Sleepazoid: From Melbourne to the UK and Ireland with Fcukers

Photo by Josh Nai

In just two years, Melbourne post-punk band sleepazoid have gone from a new project born out of a relocation to one of Australia's most promising emerging bands. Formed in 2024, the five-piece quickly found momentum after an early writing session produced their debut single, ‘RATS’. What followed was a rapid rise: a self-recorded debut EP, running with the dogs, support slots with Faye Webster across Australia, appearances at Bigsound, and a growing audience that now exceeds 70,000 monthly Spotify listeners across cities including Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and London.

Consisting of vocalist and guitarist Nette France, bassist Josef Pabis, drummer Luca Soprano, and guitarists George Inglis and Jim Duong, sleepazoid blend the urgency of alternative rock with expansive shoegaze textures. Their second EP, New Age, released in February 2026 and produced by Jack Nigro, marked another step forward for the band as they continued to refine their songwriting and sonic palette. After having just finished touring the UK and Ireland in support of Fcukers and appearing at The Great Escape Festival, sleepazoid are taking their music further than ever before. 

We caught up with the band to discuss their rapid growth, evolving creative process, recent overseas experiences, and where they see the project heading next.

sleepazoid came together pretty quickly in 2024 – when did it first feel like this project had its own identity separate from your previous bands?

Nette: I think it felt different right from the beginning. We intentionally went into it wanting to start something new, so that already gave it its own identity. Joe and I had just moved from Sydney to Melbourne, and we were looking for a fresh start creatively.

George: From day one, we knew we wanted to make post-punk. We were pretty focused on that vision, and we released music before we even played our first show.

Jim: For me, it really clicked when we played our first Melbourne show and sold it out. We had played in Sydney before to around 30 people, but the Melbourne show felt like a turning point where the band started to become something bigger.

Your sound moves between post-punk intensity and shoegaze textures really naturally. How do you approach balancing these elements?

Nette: It's a bit of a mixed approach. When we started, we were definitely leaning towards a heavier sound. As a guitar band, there's a lot you can do to make things loud and intense, and that really defined the first EP. Over time, though, we realised that showing a bit more restraint could actually make the songs stronger. A lot of the shoegaze textures come from the pedalboards George and Jim have built. We also do what we call a ‘campfire test’ with most songs – stripping them right back and making sure they work on their own before building all the layers around them.

George: Whenever we have a new idea, we'll play it through together as a band and then start isolating different parts to figure out what we actually like. It's about finding the elements that feel essential and building from there.

What does your songwriting process usually look like?

Jim: A lot of the time we'll loop a chorus or a chord progression and Nette will start singing over it. Then we'll go back through what we've done, pick out the moments we like, and keep developing those ideas.

George: Jim and I usually come up with our parts through jamming. A lot of the songs grow naturally from those sessions.

running with the dogs was self-recorded in Prahran with George engineering the EP. Did working so independently shape the way you trust each other creatively as a band?

George: Absolutely. The studio we were using felt like a giant playground because we weren't working under much time pressure. We'd get there in the morning, set up, have a jam, record some live takes, then maybe head out for lunch or dinner and come back feeling inspired. It was a really free-flowing environment. It was also a big lesson in communication and making sure we were all on the same page creatively. Without someone directing us from the outside, there was this constant sense of exploration, of figuring things out together and asking, ‘What do we do next?’

Nette: It definitely helped shape the band and brought us closer together very quickly. When it's the five of you working on something without an outside producer, everyone has to feel comfortable expressing what they do and don't like. It taught us how to communicate honestly and respectfully about ideas.

You’ve cited Fontaines D.C., Wolf Alice and Mannequin Pussy as influences. What specific qualities from those artists resonate most with sleepazoid?

Joe: One thing I love about Wolf Alice and Mannequin Pussy is how they can move between different genres within the same record while still sounding completely like themselves. There's a cohesiveness to everything they do that I really admire.

Nette: For me, it's more about the dynamics than the actual sound. Especially with Mannequin Pussy, there's this combination of intensity and really strong melodic pop vocals. That balance is something that resonates with us. At the same time, our influences have evolved quite a bit since we first started.

Who would you say your influences are now?

Jim: It's always changing. We all listen to such a wide range of music that it's hard to point to one specific influence or sound.

Nette: I've recently discovered Mount Kimbie and have been really enjoying their music.

Joe: For me, it would be Feeble Little Horse. But honestly, our influences are pretty broad at the moment, which keeps things exciting.

Supporting Fcukers across the UK and Ireland must be a different atmosphere to Australian shows. What have you learned from being on this tour?

Jim: One of the biggest things I've learned is that there are real levels to this industry. Watching Fcukers work has been incredibly inspiring because they're professionals in every sense of the word. It makes you want to keep working hard and strive for that level.

Joe: It also reinforces how important endurance is. No matter what stage you're at, being able to keep going and stay committed is a huge asset.

George: We've become really focused on approaching shows professionally – playing sober and putting our energy into the performance itself. We want to do this well and keep improving.

Nette: It's also a reminder of how much work goes into building a band. It's expensive, it takes time, and it requires a lot of sacrifice. Seeing artists who have put in that effort and made it work is really motivating. It's inspiring to see the payoff that comes from years of commitment.

Photo by Josh Nai

Between supporting Faye Webster, playing The Great Escape Festival and building a growing international audience, has there been a particular moment where the scale of things suddenly hit you?

George: The first Faye Webster show was a big one for me. It was our first time playing The Forum in Melbourne, and seeing 2,500 people in the room was pretty surreal. That was when it started to feel real.

Joe: For me, it was playing our first overseas shows and getting to do that with my best friends. None of us had played outside Australia before, so that felt really special.

Jim: I'd been to the UK on holiday before, but I never imagined I'd be over here playing music. That was a pretty amazing feeling.

Nette: One of the most memorable moments for me was our first London show at The Social in Soho before heading down to The Great Escape. There were people singing along to some of the lyrics, which was completely unexpected but so lovely. It's always surprising when the music reaches beyond our little community back home. It was actually the smallest show of the trip, but it felt incredibly special.

New Age feels like a step forward sonically. What changed between making your debut EP and working with producer Jack Nigro on the newer material?

Joe: I think a big part of it was simply spending more time with the songs and learning how to work together more effectively.

George: By that point we'd developed a much better understanding of our songwriting process. Even though some of those songs were being written around the same time as the first EP material, the second batch felt like the moment where we really locked into how we work as a band.

Nette: We also had a much clearer sense of who sleepazoid was as a project. We've spoken before about how the second EP started to feel different, and a lot of that came from jamming on ‘3AM.’ George was playing these harmonics, Jim had this tremolo part going, and everything just clicked together. We started thinking more about creating a soundscape that could act as the foundation of a song, rather than just building around riffs. That approach became an anchor for the whole EP.

Jim: I still remember that day. As soon as those parts locked together, it felt different. We all knew there was something special there.

With listeners now spread across Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and London, where do you see sleepazoid heading next?

Joe: Europe is definitely on the cards.

Nette: We'd love to get back to the UK as soon as we can. We'd also love to tour Japan and other parts of Asia. Being based in Australia, those places feel relatively accessible, and there are incredible music scenes all throughout the region. We're excited to keep exploring and taking the band to new places.

Listen to sleepazoid on SoundCloud, Apple Music, and Spotify.

Keep up with them on Instagram.