PLATYPUS | INTERVIEW + TRACK REVIEW

After years of jamming, refining, and reimagining their sound, Perth-based trio Platypus have emerged with a bold, dynamic presence in Australia’s progressive rock scene. Fusing the atmospheric weight of Porcupine Tree with the raw drive of Tool and the melodic sensibility of Karnivool, they’ve carved a sound that’s both chaotic and calculated. With their debut single “Black Holes” now out in the world—and its follow-up “Terraforming” locked and loaded—Platypus are proving that patience and persistence can lead to something powerful.

We caught up with Isaac, Jacob and Tommi to talk about their creative evolution, working with Jon Stockman (Karnivool), and the long road to finding their voice. This is a paid collaboration with 'Platypus'.

TRACK REVIEW

Black Holes opens with a shadowy, ominous swell that quickly draws you in before breaking into a serene yet haunting acoustic landscape. There’s something humbling about the stripped-back guitar and the deliberate tempo—it creates space to really feel every note. The snare tone is a standout, anchoring the track with a raw clarity that gives it weight without overpowering the mix. There’s a definite echo of Nirvana Unplugged in the atmosphere—gritty, vulnerable, and unafraid to sit in the quiet moments. It’s a track that doesn’t need to shout to be powerful. Instead, it pulses with depth, control, and emotion that lingers long after it ends.

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Tell us the story of how Platypus came together. What were those early days like, and what kept the fire burning through the years?

Isaac: The first couple of times we jammed together were back in 2016, trying to do Black Sabbath and Metallica covers. But the full ratification of Platypus was in Seville on a trip to Europe in 2019 after just seeing Tool play Download, and we were like—we wanna do that!

There were quite a few songs that came out of 2019 jams, but I’m not sure how many of those actually made it to where we are now?

Through COVID, we had more time to sit and write which was interesting. We put together quite a few bits and bobs and some of those songs from 2021 have definitely evolved into what we have now. Songs like “Thylacine”, “Black Holes”, “Terraforming”, and the first version of “Obdurodon” were all recorded in 2021.

By 2022, we had some solid demos and eventually got in contact with Jono (Stockman), which got the ball rolling in terms of getting some studio recordings done. But it wasn’t until 2024 (after we’d recorded our debut singles) that we met Tommi on bass, which really got the band going so we could play shows.

Jacob: What kept the fire burning was a willingness to get there in the end. For a long time we didn’t have a bass player and didn’t have songs we were particularly happy with. But eventually our songs became better and we really wanted to get to playing them live.

Isaac: The main thing was wanting to make something that we were really proud of and want to release and play for people.

“Black Holes” has been a long time in the making. What was the most challenging or rewarding part of bringing that track to life?

Jacob: I think the most challenging thing was definitely the length of time spent in the studio.

Isaac: I recorded the drums probably a week or so after we first went in and did a session arranging the tunes with Jon and Steve Parkin. Then a few months down the track, Jake went in and recorded the guitars, and then it was endless editing, fine-tuning…

I was explaining to someone the other day about editing drums, and you end up editing every single hit over the 5–6 minute song. Then on top of that it’s all the mixing and mastering that goes on afterwards…

Jacob: I feel like the most challenging and rewarding part were definitely the same for me. We spent over a year recording two songs, but whenever I hear those two songs I remember every single note choice, every alien noise, every chord change, and know that we put effort into every second of those songs to make sure they were the best they could be.

Even though it took over 2 years to record, mix and master the 2 songs, and 4 years from song inception to song release, we got there in the end and I wouldn’t change anything.

Your influences include Karnivool, Porcupine Tree, and Cog. How do you channel those inspirations without losing your unique identity?

Isaac: As soon as you start copying someone, it’s game over.

Jacob: Originally our songs were very “Tool-esque” with riff after riff after riff… Just like every metal band ever. But the thing that Karnivool and Jono helped us with was thinking about how to serve the song, and elaborate on individual ideas rather than trying to cram as many ideas as possible into one song.

