Since 2015, VOIID has excavated a space in Australia’s DIY underground which belongs solely to them and their voracious set of fans. Based in Meanjin, VOIID’s acerbic EPs – Pussy Orientated (2017), Drool (2019) and Socioanomaly (2020) – followed in the footsteps of the feminist punk bands before them, exposing the physical and emotional brutality which pushes young women to the margins. Anji, Mina Cannon (drums), Antonia Hickey (bass/vocals) and Kate Mcguire (guitar/vocals) have built a haven for listeners to feel empowered in their anger, their wildness and their friendships. “It couldn’t be anyone else. It has to be us four,” says VOIID’s lead vocalist, Anji Greenwood.
“It’s so nice when you find people that you just love so much. You hear about musicians who hate all their band members, or who just aren’t that close to them, and I’m like – fuck no! I’ve seen all these girls’ boobs! They’re all so smart. They’re my future bridesmaids, they’re my best friends. Every time we’re together I’m just like, having the best time.”
2023 sees VOIID embracing a new confessional bend and a sound that straddles the faultline between alt-rock and post-punk. On their debut LP Watering Dead Flowers, VOIID break from their external focus, turning their gaze inwards for the first time. Drawing from diaristic source material, its songs are both headstrong and unsteady, calculating and vulnerable in the way they explore the defining relationships and emotions of young adulthood. The personal remains political, but the record’s strongest anchor is the unit of the band and the connection between its members, a sacred constant in the face of ever-shifting romantic and family dynamics.
Watering Dead Flowers gets its title from “Swallower”, a churning track where reality is distorted by a relationship that breeds insecurity (“Can I sleep in your bed? / Don’t wanna take up space”). Anji likes to return to an image of a garden in her brain when she talks about her mental health, and she has a sign next to her bed that says ‘water the dirt until the flower grows again’.
Watering Dead Flowers was recorded in 2021 by Matt Cochran (Talk Heavy, WALKEN) at Birthday Boy Studios, with assistance from Caleb Anderson (Mouse).
Ultimately, the album is a love letter addressed to each other and made available for the world to see, like carving a heart into a tree trunk. It overflows with private references to memories in sharehouses and their backyards; specific, shitty things that exes said and did; other bands and albums, pets, siblings, even a scene from the movie Ice Age (2002). It really, really couldn’t be anyone else.
Release: April 28, Damaged Records
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