Short Stack On Getting Heavy, Good Things Festival & The 'F*cking Nightmare' Of Buying Back Their Music

It’s been a big year for Short Stack. Do you remember Short Stack?

The Australian pop-punk band made up of long-haired trio Shaun Diviney, Andy Clemmensen and Bradie Webb – known for late 2000s hits Sway Sway Baby, Shimmy A Go Go, Princess and Sweet December and 2010 numbers Planets and We Dance To A Different Disco, Honey – are all grown up.

Just check out their new single, IDGAF, an effortlessly pop-meets-alt-metal number that they would have never released ten years ago.

“This is by far the heaviest song we have ever done, and my favourite thing about it is that if you read the lyrics, you would not think that is the energy of the song,” the band said about their new single.

“The theme is really about dichotomy, the lyrics vs the music and then the quiet, chill verses against the big, angry chorus. This song really came to life when we were in the studio; we had so much fun with it and pushed ourselves creatively.”

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IDGAF follows their June single Shotgun Wedding, which balanced glossy pop sensibilities with carefully crafted vigour in textbook Short Stack fashion.

“We wanted to write a really fun, 90s pop punk song influenced by the bands we grew up listening to,” frontman Shaun Diviney explained.

Citing the bands, he added, “blink-182, NOFX, Good Charlotte kind of vibes. We really wanted it to be fast and energetic; I love Bradie’s drums just powering through the whole song.”

A few months after releasing Shotgun Wedding and weeks before IDGAF, Short Stack embarked on a Regional(Ish) Australian tour with special guests Hevenshe – the solo project of Tonight Alive’s Jenna McDougall – and hard rock band The Beautiful Monument, both of whom Short Stack themselves specifically chose for the tour.

Diviney explains, “We chose both of them; we obviously know Jenna from the Tonight Alive days. Florian [Maier, artist manager at UNIFIED Music Group], our manager, also manages The Beautiful Monument. We were aware of them beforehand, but they were just on the Evanescence tour, which is huge.

“There are so many awesome up-and-coming female acts. So, it's great to have two really cool acts join us,” he says. On whether or not he feels a responsibility to be a part of diverse touring and festival bills, Diviney jokes, “I just think all the boys suck at the moment [laughs]. The girls are doing it better than the boys, so the boys need to pick up their game.”

Diviney, sitting outside his new house on the Central Coast as it’s getting built, isn’t exactly in the location you’d imagine when someone discusses new music and being on the same festival as Limp Bizkit, Frenzal Rhomb and many more.

“It's pretty amazing to be playing Good Things Festival,” Diviney says before unleashing some sarcasm: “Clearly, we are the heaviest band on the heavy/alternative music festival. So, it's good to see Australian hardcore bands like ourselves finally getting the representation that we deserve.” On a more serious note, Diviney can’t wait to see Fall Out Boy, one of his favourite bands of all time, and Limp Bizkit, who are “pretty dope too”. But the Australian contingent is where it’s at.

“Slowly Slowly’s there, heaps of Aussie bands… Jebediah, Frenzal Rhomb, Eskimo Joe – I don't think I've ever seen Eskimo Joe before, so I'm gonna be very keen to see them,” he says. “Fucking Frenzal? I haven’t seen Frenzal play in forever!” Most of all, Diviney is stoked to hang out with all the bands on the bill.

Earlier this year, Short Stack had their albums Stack Is The New Black (2009) and This Is Bat Country (2010) pressed to vinyl for the first time, a decision that was made thanks to the band recently buying the rights to both albums.

Revealing that he, Webb and Clemmensen never thought about releasing the albums on vinyl until they bought the rights to them, Diviney says, “We didn't know how many people like vinyl… It turns out a lot of people buy vinyl [laughs]. Seeing that people are still into our music was very humbling.”

There isn’t much Diviney can legally say about repurchasing the rights to the early Short Stack albums, but he does mention that it was a “fucking nightmare”. “I think we got lucky,” he shares, “I think there are a lot of artists out there that are still getting royally fucked over by things they signed ages ago. We got ours, which is pretty cool.

“We have so much fun with being in a band, more than anything else, you know; I think we’re extremely aware of how lucky we are to be in a position where we've been able to do this for a while now,” Diviney continues.

“Not many bands are afforded that opportunity, so we definitely don't take it for granted. We really appreciate everyone that supports us, and we're having more fun now than we ever have. The trick is not taking it so seriously, I guess. But yeah, we’re just having a lot of fun.”

Short Stack are performing at Good Things Festival 2023. You can buy last-minute tickets here.