Gut Health on vintage inspiration, their electric live performances and the unique Melbourne/Naarm scene

Ahead of their free show at this year’s Vivid Sydney Festival, Gut Health talk vintage inspiration, the Australian music scene and a taste of their sophomore album

Gut Health are a six-piece ensemble from Naarm/Melbourne whose sound blurs the boundaries of guitar music, weaving hypnotic dance-punk, no wave and chaotic noise with nightclub-inspired soundscapes.

Their debut album ‘Stilleto‘ arrived in 2024 to high praise from critics, and after catching them at The Shacklewell Arms last September, they’ve been a staple listen for the CLUNK team ever since.

Ahead of their free appearance at this year’s Vivid Sydney festival, I had the chance to speak with lead singer Athina, diving into their vintage inspiration, the Australian music scene and a taste of their sophomore album.

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Matt: Hey Athina, for our readers out there who may not know Gut Health, tell us how you started and how that’s evolved over the past five years?

Athina: It started when Adam and I were partners during COVID. There were pretty hectic lock-in laws and COVID restrictions, but we were intimate partners, so we had each other’s houses to go back and forth to.

Everyone at Adam’s place was a muso and everyone at mine was creative. We had all this time on our hands and were in a honeymoon phase, so we found this combination of our tastes and things that we wanted to create together.

I don’t come from a music-playing background; I was just an art school kid, but Adam made me feel very comfortable, like I could have these ideas and really go for it.

We have this crossover of inspirations from the late 70s and early 80s: the Rough Trade era of music, new wave, dance-punk, and the really genre-bending movements of the time.

Adam and Dom had been in projects together previously, so Adam was keen to get him in straight away.

I knew Myka from a bunch of different projects. Drumming is their life, so it was wild that they were keen to join us.

We had heaps of mutual friends with Eloise but had never properly hung out or met before, so we just reached out to them during COVID. I think we caught them at the right time when they were craving something new.

We stepped into our rehearsal space, which was a storage unit in Brunswick, played some of the demos together, and we all got along immediately.

Angus was a later addition and worked at the same place as Adam, but Angus and I actually met serendipitously. He literally found my phone on the side of the road, one of my friends called it, and he answered. So I think it was fate that we found him.

Matt: What’s it like forming a dance-punk band during COVID? That sound is usually associated with live shows and energy from the crowd.

Athina: That’s an interesting one; the genre thing is so funny. Sometimes, you know, people associate certain things with the word punk. For us, there are lots of different genres that we would align with, especially with this new album we’re currently working on.

Some of our songs may not directly fit into punk, but I do think that we really relate to it with our outlook, our energetic live shows, and them being a consensual space where you can let out rage or feel catharsis.

There was a period in between lockdowns where you could play gigs in August 2021, and we got our first gig at the Footscray Bowls Club. We were so excited, but we played that one gig and went straight back into lockdown. So we were kind of edged, in a way.

As soon as we got out of lockdown again, we had all this pent-up energy and we just started gigging relentlessly. That was really when we got an idea of what we wanted to create and who we were.

Matt: You’re a very visceral band through your performances, visuals, and artwork. With punchy reds, deep blacks, and what feels like a real sense of texture and tangibility to your work, was that something that came naturally to you as a band, or something that’s evolved over time?

Athina: Yeah, definitely. I think that, for me, there are so many different mediums, and sometimes the best way to articulate something isn’t necessarily sound. What I love about music is that it can be a combination of so many different things and a way to explore the world around you.

There are a few of us in the band who really think in an image-based format, even when we’re talking about sound or trying to get an idea of the texture across. A lot of the time, it just sounds like gobbledygook. Like, Dom will say, “I just want it to sound like a rubber band being pulled back,” and I’ll be like, “Wow, we sound like such wankers right now.”

But yeah, I feel like texture is a good way to describe how we approach a project.

And with the colour thing, I always think about RGB; those three block colours are really important to me for some reason. And so that keeps coming back in the visuals.

It’s also really important in the live experience. It’s like, how can we make it a unique experience? It’s not only about the sound, but it’s the lighting and styling, and making the most of the opportunity to perform.

