Bulli band's second coming after a case of 'performus interruptus'

It took a global pandemic to interrupt electro-grunge foursome Stunts' first rise, but before the next one strikes they've rebooted with a new lineup and their urge to take the stage undimmed.

They'll overcome their case of performus interruptus with new music, a show on May 26 at Wollongong's La La La's and more in Sydney, a new single Drugs produced by hotshot mixer Trials coming out on July 4, and a new twist.

Describing themselves as genre-mashers, the band Stunts* is led by vocalist and songwriter Matt Coonan, stage name Matty Stunts, with all members also taking on the surname, a la two-minute rockers Ramones, supergroup the Travelling Wilburys or melodic gangsta rappers Bone-Thugz-N-Harmony. Take your pick.

In fact, with the names Lacey Stunts (vocals), Dolly Stunts (bass) and Pacey Stunts (drums), one might suspect their entire names of being invented.

The band's first incarnation found its growth was stunted, you might say, by the COVID-19 pandemic - it's not easy getting gigs when people can be fined for being at them.

It was a "suboptimal" time to start a band, Coonan says, with all the songwriting and recording work that went into the album Housework cruelled by nowhere to get out and play it until an album launch at Anita's Theatre in 2023.

"It's huge for us," Coonan said.

"It was such a big buildup to our album launch, that was months if not years in the making - we weren't able to get up on the boards and play it.

"We're really excited to get back out and play some of our songs before we release them - quite a novel concept really.

"There was always something in the road that made it more difficult to get out there, but now we've got another gig in Sydney after the Wollongong one - it feels like we're getting the band a bit of stunts-mentum."

There's a sense of the theatrical to their act that suggests Stunts may be best seen live on stage.

"Playing live is huge for us," Coonan said.

"I love the process of disappearing into my man-cave and emerging with music written, but really you don't know if it's any good until you play it to people and see how they react.

"That energy you have as a band is why you do it, really."

Overnight success can be years in the gestating, and this band's trajectory has been punctuated in more ways than one.

Having survived the pandemic, songwriting team Matty and Racey Stunts, whose vocal interaction was the featured theme of Housework, went their separate ways after the album was launched. Matty kept the band.

Now, with a new collaborator - Lacey - Coonan has reloaded with new music he says you're perhaps more likely to dance to.

Stunts' first batch of songs was an electro-grunge experiment with plenty of guitar and the odd thought of Joy Division or the Pixies popping up. Coonan called it gloomy but he's underselling it - from devastation comes a dose of humour, from loss a rediscovery,

Expect more adventures into electronic sounds, courtesy of the involvement of renowned producer Trials, one-half of hip-hop outfit AB Original (the other being rapper Briggs).

Coonan still leads the way with his big guitar, but said he was finding places "where I can kind of disappear a bit more into the background".

"I was always very inspired by the loud-quiet-loud of bands like the Pixies and Nirvana, so there's always been a little bit of that in there.

"But we're playing more with the electronic elements - certainly this time around we're starting to play with some samples and things like that.

"It's naturally evolving a little bit that way - and we wanted to make something that's a little bit more danceable.

"We're just having a bit of fun taking it in that new direction."

* It is not clear whether STUNTS is correctly spelled with all capitals or lower case s and an upside-down t. Both have been seen. But this keyboard can't perform the latter, and the former

It is also unclear whether this subversive decapitalisation or overcapitisation is a noble strike against gratuitous self-importance, a comment on the arbitrary nature of authority, or just a cunning attempt to frustrate the sub-editors newspapers used to employ.

However, these important questions will have to wait because the punctuation forced upon on this band's trajectory is over.

Stunts plays La La La's in Wollongong on Sunday, May 26 at 5.30pm, with Grungegaze Gurus Airline and The Experimental Noise of Dead Party Dead.