The Maggie Pills launch their debut album ‘Hope is a Risk’ on Saturday the 24th of June in the brand spanking new Bergy Bandroom.
Fiercely swinging between the guttural rawness of grunge and the playful lushness of pop, “Hope is a Risk” is the ambitious 14 track debut LP of Latin-Australian outfit The Maggie Pills. In its current form, the outfit serves as a cross-cultural vessel for any cathartic feelings to be explored holistically and leaving no feelings unturned.
The band was founded by Delfi Sorondo and Mario Perez closely after migrating to Australia and only months prior to the start of the pandemic, and the LP was mostly written within the anguish of lockdowns. The proximity of their personal experiences against the album themes on migration, minorities and global politics, give a very refreshing realness and authenticity. Yet, what could’ve been an album purely fuelled by gloom, pushes through the chaos and finds strength in a pop-fantasy type of feel, as the band imaginatively builds universes inspired by the otherworldly, western films, sci-fi sonic landscapes and William Blake levels of poetic ponderings.
The album reimagines punk through an emotionally visceral lens, jam-packed with vivid latin percussions, razor-sharp guitars, fuzzy bass lines, unhinged synths and gestural vocals that feel cinematographic and iconic. The result is an impressive self-produced album that masters the intersections between intuitive and mathematical, grunge and pop, gothic and colourful.
Self-produced by Perez , the album seeks a sound outside of indie-rock, with an atmospheric , wet and kaleidoscopic soundwall of cosmic proportions. Mastered by legendary sound engineer Joe Carra (Amyl & The Sniffers, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Courtney Barnett) “Hope is a Risk” is a unique addition to Australia’s indie-rock catalogue.
The Hot Blood, a 7 piece garage rock combo. Assembled in 2018 from a desire to borrow from 60s RnB and soul records and amplify the heck out of everything. The performances are unpredictable, with a lineup that is rarely the same one show to the next. With only a rehearsal demo and a live tape to their name, the band needs to be seen to be fully understood.
Hearts and Rockets is the Naarm-based bratwave duo of Kalindy Williams and Kurt Eckardt. In late 2021, they released their five track EP ‘TV is Boring’ and followed it up in November 2022 with their single ‘Clown Town’, which appears on a split 7” with Skink Tank. They are not only known for their tongue-in-cheek and not-so-subtle stabs at society, and their cheeky pop culture references, but also for their clever video clips. The video for ‘Clown Town’ is on its way. Their new tracks sound crisp, nostalgic and fresh all at once. With their trademark delay-laden vocals, driving bass lines, post-punk guitar and poppy synth all present, Hearts and Rockets have found the perfect balance of taking what they do super seriously and having fun along the way.
“We acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the land where we will perform, the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people, and pay our respects to the Elders past, present and future, for they hold the memories, the traditions, the culture and hopes of Indigenous Australia. We must always remember that under the concrete and asphalt, the land, sea, and waterways were, and always will be, traditional Indigenous land.”
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