We here at the antipodean outpost of Backseat Mafia have had an extensive unreciprocated love affair with the magnificent Radio Free Alice since their early years back in 2023, and the band has just exploded everywhere ever since. Having just been named by a prestigious UK music magazine as one of a 100 bands to watch in 2025. Radio Free Alice are about to embark on their debut US tour appearing at SXSW in Texas.
The band signed to the massive and highly prestigious WME Agency for worldwide representation after their signing locally to the illustrious Double Drummer label.
They have just released a new single ‘Empty Words’ and it’s business as usual. Snotty, swaggering and brim full of attitude as usual, the track has an angular scything swing with its muscular stabs of sound and the passionate visceral vocals. Redolent at times of Interpol mixed in with a heavy dose of The Fall and The Birthday Party, it’s antipodean Antarctic new wave at its very best.
On ‘Empty Words’, the band says:
‘Empty Words’ came out of a jam like most of our songs do. It was in some downtime between shows while we were in the UK last year. Lyrically it’s about the feeling of social stagnation that I think a lot of young people in our generation feel.
There is certainly a degree of anguish in the delivery: raw and visceral as the lyrics reveal:
I could kill them with my empty words or I could save them
The accompanying video captures the enigmatic band at their disdainful best, performing and swaggering with a sneery insouciance. It’s only rock’n’roll but I love it:
‘Empty Words’ is out now and can be streamed and downloaded here. It was written and recorded between shows while Radio Free Alice were in London last year, and the first cut taken from a to-be-announced body of work due out in 2025.
The band will be playing a runway show at Melbourne Fashion Festival tomorrow night and the just-announced Shaky Knees Festival in Atlanta, GA this September alongside Lucy Dacus, IDLES, Pixies and more.
Thursday, 6 March – Melbourne Fashion Festival @ Royal Exhibition Building – Naarm/Melbourne, VIC
10-15 March – SXSW – Austin, TX
Friday, 18 April – Sonder Festival – Taungurung/Tallarook, VIC
19-21 September – Shaky Knees Festival – Atlanta, GA
Feature Photograph: Finn Robilliard
