Rancid Eddie are an Australian

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band from

Mount Waverley, Victoria Mount Waverley is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Monash local government area. Mount Waverley recorded a population of 35,340 at the 2021 census. It ...

. Their line-up consists of Jessy Kelly (guitar, lead vocals), Matt Sturrock (guitar, lead vocals), Eddie O'Brien (keys), Ash Ravlic (bass guitar), and Andy Sturrock (drums). Their music combines elements of

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with a DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and s ...

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

roots A root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors the plant body, and absorbs and stores water and nutrients. Root or roots may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''The Root'' (magazine), an online magazine focusin ...

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

pub rock Pub rock is a subgenre of rock music that emerged in the early to mid-1970s in the United Kingdom. A back-to-basics movement, which incorporated roots rock, pub rock was a reaction against the expensively-recorded and produced progressive rock ...

surf rock Surf music (also known as surf rock, surf pop, or surf guitar) is a genre of rock music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Southern California. It was especially popular from 1958 to 1964 in two major forms. The first is inst ...

and

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

. Rancid Eddie rose to prominence in 2021, after gaining traction on

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

with an acoustic version of their song " Dry" prior to its official release. "Dry" became their debut chart appearance, peaking at number 17 on the

ARIA Singles Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

, number 4 on the

New Zealand Singles Chart The Official Aotearoa Music Charts, formerly the Official New Zealand Music Chart (), is the weekly New Zealand top 40 singles and albums charts, issued weekly by Recorded Music NZ (formerly Recording Industry Association of New Zealand). The M ...

, and number 64 on the

Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are ...

. In October 2021, the band garnered controversy after various instances of alleged

misogynistic Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women or girls. It is a form of sexism that can keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the social roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practis ...

behaviour and lyrics, which led to the cancellation of various live performances. Someone let lead singer Jessy have access to the Instagram page, and from there everything fell apart. Jessy called people sl*ts and other defamatory words. All of this led Nathan Washington, a women’s rights activist, to make a call to action, adressing how Rancid Eddie’s actions were extremely innapropriate and the band needed to be repremanded.

Career

2018–2020: Formation and "Club Pleasure"

Rancid Eddie was formed in

, in 2018 by members Jessy Kelly (guitar, lead vocals), Matt Sturrock (guitar, lead vocals), Eddie O'Brien (keys), Ash Ravlic (bass guitar), and Andy (drums). On 30 November 2018, they released their debut single "Club Pleasure". On 30 August 2019, they released the single "Here We Go Again". "Here We Go Again" was co-produced by former

Portugal. The Man Portugal. The Man is an Alaskan rock band from Wasilla, Alaska and based in Portland, Oregon. The group consists of John Baldwin Gourley, Zach Carothers, Kyle O'Quin, Eric Howk and Zoe Manville. Gourley and Carothers met and began playing music t ...

member Noah Gersh and

30 Seconds to Mars Thirty Seconds to Mars (commonly stylized as 30 Seconds to Mars) is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1998. The band consists of brothers Jared Leto (lead vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards) and Shannon Leto (drums, ...

producer

Jamie Reed Jamieson Ronald "Jamie" Reed (born 4 August 1973) is a British former politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Copeland from 2005 to 2017. A member of the Labour Party, he was a Shadow Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Min ...

. On 6 September, Australian music journalism website ''Life Without Andy'' exclusively

premiere A premiere, also spelled première, (from , ) is the debut (first public presentation) of a work, i.e. play, film, dance, musical composition, or even a performer in that work. History Raymond F. Betts attributes the introduction of the ...

d the music video for the track. Alongside the premiere, they announced the forthcoming release of an EP titled ''One Last Dart''.

2021–present: "Dry"

On 14 May, they performed at Leadbeater Hotel in

Richmond, Victoria Richmond is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, east of the Melbourne central business district, located within the City of Yarra Local government areas of Victoria, local government area. Richmond recorded a population of 2 ...

