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World View: Australian Band Melds Hardcore, Dreampop + ‘90s Emo on Superb EP

"We originally started as an entirely different band," says World View vocalist Jesse Bunce, "it was just me and my roomate writing pretty generic borderline Righteous Jams-sounding shit in our shed. We wrote a demo in a couple days, recorded it, and then released it. We played a lot of shows but didn't take it too seriously."

I'm glad Jesse and company decided to get serious about matters because World View's What a Trip EP from 2019 is a superb piece of work. Based in Adelaide, the Australian band recently came across my ears while I was compiling picks for a Spotify playlist I dedicated to Australian hardcore. So, yeah, the EP came out late last summer, but I wanted to find out a little more about World View, hence my reach out to Jesse.

The singer continues: "Over a couple years, we had a lot of lineup changes and decided to try to release something that sounded wholly different to the other bands in our scene.

"We're all good friends outside of the band with similar tastes in music, but we all listen to a lot of different stuff, nobody really listens to much hardcore, which helps make a good hardcore band, I think," Jesse laughs. 

As you can attest if you hit the play button above, World View meld elements of hardcore, dreampop/shoegaze, and '90s emo. Well, to my ears, at least they do. "Influences are different for everyone I think, in terms of hardcore Turning Point was a big influence on our first EP, but for What a Trip we drew more from a lot of post punk, and even '80s new wave bands, plus some '90s emo. [Laughs] Not sure if any of it comes across in the songs, but that's what most of us were listening to while writing."

Photo: Liam Allomes

In an age where genre labels are inescapable, how would Jesse categorize what World View is doing? "I don't know how to describe it. Terms like 'alternative' or 'experimental' just sound really offputting, I think. We're just a rock band [laughs]."

Don't you hate it when you just discover a band, only to find out they're in chill out mode? Well, there still is hope! "I'm not sure what's next, to be honest. The band is pretty inactive at the moment. I could see us releasing two tracks in the future, though, if we manage to get some inspiration again."

How about the Australian hardcore scene? Who should we all be checking for right now? "I'm probably not the best person to ask as I'm not too active in the scene anymore. It could definitely be more lively than it is, though. Just pay attention to our good friends in Speed and Broken. Pay attention to anything Last Ride Records does."

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