Zombeaches & The Belair Lip Bombs Interview Each Other

Image: Top - The Belair Lip Bombs; Bottom - Zombeaches

Following some awesome singles, including title track A Taste of Oxygen that we premiered the awesome music video for, Naarm post-punks Zombeaches have unveiled their second full-length album.

A dark and introspective collection of eleven tracks, A Taste of Oxygen touches on themes isolation, connection and hope, set to some pretty epic sounds. Big, fuzzy and sometimes dissonant guitar riffs fill out the mix alongside a tight and relentless rhythm section, while frontman James Young’s stark and commanding vocals cut through.

Speaking on the album, James explains “The album is a celebration of life itself, though while at times it dips into darker tones such as isolation, mortality, suicide and depression it aims to never linger in this space for too long as each song is written with a sense of hope, appreciation and celebration. There is a common expression of beauty, admiration and love of the world in which we live and for the people that live in it.

The world can be seen as a dark place right now and it can be easy to let many things bring you down. The album aims to not be defined by darker times and urges to push forward and appreciate the happiness and love that surrounds.. Perhaps in essence the title itself serves as a gentle nudge in recognising the profound beauty and fragility of life.”

The album was engineered and mixed by the legendary Nao Anzai, whose credits are far too numerous to list but includes the likes of The Teskey Brothers, Floodlights, Rolling Blackouts C.F., and another Melbourne band enjoying an ascent, The Belair Lip Bombs, who just happen to be mates with Zombeaches.

To celebrate the release of A Taste of Oxygen, Zombeaches and The Belair Lip Bombs interviewed each other for Pilerats!

Zombeaches interview The Belair Lip Bombs

Now that King Gnome sculpture has been relocated from Frankston, what is now your favourite Frankston Landmark?

My favourite landmark of Frankston is probably Singing Bird Studio at this point. Personally I was never a fan of the Gnome

Jay and I have got into a terrible tradition of eating Subway and Maxibons after every rehearsal at Singing Bird Studios. Is there something we are missing here, some Frankston foodery that we are not aware of? What do you eat at Singing Bird? Cause the sub-bon combo is disgusting and we both feel real gross about it, but we keep going back.

Ewwwww guys. To be fair though it’s slim pickings around there, not gonna lie. Normally I just starve until I get back home and eat at midnight, or sometimes (once in a blue moon) Jimmy has cooked something crazy and brings some for us.

One of our favourite Lip Bomb tracks has always been Jimmy’s Song. Is that title because Jimmy wrote it or does it come from something else? How does the writing process go for Lip Bombs? Is it a collective group thing or do members bring in more fully formed ideas? Has the approach changed over the years?

Yeah Jimmy wrote that song. It’s probably the only old song that we still play live sometimes. I write the bones of all the songs, and the structure, but everyone puts their own spin on all their parts. Mike writes all his guitar parts.

I'm still spewing I missed you playing at Golden Plains. I watched you play so many gigs over the years and I'm so proud to see bands from our scene and area getting success. How was it playing in the SUP? I heard great things from friends who were there. What was the feeling both pre and post performance? Did you do like a RHCP group hug thing before hitting the stage or just walk on and kill it? And what did you put on the backstage rider?

It was good fun! It was also Liam’s last gig with us in Australia (he came to Texas with us for SXSW the week after which was his last gigs) so it was super special. I think we might have done a little team huddle but nothing crazy…we had a pretty low key rider. Beers, a packet of green Dunlop guitar picks, a packet of Ibuprofen, and a massage gun.

This is a question for Frankston Mike, was Frankston Mike born in Frankston cause Jay was born in Frankston and was wondering what the deal is with the namesake, is it ok if Jay goes by Frankston Jay from here on in?

Frankston Mike has only been in Frankston since like 2015. I grew up in the west (3012). I changed my instagram name to frankston_mike after frankston_stu because I thought it was funny and thought more people would start doing it. Alas I was wrong but I kept the name. I welcome Frankston_Jay to the community!!

