Radio Free Alice are moving quickly. The Naarm/Melbourne post-punk outfit have released Big Ideas, a wiry new collaboration with Water From Your Eyes vocalist Rachel Brown and the latest cut from their debut album What’s In Between, arriving October 30 via Atlantic Records.
Big Ideas comes out of a period when the band felt their songwriting had hit a wall. A guitar riff cracked things open, the bassline followed, and the song developed around a call-and-response vocal that eventually brought Brown into the picture. Longtime fans of Water From Your Eyes, Radio Free Alice had already seen the band play in Melbourne and had Brown’s distinctive voice in mind for the track.
The song made its first public appearance last week as Radio Free Alice set up outside NOON Projects in LA’s Chinatown for a free DIY pop-up show, with the resulting chaos captured by director Owen Schatz for the official Big Ideas video.
It follows a similar guerrilla show beneath a South London railway bridge in August, where more than 500 people turned up with just six hours’ notice. These pop-ups are becoming a useful snapshot of where Radio Free Alice currently sit: still operating with the immediacy of a young DIY band while the crowds around them are getting much harder to ignore.
That momentum has travelled a long way from the band’s beginnings in Sydney and their subsequent move to Melbourne at 18 to pursue music full-time. Six sold-out London headline shows last year have been followed by appearances at Governors Ball, Reading and Riot Fest, with Austin City Limits next before an extensive UK and European tour, and the band are heading out on tour soon-see below for dates.
What’s In Between brings that rapid rise into the studio with some serious company. Peter Katis, whose credits include Interpol, Death Cab for Cutie and The National, worked with the band across the record, alongside contributions from Ewan Pearson and Finn Billingham. Photographer Jerry Hsu is behind the album artwork.
Following Lunch Money, Kick in the Shins and Crying With You, Big Ideas gives another glimpse of a debut album arriving with plenty of noise already swirling around it. Radio Free Alice may have written the song while stuck in a creative lull, but right now standing still seems to be the one thing they are particularly bad at.
★ RADIO FREE ALICE LIVE 2026 ★
Friday 9 October – Austin City Limits, Austin, US
Wednesday 4 November – Ideal Bar at Vega, Copenhagen, DK
Friday 6 November – Frannz Club, Berlin, DE
Saturday 7 November – Turmzimmer, Hamburg, DE
Sunday 8 November – Helios37, Cologne, DE
Tuesday 10 November – Tolhuistuin, Amsterdam, NL
Wednesday 11 November – Botanique Rotonde, Brussels, BE [SOLD OUT]
Thursday 12 November – Point Ephémère, Paris, FR [SOLD OUT]
Saturday 14 November – Thekla, Bristol, UK [SOLD OUT]
Sunday 15 November – O2 Institute2, Birmingham, UK
Tuesday 17 November – Electric Ballroom, London, UK
Wednesday 18 November – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, UK [SOLD OUT]
Friday 20 November – Academy 2, Manchester, UK
Saturday 21 November – Art School, Glasgow, UK
Sunday 22 November – Ulster Sports Club, Belfast, UK
Tuesday 24 November – Button Factory, Dublin, IE
Friday 27 November – Sidecar, Barcelona, ES [NEW SHOW]
Sunday 29 November – Point Éphémère, Paris, FR [NEW SHOW]
See all tour dates here
