In the Green Room: LOLA
Honest, humorous and hard-hitting songwriting manifests in a new form through SA’s resident punks, LOLA. Crafted over their European and Australian tour, LOLA spill the details about their new EP Prawn Star and how they’re celebrating its release.
Interview Millah Hansberry // Image Jaydon Ford
Congratulations on your brand-new EP, Prawn Star. How does it feel to have these songs out for the world to hear?
Thank you! We’re extremely proud of this EP, it’s our best one yet! It’s always a pain in the ass trying to top ourselves but it feels good when we do. We hope people find some enjoyment in it, too! Now that it’s out, we’re keen to do the next one already.
This is the third EP you’ve released in the past four years. How do you feel Prawn Star fits into your broader catalogue?
It squeezes in like a smelly guy on an overcrowded bus - makes your eyes water and your pores sting, as you gasp in awe of the stench. In a good way, obviously.
It feels like we’re becoming more sure of ourselves as a band while also continuing to change and grow, and you can hear that when comparing Prawn Star to our first 2 EPs. We’ve done a good job at making all of our songs sound fresh and different from each other too, which keeps things interesting!
The tracks on Prawn Star were recorded at Adelaide’s Depict Studios with Lachy Pitcher. What did he bring to the recording process?
Lachy is an amazing person to work with in the studio. He is incredibly professional, but at the same time will always be down for a bit of a laugh and some stupid banter. Lachy is a great producer, he’s able to help us with cool ideas when it comes to adding or removing certain parts from a track, without stepping on our toes (This is an artist’s dream!). His mixing and mastering keeps getting better and better every time we come back to him too! Not to mention, his new studio has a golf putting green, so that’s even top-notcher.
With the release of the EP, you’ve put out a slew of music videos for different songs in the project. What has motivated this push to prioritise visual media in LOLA’s projects?
These days, visual media is even more important than ever with everyone always on their phones and we figure that if we can grab people’s attention that way, maybe they’ll stick around and eventually come to a show. It definitely feels good to be creative in a visual way - it’s extra bang for your buck in terms of entertainment. As a bonus, it happens to treat all the songs like singles and give them as much spotlight as possible! We did the same for our first EP where all of our songs had music videos. These days, you’re supposed to release most of your EP or album as singles first, and making a few music videos seems to make up for that.
Your last single ‘What Line?’ is the first track LOLA have released where vocalists Seb and Billy have shared verses, creating a really dynamic vocal blend. Can we expect to see more of this in the future?
Yeah, we’ve been wanting to do something like this for ages since all of us can sing, but it never really happened naturally until ‘What Line?’. It also adds another collaborative element to the writing process, making a song more of a mixture of our different creative processes. It also means we can bounce energy off each other a bit more at live shows which is a lot of fun. We’ve definitely got more of this coming in the future.
In 2024, LOLA signed to Teamwrk Records for the release of Prawn Star. How has it been releasing this new music under the label?
It’s super cool to be working with Teamwrk! Everyone we’ve spoken to at the label has been heaps nice, and they sure keep us hyped and reassured that we’re doing alright! Having someone outside the band vouch for you feels good. We’re also glad that Teamwrk can take a lot of the weight off of our manager’s shoulders as well.
READ MORE: In The Green Room: TV Therapy
You’re taking the EP on an Australian tour in September. A few songs from the release were written or constructed over a few tours, through Europe in 2023 and on The Screaming Jets tour earlier this year. How do you find touring plays a role in LOLA’s creativity and songwriting?
Being on tour gives us the opportunity to collaborate a lot easier and more often. It gives us more perspective on things when we’re travelling around! The origins of ‘What Line?’ started in Portugal around a pool in a town called Alijio. The original name for the song was actually Alijio, and one of the guys from Teamwrk said to us, “What the fuck does Alijio mean?” They made a good point and we sure don’t want to be asked that again.
What show on this tour are you most keen to play?
All of the shows have sick lineups - we’ve managed to book shows with bands we’ve been trying to play with for four plus years! We’re excited for the whole tour! Vinnie’s Divebar in Gold Coast would be a standout though because we’re playing a huge lineup with mates from Adelaide (Looch) and legend Anty (The Bennies), plus three more local acts! Also, our hometown show at Adelaide UniBar is going to be massive, it’s already selling well!
You’ve tapped Ledfly, Molly Rocket and revived old local band SASHA for your Adelaide show. What made these bands the right fit for this launch?
Molly Rocket are our long time mates - we’ve been knocking around and playing shows with them for around 4 years. They’re SOOO good and loose, we really wanted them to be a part of this one. Ledfly are our new mates! They’re the new generation and the songs are hectic and they’re such nice dudes! Their guitarist and drummer have also saved our asses a few times now when we’ve had a broken wrist and a footy concussion and needed short notice fill-ins!
As for SASHA, they’re a household name to anyone in the Adelaide music scene, and we actually stole Seb from them after going to nearly every one of their shows when they first started! We’ve gotten to know them quite well! Billy has also played gigs with their drummer Dylan since they were both 12! We love those SASHA dudes and feel very privileged to be included in the revival! They’re obviously fucking nuts with what they do, we’re glad they’re back. It’s gonna be epic!
If each track from Prawn Star was a different sea creature, what would they each be?
Seb is a marine biologist so we thought it’s best he answers this one.
‘My Life’ would probs be a sea turtle - like Crush from Finding Nemo because he’s pretty cool and chill and this song is pretty cool and chill as well. The overall vibe reminds me of Crush’s attitude.
‘Love It and Leave It’ is maybe a wild scallop because they’re super yummy but are also pretty unsustainable because of trawling. So, you should probably leave it.
‘Don’t Try to Find the Drugs’ would be a dolphin because they like to get high on puffer fish toxins and puff puff pass them to their mates like it’s a joint.
‘Fast Life’ would have to be a black marlin because they’re fast as fuck (top speed is like 130km whaaat!)
‘What Line?’ would be a killer whale because they’re super smart and hunt collaboratively. This song is one of the most collaborative songs we’ve written. Also, they’re awesome.
Catch LOLA on their Prawn Star Tour at Adelaide Unibar on September 13 and in Port Elliot’s eo Haus on September 12 with Loose Units and FREEGOLF. Tickets on sale now via linktr.ee/lola.aus.
