Their Bandcamp page claims, “if you like just about any style of music, these guys can shred it, in suits, whilst hitting on your girlfriend,” so exactly who is Brisbane four-piece Osaka Punch?
Girl caught up with the band ahead of their national tour for a quick chat about tours, music and… Malcolm Turnbull?
Hi! What’s news? What have you been up to recently?
“We are gearing up to smash this tour, writing like demons, and eating Milo from the tin.”
Your genre is “brutal pop music” according to your Facebook page – care to elaborate?
“Pop music is normally designed to accommodate the listener. Whilst we like pop we also have a penchant for the unpredictable and heavy textures you’d normally find in metal. We combine pop sensibilities but deliver with a metal ethos.”
So where do you draw your musical inspiration from? What’s your song writing process like?
“The song writing process is an interesting, laborious process that we still haven’t mastered. Normally a member gets an idea and will write a rough arrangement out, keeping true to their vision. Upon presenting it to the band, this is where our sound comes in.
Jack might write some smooth poppy chord progression and base a song off it. Then Chrispy and I come in and terrorise it with syncopated and audacious changes.
The other side is Chrispy and I might write something heinous and unforgiving and Jack comes in and makes it sexy.”
What made you change your name from The Kidney Theives, and where did the Osaka Punch moniker come from?
“Some defunct ass bandits from the States shared the same name. They had been around longer. Osaka Punch was something spawned from the inner ramblings of Jack’s mind tank.”
You’ve got some pretty heavy weight names on your bio – what’s been your favourite show/support gig thus far?
“Supporting Cog on New Year’s in Sydney will always be a highlight for me. I grew up listening to Lucius destroy drums. To share a stage with him was… daunting.”
What made you relocate to the UK then back to Australia?
“We were approaching an age that saw the window of opportunity (for visas) getting smaller and smaller. We wanted to try our luck at a touring circuit that isn’t 1,000kms between gigs. Our visas lasted two years, so now we are back.”
How long has it been since you hit the road with a headline show, and what can we expect this time?
“It’s been a long while indeed. We have honed our live show to a higher standard, we have new songs, new antics and a new very sweet bass player. Expect to get sonically punched in the nut.”
Stonk is the new single, what can you tell us about it?
“The song’s ideology is taking a sarcastic stab at the daily grind. The main vocal is pelting, “You’ll have a job and a wife. A house, two kids and a car!” In a way it kinda highlights the lives musicians don’t lead and we are totally fine with that.”
So does this mean there’s going to be a new album in the pipeline this year? Maybe a larger-scale tour?
“We will be dropping bombs by the end of the year and we plan to tour as much as possible. This is all.”
Let’s play a quick game of punch, pash or pal – who would you punch, pash or pal up with out of Malcolm Turnbull, Clive Palmer, and Weird Al Yankovich?
“Personally, this is easy. Mak on hard with Weird for sure. I’d pal Clive purely so I have the option to punch Turnbull. Clive would be one of those annoying high maintenance friends who comes over, complains, eats everything, leaves a mess then claims you’re non-supportive.”
Where can we stalk you online?
“Facebook and Bandcamp.”
Anything else?
“Check out the dates for our upcoming tour!”
Osaka Punch will be playing the following East Coast dates:
– Thursday 25 February: Studio 56, Gold Coast
w/special guests Electrik Lemonade and Jackson Dunn
Tickets $10 pre-sale, $15 on the door
– Friday 26 February: Spotted Cow, Toowoomba
w/special guests Project 62 and The Astronaut Headdress
Tickets $10 at the door
– Saturday 27 February: Great Northern, Byron Bay
w/special guests Antimata and A Little Province
Free entry
– Wednesday 2 March: Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney
w/special guests
Free entry
– Friday 4 March: Factory Floor, Sydney
w/special guests Alithia and Shanghai
– Saturday 5 March: Crowbar, Brisbane
w/special guests Vampillia
Pre-sale tickets via Oztix
– Saturday 12 March: Grand Hotel, Gladstone
El Grande Festival w/Caligula’s Horse, Awaken I Am & more
Pre-sale tickets $20 via Oztix, $25 at the door
girlatarockshow.com 