After beginning as a side project amongst friends, End Of Fashion evolved into yet another product of Western Australian's famed indie band factory.
Frontman Justin Burford discusses their future projects, and shares his memories of the band's come up. "A lot of it is this jumbled montage of early 2000s music, studded belts, fringes and eyeliner," Justin recounts, smiling. "Good times."The 20th anniversary of the band's self-titled debut album comes with news of never-before-seen media. "We're re-releasing the first album on vinyl," Justin says.
"What we found interesting was how much stuff was archived; lots of old photos, performance videos and even some outtakes and bloopers from our old music videos. . . the most exciting thing for us was discovering this enormous amount of demos that were written to be considered for the tracklist of the first album.
"I'm always writing, I was then, I am now," adds Justin. "We had so many songs ready to go, which begged the question: Why did it take us three years to put out our next album," he laughs.
Speaking about the upcoming tour – which will travel to Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide before a hometown show in Perth in the second half of August – Justin enjoys many facets of what goes into live performance.
"I think playing live has always been my favourite part of being in a band. . . reconnecting with the fans we picked up along the way. There's going to be familiar faces, and we're also going to take this opportunity on this tour to play a couple of the new songs from a newer album we have ready and waiting."
A unique aspect of End Of Fashion's back catalogue is their connection to video games, with hits like 'O Yeah' and 'The Game' featuring in gaming titles that introduced the band to a wider international demographic.
"It probably didn't mean too much to me back then but it certainly does now. The really interesting thing is how many of those fans are overseas. We have a fairly respectable following in Brazil, and it's all through the FIFA [video game]," Justin says, chuckling. "It's cool having your music discovered in any way, it leaves you pretty chuffed."
With triple j's Hottest 100 of Australian Songs being a current hot topic for local music lovers, Justin discusses the Aussie acts that influenced him and the band the most.
"Growing up in the '90s and early '00s there's some bands that as an Aussie kid you just idolise," he says. "For me they held the same space in my heart and mind as some international acts.
"I guess when you're a kid you don't see the difference, you don't understand that an Aussie act is probably pretty small, they occupy the same real estate."
Rubbing shoulders with the artists and bands that helped End Of Fashion's sound is not something that is lost on Justin. "I remember the first time I heard a Jebediah song on the radio, it was 'Teflon', and it was just mint.
"It was only a handful of years later that Tess [Venessa Thornton of Jebediah] would become our second bass player!"
A 20th anniversary is as much cause for reflection as celebration. The End Of Fashion frontman has some choice advice for his younger self. "I think the first thing would be to just relax, chill out and enjoy it," Justin states emphatically.
"When you're younger you think that stuff is going to last forever. . . the other thing would be to not take so long on the second record. Use the demos you didn't use on your first album, and put out another [album] straight away!"
- written by Robbie McLauchlan
End Of Fashion 2025 Tour Dates
Fri 15 Aug - The Brightside (Brisbane)Sat 16 Aug - Crowbar Sydney
Fri 22 Aug - The Night Cat (Melbourne)
Sat 23 Aug - Jive (Adelaide)
Sat 30 Aug - Rosemount Hotel (Perth)
