park there!” at some poor cunt stranded in peak-hour traffic with their hazards on and a flat tyre that won’t change itself.

Then it’s straight to the pub where the noise is immediate, chaotic, and relentless. They’re shouting over each other about their days before their arses even hit the stools -

“Yeah good mate, just kicked rocks around honestly-”

“Did fuck all, honestly, didn’t lift a finger”

“Yeah nah good day, taught Sandra how to right-click”

somehow they’re all agreeing and disagreeing at once as three pints apiece vanish in record time. Then comes the fork in the road: grab a Lime scooter and inevitably go arse-up in the mud after trying (and failing) to pull a burnout, or nick two freshly poured schooners and wedge them into the Hilux cupholders for a roadside BYO on the drive home.

Oh the reckless abandon, the stupid brilliance. The Antics.

Based in the musical smorgasbord that is Naarm, The Antics are fast (their new song Takings clocks in at just 76 seconds), filthy, and absolutely not fucking around. They burn through the track with the urgency of a last round called five minutes too early, knowing that pace is part of the punch,

There’s no sleight of hand, no pretence, no indulgence. The Antics strip punk back to its most essential parts and hammer them home with a kind of brash clarity. Their no-frills sensibilities nod to the ghosts of their forebears, but the sound is very much their own. Tight, unpolished, and urgent. It’s “easy listening” only in the sense that you instantly understand it: the music doesn’t waste time explaining itself, because The Antics know exactly what they are—and they play like it.

KEELEY: Tell me a bit about how you guys started as a band and what your journey has been like as a band?

FREYA: The Antics started about a year and a half ago when I moved from Sydney to Melbourne with the intention of starting a band! I dIdn’t know anyone here but knew that’s what I wanted to do. We've recently had a member shuffle, so we've been as the current lineup for two months now, I think two months? It’s been heaps of fun through the journey and now with the new lineup of Kealy, Wil and James joining me, I couldn’t be more stoked. They’re driven and are so good at what they do. It’s been great creating together and also connecting as mates too- whatta bunch of bloody legends!

Since then it’s been hot and turbo, and we’re stoked to have the new single out.

I made a checklist that everyone had to check off, they had to join the cult of The Antics and we had a blood transfusion, so they had to meet a lot of requirements. So yeah, Brian Jones Town Massacre, no wrong notes.

No no I’m kidding. I basically asked everyone and they were bloody keen, so it was actually really easy.

What would you guys say?

JAMES: Fast

KEALY: Fun

WIL: We’ve had a bunch of shows come out really quick and it’s been great.

JAMES: beast mode.

WIL: Yeah that's the best way to describe it.

FREYA: We have all new material written with the current lineup and have been playing it since our first show in June. The drive and passion pours out of everyone in the room and I feel so grateful to have them on board with me. I’ve also been very lucky and am very grateful to have so much support from other creatives in the scene who have been doing this for years, and are so passionate. Heaps of love and shoutout to Grace and Iso from Rack Off! And Mawson from Legless Records - they all rock.

KEELEY: Your new Single "Takings" is now out. What's the song about, how/where did it come from and what's the reception been like?

FREYA: The single is called Takings and it's about standing your ground and remaining authentic and true to yourself. It's a bit of a power comeback song.

WIL: You wrote it at The Pinny or show something right?

FREYA: Yeah I think so? I can’t actually remember exactly where it was, but I remember writing it. That was before we’d even had our first prac session together.

It’s been great to get the song out there though, and the reception has been pretty good!

WIL: Yeah people have been getting around it!

FREYA: It’s had a few plays on the radio too. Shout out to Clara from RRR. We’ve also had some PBS and overseas stations plays which has been mad, I'd say.

WIL: It’s been really reaffirming for me. This is/was the next step of the project for us, so for people to get around it and be really loving it is really sick.

FREYA: Yeah it's cool to see it all come together. From the photoshoot, to the logo, to the mixing and mastering and every other step and then for it to come out all in one piece. It’s really cool to see all the pieces of the puzzle work out.

KEELEY: You mentioned that the song is a bit of an anthem about remaining true to yourself. How do you maintain and practice authenticity/standing your ground?

FREYA: Just be a good cunt and be yourself that's all I have to say. Don’t be a sheep.

JAMES: Yeah don’t be a sad cunt, be a sick cunt.

FREYA: I don't think it's something you really have to practice if you're being authentic anyway. You just do it. You just be yourself and back yourself.

KEELEY: If you could change one thing about the music industry right now, what would it be and why?