You take the songwriting style of Karnivool, the heavy riffs and soundscapes of Cog, and the atmospheric nature of Porcupine Tree, and I feel like those elements come through in both “Black Holes” and our next single “Terraforming”. And hopefully in our newer stuff you hear some of those influences, but also other influences like Bon Iver for our acoustic stuff, or for our heavier stuff bands like Gojira and Meshuggah.

By nature your own identity is an amalgamation of all your influences, and the goal is to channel all those influences without losing your own identity.

Isaac: From a drummer’s perspective, I think you’ve just gotta play what you wanna play and what feels the best for you. By default, some of what you play will be influenced by what you’ve heard. So there will be drum fills, and you might think you’ve heard it before, because it’s come from somewhere else—but just played in my style.

With abstract lyrics, heavy riffs, and polyrhythms, your sound is rich and layered. How do you approach songwriting to keep that balance between chaos and clarity?

Jacob: I feel like since we went into the studio and rearranged “Black Holes,” we met up with a local Perth songwriter Steve Parkin, and one thing that stuck with me was that—in order for it to be a good song, you need to be able to play it on an acoustic guitar and sing along to it…

Some of our newer songs have definitely taken this into account. I mentioned before about trying to write songs that aren’t just riffs stuck together, and now we really try to think more melodically and about serving the song. Lately I’ve been taking a song that’s got a bunch of riffs, stripped it back to an acoustic version, rearranged some of the chords, and then built it up again to include the original riffs, polyrhythms and ideas. I feel this has helped me form a stronger foundation and melodic structure for a lot of the songs, so that when you start adding layers on top, you have a clearer idea as to when they might work best to serve the song and the lyrical content as well.

Isaac: Listening to the demos is super helpful. As a drummer you need to be able to listen carefully to what you’ve played outside your own context—it might be a fun part to play, but you listen back and you’ve played it throughout the whole song and it hasn’t changed very much and you just sigh and realise it sounds like shit. A lot of the songwriting stuff for me, especially because we’re a 3-piece band, is trying to cue or signpost different sections with fills that feel good and drum parts that complement the music and also change and develop with the song as it evolves.

Do your lyrics usually come from a personal place, or do you write more from observation or imagination?

Jacob: For “Black Holes” it was definitely a personal place. But also taking something personal and making it suit the music more. I find that song lyrics that are super obvious are less interesting than lyrics that capture a feeling without being literal. This is something that Phoebe Bridgers does really well. It’s ineffable—you can’t necessarily say that you’ve experienced whatever she’s talking about, but somehow you understand.

For “Black Holes” I was definitely trying to mix the personal with the metaphorical. There were definitely lots of lyrical revisions and re-revisions because of this, but we got there in the end.

For our more recent songs, it’s more about how the songs make you feel. I often just sit down and listen to the demos on repeat for a while and brainstorm emotions and ideas. We’ve got a series of songs that form a narrative in this imaginary world that still doesn’t really make sense to me, but all the songs capture a feeling that somehow relates to the world we live in. I’ve tried to emulate that “Phoebe Bridgers” style of lyric writing using imagery to capture a feeling, and hopefully it comes through in the songs when we play them live, and eventually release them.

Isaac: I feel like the music we write doesn’t lend itself to writing lyrics that are too literal. I’ve only written lyrics to one song, but the focus for me on that one was trying to build upon the imaginary world that exists in the “album” that we’re working on. Imagery is an important part of the lyrics for that song. It’s a dark, aggressive, mysterious-sounding song and I wanted to capture the mystery and anxiety in the lyrics. I want people to hear the lyrics and feel the way I feel when I listen to that song.

How would you describe the Perth music scene right now, and where do you feel Platypus fits into that landscape?

Tommi: Perth is diverse and spread out but has always housed A-grade musicians, bands and live music venues. A small list—The Rosemount Hotel, The Bird, Magnet House, Indi Bar, Mustang Bar, Universal Bar, Alabama Song—these Northbridge/North Perth/CBD-adjacent venues house a broad range of rock to heavy rock music whether it be original music, genre-based cover shows or tribute acts. This fragmented list is a testament to the strong presence of rock music in our metro-area arts scene. Not to mention that at these venues you’d also expect to see jazz, funk, pop, soul, spoken word, hip-hop—Perth music is eclectic, world-class and welcoming, to say the least. To be an upcoming heavy rock band in such a city feels like Platypus is exactly where we need to continue building our fanbase.

