Following on from the release of their critically acclaimed second album, Sideways To New Italy, earlier this month on Sub Pop, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever return today with the video for recent single ‘Cameo.’ One of the record’s anthemic high points, ‘Cameo’ begins with open guitar strums and Fran Keaney’s lone voice before building to a swirling roar, showcasing a band at the peak of their powers both instrumentally and lyrically.
“This is a love song. It’s about reaching through time portals,” says Keaney. “The lyrics were pieced together over about a year like a little puzzle. I found the first pieces in Rushworth, and the last pieces in Darwin.”
The accompanying video - directed by Nick Mckk - finds the band in a particularly playful mood as they perform in a dimly lit club, sporting turtlenecks in the glare of spotlights and bursting through walls on office chairs. Look beyond the hi-jinx, however, and there’s romance afoot here, perfectly in keeping with the glistening love song at ‘Cameo”s core.
“We made this video with Nick Mckk, who shares our vision for the earnest and the absurd,” explains Keaney. “This is our first video to feature skivvies, a wall of cardboard boxes and a human-powered rotating stage.”
“Fran had the idea to separate each body part playing, disembodied like the famous Queen artwork,” says Mckk. “I think it was Tom who really wanted to dress like Molloy, the cat burglar from The Simpsons. White sneakers, black pants and a turtleneck. I was very for this.
“Because I’m a fool and I don’t know how to work a gimbal (stabiliser), I ended up shooting a lot of the clip on rollerblades, which let me zoom around the spinning stage. Set Designer Grace Goodwin and I created the big bricks that the band could smash through, representing the disintegration of memory and the rebuilding of recollection. I mean, it was that for me, I can’t speak for the band!”
Earlier this month, the band announced a big run of UK and Ireland tour dates for March 2021, including their biggest ever headline UK show at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire on March 5th. Main support on all dates [excluding Dublin] comes from the hotly-tipped Dutch quartet Pip Blom.
UK/IE Tour Dates:
Mar 4th | Brighton, UK - Concorde 2* Mar 5th | London, UK - O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire* Mar 6th | Birmingham, UK - O2 Institute* Mar 7th | Oxford, UK - O2 Academy Oxford* Mar 9th | Bristol, UK - SWX* Mar 10th | Leeds, UK - Leeds Irish Centre* Mar 11th | Manchester, UK - O2 Ritz Manchester* Mar 12th | Edinburgh, UK - The Liquid Room* Mar 13th | Glasgow, UK - Queen Margaret Union (QMU)* Mar 15th | Dublin, IE - Vicar Street Mar 17th | Cardiff, UK - Tramshed* Mar 18th | Nottingham, UK - The Level* Mar 19th | Sheffield, UK - The Foundry*
Melbourne-based band Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever will release their highly-anticipated second album, Sideways to New Italy, this Friday, June 5th via Sub Pop. Today, they release the album’s fourth single, “Cameo,” which follows “Falling Thunder,” “She’s There,” and “Cars in Space.” ‘Cameo’ begins with open guitar strums and Fran Keaney’s lone voice, before building to a swirling roar, showcasing a band at the peak of their powers both instrumentally and lyrically.
“This is a love song. It’s about reaching through time portals,” says Keaney. “The lyrics were pieced together over about a year like a little puzzle. I found the first pieces in Rushworth, and the last pieces in Darwin.”
Melbourne-based band Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever release a new single/video, “Falling Thunder,” from their highly-anticipated second album, Sideways to New Italy, out June 5th on Sub Pop. The video premiered earlier today via The Fader. Led by singer-songwriter-guitarists Tom Russo, Joe White and Fran Keaney, and rounded out by bassist Joe Russo and drummer Marcel Tussie, Sideways To New Italy is a stunning return for the five-piece following their internationally acclaimed debut album, Hope Downs (2018).
Following the album’s widely-lauded first two singles “She’s There” and “Cars In Space,” “Falling Thunder” continues to find RBCF at the peak of their powers: a swirling, mesmeric pop song that perfectly evokes the timeless nature of Sideways To New Italy - a record that’s universal yet threaded through with personal histories, born of dislocation but with a distinct geographic identity. Tom Russo explains it’s “about pushing on through the relentless march of time, against the constant cycle of seasons. And the way people change and relationships change. It’s set in that time when autumn is turning into winter and the trees are getting bare.”
