FEATURE: Spotlight: Radio Free Alice

FEATURE:

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Jack Moran

Radio Free Alice

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I will come to some interviews…

with the sensational Radio Free Alice very soon. In modern music, I think that solo artists get most of the attention. When it comes to the best albums released, most of them are from solo acts. However, there are plenty of promising and strong bands around. One of them is Radio Free Alice. The Australian quintet of Noah Learmonth (vocals, guitar), Jules Paradiso (guitar), Michael Phillips (bass, saxophone), Maayan Barnatan (who has been mentioned as a member in some sources), and Lochie Dowd (drums) might be new to you. Big Hassle provide some background and biography of this terrific band:

“I can’t eat you, I can’t fuck you, so why the fuck would I come?”

Those were the parting words of Brian Jonestown Massacre frontman Anton Newcombe to Radio Free Alice’s band members. Hobbling over to the band, tequila in hand, as the band finished the early set of their Sydney residency at Newtown’s The Duke, the wiry icon offered words of praise. BJM were playing at the venue the next block down, and enjoying the natural rapport between them, the band invited Newcombe back to watch Radio Free Alice’s late set that night after BJM’s show. The invitation only to be rejected in the dry wit typical of the BJM founder, “I can’t eat you, I can’t fuck you, so why the fuck would I come?!”

At the vanguard of a new wave of high energy guitar rock and fast emerging as one of Australia’s most exciting young bands, Radio Free Alice released their first two EPs Radio Free Alice and Polyester.

With an operatic swagger and an angular, guitar-driven sound, the Melbourne group emerged with an art school musical palette, painted from a suburban Australian canvas. Immediate and arresting rock arrangements from the quartet meld with frontman Noah Learmonth’s distinctive yearning throaty vocal, harking to the stylings of Ian Curtis and Robert Smith. Guitars with clean tones and clever notes, melodic bass lines, urgent drum beats, and the occasional sax translate the band’s DIY recordings to an energetic, charismatic live show from the young quartet.

Following 2023 singles “Paris Is Gone” and “Look What You’ve Done,” which have received support from triple j, FBi and 3RRR, the band have opened for The Killers, Royel Otis, Sorry, Django Django, High School, The Snuts and a sold out four week residency at inner Melbourne’s Nighthawk. The band’s captivating live show saw them emerge from Brisbane’s BIGSOUND showcase and SXSW Sydney as one of the breakout artists for 2024, and backed up by NME who included them in their NME 100 list for 2025.

Having recently played festivals around Australia, a two month stint of club shows and festivals in UK/Europe and a sold out headline tour at home in Oz, expect more music from this frenetic new young band in 2025”.

I am going to end with a review of Radio Free Alice’s new E.P., Empty Words. I will also bring in some interviews from this year. Now, I want to step back to last year and CLASH’s spotlighting of an exciting, charismatic and atmospheric band who even then were being tipped as future greats:

“When a song grabs your ears and the band then plays your local independent grassroots venue then it’s a no brainer. You have to go, especially when the band is from the other side of the world. ‘Paris Is Gone’ had been stuck in my head when I spotted Australian band Radio Free Alice were scheduled to play Sneaky Petes in Edinburgh – cap. 90. They did not disappoint. Charismatic and commanding the five-piece brought something a little different to the crowded post-punk landscape, but just what that is hard to define. With the band back on home soil CLASH decided to find out more – especially as their second EP ‘Polyester’ has just landed on streaming. Lead singer Noah Learmonth provided the answers – first-up, where does the bands name come from and were there any other names under consideration?

“There’s a good answer and a more truthful, boring answer to that question. The good answer is that in the 60s there were pirate radio stations based on ships and one of them was called Radio Free Alice. I’m not entirely sure if this is true. The more truthful, boring answer is that we ripped it off a record store in Darlinghurst in Sydney of the same name. I’ve been told the owner doesn’t mind. Funnily enough the band name that I was considering for a while was ‘Polyester’, but I don’t think people really took to it so I thought maybe I’ll just save it for an EP or something, which is where we landed. I still think ‘The Suicidal Pussycats’ is a great name but I’m yet to find anyone that will agree with me.”

