GROWTH Interview 29/03/2026

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MM: Under the under is released in a few days how excited are u 
LF: Very excited! This has been three years of nonstop work. We’ve put many, many
hours into the process and can’t wait to see how it resonates with people.

MM: The title suggests going beneath what’s already beneath. What emotional or
psychological territory did you find yourselves entering 
LF: Spot on. We were considering the entire idea of living your life according to some
kind of stigma, some kind of diagnosis. Trauma makes you live small lives. It’s got a
way of defining the outer limits of yourself. I spent many years finding myself tangled
in what I thought was recovery, and it turned out to be another cage. Making the
same mistakes and being immersed in the same sorrows. The ugly fact is that
getting through that is an equally ugly process. There’s a lot of times you question
yourself. This album is about changing those questions and looking at what really
makes you… you.
 

MM: Was there a moment during writing or recording where the album forced you to
confront something uncomfortable — personally or creatively — that you couldn’t
avoid anymore?
LF: When writing the lyrics, there was a lot of time spent between the first and the
final song. A great deal of that was accepting that there’s no actual end to the
narrative. You’re starting in this tangle between certainty and uncertainty, and you’re
finishing in what feels like the same space. The difference is that at the start there’s a
focus on experience as the part that’s certain, and meaning as the uncertain aspect.
By the end of Under The Under, that’s inverted. You never know what’s going to
happen next, but you can know yourself a little better. That was a fairly big thing to
tackle and try to frame properly.
 

MM How did making this work of art change your understanding of who you are as a
band — and who you are as individuals?
As a collective we all stretched ourselves a great deal. There’s a very different focus
and songcraft with this release. The bones are still the same, but we wanted the
music to reflect the changes both in the narrative and how we’re changing along the
way. I can only assume that means we are far more ugly.
 

MM: If you had to describe the emotional climate of the album — the temperature,
the weather, the atmosphere
LF: The trilogy started out as cold. Tristan has taken great care to allow the artwork
to reflect that climate. Under the Under is alien, but colour is starting to shine
through. Not familiar colours, but not monochromatic either.
Rather than focus on digging into the mental whiplash as much as the previous
album, we came at it with a more focused, driven attitude.
 

MM: Remember me as fire hits home love it..

LF: Thanks. There’s something about the idea of burning effigies that seems to come
up as a motif. I’ve got a complicated relationship with fire, having spent life living in
the Australian bush and seeing the horror it’s capable of. Maybe it’s that. Maybe I’ve
just watched The Wickerman a few too many times. Either way, the reality is that
when you’re stripping your sense of self back, the person that’s left is stuck in
between two crushing concepts. The past’s gravity is from the fact it’s shackled you.
As for the future, there’s no fixed point. That burns.
 

MM:Your lyrics are very deep and meaningful… if u didnt have the release to be able
to perform how else would u deal with the angst and anger
LF: Well, I wound up going in a lot of very bad directions trying to manage exactly
that. It’s funny because performing never really acted as a cure-all for that. While
performing is extremely important and has provided a space to release, as you say,
it’s also a single dimension of catharsis. The dilemma with anger is that it’s ultimately
a protective emotion built on conviction. Even if you’re not sure of the total scope of a
situation or experience, you’re damn sure that it’s bringing you pain, and some
ancient parts of the brain will interpret that as physical danger. The anger or rage will
reflect that; 99% of the time, it’ll find all kinds of ways to justify itself. It’s a real trap.
It’s taken a long time to accept that I’m just prone to those emotions, and only once
being able to properly observe that without making any character judgements about
that have I been better at dealing with it. One of the only things you really control in
life is how you respond to most things that come your way.
 

MM: Which track demanded the most from you emotionally,
LF: Definitely Slings That Shatter. It’s reflecting a stage of recovery where you do
find yourself looking back at the things that wound. I was telling some pretty nasty
stories in that one, and they’re not all wrapped up in metaphor anymore. Trying to
accomplish that while also experimenting with new vocal approaches made it a real
challenge.
 

MM: Its just six tracks can we expect more new material throughout the year
LF: Yeah, the six tracks are there to reflect different distinct stages in someone’s recovery process.
Awareness of Impact, Numbing and Avoidance, Intrusion and Distress, Hyperarousal and Rawness,
Beginning the Work, and Reintegration.
MM: Explain the eye-catching cover
LF: Tristan spent a very long time drawing that all completely by hand, with pencil. In relation to the
previous album, it’s depicting the same character whose face was staring up at the viewer. They’re
starting the climb, the upward spiral. Still fractured, but gaining momentum.
 

