Brisbane shock rockers FriendlyFire will launch their debut album in July, a record more than five years in the making.
With those years spent developing and refining their sound from a myriad of influences, bassist and vocalist Aurora Storm says the forthcoming ‘Anti Human’ album spans a diverse, sonic palette. “We all pride ourselves on the fact we all listen to everything from death metal to gangster rap, you can hear that a lot on our songs and particularly on this album.
"It’s 15 tracks and we don’t try to confine ourselves within a genre; we write what feels right and however it turns out we’re happy with.”
‘Anti Human’ has come together over a long period, which saw the band undergo several line-up and personnel changes.
Aurora explains how the album professes an angst-ridden outlook of personal defiance. “A lot of the earlier songs on the album we were playing when we started gigging,” she says. “For me, it’s an album I can connect with personally because a lot of it is about coping with depression and anxiety; feeling like there’s a huge rage inside of you [that] you can’t channel in any other way.
“You don’t know how to get it out and there are a lot of songs about the way you would deal with these things. So there are a lot of references to sex, drugs and partying; all these things you use to deal with the feelings you can’t process properly.
“Overall, the theme of the album is that no matter what you’re dealing with, no matter how much your life sucks you can still kick arse and do a great job and be a great person. The stuff inside you doesn’t need to control you.”
FriendlyFire will unveil ‘Anti Human’ at the end of July, leading a stacked line-up of emerging Brisbane and Ipswich bands including Empanic, Trashqueen and Concrete Lips. “We pride ourselves on putting a lot of energy into our live shows,” Aurora says, “so our shows are always like a party. It’s always get real drunk, hang out with your friends, have a whopping good time and get pumped up.
“On gig days, the whole day has to be blocked-out for band activities. We all get together, hang out, jam, have pre-drinks, get to the gig and play a kick-arse show because we’re so pumped-up and full of energy, and that’s what it’s all about. It’s all about giving the best, larger-than-life, energetic show ever.”
After the album release, FriendlyFire are planning an as-yet-unannounced tour for ‘Anti Human’ that will see them get to as many stages as possible.
Aurora says the material they’re currently working on for a follow-up release is focussed on where FriendlyFire is going next. “We’ve already started writing more songs,” she says. “We don’t know if it will be another album or just a little EP, but we’re constantly writing and recording so we’ve got a whole bunch of albums planned. I think the next album will be a little more political.”
FriendlyFire launch their debut album at New Globe Theatre (Brisbane) 22 July.
