Melb Up-&-Comers School Damage Sign With Chapter Music

Ascendant Melburnian "wobble-pop" four-piece School Damage have signed with esteemed indie label Chapter Music, backing up the news by unveiling the first taste of their impending self-titled debut studio full-length in new single Tall Poppies.

With the tune scoring a recent premiere on influential music site BrooklynVegan, School Damage are set to continue to raise their profile as they ramp up to their album's landing in a few months' time.

Although it's the album's first single, the song itself is actually one of the older compositions created by the group, to the point that co-founder Carolyn Hawkins "can't really remember how [it] came about", though she does recall that it "almost didn't get recorded — we learnt it pretty much on the day of recording — but I'm glad it did because it's one of my favourites".

"I can guess that I would have been feeling pretty down on myself when I wrote it," she said in a statement. "I'm the kind of person that is constantly comparing myself to other people and putting myself down because of it.

"This song is about being plagued by self-loathing, and the only way to get rid of it is to bring other people down with you. Not very nice, and I do hope I'm not actually like this, but I guess the dark side of me can relate."

Blossoming out of the bedroom recordings of Hawkins (Chook Race, Parsnip) and Jake Robertson (Ausmuteants, Frowning Clouds) — which started back in 2013 with a cassette offering on Canberra-based label Moontown Records — the band soon added drummer Jeff Raty and bassist Dani Damage to their line-up to assume their final form.

Now, armed with influences from the Vaselines and Particles to Young Marble Giants and undoubtedly more, School Damage are ready to spread their wings and hit new heights as we roll towards the album's arrival.

School Damage will be released via Chapter Music this June.