LAMPHEAD. // Call It An Emo Revival

If you thought midwestern emo was just an American thing, think again. Newcastle’s lamphead. has brought the big sad to their debut self-titled EP.

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The record was a few years in the making, and we wanted to know all about it, so we got guitarist Darcy Long on the line. Read on.

How did lamphead. get started?

Damian (Moore, drums) and I wanted to start a progressive math-rock band. We tried to write a few songs in that style but then decided to move in a poppier direction. We were taking inspiration from bands like Animals as Leaders. We then fused that with pop-punk, taking inspiration from bands like The Story So Far and Basement.

We wrote the bulk of the EP and then got Liam (Hewitt) on board to play bass.  I showed Joseph (Geyer) our demos one afternoon. He liked them and sent back some vocal ideas- the rest is history.

How’d the EP come together?

The songs went through a few different demos over the last couple of years. Once we got all the vocal ideas down with Joey, we recorded the drums, bass and guitars with Mitta Norath at Tommirock Studios. He did the bulk of the recording, and then we did the vocals and post-production at my home studio. The process was pretty stress-free. I think it was because we’d worked on the songs as demos for so long.

All of us have played in bands before, so this time around, we were excited to try something new.
[ Darcy Long ]

Doing so much of it in your home studio must’ve given you that extra bit of freedom too.

It was good not having a time restriction on it. We could add in post-production layers and nail the vocals.

What inspired the EP lyrically?

Most of the songs stem from relationships with people. All of us have played in bands before, so this time around, we were excited to try something new. We wanted to do a style that isn’t done much in Australia. We still wanted to keep it accessible to a popular audience.

Listening to the EP, we picked up on midwest emo, math-rock, pop-punk and even indie and grunge.

Definitely.

Who would you say are some of the band’s biggest influences?

There’s an instrumental band called CHON. I would describe our sound as a mix of technical math and straight forward pop-punk. The Story So Far, Basement and CHON are our biggest three for sure. Joey listens to a lot of indie rock bands too. That tied the EP together and gave it its flavour. It makes it sound a bit different to other midwest, pop-punk kind of bands. 

What else is in store for 2021?

We’ve got a few songs demoed out. We’re going to try and release them this year. We want to play some interstate shows too. That’s pretty much the plan.

FOR FANS OF: Tiny Moving Parts, Modern Baseball, The Story So Far

Purchase and stream their self-titled EP here.