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On paper, Sydney supergroup FVNERAL\u2019s<\/strong> collaboration with Ben Lee<\/strong> on their latest track friendly fire<\/em> may come as a surprise to some.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \u201cI think now in this culture,\u201d Lee first comments after hopping on the call, \u201cfeatures are such a regular thing. It’s almost like an expected thing. But gratuitous features that don\u2019t make any sense \u2014 it\u2019s like a pop cultural crime. You have to find the connective tissue.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/div>\n And the connective tissue for friendly fire<\/em>? Talking to FVNERAL\u2019s Tay Blunt <\/strong>and Ben Lee, they converge on a shared treasuring of community, with this collaboration being chapter in a story nearly two decades in the making.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \u201cAwake Is The New Sleep<\/em> is the first CD I ever bought,\u201d Blunt tells The Music<\/em> in their home studio.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n They were in Grade Two and ventured to JB Hi-Fi with their pocket money for the momentous purchase after the Catch My Disease<\/em> hitmaker was introduced to them watching Rage<\/em> with their older cousins.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \u201cI remember being so fascinated by that song specifically,\u201d they recall. \u201cI remember taking [the lyric booklet] out and reading along. This thing, that at surface level so joyous and silly and funny, has a real \u2014 I didn\u2019t know the words to describe this as a nine-year-old \u2014 but like a real yearning and an earnest want for the world to be better.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/div>\n Don’t miss a beat with our FREE daily newsletter<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n \u201cIt really fucked me up in a lovely way,\u201d they laugh.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n Fast-forward to 2024, after a successful cold call email, FVNERAL scored some support spots on Lee\u2019s regional tour. Their first meeting, Blunt recounts, was post-sound check in the green room as FVNERAL\u2019s unsuspecting drummer nearly trips over a napping Ben Lee on the floor.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n “I was like: \u2018Oh, we’ve pissed him off\u2019,” Blunt cringes. But regardless of an accidental kick to the face, Lee took a liking to the band and after the tour wrapped, he invited FVNERAL to play an acoustic show at his house.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \u201cWe’ve always liked to have artists play in our house and throw little parties,\u201d Lee explains. \u201cWe’ve had Amyl And The Sniffers<\/strong>. We had Ninajirachi<\/strong> throw a rave. We had Joanna Sternberg<\/strong> do a set. It’s just something I’ve always done.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \u201c[Ben] really engages in this very deliberate world building,\u201d Blunt says. \u201cTrying to connect different creative friends of theirs, or people who make art that they like, and put them in spaces together because they’re like: If I like person A and person B, chances are they’ll connect and be able to share some kind of common experience of either consuming some art that’s cool or like making something together and collaborating.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \u201cI think honestly the connection between FVNERAL and community only really became super clear to me when I went to that show at Lazy Thinking,\u201d Lee points out, recalling when he performed friendly fire<\/em> with the band at a fundraiser concert for Blunt\u2019s other initiative, TRANSGENRE<\/strong> \u2014 an annual festival they co-founded with Ellie Robinson<\/strong> dedicated to spotlighting trans and non-binary artists.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n Even though the track was written almost a year prior, Lee remembers that concert as \u201ca bit of an epiphany\u201d, witnessing the palpable impact FVNERAL was having on their community in-person. \u201cI saw what the music meant,\u201d Lee says.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n When Blunt sent the original demo of friendly fire<\/em> over, Lee\u2019s first text back was: “Fun idea: if I did it, I’d like to approach it like Lorde<\/strong> from the Charli [XCX]<\/strong> song.”<\/p>\n <\/div>\n Using a touchstone of the girl so confusing<\/em> remix, arguably one of the biggest musical moments of 2024, definitely took Blunt aback. \u201cThat’s bold! Can I basically turn it into that kind of dynamic?\u201d they wondered.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/div>\n But when Lee returned with his verse, Blunt agreed that the pieces immediately fell into place: \u201cIt shifts the vibe and changes the structure of the song and brings an entirely new perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \u201cI look at the song,\u201d Lee walks us back, \u201cin terms of like \u2014 here’s Tay telling this story of queerness within a conservative environment and me as an older artist saying, \u2018There’s room here. You can breathe\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \u201cWhen I was 14 and the Beastie Boys<\/strong> and Sonic Youth <\/strong>swept me up, it was the same thing. It wasn’t around gender or sexuality, but it was around older, eccentric left-of-center artists going, \u2018Come and join the circus. You’re with your people here\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/div>\n That sentiment was felt in full force by FVNERAL. \u201c[Ben] treats me and FVNERAL as a friend and as part of his chosen family,\u201d Blunt says, gleaming with gratitude.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n This bond forged between FVNERAL and Lee, and the broader unconditionally-loving community of creatives that surround them, is a juxtaposing image compared to the setting in which friendly fire <\/em>starts, with Blunt revisiting their experiences growing up queer within a deeply conservative religious space.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \u201cThat first line is really trying to think about how odd it is that there’s this kind of promise of love from God, but there’s also this spectre of violence and punishment,\u201d Blunt unpacks. <\/p>\n <\/div>\n For them, navigating their identity was wildly jarring and harmful amidst the messages enforced by their church community at the time.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \u201cIt’s crazy because you are having these profound self-discovery moments in contexts that are so fucking homophobic and transphobic and colonialist and problematic.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a useful touch point in thinking that couldn’t be further from the life I live now, and how sweet, kind and supportive my family of origin and my chosen family are, and my broader community,\u201d they smile. \u201cI feel so proud of having found that, and so grateful for it.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/div>\n