The accompanying video was shot by a friend of the band, Jamieson Moore, and is comprised of vacation footage from Sicily, Sardinia and the Aeolian Islands, the ancestral homeland of the Russo Brothers. As Tom elaborates: “Our friend Jamieson Moore shot the footage of Sicily, Sardinia and the Aeolian Islands on her phone while on vacation last year. The Aeolian Islands is also where my and Joe Russo’s ancestors are from. We were also planning to shoot the band playing in Eolian Hall in Melbourne (it’s a community hall founded by Aeolian immigrants). We got some practice footage but by the time it came to shoot the band, we were on lockdown. So it’s turned out as a kind of a love letter to a particular place.”
The eponymous New Italy is a village near New South Wales’s Northern Rivers – the area Tussie is from. A blink-and-you’ll-miss-it pit-stop of a place with fewer than 200 residents, it was founded by Venetian immigrants in the late-1800s and now serves as something of a living monument to Italians’ contribution to Australia, with replica Roman statues dotted like souvenirs on the otherwise rural landscape. The parallel between these remnants of home and the band’s own attempts to maintain connections and create familiarity during their disorienting time on the road were not lost on Russo. “These are the expressions of people trying to find home somewhere alien; trying to create utopia in a turbulent and imperfect world.”
The record’s very present geographic identity emerged from the band losing their grip on their own, whether that was through the pressure of touring, the dissolution of relationships, a frustrating distance from their daily lives – or some combination of all three – which stemmed from having been slingshot all over the world. The past two years have seen Rolling Blackouts C.F. play the world’s biggest music festivals, from Coachella, Governors Ball, Pitchfork Music Festival, Primavera, and Shaky Knees to Lowlands, Pukkelpop, Green Man and Splendour in the Grass, plus sold-out headline shows across London, San Diego, San Francisco, Denver, Chicago, Toronto, Vancouver, Philadelphia, New York City and of course, landing back at home for their sold-out Australian album tour.
In addition to the specific town, the songs on the record exist variably in Darwin (“Cameo”), Melbourne (“Beautiful Steven”), Los Angeles (“The Cool Change”), the tiny town of Rushworth (“Not Tonight”) and the driver’s seat of a car at a drive-in movie (“Cars in Space”). Rolling Blackouts C.F are well-versed in a detailed and cinematic style of songwriting, where landscapes, interactions and memories materialize as characters and stories that reflect the tight, swirling guitars that emote alongside the trio’s voices.
“I felt completely rudderless on tour,” Keaney says. “It’s fun but you get to a point where you’re like, Who am I anymore? You feel like you’re everywhere and nowhere at the same time. And no one in particular.” Russo adds, “We saw a lot of the world, which was such a privilege, but it was kind of like looking through the window at other people’s lives, and then also reflecting on our own.”
Sideways To New Italy is now available for preorder from Sub Pop. Preorders of the LP through megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers in North America, the U.K., and Europe, will receive the limited Loser edition (while supplies last). There will also be a new T-shirt design available.
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever announce their second record, Sideways to New Italy, out June 5th on Sub Pop, and today present a new single + video, “She’s There.” For the five-piece, returning to Melbourne after long stretches looking out at the world through the windows of airplanes and tour vans lead to a dislocation, like being the knot in the middle of a game of tug-o-war. Sideways to New Italy sees the band interrogate their individual pasts and the places that inform them. In clicking the scattered pieces back into place, they have crafted for themselves a new totem of home to carry with them no matter where they end up.
Lead by singer-songwriter-guitarists Tom Russo, Joe White, Fran Keaney, and rounded out by bassist Joe Russo and drummer Marcel Tussie, the band began grasping for something reliable after emerging from relentlessly touring their critically regarded debut Hope Downs. Rather than dwell in the displacement, Keaney was determined to channel how he was feeling into something optimistic. The album is inspired by New Italy - a village near New South Wales’s Northern Rivers – the area Tussie is from. A blink-and-you’ll-miss-it pit-stop of a place with fewer than 200 residents, it was founded by Venetian immigrants in the late-1800s and now serves as something of a living monument to Italians’ contribution to Australia, with replica Roman statues dotted like souvenirs on the otherwise rural landscape.
