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OhOn the first Friday in May, a group of tattooed, pierced and dedicated 20-somethings packed into a pub and burger joint in Sydney’s Newtown. What was once known as a listening party for Ecca Vandal’s second album, Looking For People to Unfollow, suddenly took a turn for the worse. Taking to the stage, Vandal was unflappable and blue-haired, locking eyes with the fans in front as he, along with bassist Richie Buxton and Dan Maio, tore through new material with the intensity of a garage band. Less than 24 hours later, the trio swapped Newtown’s relationship with the stadium as they opened for Interpol and Deftones.
Even the simplest Vandal projects in rooms of any size, the display jitters never go away. “It’s the toughest band we play in – musically, physically and vocally,” says Vandal. Playing music that people have never heard before is a huge challenge.
There’s been a lot of love coming to Ecca Vandal of late, thanks to hits like Cruising to Self Soothe and Bleed But Never Die. When I meet him in a busy Newtown restaurant days after two Deftones shows, he’s still planning the long road to releasing the album he believes in so much.
Those four years – during which Vandal went “off the internet” – began with a period of self-discovery after his 2017 self-titled album and guest spots with artists including Hilltop Hoods, Alice Ivy and Sampa The Great. As he moved freely between the songs of those years, he said: “I had many people say, ‘You will be successful if you just choose a path.'” Instead he chose to do what he wanted.
Vandal began working on the new album in a Melbourne room he shared with Richie Buxton, his partner in music and life. Playing music in a small house, however, became a constant: “I was trying to find really bad music (and) we got a knock on our door saying, ‘Would you stop?'”
The two moved to Buxton’s parents’ house down the street and settled in the garage without internet. “We were like kids again, messing around with instruments,” he said. “I didn’t have to let anyone know what we were doing.”
The intimate recording session found him “the biggest I’ve ever been musically”. Driven by Buxton’s beats and riffs, she juxtaposed her feelings and experiences as a woman of color against world events such as earthquakes. the killing of George Floyd. At the heart of the album, he says, is “the search for true connection” and “trying to fight the honesty of the internet”.
In the middle of the listening party in Newtown, the Vandal manager took the stage to inform the room that the second half would be moving away from the rocks and into the hard hitting area. Vandal hopes to engage fans throughout the album. While writing this, he and Buxton “noticed that the world was too busy with 15-second words. To me, that was not very inspiring.
Looking For People Not to Follow is also the most powerful display of Ecca Vandal’s richly crafted, powerful voice, which is at home on hip-hop beats and punk screams – a register that is “guttural and disordered” and “very different from, like, polished and controlled and beautiful”.
The next step in Ecca Vandal’s rise came via DM from Limp Bizkit leader Fred Durst, who invited him and his band on tour in early 2025. “Fred is the most inspiring artist I think I’ve ever met,” says Vandal with genuine love. “Because they asked us to go, we decided to leave Australia and risk their lives.” With vocal support from artists including Shirley Manson, SZA, Travis Barker and Paramore’s Hayley Williams, Vandal made his Coachella debut in April. The wind of confirmation has been too much to take in: “It’s always something that intrigues me.”
Born in South Africa after his parents fled civil war in Sri Lanka, Vandal’s family eventually settled in Melbourne, where he remembers always being “the only Brown kid” at school: “It was a constant search, like, where did I end up? He found his way through music, going to study jazz at the Victorian College of the Arts. Despite his parents’ love and appreciation of music, he says they were surprised by his decision to pursue it professionally. Maybe he was worried about finances.” “This is the basis of it. Like, can I make money with this?” He is laughing. That’s a good question. I’m still surprised too.
Her Sri Lankan identity is subtly woven through her music, including the saree she wears in a variety of changing colors in the video for Bleed But Never Die: “I thought it was so beautiful, so I wanted to stand it up on the road – in front of a bunch of Marshall amps.”
Currently, Vandal is mostly out of suitcases, and lives in Los Angeles. Legendary skateboarder Tony Hawk, the skating inspiration behind Cruising to Self Soothe, invited him to visit his skate park in San Diego. Before leaving, he presented her with a signed board with a line inspired by the song: “Moving to where we belong.” That same week, he received a DM from Flea asking what he was doing that afternoon. “So I had tea with Flea at about 3 o’clock in Los Feliz,” he says, clearly horrified by the unreality of it all. I have a feeling they will have to get used to it.
Ecca Vandal music featuring
Each month we ask our subject to share songs that have accompanied them through love, life, passion and death.
What was the best year for music, and which five songs prove it?
1993. Oh My God – A Tribe Called Quest; Way Man – Wu-Tang Clan; My name is Mud – Primus; 93 ‘Til Infinity – Evil Spirits; Serve Ministers – Nirvana
What music do you clean the house with?
Anything written by Aphex Twin
What song do you want to write?
All I Want is Radiohead
What was the last song you sang in the shower?
Singin’ in the Rain
If your life was a movie, what would the opening song be?
Bitch Better Have My Money
Which song is the least likely to be the best?
Multi-Love and Unknown Mortal Orchestra
What was your favorite song when you were a teenager?
Björk’s Hyper-ballad. I still love it today
What song do you want to sing at your funeral?
Time Out and Blur
What is the best sex song?
Left & Right by D’Angelo
