Fresh off their biggest Australian headline tour, Eora/Sydney-based alt-rock shapeshifters RedHook unleash a towering collaboration today, ‘Dr. Frankenstein‘, with UK rock juggernauts Holding Absence – produced by Stevie Knight (Stand Atlantic) and mixed by James Paul Wisner (Underoath, Paramore). It is the latest single off their forthcoming sophomore record ‘Mutation‘
A soaring slice of heavy melodic rock/pop-punk laced with playful synth earworms, duelling vocals from RedHook’s Emmy Mack and Holding Absence frontman Lucas Woodland and an undeniably huge chorus, ‘Dr. Frankenstein’ explores themes of accountability in relationship breakdowns, using a “Frankenstein’s monster” metaphor to examine a toxic love story in three distinct chapters and from two opposing perspectives.
Emmy elaborates:
“‘Dr. Frankenstein’ tells the story of a fairytale romance that rapidly devolves into a nightmare as one partner displays increasingly more possessive and controlling behaviour. But the bridge then hits us with a plot twist by suggesting that this emotional abuse may have spawned from the other partner being dishonest and unfaithful, thus posing several questions for us to consider: who is the real monster in this situation? Does making mistakes and hurting each other (emotionally) make us monsters? Or does it make us human?
Ultimately, this song is about me owning my shit and taking accountability for my role in a past relationship that became toxic as all hell. During the breakup, I was guilty of privately indulging that kind of ‘victim’ mentality, but now that I’m a bit older and wiser, I feel like it’s important to take responsibility for the mistakes that I made too.”
On getting Holding Absence to feature, she explains, “Holding Absence are one of our favourite bands in the world right now, and Lucas’s vocal talents are unparalleled. I wrote this song with a male feature in mind, and Lucas was #1 on the list! We cheered so hard when he said he loved the song and was keen to jump on board!” Lucas adds, “I’m super hyped to be featured on this song! I knew from the moment I heard it that I had to get involved. ‘Dr. Frankenstein’ is a total rager with hooks galore, and Redhook are a great band. I can’t wait for people to hear it!”
‘Dr. Frankenstein’ also arrives alongside a riotous music video directed by the band’s frequent collaborator and mate, Ten Of Swords Media‘s Colin Jeffs (‘Breaking Up With‘, ‘Imposter‘). Set inside a creepy vintage 90’s arcade, the clip sees the members of RedHook sucked into a retro horror fighting game where they unlock the supercharged Lucas to help them defeat the “big boss” Frankenstein’s monster.
Accompanying the announcement of their album, RedHook recently made their long-awaited debut on triple j‘s Like A Version with a punk-goes-pop twist on Tate McCrae‘s ‘Greedy‘. ‘Mutation’ will be stacked with previous singles ‘Pyromaniac‘, ‘Cannibal‘ feat. Alpha Wolf, ‘Breaking Up With‘, ‘Scream 2‘ and ‘Tourist‘ and see RedHook double down on everything that makes them one of the most exciting and paradigm-shifting bands in the modern heavy space.
The band just finished their biggest Australian headline tour ever, which saw them sell out Naarm/Melbourne’s 170 Russell. The band will embark on their latest foray to the UK and EU in support of Dream State (UK) in October and November.
Their debut album ‘Postcard From A Living Hell‘ peaked at #10 on the ARIA Album Charts and was triple j‘s Feature Album of the Week. Previous singles off ‘Mutation’ have been added to full rotation on triple j, and playlist support has been seen from Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Deezer. The band has also been featured on the cover of Spotify’s ‘All New Rock‘, ‘Rock Out.‘, ‘Homegrown + Heavy‘, and Amazon Music’s ‘Breakthrough Rock‘.