”I wanted to write songs that I could use as some sort of bedrock of hopefulness to stand on, something to be proud of,” says Keaney. “A lot of the songs on the new record are reaching forward and trying to imagine an idyll of home and love.” This is the bulk of Sideways to New Italy, which boasts love songs, and familiar voices and characters, grounding the band’s stories in their personal histories.
“She’s There” is about love and heavy delusions. Over pummeling guitar and fundamental percussion, White sings: “I should’ve done better but the time rolls on // Open the window, in the air, in a mirror, she’s there // Every time I speak her name there’s a cold shiver in my veins.” The accompanying video was directed by Nick McKinlay at Melbourne’s Coburg Motor Inn. “We tried to convey that feeling in a dream where you need to be somewhere, and you don’t really know why, but you are determined to overcome every obstacle to get there,” says the band.
“We tried to make these little nods to our friends and loved ones, to stay loyal to our old selves,” Russo explains. There’s something comforting, too, in knowing the next time they’re buffeted from stage to stage around the world, they’ll be taking the voices of their loved ones with them, following cues from their neighbors and ancestors and anyone else who responded to their newfound displacement by crafting a utopia in their own backyard.
Sideways to New Italy is now available for preorder from Sub Pop. Preorders of the LP through megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers in North America, the U.K., and Europe, will receive the limited Loser edition (while supplies last). There will also be a new T-shirt design available.
“Cars In Space” is “the swirling words and thoughts before a breakup,” says Fran Keaney. It’s bold and classic, and propelled by the band’s singular chemistry. Its accompanying video, directed by Nick Mckk and Julia Jacklin, is set in broad daylight at an old-school Australian drive-in.
“Cars In Space” is the first taste of new music from Rolling Blackouts C.F. since their “In The Capital” / “Read My Mind” 7”, and its predecessor, 2018’s Hope Downs, “a debut album that applies their infectious brand of motorik jangle rock to lovelorn ruminations and geopolitical laments” (Pitchfork). Hope Downs was released to an incredible reception, earning year-end praise from Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Stereogum, Paste, and more. Meanwhile, the band’s renowned live show led to selling-out their mammoth Hope Downs Australian tour, as well as sold-out performances in London, San Diego, San Francisco, Denver, Chicago, Toronto, Vancouver, Philadelphia, New York City and more. The huge touring schedule also included shows at the world’s biggest music festivals, from Coachella, The Great Escape, Primavera, and Shaky Knees to Lowlands, Pukklepop, Green Man and Splendour in the Grass.
[Photo Credit: Peter Ryle]
Rolling Blackout Coastal Fever Tour Dates + Ticket Links
Fri. Feb. 14 - Perth, AU @ Perth Festival
Sun. March 1 - Brisbane, AU @ Nine Lives Festival
Sat. March 14 - Sydney, AU @ Sydney Opera House w/ Pixies
Sun. March 15 - Sydney, AU @ Sydney Opera House w/ Pixies
Wed. March 18 - Melbourne, AU @ Brunswick Music Festival
Sat. March 28 - Bambra, AU @ Meadow Festival
Fri. May 22 - Madrid, ES @ Tomavista Festival
Sat. May 23 - London, UK @ All Points East
Sun. May 24 - Warrington, UK @ Neighbourhood Weekender
Tue. May 26 - Edinburgh, UK @ The Liquid Room
Sat. May 30 - Neustrelitz, DE @ Immergut
Mon. June 1 - Sala Apolo, ES @ Primavera Sound
Wed. June 10 - Bergen, NO @ Bergenfest
Fri. June 12 - Porto, PT @ NOS Primavera Sound
Sat. June 13 - Hilvarenbeek, NL @ Best Kept Secret
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever have delivered an intense new video for “Read My Mind” from their “In the Capital” b/w ‘Read My Mind” 7” single out today on Sub Pop.
The sobering visual was directed by Warwick Baker and edited by Bill Irving. The band had this to say, “We gave the song to our close friend Baker, a respected Australian photographer, to interpret visually.”
