Melbourne rockers LOSER have released their most invasive album yet with sophomore full-length effort 'All The Rage'
After a string of lapped-up single releases, Melbourne rock outfit LOSER have unveiled their sophomore full-length All The Rage in full.
LOSER have gone from strength to strength since introducing the record, clocking over 330,000 album streams thus far.
What you need to know
- Melbourne rock group LOSER have released their sophomore album All The Rage
- It follows their 2020 Australian Music Prize-nominated effort Mindless Joy,
- Singer Tim suffered a mental breakdown while recording the album, inspiring its ethos
Stay up to date with what’s happening in Melbourne here.
Following their 2020 Australian Music Prize-nominated effort Mindless Joy, All The Rage is the sophomore full-length effort from Melbourne rock outfit LOSER. The record offers a powerfully honest and emotive distillation of who LOSER are at their collective core, especially so for singer-shredder Tim Maxwell.
While in the past he would hide behind metaphor to expound on his inner turmoils, this album marks a daring leap forward into a new world of soul-baring songwriting.
It all came to a head when Tim was tracking vocals for the album’s lead single, ‘On The Edge’ and suffered a breakdown in the studio. The resulting record is one that doubles as a lifeline for Tim, the band and those struggling to find their own mental stability mid-pandemic.
“That’s the first time I’d ever broken down in the studio,” Tim admits. “I didn’t know what was wrong with me – I felt like half my body was numb. And I think you can really hear that through a lot of the vocal tracking and the lyrical content.
“I basically wanted to give the kids of 2021 an opportunity to feel what I felt back in the day. When I would hear bands like Green Day for the first time and just lose my mind. I wanted to write a song that would have a universal impact.”
LOSER’s broader pandemic experience involved the launch of their own Restless Noise Studios, after band-and-real-life-brothers Tim and Will took to their parents’ garage to build the space the band would self-record All The Rage in during lockdown.
Combining threads of other favourites like Oasis, Wheezer, blink-182 and Smashing Pumpkins, All The Rage draws on the band’s penchant for nostalgic rock, pummelling riffs and larger-than-life solos.
The record was produced by Tim Maxwell & Craig Selak, mixed by Anton Hagop (Silverchair, Powderfinger), mastered by Matt Gray & drum recording by Sam Johnson.
“I hope there’s something on this album that people feel like they can relate to,” says bassist Craig Selak. “Even a song like ‘Skyward’ – I mean, it’s about aliens, but it’s also about feeling like when shit’s hitting the fan, you can step out and just focus on yourself.
“I think that’s the overarching theme of the album: you don’t have to step away and hide from the world, you can look within and find something that makes you feel more comfortable. And that really sums up the personal growth we all went through in trying to record this album, learning not to overthink thinks, and Tim’s personal journey with his mental health over the pandemic.
“I hope people feel at home in these songs, and that it’s reaffirming on some level… and I like the guitar solos.
“During the writing and recording of Mindless Joy, We would be like, ‘This part reminds me of Alice In Chains, let’s go more down that path,’ or, ‘This is kind of Weezer-y, let’s put some more of that energy into it.’ But this time around, it was much more about what we were feeling personally and what felt good to us, and a bit less of a focus on any of that stuff.
“Having been a band for longer, and having Mindless Joy on our belts already, we feel a bit less worried about how it’s all going to come across. We’re more comfortable in expressing ourselves.”
Stay tuned as LOSER ready to announce their long-awaited album tour dates as soon as restrictions allow. All The Rage is out now via Domestic La La.
