Creative Spotlight | Fishpox
Published on 05 June 2025
Tell us a bit about who you are and your creative work
We are FishPox, a four piece alternative rock band with a fishy obsession! Formed at university following the pandemic in 2023, we united over a shared interest in Nirvana and Sonic Youth. We're still figuring out our sound, but our music is a blend of grunge, noise rock, punk and alternative rock. Much of our creative inspiration reflects on our experiences of isolation and disillusionment during the COVID era.
Where can we find out more about your work and get in touch?
Where do you look for creative ideas? Who or what inspires you? How does your personal history, culture or experience inform your creative work?
Ideas can come from anywhere - sometimes someone in the band might just start playing something and we all join in, and then that becomes a new song idea. Other times, we draw inspiration from our own life events, as well as ongoing world issues. Having all started playing music relatively recently, we tend towards simple riffs and melodies that are fun to play. Bands like Sonic Youth and Nirvana are probably our main inspirations, however we listen to and draw inspiration from a wide variety of different genres from artists all over the world, anything from Japanese rock to Gypsy jazz. There is even a drum beat from country music in one of our songs, although country is probably our least favourite genre (no offense to country lovers).
Do you use any special processes, techniques or tools?
If we come up with an idea, we record it using the voice recorder app on our phones. Then the idea is expanded upon later and sometimes demo tracks are created using software such as Bandlab or Audacity. Lyric ideas are usually written down during a sleep deprived state where we stop doubting ourselves, if the lyrics are good enough. There is no particular order in which we create music, sometimes a riff comes first, then melody, then lyrics. Other times it's a bassline first, a drum beat first, or even occasionally a lyric idea first. We've recently started experimenting with various guitar effect pedals and tones, as well as using unorthodox methods such as magnets to generate noise with our electric guitars. We basically do whatever sounds cool to us and have fun.
What creative project are you working on at the moment?
We're currently looking to start recording our first song “Things That I Can’t” in the studio. We recently won a studio recording prize from the Ryde City Council’s Battle of the Bands competition so we’re very stoked on getting our very first song out there!
We always love recommendations! Who are some other local artists we should check out?
NLA, Traffic Control, Adorer, Cakewalk, Monstahouse, Freak, The Magician - let's support the local Sydney rock scene!