As this Australian music meme page recently pointed out, VOIID are a cool fucking band. Since releasing their debut EP Pussy Orientated back in 2017, the Brisbane/Gold Coast four-piece have toured relentlessly around the country, building upon their relentless, no-bullshit brand of garage-punk.
Earlier this year they released their follow-up EP Drool, and with its release, they showcased the swift evolution of their music. So before they hit the stage at Festival Of The Sun this December, we caught up with the band to chat about their hectic live schedule, the next step in their musical evolution, and Australia’s most underrated popstar Timomatic.
Before they perform at Festival of The Sun this December, we caught up with VOIID to chat about the next step in their musical evolution.
HAPPY: First thing’s first, I’d like to cover the big musical phenomenon currently taking the country by storm. Timomatic. I’ve been told by a reliable soure that this phenomenon started with you. Is this true?
JASMINE: Yes, it’s true. We first posted about Timomatic back in 2017 on our summer tour. He responded to us via live-stream. From this, we garnered commercial success – we gained three followers. It was brilliant, so thank you Timomatic. Please come back, we miss you.
KATE: Where is he right now, I wonder?
JASMINE: It’s funny that we keep asking that, because we’ve already Googled it and he’s doing fine. He’s still making stuff. We just keep ignoring it for some reason.
KATE: But geographically, where is he?
JASMINE: Oh, geographically…
ANTONIA: Wait is he right here? Is this a hidden camera show?
HAPPY: Yes! There’s a camera right there, and there’s another camera over there. You all just got Timomatic’d!
JASMINE: It’s just liked punk’d, but it’s heaps better because Timomatic’s involved.
ANTONIA: You should really copyright that idea.
HAPPY: Yeah, we’re onto something here.
ANTONIA: I actually saw that there is a petition trying to get him to play Falls Fest.
HAPPY: Yeah, this is really picking up some steam.
ANTONIA: Just imagine seeing Set It Off live! Wow.
HAPPY: On Spotify, there’s a actually a version of Timomatic’s self-titled debut with commentary! Like he’s speaking over the tracks, adding his thoughts. Is there any chance of us ever getting a commentary version of Drool?
JASMINE: If we could get Timomatic to do the commentary, then yes. It could be like an e-book. He has a great voice, both for singing and talking.
HAPPY: If you could ask Timomatic one question, what would it be?
JASMINE: ‘Why are you the way you are?’ But to be honest, I haven’t really thought to much about the questions I’d ask Timomatic. It’s never really a case of ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘when’, or ‘how’… but more ‘why?’
ANTONIA: I’d like to ask him if he thinks life is a simulation. I’d really like to get his take on the simulation theory.
ANJI: I want to ask him if he’s watched Unacknowledged, and if he believes in aliens.
JASMINE: To be honest, I’d just like to know if he ever gets tired on the dancefloor. Is he always setting it off? I mean, where does it end? Is he constantly setting it off? Or are there times when he says ‘no, I’m not going to set it off tonight… I’m going to turn it down to 3, go home, and make myself a green tea‘? Surely he has to have down time, right? There’s no way he could always be setting it off. It’s just not physcially possible.
HAPPY: Alright, enough of this Timomatic talk. Let’s talk about your new EP. This is the end of your EP tour… how’s it been?
ANTONIA: It’s been really fun. It’s been a lot more laid back… we didn’t slam ourselves with dates this time.
JASMINE: Yeah, we didn’t sweep the nation.
ANTONIA: But it’s been nice. It’s meant that we’ve been able to give a lot more at every show.
ANJI: Having 100% at every show, instead of 25% at four shows in the same city… that’s been nice.
HAPPY: And you’re just about to hit the road again for the DZ Deathrays tour, right?
JASMINE: Yep, mid-October.
HAPPY: It’s still a pretty crazy schedule you’ve been maintaining. How has that been? I can imagine it’d get pretty taxing…
ANTONIA: Well, we’ve kind of treated ourselves this time around. We’re staying at Air BnB’s and stuff.