. On 21 July, they released the single "Champagne". Throughout August and September 2021, an acoustic version of their unreleased single "Dry" gained traction on

after the band used it in one of their videos. On 26 September, " Dry" was premiered on

Triple J Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...

's "''2021''" program with

Richard Kingsmill Richard Kingsmill is an Australian radio announcer and music journalist. He worked for ABC radio station triple j from 1988 until his redundancy in December 2023, and was the station's longest-serving presenter. From 2017 he was group music d ...

, before being released later that day. On 30 March 2022, they released the single "Chai Latte".

Band members

* Jessy Kelly – guitar, lead vocals (2018–present) * Matt Sturrock – guitarist, vocals (2018–present) * Eddie O'Brien – keys (2018–present) * Ash Ravlic – bass guitar (2018–present) * Andy Sturrock – drums (2018–present)

Musical style and influences

Musically, Rancid Eddie are an

alternative Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (Kamen Rider), Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * Alternative comics, or independent comics are an altern ...

, and

band, who have received comparisons to

the Strokes The Strokes are an American Rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 1998. The band is composed of lead singer and primary songwriter Julian Casablancas, guitarists Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond, Jr., Albert Hammond Jr., bassist Nikola ...

Sticky Fingers ''Sticky Fingers'' is the ninth studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones. It was released on 23 April 1971 on the Rolling Stones' new label, Rolling Stones Records. The Rolling Stones had been contracted by Decca Records an ...

and

the Chats The Chats are an Australian punk rock band that formed in 2016 in the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. They describe their sound as "shed rock". The current band lineup is composed of guitarist Josh Hardy, drummer Matt Boggis, and bassist and vocali ...

Controversy and misogyny allegations

On 2 October 2021, Australian musicians

Kira Puru Kira Puru is a gender-fluid Australian musician. She is of Maori descent, her father being from the Tainui tribe, and grew up in Cardiff, New South Wales, near Newcastle. Puru has been described as "Señorita, swagger and a troublemaker" by T ...

and

Montaigne Michel Eyquem, Seigneur de Montaigne ( ; ; ; 28 February 1533 – 13 September 1592), commonly known as Michel de Montaigne, was one of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance. He is known for popularising the essay as ...

posted a series of tweets publicly criticising Rancid Eddie, alleging "problematic" and

misogyny Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against Woman, women or girls. It is a form of sexism that can keep women at a lower social status than Man, men, thus maintaining the social roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been wide ...

istic behaviour. Puru criticised the lyrics to their song " Dry", describing the song's lyrics as potentially " triggering" for those who have personally experienced

domestic violence Domestic violence is violence that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes r ...

. Puru additionally alleged that she had received messages from women who had had "experiences" with the band, listing several of them in detail. Montaigne chastised Australian youth broadcaster

for playing the band's music. In response to the allegations, Interstellar Music cancelled the band's upcoming show at their venue Thirsty Chiefs Brewing Company in

North Lakes North Lakes is a suburb in the City of Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia. In the , North Lakes had a population of 23,030 people. Geography The suburb is mostly made up of newly developed housing originally around the North Lakes Golf Cours ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, which had been scheduled for 18 February 2022. The band responded to the allegations in a statement on social media, saying: "We support female artists and detest sexism in the industry. Every female artist and fan will be safe and welcome at our gigs. We are against misogyny and bigotry of every kind." The band also stated "they were in the process of pursuing “full legal remedies” to “a completely false ‘anonymous’ assault allegation that is being spread around".

Discography

Singles

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 2018 establishments in Australia Australian alternative rock groups Australian funk musical groups Australian indie pop groups Australian indie rock groups Australian punk rock groups Australian surf rock groups Australian TikTokers Music controversies Musical groups established in 2018 Australian musical quintets Australian pub rock musical groups Roots rock music groups People from Mount Waverley, Victoria Musical groups from Melbourne