INTERVIEW: SUNBLEACHED IN CONVERSATION WITH BRADLEY MADDAFORD
Interview by Cecilia Pattison-Levi
Brisbane alternative rock band Sunbleached have been touring with the fabulous US band Seahaven. The band has recorded a great rock album with flourishes of gritty ‘metalcore-like’ highlights in Stop Destroying The Things You Love. They hopefully will have it played on 4ZZZ and are thinking about what comes next while they all try to hold down day jobs.
“The tour with Seahaven was really special for me,” stated Bradley Maddaford. “I have been a fan of Seahaven’s since I was a teenager. The tour was serious but good. The guys in Seahaven were super lovely and friendly to chat to. We were lucky to have big crowds in Melbourne and Sydney. The Black Bear Lodge was full here in Brisbane.”
Sunbleached have been growing as songwriters and performers since their formation in 2020. The band: Josh Baker (vocals), Bradley Maddaford (guitar/vocals), Kaden Perkinson (bass), Brent Ottley (guitar) and Izaac Calrow (drums) have been attracting attention and steadily putting together a back catalogue of songs with their EPs Rose Tinted, Delicate Places We Hide and I Crawled Into The Hole. The band are about to take the next step with their debut album Stop Destroying The Things You Love. The 11-song album is a quantum leap in sound and style.
“It kind of all started at BigSound in 2024,” imparted Bradley Maddaford. “We played The Brightside and Tomcat. It was at those gigs that we met and talked to Fletcher Matthews. He said he wanted to record us. He was someone who liked the bands we liked. He was charismatic. We just needed him to give us that push.”
The push was to record Sunbleached’s expansive soundscapes that are full of contrast: the use of gritty dark vocals with intoxicating clean vocals, melodic and chugging guitars full of hazy reverb and distorted sounds and the band’s take on emo and alternative rock.
“We recorded the album at Brent’s house and my house,” quipped Bradley Maddaford. “It was great, after a hard day, I could just climb up the stairs and go to bed. The house was full of cables, carpets, makeshift vocal booths and Fletcher’s really expensive microphone. We had our own guitars, amps and bass. We did go to Underground Studios to record the drums. But we just made it work.”
“The new album has a mix of new songs and older songs that have been sort of hanging around,” explained Bradley Maddaford. “The riff for ‘Maybe I'll Come Around’ has been bouncing around since 2018. It started as a riff. I took it to the computer, recorded it, turned it around, and played around with it, but it took a long time to build the lyrics around it. Writing songs it can take 15 minutes to a whole day, and then some riffs it’s years.”
“That’s the thing about music,” stated Bradley Maddaford. “You have to be passionate about it. Every generation has music around them that is shit, but there are gems. They are hidden and you have to find them diamonds in the rough.”
Sunbleached’s new album is one of those diamonds. The album will take the listener on an emotional dark rock trip: there is grunge, shoegaze and flourishes of heavy metal blended together. Hopefully, it will bring the breakthrough the band need to continue on their journey in music.
“I still have the day job,” mused Bradley Maddaford. “I work enough to live for music. I want my life to revolve around music. We have been lucky enough to make our album. I have taken the bands that I love, emo and some metalcore, and mashed them together. When I was a kid and dreamed of being a rockstar and all that bullshit, I thought making a record couldn’t be done within our means. But we didn’t have to spend a million dollars. We did it ourselves. In our homes.”
“We hope that our fans, music lovers and local radio will like the album. We want to tour and gauge how the record is received. We love playing live. We would like to tour Australia, and personally, if we get to go overseas, I would love to tour Europe or the UK.”
Well, Brisbane, this debut record from Sunbleached is well worth your time. It is a true rock album. Its production sounds like a million dollars but, in the end, what shines out is the quality of songwriting and the melodic weight of the melancholic soundscapes created and the bleached-out ennui brought to sonic life.
Sunbleached are releasing their album Stop Destroying The Things You Love independently, and it will be out officially on Friday, 18 September 2026 through Community Music.
If you want to get merch or vinyl, go to: Products | Sunbleachedau, VINYL | Sunbleachedau or Summit Distro. I know I did.
