When a new Tropical Fuck Storm track drops, you know you're in for a wild ride. Their latest single, ‘Bloodsport’, doesn’t disappoint—chaotic, a little playful, and laced with that signature unhinged energy that somehow always lands dead on.
We caught up with Erica Dunn—multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and all-round firestarter in the TFS camp—to unpack the making of the track, the strange beauty of the band’s new record, and the art of packing light for tour.
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“A weird backwater karaoke jam”
‘Bloodsport’ kicks off the rollout of a new album, and its creation was anything but conventional. “We started the album after a bit of a break,” Dunn shares. “We had this time off we’d never had before so trying to touch base and record shit… sometimes we had to do things in a different way.”
The band split their creative energy into two distinct streams—raw, live-sounding tracks from their time on the road, stuff like Bloodsport, which came out of scrapped and salvaged drum sequence beds, and the more considered tracks from studio time. “One night I was fucking around with one and thought up a melody… we started doing almost karaoke on it,” she laughs. “The beginning of it was a bit of a funny weird backwater karaoke jam and then it took a lot of effort to go from the melody.”
The final version? Still playful, but layered with a much darker undertone. “Summer came around and I was staying in a caravan park… we were hemmed in by these Christmas holiday assholes everywhere, putting up Aussie flags and just a nightmare. So it has that dichotomy of a holiday vibe song, but also this dark lens about the worldview. There’s lines about it being a territorial allegory and backyard politics was just in my mind at that point. ”
Making noise with meaning (and a bit of mischief)
TFS are often described as explosive, snarling, and politically charged—but don’t mistake that for a heavy-handed manifesto. “It’s not like we set out to do a particular thing,” Dunn says. “Most of the time we’re having a really good time hanging out together recording… we don’t go out to be a political band—but the pervasive worldview just comes in.”
The band’s lyrical edge often arrives in unexpected ways. “We’re mostly having fun writing silly lyrics but it can come out quite aggressive in tone,” she adds. Surrealism is a big part of how the band processes and presents their ideas. “It’s just a life approach… surrealism is one way of processing the world around us and making art that’s not ramming it down your throat… but investigating and exploring stories and narratives and turning things on their head.”
Two sounds, one strange beast of a record
While Bloodsport represents the weirder, stitched-together side of the album, there’s another thread running through the record—tracks born from live, in-the-room recording. “We started out thinking we could make two 7-inches,” Dunn says. “There was a type of song we were playing coming off playing on the road a lot… they had that kind of leaning towards sound of something like Maria 63.”
“I play nylon string guitar on some of them—it’s not quite country, but the premise of them is live recorded, playing in the room,” she adds. “Then a different sound came through… really modular, placed-together drum sequence beds.”
Despite the split personalities, it all came together. “It’s not too polar psyches, it seems formative and cohesive in the end result,” Dunn says. “We had a bit more time recording it and to let things settle, which we didn’t have with previous records—it was fun to see where we could take it.”
Packing for tour: carry-on only, chaos optional
In true TFS fashion, even packing for a tour is a bit of a controlled disaster. “People are often gobsmacked we only allow ourselves the carry-on, even for a three-month trip,” Dunn says. “We have so much fucking gear—almost 18 pieces we have to cart around.”
And as for personal luggage? “Hammel is so fastidious—perfectly folded t-shirts, socks and jocks. My bag is absolutely rammed and I’m trying to stuff shit in my guitar case,” she laughs. “Strong Difflam spray because of the tonsilitis recurrence, and only one single good pair of shoes.”
Because why have options when you’ve got noise, chaos, and a killer live show?
Tropical Fuck Storm’s new single ‘Bloodsport’ is out now. Stay tuned for the full album release and keep an eye out for tour dates.
