With heavy riffs and a penchant for live, full-frontal nudity, Sydney metal warriors Totally Unicorn bring a whole, new meaning to the term ‘cock rock’.
“After a few beers, it's all out,” vocalist Dean Gardner laughs. “I think I was saying to someone the other day that we're all a bit older now, so when we go on tour it's like our holiday away from the better halves and what-not so we like to have a good time and act like kids.”
In September, Totally Unicorn will saddle up and hit the trail for their national ‘Dream Life’ album tour, starting in Brisbane for a pre-Bigsound party where it’s almost guaranteed things are going to get a little rowdy. “We’re super excited,” Dean says.
“The show itself will be the first one we've played in a while since our last tour a few months ago. Crowbar [in Brisbane] is one of our favourite venues and all the bands on the line-up are fucking great. It should just be a super-fun show.
“It will be quite raucous as usual and we've got a couple of new surprises, but just getting out to play songs off the new album that we haven't played before and getting people's responses, which will be exciting.”
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Totally Unicorn released their long-awaited debut LP, ‘Dream Life’, in July, exuding the bizarre chaos for which the band is known and loved, with the album receiving praise from the country’s music press.
Dean says he and the band have been blown away by the response so far. “It's been crazy overwhelming, people loved it,” he says, “it's just surprised the shit out of us really. The process to write the album was such a long and shit thing, so to finally get it out, we were so unsure, and the responses and reviews have been fucking great.”
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Straight after Bigsound it’s back on the road for the band, taking ‘Dream Life’ on tour nationwide. A party band to the bitter end, Dean alludes to a deeper side of the band that occasionally comes through on the album. “We try not to take ourselves too seriously, but with the songs on the album, they are a bit serious,” Dean says.
“My favourite, because it means a lot to me, is ‘April 29 Brothers’ because before this album all our songs were about getting shitfaced and having a good time, whereas this album is a bit more about the time of the recording and what we were all going through.
“It was a bit weird to write about feelings, but that song in particular is about the drummer Mike and I. We were going through a hard time individually and how we hung out together and helped each other through it. I like that song and it means a lot to me.”
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With their on-stage exuberance and ‘partying mandatory, clothing optional’ philosophy to shows, it’s not hard to see why Totally Unicorn have come to stand out. “We always try to take the piss or whatever,” Dean says.
“We've had interactions with bands in the genre that won't give you the time of day because you're not taking that hardcore etiquette and it's like, well fuck that shit, who cares? We'll always be about having a good time and making people laugh and making people see the brighter side of heavy music.”
Totally Unicorn play Deathproof's pre-Bigsound party at Crowbar (Brisbane) 6 September.
Totally Unicorn ‘Dream Life’ Album Tour Dates
Sun 11 Sept - The Reverence (Melbourne)Thu 15 Sept - Crown & Anchor (Adelaide)
Fri 16 Sept - Babushka (Perth)
Sat 17 Sept - Prince Of Wales (Bunbury)
Fri 23 Sept - Northcote Social Club (Melbourne)
Sat 24 Sept - Brisbane Hotel (Hobart)
Thu 29 Sept - Newtown Social Club (Sydney)
Sat 1-Sun 2 Oct - Yours & Owls Festival (Wollongong)
Fri 7 Oct - The Foundry (Brisbane)
Sat 8 Oct - The Great Northern (Byron Bay)
