News: Alex Lahey celebrates 10 years of B-Grade University with Australian tour

Ten years after the release that launched her career, Alex Lahey is returning to where it all began. Fresh from announcing B-Grade University (Reunion Edition), a special anniversary reissue of her breakthrough debut EP, Lahey has now unveiled a national Australian tour for August that will celebrate one of the defining local releases of the past decade.

The tour arrives alongside the expanded anniversary collection, due for release on July 17 via ADA. Alongside the original EP, B-Grade University (Reunion Edition) includes newly recorded versions of fan favourites You Don’t Think You Like People Like Me and Let’s Go Out, alternate takes drawn from 2020’s Between the Kitchen and the Living Room EP, and a live-in-studio version of You Don’t Think You Like People Like Me recorded for triple j’s Like A Version series. The re-recorded version of the song featuring Tegan and Sara has already offered listeners an early glimpse of the project.

Looking back on the EP, Lahey remains acutely aware of how much those songs altered the course of her life. Written in her childhood bedroom overlooking a rapidly changing Melbourne skyline, the recordings were funded through a combination of determination, odd jobs and the sale of her beloved blue Toyota Corolla, affectionately nicknamed the “Corolls Royce”. What followed was a trajectory few emerging artists could have anticipated.

Released in 2016, B-Grade University arrived at a moment when Australian guitar music was enjoying a creative resurgence. Lahey’s sharp songwriting, self-deprecating humour and ability to capture the uncertainty of early adulthood immediately resonated with audiences. Songs such as You Don’t Think You Like People Like Me became defining statements of a new generation of Australian indie rock, helping establish Lahey as one of the country’s most distinctive songwriting voices.

The years since have seen her build a formidable catalogue and develop a reputation as one of Australia’s most dependable live performers. Backseat Mafia witnessed that first-hand at Good Things Festival in 2024, where Lahey delivered one of the day’s most energetic and assured sets, reminding audiences why she remains such a compelling presence on stage nearly a decade after her breakthrough.

What makes this anniversary project particularly appealing is that it avoids simple nostalgia. Rather than merely repackaging older material, Lahey has revisited these songs with the perspective of an artist who has lived alongside them for ten years. The result promises to be both a celebration of where her career began and a reflection on how those songs continue to evolve.

For fans who discovered Lahey through B-Grade University, the upcoming tour offers an opportunity to reconnect with the songs that first introduced her to the wider world. For newer listeners, it serves as a reminder of just how influential that debut EP remains within the landscape of contemporary Australian music. A decade on, the songs still endure, and judging by the affection that continues to surround them, their story is far from finished.