And Baker elaborates, “I hoped to observe and document the spectacle of the rodeo, focusing on the performers rather than the audience. Being a vegetarian I found the event confronting, but wanted to document the theater and ritual of the rodeo without glorifying or condemning it.”
Rolling Blackouts C.F’s North American shows in support of Hope Downs and “In the Capital” / “Read My Mind” single begin May 26th in Boston for Boston Calling and end June 13th in Manchester, TN at Bonnaroo. The group’s European and the UK run begins July 3rd at in Roskilde, DK’s Roskilde Festival and ends July 27th in Thirsk, UK at the Deer Shed Festival. Additional international festival highlights for the May-July timeframe include Governors Ball (May 31st), Lattitude Festival (May 31st), Down the Rabbit Hole (July 5th), and Mad Cool Festival (July 12th).
May 03 - Castlemaine, AU - Theatre Royal May 04 - Melbourne, AU - Croxton May 10 - Sydney, AU - Manning Bar May 26 - Boston, MA - Boston Calling May 28 - Philadelphia, PA - Underground Arts May 29 - Washington, DC - U Street Music Hall May 31 - New York, NY - Governors Ball (early) May 31 - Brooklyn, NY - Warsaw (late) Jun. 02 - Toronto, ON - The Mod Club Jun. 04 - Chicago, IL - Thalia Hall Jun. 06 - Seattle, WA - The Crocodile Jun. 07 - Vancouver, BC - Rickshaw Theatre Jun. 08 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge Jun. 10 - San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall Jun. 11 - Los Angeles, CA - The Lodge Room Jun. 13 - Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo Jul. 03 - Roskilde, DK - Roskilde Festival Jul. 05 - Ewijk, NL - Down the Rabbit Hole Festival Jul. 07 - Paris, FR - Le Point Ephémère Jul. 09 - Liverpool, UK - Invisible Wind Factory Jul. 11 - Dublin, IE - The Iveagh Gardens Jul. 12 - Madrid, ES - Mad Cool Festival Jul. 13 - Lisbon, PT - NOS Alive Jul. 15 - Glasgow, UK - St. Luke’s Jul. 16 - Sheffield, UK - The Leadmill Jul. 18 - Cardiff, UK - Clwb Ifor Bach Jul. 19 - Bedford, UK - Esquires Jul. 21 - Suffolk, UK - Latitude Festival Jul. 22 - Birmingham, UK - Mama Roux’s Jul. 23 - Reading, UK - Sub89 Jul. 25 - Nyon, CH - Paleo Nyon Festival Jul. 27 - Thirsk, UK - Deer Shed Festival
[Photo Credit: Pooneh Ghana]
What people are saying about Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever: “Hope Downs more than delivers on the promise of the Melbourne quintet’s two early EPs, doubling down on the melancholy pop it forged on 2015’s Talk Tight and last year’s The French Press while also polishing its sound.” - [Hope Downs, Grade: A-] - The AV Club
“Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever have more tricks up their sleeves, it seems. For a debut, though, a couple tricks are enough, especially when you’ve already mastered them. [Hope Downs, 8.9/10] -PASTE
“A three-guitar front line — plucked, sustained and most often busily strummed — gives this Australian band its brisk pacing. Topped with semi-spoken, Dylan-tinged vocals and lyrics that switch between candor and drollery, its music is like folk-rock wrapped around a post-punk armature.” [SXSW Review] - NY Times
“Sophisticated and subversive in equal measure, their staccato sing-alongs come on pristine and precise, then unspool in surprising directions as decorum gives way to abandon.” [Hope Downs, 8.1/10] - Pitchfork
“Every amp tone on this album is just sweet enough, every jangling rhythm hits exactly where it should. Rolling Blackouts are playing an old game, but they’re damned good at it.” [Hope Downs, 4/5] - Rolling Stone
“Even at their most fervent, the characters of Hope Downs remain soaked in sun, able to convince themselves that one great night could be enough to set them straight again. At about 35 minutes, Hope Downs is a brief vacation, and so are many of its songs.” [Hope Downs, 4/5] - SPIN