Radio Free Alice are completed by Maayan Barnatan, Michael Phillips, Jules Paradiso and Lochie Dowd. They formed in Sydney in 2020, inspired by the likes of Talking Heads, The Strokes and HighSchool, and are now based in Melbourne. They have just finished an extensive tour with headlines dates in the UK and Europe as well as festival appearances including The Great Escape, Live at Leeds, Supersonic and Dot to Dot. Noah shares: “The responses were really good, probably better then in Australia, although we obviously have a bigger fan base here. I think we’re more suited to the UK. Surf rock is still the thing in Australia, which is worrying on a few different levels. The standout for me was a festival we played in Amsterdam called London Calling. One of the acts pulled out so we played twice in one day. There was just a massive crowd and it sounded great. Whenever it sounds great I’m happy. I care less about the crowd, I just want to feel like we’re actually a good band.”

Second EP ‘Polyester’ follows hot on the heels of their self-titled debut released in 2023 which includes the aforementioned ‘Paris Is Gone’. CLASH was interested to know what the main difference is between the two EPs in terms of inspirations. Noah explains: “The main difference for me is that Polyester is more subtle. On the first EP every song has these massively cathartic choruses, which will always have a place in my heart, but on this EP it’s all a little more restrained. More tasteful and considered. Probably darker too.”

Intriguingly Radio Free Alice undertook a slightly unconventional approach to the recording of Polyester. It began in Melbourne but was then finished in studios, backstage areas, tour vans, street corners, hostel bunk beds and train stations while on tour. “That sounds extremely romantic but it plays back to us feeling most inspired while on the road. We recorded the skeleton of the tracks in Melbourne but then recorded some extra bits and some vocal things while over here, and then did the final mixes in London. We have a constant conveyer belt of songs and those four were the best of the old ones so it made the most sense.”

The opening bassline on ‘On The Ground’ immediately grabs you, and the lyrics are vivid including: “Dinner’s in the fridge you can eat it on the couch. I slap you on the back and say ‘you can’t afford that, afford that.'” Noah expands: “The song roughly follows the narrative of a toxic man who is seducing, or manipulating, a woman into being with him through his money. Something like that.”

Creatively the music always come first with Naoh admitting: “I often won’t write the lyrics till a day or so before going into the studio and will just sing gibberish at the live shows. That can go on for over a year. I can be very lazy”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Harry Baker

Last month, Wonderland chatted with Radio Free Alice as they were over in the U.K. performing. Playing to crowds in London venues and how different that was to the vibe in Australia. They were gearing up to release the much-anticipated Empty Words E.P. Radio Free Alice are gaining such momentum at the moment:

“How would you define your essence as a band?

Melodic post-punk would be a simple way to describe it.

Do you feel at home in the UK?

Yeah very. Culturally, musically, comedically, we love the UK and its history. We’ve borrowed so much from it, not just musically. I think history is really important. You could be writing lyrics in the same pub that Mary Shelly wrote Frankenstein. Australia’s got a lot of talent, but there’s a low ceiling.

How have the London crowds been? What’s a live show like?

Surreal. Seeing Brits shout lyrics back at us is very strange and cool. We’d love to think of our live shows as frenetic and vulnerable.

How’s the Aussie indie scene vs. British? Who should we watch?

The Melbourne scene is full of talent. Bands like Raindogs, Belair Lip Bombs, NPCEDE, shock corridor, sex mask are amazing, just to name a few. It’s a great scene for fostering talent. I’m unsure if London is a good in that respect, in terms of growing talent. Possibly not which I why I’m glad we started in Melbourne.

What’s the story behind the title “Empty Words”?

The title touches on the theme that threads the EP together, which is having been promised a future that never came. The 20th century, although we didn’t live through it, appeared to all be leading up to some kind of real change, a true social revolution, and yet all the turn of the millennium offered was a never ending cycle of repeating itself. We haven’t progressed culturally in 20 years, it’s all just recycled pastiches of the past. Movies, TV, fashion, music. It feels like society was promised something better than this. All the revolution talk of the 20th century amounted to nothing. We are aware however of the irony of talking about this whilst being a nostalgic sounding band, and there is an element of frustration about that, feeling like we’re part of the problem.

What’s next?

We’re touring UK/Euro till September, then America and then UK/Euro again, then Australia. So a lot of shows. We’re also in the process of finishing our first album, which is going to come out next year”.