Matt: I’m a firm believer that inspiration can come from everywhere and from a range of mediums, whether it’s books, pieces of art, fashion, or creative artists. Could you let us know the last two things that really inspired you?

Athina: In the past, I’ve always liked to allow the audience to decide what the song’s about or what the art is about. I don’t think everything needs overexplaining. But more recently, I’ve been using more storytelling in what I’m exploring, and I think that comes from watching a lot of old Australian cinema.

I’ve been volunteering at these queer archives and have been really fascinated by looking into history to understand my own culture and how stories are threaded through to tie everything together.

During summer, I watched a 1980s film called ‘Going Down’, which was a true story about three women who were best friends. It also featured some really old heads, like Pel Mel, this post-punk band that I really love, Gary Foley, an amazing Indigenous activist, and just all of these people who were rolling around Sydney at the time.

I also watched ‘Spotswood’, ‘Malcolm’, ‘Sunday, Too Far Away’, ‘Wake In Fright’, which is one of my favourite films, and ‘Australia After Dark’, which was one of the first representations of the kink scene in Australia at the time.

Matt: I caught you at The Shacklewell Arms in London last year, which is a really good example of a tighter, sweatier space that allows artists to really interact and respond to an audience and the energy of the room. We’re now talking ahead of your Vivid Sydney slot, where you’ll be playing to thousands of people. How do you translate that small venue energy and attitude to that kind of platform?

Athina: We’ve played all kinds of spaces and venues, and in some ways, we say our favourite shows are always the tight, sweaty ones that feel like a club or a late-night sort of place. But at the same time, some of our favourite shows have been in bigger environments.

I think it is all about transferring energy. As woo-woo as it sounds, I feel like that energy exchange is really important to us as a band. On the big stages, we will be more spread out on stage, as well as far from the crowd, so it’s all about how we can still feel like a unit and interact with each other and the audience.

Sometimes it just takes one look from the audience that encourages me to go harder or switch up the pace, but I’ve also learnt how to do that from within and just really try to lose a sense of myself in a way, all while remaining grounded.

Matt: Talking of that energy, anyone who has caught a Gut Health show will know how much of an energetic and formidable frontperson you are. You really lead the narrative of the music in your performance; where does that come from? And do you feel you’re the same person on and off the stage?

Athina: It’s so funny. I was having a conversation last night about this with someone. It’s not necessarily everyday me on stage, but it’s definitely an extension of me.

It’s me where I don’t have as many inhibitions. I would relate it to when you’re on the dance floor or you’re having really good sex or something, a place where you’re just really in the moment.

It’s probably the only space where, as I’m not the most confident person in the world, I’m not thinking about anything but the moment. That’s what makes it such a lovely, cathartic experience.

I love pulling back as much as I love excessiveness and camp. It may not be my everyday self, but it’s an extension of me; whether I am being theatrical or playing a character or something like that, there are no inhibitions.

It’s important to have those spaces. It’s important to have an outlet like that.

Matt: Vivid Sydney is putting on a big mix of light, music, food, and ideas across a number of venues around the city, and there’s a big mix of free and paid offerings. How important is it as an artist for a city to put on a festival like this, allowing audiences to experience something new?

Athina: We are so lucky that opportunities like this exist in Australia. Vivid has always been on our wish list because it is that combination of immersive art and carefully curated spaces.

It’s also platforming local artists in a space where they’re showing really high-quality international artists. We really need festivals like Vivid to foster and champion that within the local scenes.

That all comes from funding these sorts of events and valuing the arts, opening them up for a wider community to see something new, be inspired, and learn about the community around them.

Matt: Your debut record ‘Stiletto’ arrived late 2024 to high praise, there was plenty of touring the world after that, and last August saw your super-catchy single ‘beat to beat’ released. After a tireless 2025, how has the first half of 2026 been for Gut Health? Have you been working on new music, or taking time to rest and reset?

Athina: It’s been really interesting because we haven’t really had this mode before, where you’re just taking time out to really focus on writing. It’s been a different sort of adjustment for the nervous system, but also really good practice just to slow down and understand that taking your time can be just as important as everything else.

Sometimes we can be like, “Are we doing enough? Are we playing enough gigs to stay relevant?” But that’s just because we’re so used to that pace.

