Speed Week, the Australian punk group featuring members of Split System and The Brakes, are back with their first album since their 2020 debut Hey Hey It’s Speed Week (Legless Records). The new record, titled Weak Speed, comes via ENDLESS RECORDINGS (AU/NZ) and Erste Theke Tonträger (Europe) on Thursday, October 16.
Weak Speed is a ragged, ferocious portrait of post-pandemic Australia, where sycophantic local politicians run riot, housing options are reduced to shoddy, monotonous apartment blocks and technology has steam-rolled over steady employment and innate desires. This is a record of anthemic shout-alongs and hooky, rapid riffs, underpinned by its great tongue-in-cheek humour and propulsive energy.
The album was written and recorded slowly over four years, across Naam/Melbourne and lutruwita/Tasmania. Despite all the disruptions of the past few years, songs organically emerged from stray bits of lyrics and bursts of guitar sent to one another over Whatsapp. When they could meet up, they would record, with their drummer Andrew Leith Robinson at the helm of production. These recordings took place in a friend’s basement, or in a Tasmanian town hall in the middle of nowhere, rented out during the state’s election day.
