Genre-bending band Tropical Fuck Storm have had a huge few months on tour.
Known for their blend of punk, psych, and rock, Tropical Fuck Storm’s recent shows across the UK, including slots at including End Of The Road Festival and Manchester Psych Fest, Europe, and the US, have been nothing short of amazing.
The four-piece have been killing it on the global stage, bringing their chaotic, magnetic live energy to packed rooms. The tour has cemented them as one of Australia’s most unpredictable and compelling exports. Critics abroad have praised their ability to channel chaos into something strangely beautiful — an apocalyptic rock sermon that feels both deeply Australian and totally universal.
Soon, they’ll kick off a run Australian shows, hitting pubs and venues across the country to celebrate their fourth studio album, released earlier this year, Fairyland Codex. Recorded with co-producer Michael Beach at the band’s Dodgy Brothers studio in Nagambie, the songs immerse listeners in the chaos of a fateful landslide, picking out the characters that litter the impending collapse of society.
You can see their tour diary below, and find more information about their upcoming Australian shows here.
This is Maida Vale Studio 3 at the BBC in London. We did a session for BBC Radio 6 there. This is where all the John Peel sessions were recorded. It’s where Hendrix did his Radio 1 sessions with that funny radio jingle, Led Zeppelin recorded Travelling Riverside Blues, Pink Floyd, Beatles etc. You name it.Fresh strings for me. I was a bit worried at the time because the day before this an Uber driver had taken off with my backpack while I stood on the footpath with all my unloaded gear making sure I had retrieved everything including my backpack. It had all my money and my passport and we were off to Europe the next day. Our record company had to bribe him to bring it back to me at the BBC. He was an arsehole.One for the family photo album at Maida Vale Studios in London.Resting between takes at Maida Vale Studios. It was hot in there. No aircon anywhere in London.Back stage in San Fran with Hammie, crazy percussionist Willie Winant from Mr Bungle, Moi, Fi, Bill Orcutt and Erica. Bill is a genius. He toured all over the States with us. Willie played with Bill that night.Hot tubbing in the South of France at a medieval farm that rescues animals.A Goat with The Goat. We named this goat Mr Snacks because he was very friendly and was always interested in what you were eating.This is Nero, one of many resident rescue dogs at the farm. He is a fun guy.Erica canoeing down a pristine river in the South of France. We do wholesome shit like this.We try to book shows in places that are fun to tour and beautiful to take LSD at. This is Hammie and Erica in Toledo, in the South of Spain. We were there to play at the La Canela Party festival. Toledo’s old town is amazing but they need to ban techno at bars and restaurants. But they can’t because unfortunately Spain doesn’t actually have it’s own beautiful, technically brilliant, life affirming folk music that goes perfectly with wine and Tapas and great company on a summer’s afternoon in an ancient town square. So techno it is.La Canela Party have a fancy dress day, so we obliged. I went as Ryan Gosling which is to say I just dressed normally and if I was asked I would say “Ryan Gosling”.We played a great festival called La Route Du Rock near Mont Saint-Michel in the North of France, an incredibly beautiful place. Last time we were there there were less tourists. It was a bit shit this time.Accommodation for La Route Du Rock was an old church near the beach. Pretty good. Places like this are normally cheaper than shitty out of town freeway hotels. More fun too.Cigs and marble teeth on the beach in Kefalonia, Greece. Greece has the best beaches in the world. Lots of cliffs to jump off, caves, the bluest water, beach bars and no sharks. Sharks suck. Even the idea of sharks suck. Especially with a hangover floating in 10m of water.Getting in with the good lord in Kefalonia, Greece.Erica jumping into holiday mode, Kefalonia, Greece.We occasionally do shows on tour, working up a sweat backstage in Newcastle UK. The singer from Dire Straits and the singer from AC/DC live in Newcastle and they are close friends and I find that quite sweet and endearing.Pre gig walk to check out the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, US.Taking a leaf out of Tay Tay’s book, getting up close and inside a Redwood tree in California.Whoever said drummers are lazy has never met Hammie. God shoved a rocket up her arse at birth. This is San Diego at a venue near the airport.Hammie is a crew member of her local CFA here in Australia, so we popped in to visit Squad 18 in Manhattan, NY. These guys go out to jobs all over the city, across all the boroughs unlike all the other fire stations which generally stay local. We’ve been to a few Manhattan fire stations in the last few years. They give you free t-shirts. The girls love it ‘cause they get to perv on hunks while me and Hammie crawl around in their trucks and fuck with their gear and talk shop.Everyone needs a patriotic wind twirler from Seattle.Fi and Erica enjoying the sunshine in Seattle.Fi “meditating” before our show, backstage at the Lodge Room in LA.
