Exclusive Single Premiere: Poison Oak “Wasted” (2024)

We are heading to North Queensland today, indeed Townsville where indie punk rockers Poison Oak hail from. We are very exciting to be premiering “Wasted”, a poignant, reflective and upbeat tune, and the first from their their upcoming second album.  They’ve also put together a video which we think is pretty amazing, so we are super stoked to have the first run of that as well.

There comes a time in your life when those days of hard partying, of thinking of today and not much beyond, need to be put into the rear-vision mirror. And with this new maturity, it can become apparent that some friendships aren’t going to last the distance. This new song from Poison Oak gives great insight into the decisions we need to make.

“Wasted” is a tasty slice of indie rock. With sweet, jangly guitars, it hits just the right arc of upbeat emotive rock, with an infectious melody running through its veins. Rousing drums and guitars riffing into the final stanza, will make this an absolute belter live. It was produced by Brock Weston, who has worked with the likes of Bugs, Beddy Rays and Dune Rats.

The band shared with the AU, the  meaning behind the track, and the path they took for it to get to the finished state:

“The song took us quite a while to finalise. We recorded a demo of it, which sounded quite different from what it does now, and we all felt like it was missing something. We reflected on it, and re-wrote whole sections of the song, to make sure it was empathising with the meaning of the song. It was the catalyst that made us step up our songwriting. It also made us dig down deeper for writing sections and coming up with parts of songs. Once we were happy with it, we went down to Brisbane and recorded it with Brock Weston, who also produced it and polished it up to what it is now.” 

“Wasted is an introspective song about friendship lost – two people on different paths. Not necessarily a loss for negative reasons but just due to the passage of time. The song looks back fondly on the good times but with a sense of doubt, wondering if all the fun, laughs and dreams balance the pain of losing it. It’s also about reminiscing on how life is much simpler in your youth and past, reflecting on how your main goal was just to have a damn good time and responsibility is just a mere whisper in the wind.” 

The band have been prolific since they formed in 2019. They have released three EP’s and in May earlier this year, they released their debut LP,  These Suburban Dreams. The dust has barely settled since the album launch shows, and they are onto the next. With bright and breezy rock n roll, blistering riffs, and observant thoughtful songwriting, jump on board now with Poison Oak.