Taking on Lonely People With Power with Deafheaven’s George Clarke
American black-metal trailblazers Deafheaven are performing at The Rechabite on Sunday, July 5, as part of their biggest Australian tour to date, joined by special guests Nothing and SPY, with tickets on sale now. The band are touring in support of their sixth album, Lonely People With Power, which was described by us at X-Press as “a powerful synthesis of their past” that saw Deafheaven “move beyond genre labels, influences, and audience expectations”, to feature in our Top 25 albums of 2025. BRAYDEN EDWARDS spoke to singer George Clarke to find out about the themes within the record and what we can look forward to from Deafheaven on the tour and beyond.
Firstly, congrats on your awesome new album, Lonely People With Power! After a few years in the making and a change of record label, how has it felt taking these songs on tour so far?
Thank you. It’s been great. We were thinking about the live show writing these songs, so performing them has been excellent.
There are a lot of different themes running through the record, but how do you feel the title brings them together? My read was that the more wealth and power people accumulate, the more detached they become from community and relationships. Why did you feel that was worth exploring in the 2020s?
Yeah, your read is right. The title came from thinking about people of extreme power or wealth who, more in our view and ingrained in our culture than maybe ever, have served an ambition that’s detached them. Then I thought about the ways we detach and exert power in our own lives.
Often the hardest part of any project is knowing when it’s done. Which song on the album was the hardest to finish, either lyrically or musically?
I want to say Amethyst. There were tons of versions, tons of structural changes.
Whenever I’ve seen Deafheaven live, audiences have been blown away by the sheer intensity of the performance, especially the vocals. Do you feel it’s something you were born with, or is it just years of conditioning? And do you ever find yourself regretting, or just thinking twice about writing songs that are so physically demanding to perform night after night?
I’ve spent a lot of time hoarse but have been able to get smarter about technique through the years. The exhaustion is part of the experience! Total exertion.
I guess we can look forward to plenty of material from the new record on the Australian tour, but what else can we look forward to? Do you still reach back to material from your early years, or do you feel you’ve moved past that now?
We do play older, popular favourites that newer fans will recognise, but the set right now is definitely Lonely People focused.
As a band that blends so many different influences and genres, it’s always interesting to see who you choose to tour with. For the Australian dates you’ll be joined by SPY and Nothing. What made those bands the right fit for this run?
I’m very excited about the bill. It’s a really well-rounded show with two great bands. Each is heavy with high energy, and I like when tours have sonic crossover, but none of it too obvious.
Lonely People With Power feels like one of Deafheaven’s most complete and fully realised records to date, so I can’t help but wonder: where to from here? Are there any ideas, influences or music you’re listening to that might shape the next chapter?
I appreciate that. Right now, we’re having fun writing heavy, fast music. Taking those moments from LPWP and pushing them further.
Deafheaven hit The Rechabite on Sunday, July 5, 2026. Tickets are on sale now from destroyalllines.com