CLAMM have never shied away from facing harsh dystopian realities head on. The Naarm/Melbourne punk trio’s very existence is rooted in resistance to an ever-intensifying, tumultuous world; “while we see the same problems around us, problems that are probably only getting worse, I think we are going to continue to make music that is attempting to push against it,” guitarist and vocalist Jack Summers says. On their latest album Serious Acts, this incisive directness is sharper, and more necessary, than ever.
On Serious Acts, the band’s characteristic no-nonsense lyricism and bristling punk riffs are in full force alongside metallic synth loops and propulsive horns, leaning into a new, broader sound palette that CLAMM – comprised of Jack Summers, Miles Harding and Stella Rennex – expand into on this record. Serious Acts carries frank veracity throughout, touching on the heft of existence, issues of structural violence and mental health, economic coercion and hyper-exploitation, climate crisis and human inertia in the face of it all, the horrific absurdity of media narratives, societal obsessions with celebrity culture and our digital age of dissociative brainrot doomscrolling, and corruption and exploitation of labour in a system designed to only benefit the elite.
Sonically, the band adds gravitas to the topical weight they bear across Serious Acts. “We wanted it to sound as big and intense as possible”, Summers says. CLAMM recorded the album within a week, enlisting long-time collaborator Nao Anzai on sound engineer duties, recording at Head Gap Recording Studios in Preston, a space which has sadly since burned down. From there, the trio spent a few days at Rolling Stock Recordings Studios for vocal and guitar overdubs, with Seth Manchester then mixing the album in Rhode Island. “With this record we separated things a bit more in order to give Seth as much control as possible,” Summers adds. “We wanted listeners to have the experience of the intensity that might come with watching us live and I don’t think that is as simple as recording it in the room”.
Whilst CLAMM address hardships and inequalities with unwavering clarity, there’s also a certain solace to be found in the unity that sits at the core of the band. It’s knit into their existence and writing process, which doesn’t follow any strict formula but builds from an idea or element that one of them might come up with or bring to rehearsal sessions, then developing that collectively: “it’s generally important for us to come to what the song “is” together.” It’s also there in the community their sonic catharsis fosters; “I think with our music sometimes there’s sort of a celebration that happens where people get a space or community and get to connect over the fact that most of them are in agreeance that shit is fucked up”, Summers says. Which is exactly the kind of urgent and prescient space that CLAMM have cultivated with Serious Acts, further cementing their status as a vital and fresh punk presence.
Release: May 30th, 2025, Meat Machine Records
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