JASMINE: Not that the Air BnB’s have been all that glamorous. Some guy nutted in the corner of one of them. I’m not even kidding. It was pure bonafide nut.
HAPPY: At an Air BnB? I didn’t think such a thing could happen at an Air BnB?
JASMINE: Oh yes. There were hand marks just above the wall where the nut was.
KATE: But on the other tours we’ve done, we were driving everywhere. Which was pretty hard. But this time we’ve been flying everywhere.
JASMINE: And we’ve been flying Virgin. None of that Tiger bullshit. We’ve been flying Virgin and getting free tea. It’s been very nice this time around.
HAPPY: What made you make that decision to do things differently?
ANJI: I think after our last show of our last tour, we were so tired, and we said that we were never going to drive again.
KATE: Also, people in Wollongong and Newcastle can come to Sydney to see us. We’d rather do one big show than heaps of smaller shows.
HAPPY: That really hardcore touring slog… so many bands view that as an essential part of building their profile. Is that how you’re viewing it?
ANJI: Oh yeah. You gotta put in the hard times to get the hard dimes.
KATE: But I think after that last tour with Crocodylus and A. Swayze & The Ghosts, we felt like things were really picking up. We felt like we’d started to build a following everywhere. We felt that if we played the four major places, we could make it really worth while.
HAPPY: Well you have just dropped your second EP, Drool. When you first dove into writing/recording it, were there any big differences you wanted to establish from Pussy Orientated?
KATE: It was a pretty long process. From the start of writing it to the actual release, it felt like ages. We spent a lot of time figuring shit out as a band. Towards the end, we really just wanted to get it out… because we’ve already started working on the next thing.
JASMINE: We’re definitely going for quantity here. Our first EP was released a long time ago, and we’ve really developed our sound since then.
ANJI: We’ve gotten a lot better.
JASMINE: We’ve developed our sound a lot.
ANTONIA: We’re also really excited to release stuff that nobody’s ever heard before.
JASMINE: That’ll be coming very soon.
HAPPY: When you’ve been touring songs for so long, is it difficult to release them and stay passionate about them?
ANJI: Yeah, sometimes. Especially if it’s a bit of a silly song.
KATE: On this tour, we’re kind of testing out new music with a live audience. But after that, we’re going to play it until it’s released. It’ll be heaps more fresh, opposed to everyone knowing the lyrics before we’ve even released the track.
JASMINE: That kind of thing is cool and all, but’s nice to have the element of surprise. If you’ve come to see us this tour, enjoy the new songs you’ve been hearing, because you’re not gonna hear them again until they’re released. Or we might just never release them.
HAPPY: So you’ve already started on new material then?
JASMINE: Yep, we’ve been hustling, grinding…
ANTONIA: Setting it off.
JASMINE: Timomatic would be so happy with us right now.
HAPPY: Are you going for another EP, or are you going for an album?
KATE: Yeah, we’re going to put out another EP, then we’re definitely going to go for an album. We’re going to release another couple of singles, then the EP. On Drool, we were really fleshing out what we are as a band. Pussy Orientated was the beginning, then Drool was almost there, and now this new EP will finally solidify what our sound is.
HAPPY: From those first two EPs, are there any specific things you’ve learnt about yourselves as a band that you really want to drive home on this next release?
ANTONIA: In terms of writing, I think we’ve learned how to build relationships between the instruments, if that makes sense? The way we all play together, and the parts we write all fit together a lot better.
KATE: Yeah, the new stuff is a lot more thought-out.
JASMINE: Oh yeah, it’s definitely a lot more thought-out. When we wrote Pussy Orientated, we kind of just wrote the songs real quickly then said “alright, that’s good”. Whereas with these new songs, we really went over them, workshopped them, and thought about them. We’re constantly growing. The difference between Drool and Pussy Orientated alone is massive. The new EP will just cement what we sound like.
Catch VOIID live at Festival Of The Sun – December 12-15 at Port Macquarie Breakwall Tourist Park (Port Macquarie, NSW). Tickets here.