JAMES: Less fuckwits. As to why, that’s kind of insinuated.

FREYA: More femme fronted punk bands, which is actually happening, which is great, but more of that. And less tokenizing, specifically with bigger shows and events I suppose.

It would be cool as well if there were other ways to connect. It would be great if things didn’t have to revolve around social media as much.

WIL: It’d also be cool to have that support for small artists back and for music to be more accessible to everyone, while still making sure that bands aren’t losing money every time they play a show.

FREYA: Also, less misogyny! The music industry, specifically in the rock scene, has always been a male dominated industry. Being a young femme front person I definitely am passionate about this being balanced out and it's sick to see more femme oriented bands getting the recognition they deserve. Venues and management and community need to be holding men who play in bands accountable for their actions and not having them play at their venues if they or their music are inherently misogynistic because it happens so much in the scene and Melbourne included. Enough is enough!

I have so many femme presenting mates affected by this and was just thinking about it so I really want to get that across. I’m sick of it being swept under the rug. Oh and shoutout to the good ones - to the solid venues and bands that use their platforms to speak out against it!

KEELEY: Who and what are your biggest inspirations and influences as individuals and as a band?

KEALY: Devo and Kate Bush

JAMES: Sabbath

WIL: Frenzal Rhomb, Violent Soho, Pixies

FREYA: Mini Skirt has been a huge influence on my lyrics and vocal style and I love how raw and honest Jacobs lyrics are. Especially as an all male band, there are few who do it as well as they do with covering issues of today's society while keeping the passionate raging punk sound.

Otherwise, Radio Birdman, Coloured Balls n Birthday Party. As a band? I suppose they all kind of mould into one. Which is -

JAMES: Whitney Houston.

ALL: Yeah

WIL: I think it's good, because we all get around a bunch of different stuff and I think it shines through in the best way.

KEELEY: 3 desert island albums each?

FREYA: Fuck only three. That’s hard.

WIL: I'm going to go to Trompe le Mond by Pixies, which is not the most popular Pixies record, but I feel like there’s some cool stuff on it and you could listen to it 100 times and be surprised.

KEALY: I think I've got 3 - It'll probably change in like 5 minutes.

Aerial by Kate Bush. That's really cool. Surrealistic Pillow by Jefferson Aeroplane. That's also really cool and I can't remember what it's called. But there's this album I got by The Electric Prunes.

KEELEY: I have the same one I think? Or at least I’ve got Underground by The Electric Prunes. Cracking album. When I worked in the city I used to go into the record store everyday on my lunch break and got to know one of the guys there really well. He ended up telling me to buy it and I did. I’d never heard of the band before I bought it, but came home and put it on and yeah, great album!

JAMES: Black Sabbath Self Titled, Mystery White Boy by Jeff Buckley, and Teenage Snuff Film by Rowland S Howard.

FREYA: Hee Haw by The Birthday Party, Desperate by the Divinyls and Master of Reality by Sabbath.

WIL: I would also chuck in Mutiny/The Bad Seed by The Birthday Party.

KEELEY: What's your creative process?

FREYA: I usually have an abundance of lyrics ready to go and then the guys just know that they all have their individual ways of creating, I suppose. We all get in the room and make something together and James is pretty wiz being on the guitar for hours on end and giving us sixty versions of what already sounds amazing. So it's pretty easy to get it together.

JAMES: Yeah it honestly just feels like it happens. We just get together and see what sounds good.

WIL: Yeah. It’s cool with the new stuff that we're playing, none of it sounds like any of the previous releases. It's been like fun sort of jumping in the deep end and just working with each other and figuring these songs out together. It's been quite compatible, which is great, because that doesn’t happen often.

KEELEY: Best biscuit in the assorted cream packet?

KEALY: The orange one that they stopped making.

FREYA: I don't like them much. I feel like they're the biscuits that you get offered when it's like scraping the bottom of the barrel.

WIL: I think the Shortbread ones. They’re goated for a reason. Or the Monte Carlos.

FREYA: I like the Kingston, but I don't like any of the others.

KEELEY: And finally! What's on the horizon for you?

FREYA: Well, we have lots of shows coming up! These New South Wales just announced a tour that we’ll be playing, along with Delivery. We’ll be playing in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. That’s very fucking exciting.

We have recording coming up. The album is set to be released at the end of the year. Lots of rocking and rolling.

WIL: Bunch of plans for next year as well.

FREYA: Pedal to the Metal as we say.

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