Fancy Weapon Album Launch w/ Star/Time + Chris Smith

An unlikely band name and a most unlikely band. Fancy Weapon melds a cross-generational bunch of Melbourne music perennials and a recent transplant to form a brooding, ragged palette of art-rock:

Mick Turner (Dirty Three, Mess Esque, Venom P Stinger, Bleak Squad)
Joel Silbersher (GOD, Hoss, Tendrils)
Claire Birchall (Smoked Salmon, Paper Planes) -
Guy Maddison (Mudhoney, Lubricated Goat, Bloodloss)

In a city of blessed with legendary life-long musicians, the Fancy Weapon folks have all remained deeply immersed. Although they aren’t kids, each member still plays in multiple bands; touring, recording - indeed Guy, having recently returned home to Aus after decades in Seattle, remains Mudhoney's bass player - and continuing to forge paths of high creativity while adding to their varied catalogs.

The songs for Fancy Weapon’s debut album were recorded in a single session at Finn Keane’s Head Gap Studios in Preston in late 2024, before the band had even played in public and a week before the studio tragically burned to the ground (after a neighbouring business was criminally torched). Fortunately, the sessions were saved, and Finn & the band were able to continue mixing and finishing the record at an alternative studio. If the combination of Fancy Weapon’s vast experience isn’t intriguing enough, the instant chemistry heard across this album should delight any and all fans of Australian underground rock. The shared lead and backing vocals from Claire and Joel are affecting while the interplay of Mick’s iconic guitar stabbing and weaving through Joel’s powerful and layered playing works to brilliant effect. Rhythmically Guy (bass) and Claire (drums) provide a pulsing backbone, sounding as if they’ve been playing together for years.