Austrian punks The Rumperts have joined us for our latest in the Roll of the Dice series to celebrate the release of the new record, New Age Jesus. Across the short interview, we discussed the band's sound, the pressures of recording mid-pandemic and whats next for the quartet.
Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview. Congrats on the recent release of New Age Jesus. What should TGEFM readers know about The Rumperts and the new record?
We are a four piece punk band from Vienna who started playing together in 2019. But our journey actually started a bit earlier. Playing together as childhood friends and sisters, we started in a small basement and worked our way through various formations until now. As a 4 piece we now try to conquer the big stages of the world.
Our new album New Age Jesus was written during the pandemic in Winter 2021. We had to sometimes switch to Zoom meetings, faced some other various obstacles, but we had to power through because we had a plane to catch. The incredible chance to record the album in the legendary Blasting Room was something we had to do and we had 5 months to prepare the songs. So under a bit of pressure and inspired by themes such as misogyny, body
shaming, love, hate and the meaning of life itself, we finished the songs in time and hopped on a plane to Colorado in April 2022.
The record was recorded at the heavily touted The Blasting Room, was there an added pressure recording in a space that has seen so many classics in the scene come through?
Oh, we definitely felt the pressure! We for sure had some good cries before and in between the sessions, I think one of us even cried during one recording session, hahaha. The thing was, we really didn't have much time for the recording process and we we‘re quite nervous about not finishing in time. That meant a lot of late night shifts and early mornings. We are very grateful to Chris (our main producer) for that. He was so invested and supportive we couldn‘t have done it without him!
But in between a few nervous break downs there was also a lot of excitement and fun working with Chris and the whole Blasting Room team! We had the chance to just wake up in the studio, next to all the Descendents/ALL memorabilia and going through these halls, seeing all our favourite bands up on the wall was also really motivating. It was one hell of a experience and we feel so lucky we got to do that.
The world has been multiple versions of fucked up for the last few years, and I feel like thats well represented in the lyrics. What non-lyrical impact, if any, does the current cultural and political landscape have on the band? Did the title of the record come from all the shit thrown at the world's feet over the last few years?
Everything that has happened the last couple of years for sure had an impact on us. Besides all the show and tour cancellation and now the struggle with people coming back to live shows, it had also impacted us as individuals. Our former drummer Birdy dealt with health issues, which lead to her having to step back. That was shortly before we were supposed to leave for the studio. Of course her health was more important so we had to quickly find someone we could take with us on such short notice. Fortunately Luke, who is such a passionate drummer and
has helped us out before took the chance and stepped in. In the end we were lucky enough to keep him as our drummer. And of course everything that has happened and is still happening has changed and impacted us forever.
In “New Age Jesus“, the title track of the album and the first song that was written, we talk about “People Pleasing” which we see a lot on social media and the internet in general. The strong need, almost an „addiction“ to be loved, needed and admired by everyone. It criticises an in- authentic and fake youth culture that is primarily driven by these attributes. The striving for attention and admiration for one's own self-worth, which depends on others, has become a business with thousands of followers on social media, which almost seems like a cult. That's
also what we were representing in the music video. That‘s a topic that really concerns us because it shapes the next generations, the teens, hell even the kids!
One of our obligatory questions in these interviews also tends to be the one I have found most important on a personal level. Who are some bands on your radar that TGEFM readers may not know about, but you think they should know about?
A few Austrian and German bands we really love and think should get more attention are BURNSWELL, THE BLOODSTRINGS, DREGS and the DEECRACKS.
Thank you again for your time. What's next for The Rumperts? Before we say our goodbyes, was there anything I missed that you'd like to share or dive deeper into with our readers?
Well we can't wait to play our new album on stage this year. We have been waiting for one year to do so, so that's really exciting. And we get to do that on a lot of cool and fun events in the next few months. SBÄM Fest 5 is coming up plus a few other great shows and in July and August we get to tour with Pulley, which for us is one check on our bucket list for sure! And of course we are waiting for the call for the US tour ;D
We really love making music, playing all those shows and we especially love the exchange with you guys. So we hope that all of us together will keep the punk scene alive and growing even stronger. Also a huge thank you to the TGEFM who contributes a lot to the punk scene with their work!!
Roll of the Dice is a short interview format with a variable amount of questions. A Pair of dice is rolled and the total, between 2 and 12, is the amount of questions we can ask. All questions are given to the interviewee(s) at once, and no follow-ups are allowed. The interview may be lightly edited for content and clarity.
Bad Dad (occasionally called Ed) has been on the periphery of the punk and punk-adjacent scene for over twenty years. While many contributors to this site have musical experience and talent, Ed's musical claim to fame comes from his time in arguably the most punk rock Blockbuster Video district in NJ where he worked alongside members of Blanks 77, Best Hit TV and Brian Fallon. He is more than just an awful father to his 2 daughters, he is also a dreadful husband, a subpar writer, a terrible dresser and has a severe deficiency in all things talent… but hey, at least he's self-aware, amirite?
Check out the pathetic attempts at photography on his insta at https://www.instagram.com/bad_dad_photography/
