Jun 15 2026, 9.34am / Features
Dear Joey and Brooke, What a wild ride! I just wanted to write to express …
Over the past 25 years Frenzal Rhomb have used every medium at their disposal to take shots at fuckwits, wankers and Russell Crowe. Whether it’s heaping shit on commercial radio fat cats – on commercial radio amazingly, or doing the lord’s work and campaigning for the Liberal Party (see below), or continually trashing a band that everybody long since forgot ever existed – 30 Odd Foot of lols – Frenzal have created a legacy as Australia’s pre-eminent punk rock crown princes.
And what’s a legacy if not something to be mercilessly exploited for commercial gain? Which brings us to today, where Frenzal vocalist Jay Whalley is spruiking the band’s greatest hits album and their upcoming you-choose-the-setlist tour to celebrate its release. And for all the choice words he’s had for other people over the years, Whalley’s acid tongue does not relent when turned on his own band.
“I think my 20-year-old self would be kneeing me in the balls [if he saw this best-of record],” the singer says. “Basically this is a cash grab, we just wanna gouge out the wallets of our fans by selling them the same material, just repackaged.”
In his band’s defence, Jay explains that there wouldn’t be a Frenzal Rhomb if drummer Gordy Forman hadn’t ate shit trying to stage dive and completely fucked up his arm last year. Forman’s accident meant the band ran out of money, and they weren’t trying to do any Def Leppard shit.
Because we haven’t really rehearsed since before the 2012 Big Day Out, and we’re not really planning to before this tour. Look, I’m sure we’ll be able to work it out…
[JAY WHALLEY]
“We were about to record a new record last year but then Gordy broke his arm so we couldn’t do it. Then we just kind of spent all the money we had to record so we were like ‘fuck, we need some money to record’ so we decided to do a tour, and because we’ve been a band for 25 years we figured it was time to do a best of. So we send round the punkest of all spread sheets and everyone voted for their songs they thought should be on it and now we have a 35-song, double LP gatefold masterpiece… Well, masterpiece is a stretch. But it’s a thing.”
That new record, a follow-up to 2011’s Smoko at the Pet Food Factory, is still on the cards – “We were kind of ready to do a new album, but now it’s like a year later so we’re looking at all the old demos and asking ourselves ‘is this still fresh?’ and we’ve just kept writing” – but in the meantime Jay still needs to shill the shit out of this best of, and the 25th anniversary tour Frenzal will head out on to sell some units and make those fat stacks.
“Someone told me the other day that if we wanted to we could probably tour a telephone conversation, talking about that one with us and Kylie and Jackie O. I think people talk more to me about that than anything musical I’ve ever written,” Jay says, before returning his focus to the current tour, which fans are choosing voting in an online poll to decide the setlist. “I’m really hoping that people pick songs that I can sing and remember the lyrics for so I don’t have to learn anything new.”
As for the methodology behind data collection: “I think we’re going to collate the results about 10 minutes before the first show. And then we’re just going to figure it out. Because we haven’t really rehearsed since before the 2012 Big Day Out, and we’re not really planning to before this tour. Look, I’m sure we’ll be able to work it out…”
If that doesn’t sound like the most rousing endorsement for the band’s upcoming tour, Jay assures that the band’s sounding great and the shows will be a bloody good time. And the drummer is sounding as good as ever.
“Gordy’s killing it. It’s like nothing ever happened… I mean, occasionally he whinges and touches his arm but he’s playing like a fucking legend… And he got his forklift driver’s license too which is good, that’s how we travel now. Got the gear on the front and the band sits in the one seat. It’s a slow way of getting around the country, but we manage it.”
How’s the fuel economy on the fork lift?
“Not great… Yeah, not great. But you take a tank and you can usually get between servos fine… Also I think there’s the Tesla forklift coming out soon, which we’re investigating.”
You can vote for Frenzal Rhomb to play your favourite songs here: https://polldaddy.com/poll/9483152/
Tour start today and all tickets can be purchased via OzTix
Friday 2 September , Max Watt’s, Melbourne VIC
Friday 9 September, The Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle NSW
Saturday 10 September, Manning Bar, Sydney NSW
Saturday 17 September, The Gov, Hindmarsh SA
Thursday 22 September, The Prince of Wales Hotel, Bunbury WA
Friday 23 September, Augusta Margaret River Football Club, Margaret River WA
Saturday 24 September, Amplifier Bar, Perth WA
Thursday 29 September, Miami Tavern, Miami QLD
Saturday 1 October, Crowbar, Brisbane QLD
Sunday 2 October, Crowbar, Brisbane QLD
Friday 18 November, Club 54, Launceston TAS
Saturday 19 November, Brisbane Hotel, Hobart, TAS
Frenzal Rhomb’s best of album We Lived Like Kings (We Did Anything We Wanted) is out now
