If you don’t know Press Club, now is the time to start paying attention.
They are frenetic, they are raw and ultimately, they are the musical embodiment of the attitude of a generation experiencing impermanence in every way – you just have to listen to one of their tracks to know.
Following a busy year nabbing support spots with the likes of Ceres, Ali Barter, Polish Club, Alex Lahey, WAAX, City Calm Down, Japandroids, Joyce Manor, Tired Lion and playing a bunch of festivals, including Bigsound, Falls Marion Bay, NYE On The Hill, Fairgrounds and Festival of the Sun, Melbourne’s Press Club have launched into 2018 with a sold out headline show and the release of their long-awaited debut album.
From conception in a garage in the Melbourne suburb of Brunswick, the album, Late Teens was recorded over six weeks when bassist Iain MacRae’s Brunswick East house was converted into a temporary song-writing sweatshop, where the band wrote 40 songs that were distilled into the dozen that make up the track list on Late Teens.
Relying upon the experiences of their friends and people they know as subject matter, Late Teens thematically approaches displacement, relationships, internal turmoil, gentrification and inequality. Now the album is finally released, more than a year since being recorded.
Understandably, vocalist and absolute powerhouse Natalie Foster couldn’t be more excited to finally have the album out in the world, explaining the reasoning behind the waiting game.
“We got together around June in 2016, and we spent three or so months just writing heaps of tunes. We had come up with about 40 songs and then we narrowed it down and we actually recorded it in January last year,” Foster reveals.
“It’s hard, you can’t really release an album when you don’t have anyone to release it to,” she smirks. “That’s what last year was all about, just getting someone to care about us releasing an album.”
And they’ve done just that.
If you are yet to hear the album, there’s no doubt you would have already heard their debut single ‘Headwreck’; the fast, straight to the point and up in your face punk track that hurled Press Club into the airwaves in May last year.
“’Headwreck’ for us was the obvious first single because we wanted to really just put out something that really encapsulated what we were about and what we were doing,” Foster explains. “A lot of the tracks on the album are really fast and really in your face, but I think there’s a lot more dynamic when you get into the entire album.
“One of my favourites is ‘Golden State’, which is a bit more emotional,” she continues of the track touching on both love and violence, “But then again, it still goes into a thrash chorus.”
While the tracks are great, it’s the band’s live performance that truly demands your attention, with the four-piece taking claim on stage with their brash energy, led mostly by Foster herself who throws herself around the stage and takes every opportunity to get in the faces of punters in the front row. With a whole lot of head thrashing and hard rocking spirit, their live performance is just one of the reasons they are on everyone’s much watch list right now.
“I think we all get a lot off the crowd, and if we don’t really have that, you have to really turn towards each other,” Foster explains. “Sometimes we just throw each other around a bit, just a little ‘c’mon, let’s do this, we’re here for a reason so let’s make it happen’. But 90% of the time I vibe a shitload off the crowd; the crowd and the guys around me,” she continues. “We’ve always had the energy though. For me, performing on stage is just a very natural thing, I just like to fucking go hard. Why be there if you’re not going to be there with everything?”
Now with the 11-track album out in the world, Press Club are nowhere near slowing down just yet, with an epic 30 plus date run around Australia supporting The Smith Street Band for the next seven weeks.
“When they [The Smith Street Band] got in touch with this, we were like ‘Holy Shit, can we take seven weeks off of everything?” she laughs, admitting to being both excited and nervous for the band’s first bout of extensive touring. “This is a really new thing for us. I’m a bit anxious, I don’t think I’m going to lose my voice but I don’t want to get sick. If I get sick I will lose my voice!”
Armed with a collection of energetic rock and emotional hooks, Press Club’s debut album is one to get around now, with the band already working on a second album.
“We’ve already got a new goal to get to 50 new songs so we can narrow that down to an album that’s full of songs that we love,” Foster smiles. “We’re about 30 into that so far, so hopefully we’ll be able to finish that off and potentially record a new album mid-year… who knows when it would come out though…”
Release: Late Teens is out now.
When & Where: Whalers Hotel, Warrnambool – April 5, Karova Lounge, Ballarat – May 9 & Theatre Royale, Castlemaine – May 13.
Written by Talia Rinaldo