Civic have formally announced their return, detailing their third studio album Chrome Dipped. The follow-up to 2023’s Music Victoria Award–nominated Taken By Force is set for release on Friday, May 30th via ATO Records. To coincide with its announcement, the band have shared its lead single and title track. In a press statement, the band shared that the song’s subject matter dealt with “finding human emotion in a world that’s hurling towards complete reliance on the machine.”
The video for ‘Chrome Dipped’ was filmed between Hell Studios in Abbotsford and Beagle & Hound in Brunswick East. The song itself marks a musical departure for the band from their proto-punk roots, opting for a more methodical take on post-grunge, post-punk and alternative rock. The video, meanwhile, intersperses footage of the band performing with lead vocalist Jim McCullough covering his face with chrome paint. The Marcus Coblyn-directed clip can be viewed below.
Civic – ‘Chrome Dipped’
Civic recorded Chrome Dipped at Frying Pan Studios, a studio space set up at the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) in Hobart. The band worked with Kirin J. Callinan as the producer on the album, which – according to McCullough – was done in an attempt to “step up” the band’s recording process. “We’ve always done our records DIY,” he said in a press statement. “This time, we wanted to make it sound as big as we could. We didn’t really know what we were going to make, but we went into it very open for change.”
Guitarist Lewis Hodgson added that Chrome Dipped is the sound of the band wanting to “take it in a different direction”. “We’d been pushing a sort of ’70s Australian punk sound with our first two records, but I think it was all starting to feel a bit stale,” he said. “Touring around the world and seeing what all these other bands are up to, it’s like… you can really do whatever the fuck you want. It’s fun to just kind of let go.”
Next month, the Melbourne punk band will undertake a national tour in support of the Sex Pistols, who are playing in Australia for the first time since 1996 with new frontman Frank Carter at the helm. They will then embark on a tour of the US, the UK and Europe from late May through to July.
Further Reading
Love Letter to a Record: CIVIC on Lou Reed’s ‘Transformer’
Floodlights Announce ‘Underneath’ Album Tour, Share ‘Buoyant’
