unpeople On Their Highly-Anticipated, Unifying Debut Album
Still soaring after a scorching summer of tours and festivals, not to mention the release of an epic debut record, UNPEOPLE’s Jake Crawford & Richie Rayner shared their highlights and happiness with Hi Fi Way.
Hello Jake, hello Richie! Thank you so much for your time; how are you amazing UNPEOPLE today?
JC: Good, I think! Gonna be a good day, full of rehearsals ahead of the next tour beginning, so looking forward to it.
Well, on that, 2026 has been massive for UNPEOPLE. Relentless touring alongside some of the world’s best, gracing a plethora of festival stages, the climactic release of we are unpeople has been unanimously declared by critics and fans alike as one of the year’s standout records. Have you had the opportunity to process it all just yet?
JC: Only in the last week or so, genuinely, but I’m grateful we’ve gotten there (laughs). The album came out while we were on tour with DON BROCO, so we were very much in a tour mentality mode – you know, try and get as much rest as possible, rip a sick show every night. It was interesting for it to come out in the middle of that, but now that we’re off the tour for a couple of weeks, I actually managed to get a bit of reflection time and a bit of distance from it enough to be like, “Cool! I think that went broadly well.”
RR: Yeah, because we were really excited about the album. When we finished, we were actually sat on it for a while, and we were all listening to it, just like, “I love this! I would put this on if I came across it, and I would listen to it on repeat. When’s it gonna get out there?” So, it was really lovely that everyone else felt the same.
I can concur with that and all the other accolades; we are unpeople is one of the strongest debuts in musical memory.
RR: Wow!
To borrow others’ adjectives, it is ‘ambitious and intriguing’, ‘blistering’ but ‘steadfast’; adding my own, it’s a work of contrast in harmony. So early in your career, how did you balance these complex dichotomies to create such an almighty album?
JC: While it’s definitely early in the career of UNPEOPLE, the band itself as its own entity, we’ve all been writing and recording music since we were pretty gosh darn young. This was really just an opportunity for us to utilise all of the experience we have collectively and pop it into one big riff pie.
RR: We do have a lot of different pies that we can draw inspiration from, so when we get in the kitchen…
JC: Oh, we’re really going for the ‘pie and kitchen’ analogy, are we? Cool, sweet (all laugh)
RR: Yeah, I’m mean, we’ve got Pumpkin Spice, cinnamon; are we making chilli, should we put chocolate in it, and will it work?
(In unison) YES!
JC: In a certain quantity (laughs)
RR: So, we’re just in here doing some crazy experiments, and we’ve tried it all out. The end result being, “Here are some combinations you might also like”, and we found the balance.
Absolutely, and, I must say, as a teacher I appreciate the “gosh darn” (one of my favourite careful phrases), and even the little tidbits on pumpkins and favourite flavours. They’re all going to come back into play very soon…
JC: Really?! (both laugh)
Seriously first though, as you alluded, the use of everyone’s voices is a rare strength and that equity attributes a uniquely cogent, almost theatrical style in the record’s movements. It truly is almost a narrative, the way it rises and falls throughout the whole playthrough of the album…
(JC holds his hands in thankful prayer)
RR: I love how there’s no question here, you’re just telling us how much you love it! Thank you!
Well, there are a handful coming up, but I do like to wax lyrical don’t I? (all laugh) Reticent to compare UNPEOPLE to anything I might hear myself, I thought we’d let you do that, and finish with a mix of serious and silly rapid fire responses.
JC: Absolutely, well up for that!
Okay, first up – your greatest personal influences?
JC: Does getting out of your own way count?
Sure! Everyone always says someone else, but why can’t you be your own influence?
JC: Yeah… but, like, actually getting out of the way of yourself. That’s one of my biggest influences – just being like, get out of your own way and let all the good things happen. It will happen and it’ll be fine. And yours?
RR: Mine is Socrates and Epictetus, two ancient philosophers who I love a lot. And I love hearing them talk, and I’m just like, yeah, you get it.
My gosh! Full disclosure, I don’t always get sarcasm because I’m a bit on the spectrum. Was that…
RR: No, no, no, legitimately! (all uproariously laugh) I’m reading Plato’s Republic at the minute and I’m genuinely like, “Woah, this guy! Socrates? Yeah, I wanna hang out with him and have a beer.”
Oh, amazing! Well, that’s an awesome combination – the self-awareness and using yourself as a great motivator, and the philosophers of all time. Chef’s kiss, and onto the next: most memorable live moment?
RR (pointing to JC): His trousers falling down when his belt broke! He was playing live and, just before we went out, he was like, “Oh no! My favourite AC/DC belt that I love so much has broken”, and from behind the kit I was watching him pull his trousers up, and just try to pull stances where they wouldn’t fall down in front of the whole crowd. He handled it to a plum.
