RICHARD WEBB & THE LIARS | INTERVIEW + TRACK REVIEW
- 1 hour ago
- 8 min read
Protest songs have always occupied a strange place in music. At their best, they challenge power, question accepted truths and force uncomfortable conversations. At their worst, they can become slogans disguised as art. Rich Webb & The Liars avoid that trap entirely. On their latest single, Peace With Bombs (No No No), the Melbourne outfit delivers something far more compelling: a protest song rooted not in ideology, but in humanity.
Led by songwriter Rich Webb and backed by a group of trusted collaborators, the band combines alternative rock, pedal steel, synths and layered textures to create music that feels both familiar and unpredictable. While the project may be relatively new, the musicians behind it bring decades of experience, allowing them to move confidently beyond genre boundaries while still sounding urgent, current and alive.
At the heart of Peace With Bombs (No No No) is a simple but confronting question: how do ordinary people justify extraordinary acts of destruction? Rather than shouting from a political soapbox, the song looks at conflict through a deeply human lens, exploring responsibility, empathy and the stories we tell ourselves to make the unacceptable seem acceptable. We caught up with Rich Webb to discuss protest music, creative obsession, the Melbourne music community, and why experienced musicians still have plenty left to say.
TRACK REVIEW -
Peace With Bombs (No No No) arrives with the confidence of a band that has something genuine to say. Opening with a triumphant, almost revival-like energy, the track immediately grabs your attention through its booming bass and huge live drum sound, captured with enough room ambience to make it feel powerful without losing clarity. It's the kind of opening that reminds you why great rock music still matters. The lead vocal is another standout, sitting right in that sweet spot where it's being pushed to its limit without ever losing control. There's a confidence and swagger in the performance that feels completely natural.
What really won me over, though, was the production. Rich Webb & The Liars manage to blend classic rock foundations with modern production touches, creating a sound that feels timeless and contemporary all at once. The lyrics land with real weight because you believe every word being sung. There is no sense of performance for performance's sake here; the delivery feels authentic and purposeful. One lyric that particularly stood out was, "somehow you forgot them along the way." It's such a simple line, yet it perfectly captures the disconnect between those making decisions and the people forced to live with the consequences. Peace With Bombs (No No No) is a powerful reminder that protest songs don't need to shout to make their point. Sometimes conviction speaks loud enough on its own.
“Peace With Bombs (No No No)” is a protest song, but it doesn’t feel detached or slogan-driven. Was it important for the song to sound emotionally human rather than politically performative?
I certainly wanted people first. The song starts by wondering what the pilot is thinking as they fly a massive bomber towards somewhere they probably don’t know a heap about and are about to unleash terror on people who don’t know a heap about them either. Just because. Duty or whatever. And why they think that’s an acceptable way to go about things. What is it that enables them to do something like that and take everything away from other folk who in many ways are just the same as them?
So it is about people. Politics is the flim flam that gets them there. How do they reason with themselves that this is the right thing to do before they do it? I don’t understand how you can detach yourself like this on a personal level. You are responsible. What gives you the right to destroy other peoples’ lives? And if you don’t think they are like you, what makes you and your life so special? I don’t even want to get started on religion.
The song then goes into the politics behind all this nonsense and always has been. If that’s what it is, and not arrogance, stupidity, greed, vanity, entitled narcissistic delusional behaviour of a bizarre kind, or all of that and more. It’s here that lurk the ‘rich entitled men’ that sent them and how they have often been sent for reasons that are purely beneficial to some idiot politically. Those that are sent to do the fighting are never the sons and daughters of the people who sent them, either. We’ve all learnt about bone spurs now, right? If you are extraordinarily rich, you live by different rules. None of this seems right on any level.
All of you have extensive histories in other projects, yet this band is still relatively new. Does forming Rich Webb & The Liars feel like starting over creatively, or more like finally arriving at the right combination of people?
A bit of both. Maybe not ‘finally’ arriving. I’ve been in some sensational bands in the past but it certainly does feel like the right time to be in this one. Bands are like gangs. For me, it’s about being around people you like, respect, trust to have your back as well as love playing with. If it’s not all those things, I don’t want to know about it. It’s also fun doing something together with your mates. Being in a band brings much more than yourself. I’m a quarter of it. We are a pretty diverse bunch too. They have a life of their own bands. They’re just more fun.
There’s something powerful about experienced musicians still chasing the excitement of building something fresh. What do you think keeps artists hungry after years in music scenes and side projects?
I don’t think that hunger ever really goes away. You are chasing the excitement to a point but it’s also about creating something you love for yourself. Something that inspires you and hopefully other people around you. Or brings something to their life, however small. For a few minutes even. It starts and ends there really. You are making music for yourself and then everything you do from there is a hope other people will get something from it too. There’s nothing more powerful than being in a great band, playing a fabulous tune to an audience that’s willing you to bring them something special. There is an energy in all of that that’s indescribable. You are chasing that too. You need something fresh to put everything else into context.
