Introducing Alt-Rockers LSF…
With a new album out and tour dates on the horizon, Blake Lauricella has plenty on his plate, from self‑funding releases to juggling recording, mixing, and the relentless push of promotion. Speaking candidly about the realities of DIY music-making, the evolution of his sound, and the small‑town roots that shaped the band, he reflects on the journey so far and what comes next as Haunted prepares to make its mark.
With the album out and on reflection, do you realise how much hard work actually goes into making an album?
Yeah, I almost feel like it’s more about the other stuff. I spent a lot of time making this album, and our last one, but at the same time, I feel like you could make a song that works and sounds good in an afternoon, and now it’s all about how you promote it, rather than the song, if that makes sense, or how it sounds anymore. But it took me so long, because I was trying to make an album that sounded like it was done by a big band and a major record label deal. So, I was constantly comparing and going back and forth and doing it all from home. I feel like it’s a lot with the promotion now of how you can get people to see your stuff and see your music and spread it, which is new world.
Being a second album, were you worried about second album blues, or was that not even in the thought process?
No, there’s no real thought behind it. Just as much as I’d love it to be such a career thing, I know other bands and other friends that have really successful music careers, there was no pressure, there’s no major label pressure, there’s no, oh, this is the album, you have to make it and do this. I was making songs, and they needed to come together, because they’re in my head, and that was it. It just had to form and become itself, rather than commercially trying to make a number one album. But even though I think the songs are great, and it’s a good album, it needs to be heard and shared around, it doesn’t mean that there was any pressure in, oh, this is a second album or anything. The first one we made was really just a concept album for fun anyway, while we were in lockdown. This one feels a bit more serious, though, because it’s not as concept-y or anything like that, it’s more just songs that I’ve worked on and poured my heart and soul into for the last five years.
Was it clear in your mind what you wanted to do with the album sonically?
My favourite record is Nevermind by Nirvana, so I kept going back and forth trying to get that drum sound. I used almost the same drum kit Dave Grohl recorded with a big 1982 Tama kit with a kick drum as a floor tom and a thirteen‑inch rack. Our drummer Caleb also picked up a bell brass snare from Cussworth Drums, made in the same factory as the original Terminator snares from the 80s, the ones used on Rage Against the Machine, Nevermind, and countless LA rock records that inspired us. Before anything else, I was most focused on the drums. For guitars, we used a Soldano amp and a Marshall, with clean tones coming from AC30s or my Fender Deluxe at The Brain Studios, where we tracked drums. Later, I used the Soldano plugin at home to overdub solos and thicken everything up. Sonically, the whole album is rooted in 90s rock.
Was the actual process as challenging as you thought? You said it took the best part of five years to write the songs.
The writing itself isn’t hard, the challenge is living up to my own expectations of how I want everything to sound. Some songs, like the album ender Space Control, came out in one go. The low vocal in the verses is literally me in my old bedroom doing a single take without having written anything beforehand; it just came out. The hard part was mixing. I’d do twenty mixes and compare them endlessly. One song could take months because I’d be listening to new records, like the Turnstile album, and thinking, how do I get this level of impact, loudness, and drum presence? The mixing stage and vocals are rough for me, especially with my allergies, I don’t always sound the same. I’ll find a day where I can sing well, record it, then spend a month listening back wondering if I can do it better. That’s the worst part of recording your own music: you always have the option to redo it, and there’s no one there to say, “It’s good.” It’s just you thinking, “I can do it again.”
Was it even harder to let songs go once you got them to a point where they were pretty much as good as you could get them?
Yeah, it’s weird. I’ve learned I need a deadline, without one, or someone telling me to just do it, I’ll sit there forever. I had a deadline this time because we wanted to tour, and I’ve wanted to tour for years but could never afford it. When the band started in 2019, I was living in a warehouse, literally in a tent and we turned the place into a recording and photography studio where we made all our first stuff. I slept there, lived on Vegemite toast and instant coffee, and spent days writing, recording, and mixing that first album. That’s really how the band began… .
The first album you said was covers and things you did during lockdown, during COVID, but sonically, do you see much difference between both albums?
There’s a big difference. The first album was a Halloween concept record with a fixed release date, Halloween 2020 right in the middle of COVID. I was listening to Sabbath, Ty Segall, Fuzz and other heavier bands, and writing spooky‑sounding riffs for fun. That spooky sound still appears in parts of the new album. Some of the scales and riffs from the first record were repurposed, the second interlude became the backing chords for Space Control, and the riffs from Dream Out of Hell show up in I’m Not Here and All in All. Even the bassline in I’m Not Here is almost the same as Hexaflexagon. So there are these little conceptual links, but done in a more polished, more listenable way — not pop, but definitely more accessible than a straight heavy grunge record.
How did you all meet? What’s the background to how the band got started?
Caleb and I met in high school. He was a year above me, and we were in the same music class around Year 9, maybe 2012 or 2013. His group wanted to cover a Nirvana song and needed someone to sing it, and I said I’d give it a go. I wasn’t a good singer then, probably still aren’t, but I was obsessed with Nirvana like every teenager, so I just screamed my way through it. That led to us forming a high‑school band called The Tracks, which got us our first gigs. We played everywhere, Wollongong venues, house parties, Radbar, probably one hundred and fifty shows, opening for anyone. Across all my bands, I’m up to around three hundred shows now.
The Tracks eventually ended. It was more surf‑rock and grungy, and people liked that sound. Honestly, sticking with it might’ve been smarter, all the surf‑rock bands around Sydney and Australia seem to blow up on triple j, but I was way more into 90s‑style heaviness than trying to sound like Hockey Dad, which was the trend then and still is. A lot of Wollongong bands come out sounding like that, but it wasn’t what I wanted to make.
So I shifted to LSF. Wade joined on bass before moving to England, then Dylan came in, and Sam joined for the Halloween album shows because I needed him to sing parts on the record. He wrote a couple of riffs, so we threw them in. He was also one of the people renting the warehouse I lived in back in 2019. It’s all grown out of friendships, just mates who love playing music together. We’re basically a small‑town band. Except for Sam, we’re all from Shellharbour, which has nowhere to play live. I’ve never played a gig there, everything’s been in Wollongong or nearby. It’s not a music town at all, more of a tradie place.
Is there a physical vinyl or CD release planned for Haunted?
I would love to, but I can’t afford it, otherwise I would. I’m just self‑funding everything, and the mastering and stuff, so if I had more money and time, I’d love to. Hopefully after this tour I can make a little vinyl run, limited vinyl run, because I want to get it physical at least once in my life. It would be cool to have that.
Is the goal to attract some label interest and help spread the wings a bit further?
That would be good. I feel like labels now are more into you already having some success. So if for some reason this goes off a bit and gets some more listeners, then I’ll definitely be open to it, because it would make everything a bit easier, and having people around you that are excited and keen from a label perspective, and have connections to get you on gigs and stuff. All the stuff we’ve done gig‑wise is just me messaging, or emailing, or behind a computer writing songs or making the videos. So having some people on board would be amazing.
Is the to tour more extensively around the country as time and resourcing allows?
Hoping so. I don’t know if we’re going to make any money or enough to fund another tour after this, but we’ll see. I’ve already got a bunch of songs that I want to record now. That’s part of the reason why I wanted to get the album out, because I was sick of feeling guilty about the songs just sitting there on my laptop. So I was like, I need to just get it out, and then I can record these new songs that I want to do.
Interview By Rob Lyon
Haunted is out now now, listen HERE…
