TISM have surprise announced a new EP entitled The “C” Word, a week after surprise-releasing its lead single “I’ve Gone Hillsong”. The EP, due out this Friday (December 15), will mark the Rowville satirists’ first collection of new music since 2004’s The White Albun, as well as their first EP since 1993’s Australia the Lucky Cunt – which was later revised to Censored Due to Legal Advice upon its reissue.
In lieu of a press statement, TISM instead offered up a “political manifesto” to go along with the EP’s announcement. “Like all Australian music performers except for Midnight Oil, TISM has an acute political and economic awareness,” it reads. “To all the nay-sayers, we reply: we’ve done our research.
“We are, of course, aware the phrase ‘I’ve done my research’ has, in this new digital era, two meanings: A. I have undertaken a painstaking process of constructing a preliminary hypothesis that expresses my best explanation for what I observe in reality, then carefully researched its accuracy by designing tests that scrupulously eliminate the possibility of bias, and, afterwards, presented my conclusions to peers in order for them to check the accuracy of my observations, always with the understanding that all hypotheses are provisional and are to be abandoned upon the emergence of countervailing data. B. I’ve gone online and found shit I agree with. We are sure it will be obvious which of these two definitions apply to us.”
TISM – ‘I’ve Gone Hillsong’
The masked collective made their shock return in 2022 after 18 years, performing at that year’s Good Things festival as well as several secret shows around Melbourne. They were largely quiet for most of 2023, however, with co-lead vocalist Damian Cowell (AKA Humphrey B. Flaubert) focusing on his solo career and touring in September.
Last month, however, the band once again ramped up their reunion plans with the announcement that they would be performing in Launceston as part of Mona Foma in March 2024. They have also confirmed that an east-coast tour of Australia will be happening around the same time, although dates and venues are yet to be confirmed at the time of writing.
Further reading
“I Want As Many People to See Me Die On Stage As Possible” – A Chaotic Interview with TISM
TISM Review – TISM Are Wankers at Melbourne Secret Show
TISM Announce ‘www.tism.wanker.com’ 25th Anniversary Vinyl Box Set