JC: Thanks…
RR: It was wonderful… and very funny to watch!
JC: Mine was playing main stage at Download Festival. Yours is looking at my slowly revealing ass on stage, and mine is playing arguably the biggest show that we’ve ever played. To be fair, there’s so many memories we’ve made this year, but, I mean, you’ve got one comedy one there, and one absolute barnstormer, so there you go.
Absolutely, and, once again, I can get behind them both. Pun unintended, but it was there.
JC: Come on!
RR: Fantastic (all laugh)
Okay, this might be an easier one then: festival crowds or steamy venues?
RR: Hmmmm, festival crowds have been fun, because we’ve been winning people over. Like, Europe was really fun for me personally, for us, for that, because we’d sometimes go out, and there wouldn’t be many people, and they’re like, “Who are you, then?”
JC: Yeah, no vibes.
RR: Then we’d be like, “Oooooohhhhh!” (raising hands) and then all of a sudden, the energy’s there. That’s been a lot of fun this summer.
JC: Yeah, rising to the challenge of just being like, “We are gonna win you over. Like, you don’t have a choice in the matter,” and, nine times out of ten, it really does work. You just pick one person with their arms folded, who just looks like they’d rather be anywhere else, and be, like, “I am gonna make you nod your head, at the very least,” so that’s fun. The amount of diverse festival crowds we got to play to this year, absolutely great, but there is something to be said for wall-to-wall, packed-out sardine fest, you know? There’s something about that. They both have their charms, but I think my favourite show that we’ve played in the last few years was a tiny little venue in Eindhoven, and that will stay with me forever.
RR: That’s a good one.
JC: So a bit of a cop out there, a bit of both, but that’s that.
Maybe another fence-sitter, massive chorus or filthy breakdown?
JC: Massive chorus.
RR: Both, haven’t you heard the album?! (both laugh uproariously)
Well, that’s why I was thinking it’s gonna be a fence-sitter; I thought that there might be instrumentally a bit of a push either way.
RR: Which one did you go for?
JC: Massive chorus, but that’s purely just because there’s at least one song on the album that has a massive chorus but no breakdown, and I still absolutely love it. And also, like… I love a filthy breakdown, as much as the next man. In fact, I probably like breakdowns the most out of anyone in this band. But, try to write the best chorus you possibly can and watch it resonate with a crowd. There’s not much of a better feeling than that, personally. I mean, it’s great watching fans kick the shit out of each other as well, but a collective consciousness, arms around each other, singalong? I think that trumps almost everything. You never see anyone circle pit into Bohemian Rhapsody, you know what I mean?
It could be done, let’s be honest. Maybe you guys should try that; I mean, heck, who out there is doing four-part harmonies? It might lend itself to the preference for those massive choruses, because you do them so gosh darn well.
JC: Thank you very much. We have had a few QUEEN comparisons, and I’m, like, so A-OK with that. That’s the best news ever.
Lastly, it is the spooky season, after all. So, taking it anyway you like, this Halloween will you trick or will you treat?
JC: Tricks, every time. Always.
RR: You don’t want a treat?
JC: No, I’m not in, that’s my trick. They’re like “Trick or treat!” and I’m like, “I’m not here.” (all laugh)
RR: I’m going to do the treat! I actually did treat myself, which is I went to the shop and I bought every single variation of pumpkin. So, I bought like all of the little ones, all of the different colors and I was like, “Here we go!” (JC laughing uncontrollably) You know how we talked about the potato thing, you line them all up? I did it by myself, and I lined up all of the pumpkins. I roasted them all, tried all the different seeds, that was my treat.
JC: I like that.
RR: And, I can confirm the light gray big ones with the deep orange flesh are my personal favorites, and those big orange ones are just there for carving.
JC: Okay, cool. Pure visual. Pure visual.
RR: Yeah, taste like shit. Like saffron.
JC: That’s a shame.
Well, um, that wasn’t purely to script, although I don’t really know what I expected! But, I’m not a fan of typically cliched questions and it popped into my head, so there we go (all laugh) Honestly, I am so grateful; you are smashing humans…
JC: Oh, too kind, too kind!
But, I am just so excited to see what unbelievable thing happens next for UNPEOPLE.
RR: Thank you so much for your kind words. We can tell you really, really meant it all because it was really, really lovely to hear.
JC: Yes, thank you very much.
Well, I’m glad that the communication is there, despite the distance. Fingers crossed, I’ll see you front and centre (and I won’t be crossing my arms) sometime here in Oz.
Interview By Belinda Quick
we are unpeople – out now
https://bfan.link/we-are-unpeople
