Upcoming Releases

Australia’s CIVIC have today announced the May 30 release of their third album, Chrome Dipped, via ATO Records. Willing to break free from the raw, distinctly Australian punk rock blueprint of Future Forecast (2021) and Taken By Force (2023) — an album praised by Mojo with four stars and hailed by NME as “a blunt, muscly rock record that’s constantly on edge” — CIVIC push themselves into fresh creative territory with Chrome Dipped. Marking a bold shift from their signature sound, the LP finds the band exploring new sonic territory while maintaining their sharp intensity.

“We’d been pushing a sort of ’70s Australian punk sound with our first two records, but I think we wanted to take it in a different direction,” says guitarist Lewis Hodgson. “I think it was all starting to feel a bit stale.”

“We didn’t really know what we were going to make but we went into it very open for change,” adds vocalist Jim McCullough.

To guide CIVIC– which is completed by bassist Roland Hlavka and drummer Eli Sthapit – to these new sonic pastures the band tapped Australian singer-songwriter Kirin J. Callinan to produce the record, and legendary musician and producer Chris Townend to engineer. It was Callinan’s idea to spend a week recording at the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) in Tasmania, a far cry from the outback house in which CIVIC laid down Taken By Force. “We’ve always done our records DIY,” says McCullough. “This time we wanted to step up and make it sound as big as we could.”

The end result is the work of a band expanding their boundaries. “We kind of stuck to the rules a little bit earlier on like, do Australian punk rock properly and all that,” says Hodgson. “But after touring around the world and seeing what all these other bands are up to it’s like, you can really do whatever the fuck you want. And so it’s fun to just kind of let go.” He continues, “I hope people feel a little confused at first. Then a bit angry, and then feel good, and then interested, and then they feel like, ‘Oh, this is sick.’ That process exactly. I hope it’s a bit challenging.”

Chrome Dipped tracklist:

1. The Fool
2. Chrome Dipped
3. Gulls Way
4. The Hogg
5. Trick Pony
6. Poison
7. Amissus
8. Starting All The Dogs Off
9. Fragrant Rice
10. Kingdom Come
11. Swing Of The Noose