I will actually move to this review from Hard of Hearing Magazine as they witnessed Radio Free Alice launch Empty Words at Brixton’s The Windmill. One of this year’s most startling, memorable and superb E.P., you come away from it with this deep impression. The band make a real impact across the tracks. It must have been thrilling for the crowd to witness the tracks played live:

“The EP is brimming with raw emotion and nervy momentum. Opening with the title track, first released back in March, ‘Empty Words’ sets the tone with a biting line, “They say that everything has changed / But nothing has happened,” delivered with jarring, unfiltered vocals. The sharp, witty lyrics add a tangible texture to the gritty and tightly wound instrumentation, which is feverish without ever losing precision.

‘Toyota Camryn’ follows, opening with pounding drums and a driving bassline that lays the groundwork for a jagged guitar melody. Raw, immediate vocals lead the verse, cutting through with the line “I believe in violence, the violence of killing time”, a bold phrase that nails the track’s restless spirit. When the chorus hits, it lands with melodic clarity and razor-sharp control.

Radio Free Alice do not shy away from dissonance, letting noise and euphony collide, embracing the tension. On ‘Regret’, a searing guitar bridge slices through rasping yet melodiously restrained vocals, delivering lines of visceral confession that feel both intimate and confrontational. Then, closing the four-track EP, ‘Chinese Restaurant’ is led by a persistent guitar melody underpinned by steady percussion. Learmonth’s vocal performance carries a restrained depth reminiscent of The Cure’s Robert Smith, giving the track a timeless and unsettled energy.

The raw urgency of the EP reflects the chemistry of four creatively ambitious musicians in their early twenties, forging a sound unbound by genre. Radio Free Alice are building something entirely their own, vital, unfiltered, and alive with possibility.

On ‘Empty Words’, Radio Free Alice confront the limits of language with biting precision. “I said I could kill them with my empty words or I could kill them all” is not just a lyric, it is a thesis statement for a band pushing back against meaninglessness with noise, dissonance, and the sheer force of presence. On stage, they embody this tension with songs that speed ahead of themselves without ever losing control. Their disarray is never accidental.

Together, the EP and the live show form a complete portrait that is neither polished nor resolved, but immediate and alive. It is a sound built on instinct, fueled by friction, and grounded in the kind of truth you only find when you scream it into a room full of strangers.

I am going to end with a review of Empty Words from DORK. For anyone who has not heard Radio Free Alice or knows a bit about them, do go and listen to their music. I think they will be back in the U.K. soon. Noah Learmonth, Jules Paradiso, Michael Phillips, Lochie Dowd and Maayan Barnatan are a sensational force:

“A wistful energy runs through Radio Free Alice’s third EP, ‘Empty Words’, like the fuzzy glow of a half-forgotten youth drama on VHS. Drawing on their art-school post-punk palette, the Naarm/Melbourne band deliver four tightly wound tracks that feel both urgent and full of romance.

The title-track, ‘Empty Words’, opens with nervy guitars and restless momentum. It takes a sideways glance at performative activism, mixing jagged riffs with a touch of melody that keeps things grounded. Frontman Noah Learmonth’s vocal shifts between operatic flair and raw-edged restraint.

On ‘Toyota Camry’, it hits a sweet spot. Laced with shimmering production and 80s-style backing vocals, the track pairs crisp, chiming guitars with a lyric sheet that captures fleeting teenage moments in sharp detail. It’s nostalgic, but not stuck in the past: cinematic, effortless and one of their finest songs to date.

‘Regret’ brings the mood down a notch, without losing any drive. The rhythm section holds it steady while Learmonth wrestles with emotional fallout. Closing track ‘Chinese Restaurant’ takes a more reflective turn, inspired by touring through UK venues stuck in nostalgic limbo. It’s quietly sad, offering a final glance at the past through steamed-up windows.

‘Empty Words’ doesn’t just build on Radio Free Alice’s earlier work, it sharpens it, deepens it and launches them somewhere far more interesting. Every track is a standout; every moment is considered. This isn’t just another promising EP from a buzzy guitar band, it’s a properly brilliant one: smart, stylish and already sounding like a future cult classic”.

After releasing Empty Words and completing a string of U.K. dates, the band headed to Europe. It has been a busy year for them. I can imagine an album coming along soon and there being opportunities for Radio Free Alice to play big festival stages. There is such a lot of great music around at the moment and the Australian five-piece are among the best and brightest. Make sure they are on your radar, because it is clear that this band are…