Australian punk-rock and metal band iDunnö found a worldwide audience when they dropped the single “Pissed Off and Married”. The song went to Top 10 on the Australian Triple J punk charts. The band has started developed a cult following due to their high energy gigs, thought provoking lyrical observations and driving guitar riffs. In Australia you can find them gigging Live but at this stage the rest of the world you will need to check them out on YouTube. iDunnö manage to draw in quite a vast audience that goes from peppy teenagers who love the band’s punkish attitude to groups of more mature rock fans. While the lead singer has been magnetizing the female species, apparently due to his eye-patch which seems to attract more than just the odd curiosity. Moreover, to confirm the band’s forward momentum their follow-up single, the epic “Speck in the Universe” which went straight to the Top 20.
Obviously capitalizing on their growing success, iDunnö dropped yet another single, the slightly sleazy and catchy “Poisoned Her Love”, to make sure audiences knew they meant business. Currently the band is in the process of heading back into the recording studio in Australia to re-record a brand new version of “Pissed Off and Married 2018” which is being reworked with a broader audience in mind. At the same time they will also record one of their most popular live tracks – “Tuff aka Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing”, as well as and new songs such as “Down and Out in Collingwood” and “New Skin”.
Threads of various influences can be heard here and there throughout iDunnö music, however riding on top of it all is a certain character and vitality that is all the band’s own. It has a personal feel, and I think the familiar sounds have been respectfully and carefully used rather than the wholesale wallpaper job some may suggest. One complaint I have about a lot of modern rock or punk based music today is how polished and produced it all feels.
Even in the more independent efforts, so much potential seems lost in the drive to produce and market rather than just honestly create. It has taken away that ‘edge’, the majority of earlier independent efforts always had. I can sense that ‘edge’ in iDunnö’s tracks, and it’s refreshing to hear something so well put together that can manage it in this digital age.
iDunnö lyrics indicate this Melbourne-based band have a somewhat cynical outlook yet with an unquenchable thirst for revelry, a titanic appetite for rock, and a prodigious ability to revisit the bold and brash punk sounds of the past into something darkly beautiful.
You can hear it all on “Poisoned Her Love” – Traditional rock motifs abound: Angular guitar riffs crackle with apocalyptic fury, while the drums and bass sound simultaneously impassioned. The track is shrouded in a Gothic ambience, and the lead vocals are deliciously otherworldly.
The band’s tracks are raw, swirling, gradually escalating monsters that should have you somersaulting around your bedroom within 60 seconds of pressing play. Australians are lucky to be able to see iDunnö playing gigs and perhaps in the near future European fans may also get the opportunity to experience them live?
In the meantime let the new recordings begin!