Isaac: We’ve met a few bands along the way now and everyone’s really lovely and just want to express themselves through music. Even if they don’t necessarily play music that’s similar to us, the feeling is the same—everyone just wants to have a good time and share their art with people. It’s really cool to be a part of that.

Working with Jon Stockman is a big step. What did you learn from that experience, and how did it shape your new music?

Jacob: Working with Jon was definitely one of the greatest experiences of my musical career. He’s a perfectionist and that helped make the songs as good as they could be. But what really sticks with me is the ability to question yourself and ask “Is this really the best we can do?” Listening to the original demos before we went into the studio compared to now is night and day. We spent an incredible number of hours—often into the early hours of the morning—experimenting with different variations on the same riff, alternate chord voicings, guitar pedals, and atmospheric sounds to make “Black Holes” and “Terraforming” the best they could be.

One thing that really stuck with me was the idea that you could listen to a song a hundred times and hear something new every time. All the little bits of “ear candy” helped elevate our songs, and our songwriting skills have definitely developed to reflect that.

It was also incredibly useful to learn about the recording process itself—from how to mic a guitar cab, gain staging, editing in Pro Tools, mixing, mastering, and everything in between. Having never learnt anything about music production beyond watching YouTube videos, it was invaluable to have one-on-one experience with someone who really knows what he’s doing.

What can fans expect next from Platypus? Is there a bigger body of work on the horizon?

Isaac: The plan for the rest of the year is to release our song “Terraforming”, which is locked, loaded and ready to go. That’s coming out in August. Having two singles out is obviously no small thing, but we also wanna keep people’s interest and make being a Platypus fan as fun as possible. We’re gonna pump out more cool merch, keep tie-dyeing our shirts, put out some cassettes from recent live performances, and try to release a live EP at some point. There’s also a vinyl release for “Black Holes” and “Terraforming” in the works, with the studio versions on the A side and the live versions on the B side, which is super exciting. We’ve had the privilege of working closely with Alice Ford, who’s an incredible artist and has created some beautiful art to match the music—massive shout out to Al. You’ll see more of her work when we eventually release the vinyl, so keep an eye out.

Jacob: We’ve got a whole album worth of songs we’ve written, which we’ll record at some point when we have the time and the money! A lot of the songs we’ve been playing live are part of this hour-long collection. We wouldn’t want to release those apart from each other, so it might be a while before you hear a studio version of all nine songs, but we’ll get there. It’s something we’re definitely looking forward to—and if you like our music, it’s something for you to look forward to as well.

Isaac: It would be cool to play that live in full at some point…

If someone was discovering your band for the first time, what song or live moment would you want them to experience first?

Isaac: The end of “Thylacine”—so they feel like they want to smack their head into concrete. That’s my favourite song to play live for sure. There’s a big garage rock influence, especially in the drum part which is loud and heavy, and the end is very much influenced by Gojira. I want it to feel like the Terminator getting hit in the head with a platinum baseball bat. It’s so much fun to play and I want that feeling to be experienced by other people.

Jacob: I feel like that’s similar for me as well, but to say the same thing would be lame, so… I think outside of live performance, the only song we have out at the moment is “Black Holes”, but I feel like it captures our style quite well. It’s quite an intimate song and I feel like there are a lot of people out there who might get something positive out of the lyrics. There’s always light on the other side.

What do you want people to walk away with after hearing your music, either live or on record?

Isaac: The best gig I ever went to, or the most fun I ever had at a gig, was a King Gizzard show, and I felt like I wanted to just Liu Kang fly kick someone in the face because I had so much fun I felt invincible. I want people to walk away from our show and feel that way. That’s why we often end the show with “Thylacine,” because I want people to have that same feeling I’ve had.

Jacob: Excitement and energy in our live music. You want people wanting to come back for more.

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