Soft Bait Share New Single/Video ‘Long Line', And Announce In-Store Performance
'Long Line' is about the baggage you didn't ask for but got anyway; bad backs, bad tempers, petty grudges passed down like family recipes. It's the sound of generational hangups with a beat you can stomp to. As Josh puts it, 'It's about self-concept, the beliefs and traits we inherit and hold onto, even when they don't serve us.' The track doesn't hold back. Pounding bass and drums grind forward with intent. Guitars jab like they're trying to start something. Then it cracks open into something big, messy, and weirdly uplifting, like yelling into the void and getting an answer back.
Directed by Ryan Fielding, and made with the support of NZ On Air Music, the video for ' Long Line ' drops the viewer into a rusted-out dream where dystopia comes with a side of deep-fried cheese. Inside a flickering future, workers grind through shifts at a neon-lit pizza parlour, jacked into glitching VR headsets. In their heads: a band caged in an industrial dive, playing to a crowd of cyber bikers from hell. It's doomscroll-era paranoia wrapped in a warped MTV fever dream, an end-of-shift hallucination with no log-off.
The band have also announced that, to celebrate their new album, they are performing a special one-off in-store at our Flying Nun Records shop on Karangahape Road in Auckland. It's free, and we reckon it'll be the hottest ticket in town — so mark Saturday 26th July @ 3PM this in your calendar now!
Soft Bait are a four-piece from Tāmaki Makaurau making pointed, off-centre post-punk that barrels forward with restless momentum. Since forming in 2020, they've built a reputation off the back of their electric live shows, sharp lyricism, and a knack for turning everyday absurdities and half-remembered pop culture into something worth shouting about.
Soft Bait's sophomore offering, 'Life Advice ' is out on the 25th July, both digitally and on black or silver vinyl LP.
Soft Bait are Joshua Hunter, Patrick Hickley, Keria Paterson and Cameron Mackintosh. Their debut album, ' Plot Points' (2022), introduced a sound that blends gothic post-punk with personal, powerful vocals. The album's singles, Big' and ' True Stories ', topped SRN radio charts, and their live shows have been described as 'exhilarating, raucous, lively, punky, and so much fun.'
Now part of the Flying Nun Records family, Soft Bait is set to release their sophomore album, 'Life Advice' on July 25th. A sharp, hook-heavy record with chugging bass lines, restless energy, and tightly wound turns. The songs dig into online weirdness, Kiwi archetypes, and the quiet rituals we fall into without realising. Lyrically, it's full of lines that land like overheard wisdom from a mate you probably shouldn't be taking advice from — half true, half twisted, and still ringing in your ears the next day.
If your record shelf includes Viagra Boys, Squid, Warmduscher, or Yard Act, Soft Bait delivers a raw, unfiltered take on the post-punk genre, grounded in Kiwi culture and the peculiarities of everyday life.
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