Stand Atlantic ProfileAustralia’s homegrown pop-punk champions, Stand Atlantic are in a bit of a purple patch right now, releasing their new album GODBREATH today, and beginning their biggest national headline tour yet alongside Knuckle Puck and Nightlight.
The last decade has seen the Sydney band release five studio albums, become one of the modern leaders of their genre and perform all over the world alongside household names like A Day To Remember and Simple Plan.
The band recently returned from the US after ticking off another bucket list moment with their debut at Warped Tour, a performance that vocalist Bonnie Fraser says had a sense of nostalgia to it after growing up watching old YouTube videos of her favourite bands performing there.
Fraser went into the writing of GODBREATH happy and in a great spot with life, resulting in an album full of love songs, confidence, charisma and a breath of new life.
GODBREATH leans into the nostalgic and sparkling pop punk sound of the millennium, while still feeling modern and timeless.
“On the last album WAS HERE, I was just not in a good place, like, mentally. My life situation was not good,” Fraser shares candidly.
“I actually was so numb that I couldn't even, I didn't know what I was feeling, how I was feeling, anything, I had nothing going on. I was in survival mode. I found it really, really hard to write that last record and it was excruciating to try and get anything out of myself.
"Since that happened, it was a wake-up call to me and I'm like, 'Damn if I can't write then what the fuck can I do? I need to figure this out.'
Fraser took steps towards making her life better, she ended the relationship she was in, she started taking more care of herself and got herself back on track.
“I didn't know who I was anymore," she continues. "So with this record, I was in just a way better headspace, period. I met the love of my life. I was in a healthy relationship for the first time in my life, it was awesome.
“And it was like so long [where] I just like didn't fuck with writing love songs really and I was like ‘I ain't doing that.’ Then that was all that was coming out for this record and I was like, ‘Whoa, I need to chill right now, I can't be doing that like it's so lame.’
"Then I was like ‘Actually I need to just lean in and just accept the fact that this is how I'm feeling.’”
It would have been easy for the band – completed by guitarist David Potter, bassist Miki Rich, and drummer Jonno Panichi – to write an album full of anger in response to the state of the world.
Instead they chose to focus on the good parts of life and create a record that Fraser says could be the perfect soundtrack for a drive down the highway at sunset.
“There's a lot of shit going on in the world and the world is literally falling apart," she muses. "I could have done a whole record on that by itself even but I just kind of wanted to create something that was like more of an escape for people to not have to listen to all the bullshit that's going on right now.
"There are still good things in the world and it starts with your immediate circle.”
When discussing the state of modern rock and alternative music, Fraser says she’s “bored with all of it," reasoning that due to the computer-based songs and production it all becomes very similar.
That includes their 2024 album WAS HERE which led to the band now wanting to create an album that wasn’t perfectly produced.
“I think the main takeaway was that we weren't necessarily trying to stand out, it was more just a response of like ‘This is fucking annoying.’ Like I say heaps of rock and alternative music at the moment is boring, right? That's been the line. I just keep saying it and it keeps getting repeated back to me so I'm just gonna fucking say it, that's what I've been saying.
"We are also part of that, it's not like to not include ourselves as well. WAS HERE was very computer heavy, computer-based songs and production.
“I feel like with everything going on in the world and also with technology evolving, AI slop and all that shit. I think everyone is going to at some point really yearn for real shit that you can't recreate and it's not perfect at all.
"I think that's what I was looking for when we were writing this as well," she adds. "It's like, I don't want a perfect album, I want it to be imperfect and I want to hear those little rough edges that I don't hear anymore right now.”
To get into this frame of mind, Fraser re-listened to the era that defined raw and real music, the ‘90s.
“Even right now actually YouTube's playing a Rage Against The Machine live set from something, I don't know when but it was in like the ‘90s,” Fraser explains, nodding to her TV off screen.
“I was watching like Korn shows and just really delving into that rough era where things were not fucking… They actually sounded like shit, but it was so fucking sick. Even the first Limp Bizkit EP or album, whatever, I was just like smashing that for a while and I was like, ‘Why am I so drawn to this right now?’
“It's because it's fucking real and you can hear people are making this. It's not a computer that's just done everything and there's a really nice charm about that. I wanted to get into that zone for this record and the way we met in the middle of like, obviously we can't avoid technology, it's just that's the way it goes.
"But we met in the middle and thought, ‘Let's live track these songs, they're rock songs at the end of the day, we're doing minimal computery production sounds anyways, let's actually capture the vibe of us playing it live.’
“I think even if you can't put your finger on what it is about the album that kind of makes you feel that, I do think that there's something intrinsic and subconscious that you can feel,” Fraser continues.
“There's humans in there, or there's something you feel from this album that isn’t tangible, but you just instinctively know or feel it.”
2027 will see the ten-year anniversary of Stand Atlantic’s breakout EP, Sidewinder.
It was the catalyst that saw them sign with Hopeless Records, tour the world and become peers alongside those they once idolised. So what would 2017 Fraser think of everything that’s happened since then?
“It is so hard to gain perspective when you're in the thick of everything," she explains. "Really I feel like it takes a whole different type of mental capacity to be able to step back and be really, truly appreciative of everything that's happening and has happened.
“I think one of the ways I do find myself feeling gratitude is like, I literally just think about that kid back then who was doing shitty YouTube covers in her bedroom and was so shy.
"Yeah, it makes me feel… it feels like my inner child, when I think back and be like, ‘Look, man, we did it. We're here, ten years later, it's crazy. It's so crazy.’ I'm so grateful that we're even able to still do this to the capacity that we're doing it, it feels really special.”
Stand Atlantic's GODBREATH is out now, with tickets to their national Australian tour on sale now.
Stand Atlantic – The GODBREATH Tour
with special guests Knuckle Puck and Nightlight
Friday, October 23rd – Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane, QLD
Saturday, October 24th – Enmore Theatre, Sydney, NSW
Wednesday, October 28th – The Forum, Melbourne, VIC
Thursday, October 29th – Hindley St. Music Hall, Adelaide, SA
Sunday, November 1st – Metropolis, Perth, WA
This piece of content has been assisted by the Australian Government through Music Australia and Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body