MM:When you look back years from now, what do you hope this OPUS represents in
the story of Growth?
LF: I’m hoping that this represents a new ground level for us. We’re telling a broader
but more consolidated story than before and there’s a strong sense of where this is
heading.

 

MM: What’s your personal release day ritual
LF: Not sure what the others are doing, but I work in a field that helps kids. So, I’ll be
doing that. I expect it’ll be a day of rest for as many of us as possible. It’s been a
long time coming.
 

MM: On release day, are you the type to refresh comments every 10 seconds, or the
type to throw your phone into a lake?
LF: Now that you mention it, there’s a fantastic little lake nearby… I try to let things
roll out as they do. I haven’t had social media for a while so there’s less of an urge to
crack out the phone and scroll.
 

MM: Which new track is the one you’re most nervous/excited to play live
LF: I can’t wait to play Forward, Further, Spirit Killer. I have not worked out how we’re
going to do all the vocal harmonies yet. I think the rest of the band is looking at the
thing they’ve created on their end, and the colour is draining from their face. There’s
a lot of riffs.
 

MM: What’s the one thing you always worry about before the first show of a new
tour?
LF: All kinds of things. Whether members will get injured, whether I’ll wind up at the
centre of some ridiculous disaster, whether children will grow up to see birds. That
last one’s more existential. Once I accidentally collapsed a venue ceiling on the first
show of a tour. That was a long time ago and everyone was okay but it still haunts
me.

MM the one ridiculous item each of you must bring on tour
LF: I think everyone’s learned over the years to pack really light. However, I was
inspired after seeing the blokes in Blood Incantation add “local region DVD of
Battlefield Earth” to their riders. If anyone wants to lend me their Fabergé Egg or
something similarly delicate to take on tour, I promise I’ll most likely break it.
 

MM: On tour, who is the band member most likely to:
 get lost
 start a weird argument
 accidentally adopt a stray animal Pick your chaos.
LF: As the stray animal the band adopted, I’ll cover that off. The band is surprisingly
very chill people, but I welcome people to try. There’s a lot of random topics that
every member is disgustingly educated on, and you’ll never know until you hit that
landmine.
 

6 albums

Current rotation: Stillamentum by Gorrch, Silver Sash by Wovenhand, Camgirl by Crippling
Alcoholism, The One Who is Made of Smoke by Cult of Fire, Lachrymose Monuments of Obscuration
by Hooded Menace, Within the Realm of a Dying Sun by Dead Can Dance.
 

6 songs if ya stuck in a lift for 24 hrs
There’s this elevator music album called Corporate World Vol. 3 by a dude named Tom Stanswick. It’s a
legitimate collection of stingers for corporate training videos from the late 80s. I’d pick View from the
Top 1 – 6 from that album and go swiftly insane. Trapped in lift-maxxing. Sounds good.
 

Then 6 random !
1.festival or sweat soaked intimate gig
LF: Both have their benefits. I’d say festivals these days.
 

2. Mosh pit carnage or headdown headbanging
LF: Growing up, there was always something so soothing about being stuck in a very violent pit. It’s like
the world’s worries and struggles all fell away and all that mattered was being able to see the strictest
riffs without getting kicked in the head too hard.
Probably part of why my body is a shopping list of injuries these days.
 

3. Beersoaked chaos or sober precision
LF: My app tells me that I’m six weeks off the booze this week. It was far too long coming, and I hate to
admit that people were right. It’s far, far better.
 

4. Tour exhaustion or studio madness
LF: Studio madness indicates that I get to go home and see my dog that night, which I’m leaning
towards. Tour exhaustion often involves a great deal of airport downtime. I do love a long drive-
Australian back country is amazing to drive through (during the day- night time is crazy).
 

5. Koala and kangaroo
LF: Both amazing animals that I enjoy. Ringtail possums are my favourite, though.
Little gremlin creatures that sing and eat flowers. Ridiculous.
 

6. song made up about your personality
LF: Godzilla theme song
MM: Release day plans
 

Getting stuck in a lift for 24 hours. I expect at some point we’ll celebrate.
 

MM: Will u be touring this year
LF: We’ve got a tour coming this August in Australia with Psycroptic and Rivers of
Nihil. Slaughtercult is on that one too, and they’re very cool. More announcements to
come!

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Growth will be touring Australia in August as part of the epic Psycroptic & Rivers of Nihil tour
 

TOUR DATES
Thursday August 13: Magnet House, Perth
Friday August 14: Lion Arts, Adelaide
Saturday August 15: Max Watts, Melbourne
Friday August 21: Manning Bar, Sydney
Saturday August 22: Necrosonic Festival, Brisbane 

 

Follow Growth
linktr.ee/growthnoise

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