I think it’s been really smart for us to take this time and work on the next project properly. We’ve been writing a lot, and we’ve just finished tracking our first round of demos for the album. We’re trying to do everything intentionally, which we didn’t really do last time.

That’s what this first half of the year has been about, but then for the second half, yeah, we’ve got some fun little things in the works in terms of gigs and all that. We’re just really excited to get back out and start playing shows with this new material and see how the crowd reacts.

Matt: Will you be testing any new tracks at Vivid?

Athina: Yeah, we’re going to play a couple of new things at Vivid, tease some more, and see how everything is received.

Matt: You’ve had two years of back-to-back UK/EU tours; will you be going for the triple in 2026?

Athina: We won’t be going this year, unfortunately.

Once we’ve got the new album out, I’m really keen to play a new set and show what we’ve been working on. So, fingers crossed we’ll be back over there next year, because we love the community that we’ve got in Europe, the people we’ve met, and the lifelong friendships we’ve formed.

Matt: In the music scene, there’s been a bit of a push towards algorithms, social media, followers, and metrics. This results in artists sometimes creating ‘content’ that we wouldn’t have associated with them in the past. When I look at Gut Health’s social profiles, you look and feel like Gut Health. How difficult or perhaps not difficult has it been to not get wrapped up in the world of social media?

Athina: Yeah, we have definitely felt the pressure in the past, but we’ve stayed clear of social expectations and everyone has been really supportive of it.

Sometimes I think, “Am I doing the right thing? Am I holding our project back by feeling this strongly about certain things?” But engaging in that way just wouldn’t feel right for us. It wouldn’t be soul-affirming. I’m not that kind of person and neither is the rest of the band.

You have to make sacrifices with everything, and this is one that I’m willing to make. The people who resonate with what we’re putting out there are the ones who are important and have stuck with us. We’re so grateful for that community.

Saying that, we love humour and sometimes I’m like, “It would be nice to show a bit more of that,” but it’s just about how that’s communicated, being authentic, and creating it with a sense of autonomy.

Matt: CLUNK started as a publication that championed rural communities and ensuring that live music reaches them. As an Australian artist, is there anything you’d like to see change in the industry to help bands play further afield, whether that’s breaking out of their local scene or touring on the other side of the world?

Athina: I would like to see less circle-jerking and promoting the same thing over and over. People will be like, “Oh, this specific sound is working, so therefore that’s the only thing that we’re pushing and exporting abroad.”

I was actually talking about this with Amelia, who plays synth in The Horrors. She was like, “Every time I come to Australia, I see the best shit and experience new music that I’ve never heard back in America. I only get pushed the same mathy, psych Australian bands.”

That shocks me because there’s so much diversity in terms of sound here. There are so many different scenes, and there are so many incredible, unique, creative artists who deserve to be heard. We need to rethink how we promote and platform them.

Matt: There seems to be a particularly exciting crop of fresh talent out there at the moment, especially in the guitar scene. Who are some Aussie bands or artists that you think our readers should check out? Is there anyone you think people are sleeping on?

Athina: Yeah, there are loads.

Wet Kiss are amazing. They actually just went over and toured with Bar Italia in the UK.

Tongue Dissolver are great, and these are all good friends of mine.

kisses are very much on the more relaxed side.

We played with Shock Corridor last year; they’re awesome.

But yeah, there’s constantly a mix of genres and gigs going on in Melbourne/Naarm.

Matt: For anyone travelling over to Australia and down to Melbourne/Naarm, do you have any hidden gems in the city that you’d recommend checking out?

Athina: If you’re looking for gigs, one of my favourite band rooms is The Curtin. There are always good shows there on the weekends.

The Tramway as well. My friend Aine, who plays in a band called Blue Communications, books The Tramway now and she’s been putting on some amazing shows.

Both venues are in a great area for bars, restaurants, and things like that too.

Matt: What’s next for Gut Health after Vivid?

Athina: We’re going to keep championing all the things we believe in and continue to create.

Pushing ourselves out of our comfort zone and working on the next album. I’m excited to be focusing on that, starting to reveal it over time, and playing some live shows.

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You can catch Gut Health at this year’s Vivid Sydney for free on the 28th May. For more information, check out Vivid Sydney‘s website.