The Belair Lip Bombs interview Zombeaches

Your guys second album A Taste Of Oxygen has just come out. I had the privilege of listening to it over a year ago and can say it is a bloody good record! I’ve always found James’ lyrics to be quite ambiguous (in a good way) so I’m really curious to know what are some of the themes you guys explore on the record, especially my favourite track Resonant Transmission? - Maisie

Thanks Maisie. The album comes from some darker sides of isolation and mortality but is written with a sense of hope, appreciation and really a celebration of life itself. I'm glad you like resonant transmission as this was a real battle to write and put together. This is the only idea we had left over from the last album and it went through many changes both instrumentally and lyrically to get it right. You're right with the ambiguity, I don't like to give too much away, (especially if someone has created a connection or narrative with a song, I don't want to ruin that lol.) But it sums up a lot of the album themes of resilience in darker times and persisting on with a sense of hope.

One of the first shows I went to in my teens was a Zombeaches show at the Snake Hole in Mornington. It was with Skegss and Dumb Punts. Do you guys have any fond memories of that show? I reckon a guitar may have been smashed on stage  - Dev

Hahahaha yeah that was an absolute classic! We were completely unknown at that stage, I think we had only played 1 house party before then as a band, so I think there was a real sense to prove ourselves and put everything out there. That gig was complete chaos, guitars got smashed, and there were so many people cramped in that tiny shop. Still pretty close with the snake hole guys but that was the one and only show they ever held in their space. Definitely one for the ages! (I believe the guitar still hangs in two pieces in the snake hole studio).

Every second gig I go to, Youngy is there. How are you always checking out live music? What’s your secret to being everywhere all at once? What was your last favourite show you attended and what was your last show that you hated attending (names don’t have to be mentioned) - Mike

Hahaha maybe i'm only going to gigs where I think Mike might be. But I guess growing up in a tiny town I was very shy and never really socialised outside my small local friends. I had no idea about the local or underground music scene so it was something that I discovered for myself throughout my 20’s and in that way I think it became part of my identity and really I just love seeing my friends' bands perform and develop and be a part of it all.

I just saw the new Melbourne band Serpette play over the weekend and it was great! Chaos/energy and all these crazy lights and shadows everywhere! They are a great band and group of people.

I don't know about ones that I hated, I just dont think I’d want to put myself in that position. Though there was a festival where a local band was playing and the singer had been a real asshole to us a year before. I was really pissed off that they were playing, so I spent the whole gig telling all my friends what a piece of work this guy is! Though I woke up the next day I looked him up and realised I mixed him up with someone else! I have now met him and he really is the loveliest person and I can't bear to tell him, so I feel really terrible about that whole experience lol.

Growing up in the peninsula, we were all too familiar with great venues BAHA and the famed Frankston supper club. What are some bygone venues you wish you could still attend or perform at? - Jimmy

The first real gig I ever attended was at the Moorooduc Coolstores just before it closed. As a kid we used to drive past there all the time and they’d have all the bands playing on the sign out the front and that was always a dream of mine as a kid. So I'm sad that it never could happen, but things move on. It seems that the peninsula has always struggled to get a solid long lasting venue. Was a shame that Moonah Arts Collective that ran through the pandemic couldn’t continue as that had a real strong belief and feel. But yeah so many places just haven't worked, the conti, rye sail bar, baha’s ect. But huge shout out to places like Soundbar, Pig N Whistle and the pretty snazzy nazz crew for keeping live music events still happening on the peninsula.

There are a tonne of great bands coming up from Frankston / the ninch at the moment. Do you guys have any particular favourites that you think deserve a greater spotlight? - All

I'll take this opportunity to mention our friend Redro, who sadly passed last month. He was a huge contributor to peninsula and melbourne music and his music sadly never got the recognition it deserved. See Me by Redro Redriguez & His Inner Demons is a perfect song in my opinion.

But also huge nod to the following:

Speed Mullet
Baby Mullet
Public House
Taylah Carroll
Rennie and the Shit Yeah
NAMES
Runnin Hot
Fever Shack
Domesticated Animals
Dirt Road Wave

Zombeaches new LP A Taste of Oxygen is out now

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