VIOLENT SOHO ANNOUNCE FIFTH STUDIO ALBUM EVERYTHING IS A-OK – OUT FRIDAY 3 APRIL + RELEASE SECOND SINGLE ‘LYING ON THE FLOOR’ + PLAYING SOLD OUT INTIMATE SHOWS IN MELBOURNE, SYDNEY AND BRISBANE THIS WEEKEND

Kicking off tonight in Melbourne, the band are playing a run of intimate shows for fans along the east coast. Tonight, they play at The Tote, before heading to The Lansdowne in Sydney tomorrow and wrapping up at The Zoo in Brisbane on Saturday. Each show sold out in under two hours – no mean feat considering they were announced with nothing but a stack of humble flyers, with only hardcopy tickets available for the lines of ravenous fans that made their way to iconic record stores in each city. There’s no question that this band remains one of the most in-demand live acts in the country.

Violent Soho slunk back onto the airwaves in November with their first taste of new music ‘A-OK’, before delivering the wall-of-sound that is ‘Vacation Forever’, a track that set the tone for an album that’s a headlong cannonball-ride into the darkness of suburban abandonment and decay. Oozing with frustration, irony and Soho’s signature wit, ‘Vacation Forever’ instantly struck a chord with Australia, becoming the sixth most played track on triple j over the summer, landing at #69 in the Hottest 100 of 2019, and receiving staunch support from both Spotify and Apple Music.

After playing the part of ‘those kids who don’t seem to fit in anywhere’ with their first two records (2008’s We Don’t Belong Here & 2010’s self-titled), Violent Soho finally came crashing into the public consciousness with 2013’s Hungry Ghost. It came in a hail of riffs and ‘HELL F*CK YEAH’s scrawled on arms, desks, and bathroom walls the world over. 2016’s WACO earned the band a #1 ARIA chart debut, two ARIA Awards, an ARIA Gold certification, an AIR Award, and numerous festival headline slots and sold-out tours, but it came amid personal upheaval for drummer Michael Richards, bassist Luke Henery and guitarist James Tidswell.

Now, with Everything Is A-OK, Mansfield’s favourite sons have drawn a metaphorical line in the sand. Five albums into their career, equipped with a renewed self-confidence, they know not to follow a rule book written by other people. That’s what Everything Is A-OK is – a declaration that THIS is who Violent Soho are – as a band, as musicians, and as mates.

“It’s honest,” explains guitarist/vocalist Luke Boerdam. “It doesn’t claim to be anything it’s not: it’s apolitical, slacker, cynical, and trying to connect with people over a shared experience in pointing out society’s failures and the personal shit that follows.”

With the studio where they’d crafted Hungry Ghost and WACO (Brisbane’s The Shed) no more, the band decamped to The Grove Studios in New South Wales — “a great decision,” reflects Henery. “All of us just getting away, hanging out together, focusing specifically on making something we could be super-proud of”.

And the result is an album that floats like a smoke ring and stings like a spark in the eye. Everything Is A-OK roars of lessons learned and emotions scalded.

Those who braved the early queues and were lucky enough to score a ticket to the shows this weekend, will get a taste of the album to come. For everyone else, Everything Is A-OK is out Friday 3 April and available for pre-order now!