When the doom-punk band Serpette agreed to play their first-ever show in 2023, they didn’t even have a name.
The week after, they played their second-ever show at last year’s Leaps and Bounds festival, where guitarist Andy rocked up with no shoes on.
“He’d seen God the night before”, vocalist Spyke tells me, offering no explanation or context. But this is what makes Serpette the great punk band they are today. “It’s chaotic people making chaotic music.”
Serpette Melbourne Gigs
- June 21 – Serpette Solstice, Thornbury Bowls
- July 27 – All Night Fever, The Tote
- July 28 – Old Bar Bonanza, Old Bar
Keep up with the latest music news, features, festivals, interviews and reviews here.
Serpette are set to hit the stage on June 21 for a fundraiser gig for Palestine Australia Relief and Action, before returning to Leaps and Bounds in late July. They only formed last May, but like the French knife they’re named after, Serpette has slashed through the noise of Melbourne’s music scene with their blistering brand of doom-punk, proving themselves a musical force to be reckoned with.
On March 1, Serpette released their self-titled debut album. The record feels like a monolithic wall of guitar, drums and bass, egged on by Spyke’s aggressive snarling vocals. Clocking in at 16 minutes across nine tracks, Serpette doesn’t beat around the bush.
If the nature of punk didn’t already make their music emotionally charged, then it sure would’ve been after guitarist Lexi went through some romantic drama right before the band recorded their album.
“I got told someone was in love with me and dumped within 24 hours of recording,” Lexi says.
Luckily for Lexi, the band managed to channel this raw emotion in the studio, teaming up with Andrew McEwan at Ritzland studios, whom Spyke describes as “truly a magician”.
“I don’t think we were even that good when we recorded it, but it came out and I was like, ‘We didn’t sound shit,’” Spyke says. Thanks to McEwan’s production expertise, the album is one of those rare instances where the recording manages to capture the energy of the live performance.
“I mean recording live, I guess, made the energy transfer pretty good. So like, all the amps [were] in separate rooms and then I was on the kit in the other room with everyone playing,” Woody says.
They all come from different occupations – Spyke is a social worker, Lexi is a screenwriter, Andy is a psychiatrist, Lauren is an international artist and Woody is a BAFTA-winning videogame designer.
But this motley group all have one thing in common. “We’re all freaks,” Spyke says proudly. “When we’re making music, we’re all just, like, real freaky and weird.”
This freakiness is the band’s glue – it creates a non-judgemental vibe, allowing them to seamlessly collaborate on ideas and try out new things. “It kind of translates to the sound that we’re making, which is chaotic,” Spyke says.
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When it comes to staying organised, the band’s drummer Woody is the one who keeps things together. He’ll say an event starts an hour early just so the rest of the band turns up on time.
“I think the rest of us are really untethered and in space and then Woody is really the person that tethers us. Thank God – we wouldn’t be a band if it wasn’t for him,” Spyke says.
This sort of unruliness is fairly on-brand for a punk band. But for Serpette, maintaining the mental well-being of each member is just as important as playing live shows.
“I think the thing that we always said is that playing music and writing music together always has to be enjoyable for us and like so, we always make sure we’re protecting that,” Woody says.
When I talk to them on Google Meet, it’s obvious they care for each other. Huddled shoulder-to-shoulder around a laptop, each joke cracked sees a playful punch in response, accompanied by a chorus of contagious laughter. Every member has been close friends for at least the past five years.
The band are also strongly connected to the surrounding punk scene in Melbourne. When they play at the Leaps and Bounds festival’s All Night Fever, a Queercore Punk Gig and Dance Party show, Serpette will be surrounded by familiar faces.
“They’re literally all of our besties,” Spyke says.
For more information on Leaps and Bounds 2024, head here. To keep up with Serpette, follow them on Instagram.
