A Quick Chat with Gun Laws

Australian Music Scene Q & A:

What are the origins of Gun Laws? Where and how did the band start?

The Gun Lore: Gun Laws’ seeds were sown when bass player Jake and guitarist Matt met as teenagers in Tarndanya/Adelaide and formed a punk band, Jerks who gained notoriety throwing DIY shows in loungerooms and vacant lots. Jake moved to Naarm/Melbourne and he and drummer and composer Jordie formed Cut the Kite String, while in Tarndanya Matt met saxophonist Waldie in funk punk soul outfit God God Dammit Dammit. Gun Laws formed first as a 3-piece when Matt landed in Naarm, and he, Jake and Jordie starting writing and performing together. They rapidly released their self-titled debut in 2020. When the trio hit the studio to record their second album, Merzau Burning, new mate Elisa and old mate Waldie got involved to add vocals and sax to some of the tracks. Once gigging the album across Naarm’s inner north, the new dynamic came into stride and the band solidified as a 5-piece act. Deals! Deals! Deals! is the first release from the group in its new form and provides a taste of Gun Laws’ rowdy, propulsive live act energy. They will return to the studio in November to record their third album, due for release in 2027.

Tell us a bit about the new single ‘Deals! Deals! Deals!’. What’s the story and meaning behind it?

Deals! Deals! Deals! is driven by a post-punk engine that journeys through a number of dynamic changes. It speaks to the unforgiving challenges of life, and the deals we make as we navigate through. Jordie and Elisa wrote their respective verses whilst battling difficult times: the highs and lows of parenthood while enduring relationship breakdown; and the fear and dark isolation of a crippling depression. The song explores fighting on through inner turmoil to bring oneself back from the edge and ultimately offers solace through appreciation of the simple truth that, as Trotsky appreciated.. even while in exile, awaiting execution by Stalinist agents, & “Life Is Beautiful”

Are there any inspirations you look to beyond music when writing or performing?

As a band Gun Laws take a lot of aesthetic influence from pulp - old noir, sci-fi films and stories, channelling cosmic menace meets societal reluctance. Visually we’ve borrowed a lot from Film Noir, Kurt Schwitters, Constructivism, Willem De Kooning, Raymond Pettibon, Edward Hopper, and have made clips for our music using old found archival material and advertisements.

Our key musical influences include everything from film composters to new wave, post-punk, through to jazz, soul and electronic music. Acts that inspire us include: Gang Of Four; Minutemen; IDLES; Fontaines DC; Fugazi; The B-52s; Parquet Courts; AFI; Ecca Vandal; Phillip Glass; Olafur Arnalds; The Kills; Amyl and The Sniffers; James Chance; The Supremes; John Coltrane; Miles Davis; Siouxsie and the Banshees; Bernard Herrmann; Pixies; GOAT; Scott Walker; James Chance; Public Figures; John Zorn.

Name the five songs that have informed Gun Laws’ song writing more than any others.

WIRE - Mannequin

We would jam on this as a three piece when the band first started and it was formative to our sound. All-in vocal harmonies over some pretty lean and mean lyrics. Plus it’s infectious as hell.

MARVIN GAYE & TAMMI TERRELL - Ain’t No Mountain High Enough

Had to play this in the school band and it’s kind of in our DNA. Our first song ‘Hassle and a half’ was basically a riff on it, like a post-punk caveperson’s response to it, growing an rugged lil clipping cut from a beautiful shrub.

GANG OF FOUR - Damaged Goods

To hear this true classic of the canon as a teenager is to be forever changed. You can’t beat that dynamic of hypnotic bass and drums locking under a canopy of impressionist anti-guitar.

MINUTEMEN - Political Song For Michael Jackson To Sing

Hard to pick just one track, but few bands have had more influence on the way we do things. No band ever did so much with so little. Make music with your lifelong friends and don’t be afraid to be your weird, insular selves.

PIXIES - Hey

Rounding off the theme of transformative teenage discoveries, Doolittle had everything. Huge and blistering and textured and layered, at the same time so simple and elemental. A beautiful cut from an archetypal Great Album™️.

What Australian artists are you listening to at the moment?

Little Dagger – Tarndanya/Adelaide alt-country outfit expressing haunting melodies, compelling rhythms and emotive storytelling. Just released their evocative self-titled LP.

Snailgun – post-punk noise rock trio from Naarm/Melbourne who are controlled chaos, creating a raw, howling, expansive sound. They released a banging first album, Glass Walls in 2026

Grub – Indie punk rock 5-piece from Boorloo/Perth owning stages with a wailing front woman, jagged guitars and dark-disco pulse. Set to release their debut album in October.

Bone Reaper – Tarndanya/Adelaide 4-piece driving hellbent, abrasive, relentless thrash.

The Halves – from Meanjin/Brisbane but now in Naarm/Melbourne making hard, anthemic alt rock with a post-punk urgency.

How do you hope your music might impact listeners?

We wanna be the sweatpunk soundtrack to your dirtiest daydreams and your big city nightmares. Our music makes a commentary on the human condition and our inner and external worlds, and explores existential notions of absurdity, exploitation, freedom, and survival. We hope listeners feel fortified by our music, brought in, lit up. Part of a collective energy in the capitalist doomscape. That if they do feel alienated in this world that it fosters a knowing that essentially we are alienated together. And we hope it gets them on their feet and to our shows.

Our live gigs are hot, sweaty, shambolic good times. We play hard and we bring our punters along for the ride.