Tropical Fuck Storm are back with Fairyland Codex — loud, weird, and deeply on-brand
Tropical Fuck Storm’s fourth album Fairyland Codex is out now via long-running UK indie Fire Records — a label just as fiercely independent as the band itself.
Co-produced with Michael Beach and recorded at their own DIY spot, Dodgy Brothers Studio in Nagambie, the record dives into all kinds of collapse: societal, personal, and occasionally surreal.
It’s noisy, sharp, funny, and oddly tender — very much in the TFS lane.
To mark the release, the band is hitting the road across Australia this spring, with stops in Brisbane, Perth, Torquay, Castlemaine and more.
We caught up with guitarist, keyboardist and vocalist Erica Dunn to talk about the making of Fairyland Codex, haunted gardens, recording in spaghetti-wired chaos, and why their dog smells like biscuits.
HAPPY: What are you up to today?
TFS: I’m swapping between marking student work, digging in the garden and finishing final mixes for a new solo record.
HAPPY: Tell us a little bit about where you live, what do you love about it?
TFS: Sometimes I live in a flat in the city and it’s tiny and fun and I get to ride around on my bike and see friends and see lots of music and teach classes and sometimes I live in a house in the bush and a ghost also lives there and I dig holes in the garden and try and plant things and think a lot of weird thoughts and try and make music.
HAPPY: Can you tell us about the title: ‘Fairyland Codex’ – what does it actually mean to you, and when did it first come to you?
TFS: Gaz thought of this first as a title for the longest track on the record which is a weird sort of multi-tiered opus about leaving earth to live on mars (I think it’s mars… but you can sub in any planet I guess) and then getting there after the long journey and opening the airlock and dying on the toxic alien tundra.
I think that’s the crux of it.
I think the words became relevant as an album title because codex is a tactile antiquated object like a refidex or a teledex which people used to use all the time but is now obsolete.
But a codex for a fairyland is sort of like a manuscript to give clues to an alternate world.
I think our record is sort of like a spinning wheel of different worlds to dip into, each song is a sort of planet on it’s own.
It reminds me of the spinning magic lands at the top of the magic faraway tree even though I’m reluctant to reference Enid Blyton who is of course quaint but also fucked.
Fairyland Codex is a nice concept too… it’d be nice if everyone had one in their homes to refer to a mystery universe now and again.
HAPPY: What was the creative process like for the album – and what themes kept bubbling to the surface?
TFS: We had a longer time than is normally afforded to us when writing albums, so we lent into it.
We were able to let things sit together and, although it probably doesn’t sound like it, a lot got chiseled away.
We had a sort of combination approach, some of the songs were captured live and written live which we were keen to try after having spent so much time touring.
Another bunch of songs came out of some drum sequencer jams that Hammel and Gaz had and we selected the coolest, weirdest bits to use as foundations to write over and incorporate.
Anything is up for grabs in terms of themes; we cover a lot of territory and it’s generally based on whatever conversations we are having at the time, things that are relevant for us.
HAPPY: You recorded this at your own Dodgy Brothers studio – does having your own space change how chaotic or experimental you’re willing to get?
TFS: We always record at GaznFi’s home which we have named Dodgy Brothers studio because it’s a fkn mess.
Lots of cable spaghetti. I mean it’s not always a mess, but it definitely ends up that way after we finish recording an album.
It absolutely allows us to be totally immersed in whatever we are doing and take the time we need- go late into the night or whatever.
It also means whoever is not recording a take can be cooking delicious dinner… it’s all the same space-kitchen, studio, loungeroom.
There’s alotta sizzling garlic in the back of this record.
HAPPY: The album walks this tightrope between tension and humour—like everything’s crumbling, but you’re laughing anyway. Is that a conscious choice or just a survival instinct?
TFS: It’s probably representative of our personalities really but yes also a survival instinct because if you can’t laugh you’ll cry…
HAPPY: You’ve worked with some wild sounds across your albums—what was the strangest thing you recorded or sampled for this one?
TFS: The percussion take for Dunning Kruger’s Loser Cruiser was an all-in crazy affair very late in a long day of recording and listening to Lee Scratch Perry.
it was fun and wonky and from memory I think gaz was also making noises like a cow in homage to Roast Fish, Collie Weed & Corn Bread and the strange collaboration set the track in a whole new direction and cemented how weird it is.
HAPPY: Fire Records is your new label home—how’s the vibe there? Was it a “finally, someone gets us” moment?
TFS: It’s been brilliant working with Fire Records and there is lots of synergy. Especially meaningful for us was that they been staunchly independent for forty fkn years.
In this day and age that is a miraculous and commendable achievement.
Also, when we played in London last year, their whole staff bought tickets and came along because they genuinely love the band- that is also rare. We feel very lucky!
HAPPY: After years of touring and three big records, did you feel any pressure with album four, or are you just running on instinct at this point?
TFS: I don’t think that crossed our minds to be honest. Always making a record you just want to making art that’s true for you at the time and I think that’s what we set out to do.
HAPPY: What’s coming up?
TFS: We have a big year of touring ahead, we’re playing at Rising Festival for the first time and very excited to finally play a couple of tracks of the new album and then we pretty much on planes, trains and automobiles for the rest of the year playing and adventuring and eating foods that score very low on the nutritional charts.
HAPPY: Lastly, what makes you happy?
TFS: Drinking proper strong yorkshire tea and the way our dog smells like biscuits.
Tropical Fuck Storm – Australian Tour 2025
Sat 25 Oct – Zed 50, Roma St Parklands, Brisbane QLD (Oztix)
Fri 7 Nov – Torquay Hotel, Torquay VIC (Oztix)
Sat 8 Nov – Archies Creek Tavern, Archies Creek VIC (Trybooking)
Sun 9 Nov – Theatre Royale, Castlemaine VIC (Oztix)
Thurs 13 Nov – The Gov, Adelaide SA (Oztix)
Fri 14 Nov – The Rechabite, Perth WA (Oztix)
Fri 21 Nov – Marrickville Bowlo, Sydney NSW (Oztix)
Sun 23 Nov – Hamilton Station, Newcastle NSW (Oztix)
Tickets here.