The title Peace With Bombs feels intentionally contradictory. Do you think modern society has become too comfortable living alongside constant tension and conflict?
It’s a great question but I’m not sure I have any sort of decent answer. Personally, I don’t like living alongside tension and conflict. I hate it. So, there’s that. It’s incredibly depressing. We also have to appreciate what we have here. It’s not like in other parts of the world where people have been in the middle of conflict for years. We haven’t got to deal with anything like that. We are so lucky to be where we are. No one is bombing us. I don’t know how they cope with that kind of all-encompassing uncertainty on a daily basis. They are bigger than me. That said, it’s only a generation or two back since a big chunk of the world was at war – my Mum and Dad were little kids through it. That’s not that long ago. And it does feel like the level of tension and conflict in the world has been rising so I hope we are not too comfortable with it. I hope we can start moving the other way, and fast.
A lot of protest music either leans toward anger or hopelessness. Your sound seems to sit somewhere stranger, almost reflective while still confrontational. How do you balance those emotions without losing impact?
I wanted to make the point clearly and that seemed the best way to do it. I believe/hope everyone can be reasonable and empathetic. I’m not sure whether that’s because believing otherwise would be scary, or maybe I was born glass half full. But it takes a certain type of A1 nutter to want to go around hurting other people for their own personal gain. Where do they get off? I’d rather choose to think they are the exception rather than the rule. Give everyone the benefit of the doubt at least initially. But bollocks to you if you cross the line.
With pedal steel, synths, layered vocals and alternative rock textures all colliding together, the band sounds rooted in tradition while still pushing outward. Do genre boundaries matter less once musicians become confident in their identity?
I don’t want to make music that sounds like when I first started making music. Or like the albums that got me into music when I was a kid. When I started out and made my first record, I wanted it to be current. I still do. But yes also, we are traditional in the sense that we have two guitars, bass, drums, and recently keyboards. I don’t really care much about the identity aspect and we don’t have to – we’re not paying back some multi-thousand dollar advance. We can do what we like, all the time. I don’t like playing it safe either, that’s just boring. This is a lovely description though.
Being part of the Naarm/Melbourne scene means constantly being surrounded by incredible musicians and projects. Does that environment inspire creativity, or create pressure to constantly evolve?
It definitely inspires creativity. I’m not sure there is anything more inspiring than seeing a great band do their stuff live, and from where I am in the inner north, I can walk to 10 or more venues with original bands on most nights of the week. It is quite fabulous. I also reckon the music community is quite supportive here. People genuinely want each other to be successful. Why not? There is no competition in music. No one is in it for the money. It’s all about the love. The need. The experience. The rest is something all-together different.
There’s a difference between writing a protest song because it’s topical and writing one because you genuinely need to say something. What emotional state gave birth to Peace With Bombs (No No No)?
I’ve wanted to write a song like this for a while, and when Trump tweeted after he’d bombed Iran for the first time – ‘NOW PEACE’ – all caps – I saw an immediate way in. It was so stupid that I couldn’t help but use it. Then you have the US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and his recent press conference where he says, among other madness, the US “now negotiates with bombs”. I took a snip of that press conference for the start of the YouTube lyric video. These people haven’t one brain cell between them. Who is buying this stuff? They’ve walked the plank and drowned in their own self importance.
You mention the album already being recorded while you’re quietly finishing mixes behind the scenes. Do you enjoy the hidden, obsessive studio side of creating records as much as the live release of finally playing them?
Yes, I do. It takes a certain type of obsessive to say yes to that and I’ve finally come to accept I’m one of them. I got involved with the studio side over a decade ago and it was originally because I didn’t have the money to go into a larger studio with a fabulous engineer, mixer, producer. As much as I would like to – and still would like to in many ways. But over time, I really got to like this aspect of it too. Not that I think I’m particularly good at it but I do enjoy the whole process and playing with ideas within songs to steer them towards something that makes even more sense to me. I’m not the new Mark Ronson though or Tchad Blake, so don’t worry about that. It seems to take me four times as long as anyone else to do anything. But there is something about being self-contained that’s lovely too.
If someone discovers Rich Webb & The Liars for the first time through Peace With Bombs, what do you hope lingers with them most afterward, the message, the atmosphere, or the feeling that experienced musicians can still sound dangerous and alive?
I hope they get something from the song and the energy we put into creating it. I hope it makes them feel something. Or think about something, even on a small level. I also, of course, hope they love it and can’t wait to come and see us live, and to catch the new album when it comes out later this year. But if they get something at all out of it, then that’s success. But I’m telling you, we are a great live band. We are worth the trek out. Come see us. Come and say hello.
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