SPEIRA bare their teeth, buck the norm on impressive fuzz-laden alt rock debut album, 'ARKOMAI'
Photo credit - Red Desert Motion
In their short amount of time together as a band, SPEIRA have emerged as a vital and fresh force on Brisbane’s rock scene. Between the four-piece there exists a dynamism that has been gleefully expressed on live stages, as well as in the studio across a number of strong releases in 2025 and 2026.
Powered by a shared love for music built upon a raw and passionate foundation, the group excitedly shares their debut album: ‘ARKOMAI’. An eleven-track journey of forceful and spirited alternative, grunge-driven rock vibes, the album is an impactful statement of intent.
Recorded at Yama Nui Studios on the Sunshine Coast, ‘ARKOMAI’ was a creative process that SPEIRA was able to fully commit themselves to and immerse themselves in. Unafraid to blend genres and push themselves into new territory, SPEIRA let light and dark sonic textures flourish through collaborations with ARIA winning producer and engineer Paulie Bromley (george, The Beautiful Girls).
“As a whole ‘ARKOMAI’ showcases a young band experimenting to find their sound. We spent countless hours building the songs from the ground up and they sound completely different to they did when we made the first demos. As we would rehearse and perform the songs we kept finding little nuances to improve or make interesting, and give the song more flavour as a whole. Because we were working on most of the songs for over a year before we recorded the album, we were able to really experiment with how we wanted them to finally sound. ‘ARKOMAI’, is a Greek word meaning “to begin”, which is exactly what we’re doing with this album.” - SPEIRA
‘ARKOMAI’ is the sound of refusing to play it safe, resisting conformity and being downright dangerous in the best possible way. SPEIRA have tapped into the spilled bongwater, incense-burning, sweat-soaked shed moshes of the ’90s and channelled it into 11 massive, fuzzy alt-rock tracks that feel refreshingly removed from the increasingly predictable alternative landscape. Melodic, instantly catchy hooks (‘FLASHBACK’, ‘HUNGOVER’, ‘HOLE’) rub shoulders with grungy psychedelia, heavier moments (‘Hidden Bodies’, ‘Her’, ‘Spend My Mind’) and cheeky, heavy blues boogie (‘Someone Gets Hurt’). Across ‘ARKOMAI’, SPEIRA bare their teeth, throw caution to the wind and remind us that sometimes rock music is at its best when it gets a little wild.
Vocalist Coco Scott veers between snarling attitude and pure charisma, completely at home leading album highlights including ‘HER’, ‘SPEND MY MIND’ and ‘SOMEONE GETS HURT’. Buoying her vocals, the strong musicianship that Jasper Longden, Max Harford and Darcy Weidman demonstrate alongside Scott proves that SPEIRA really has struck upon a special band chemistry. The ferocity of songs like ‘FLASHBACK’, ‘HOLE’ and ‘HIDDEN BODIES’ complement each other perfectly, while being able to stand out as engaging moments of their own.
Similarly, album focus track ‘HUNGOVER’ follows suit. According to the band, they decided to highlight the track “as it has an infectious, upbeat groove while also showcasing our classic SPEIRA sound. It’s easy listening, but if you pay attention, there is a lot of really cool stuff for the listener to pickup. We love ‘HUNGOVER’, it’s the hardest song for Max, Jasper and Coco to play live, but it’s one of our absolute favourites, and we had to make it special.”.
The energy of ‘ARKOMAI’ matches the insatiable vibe SPEIRA brings to their live shows: one that has been attracting growing audiences over the last year. Where their local community in Brisbane has only been growing in size and force, SPEIRA has been landing on the radars of more excited industry names, notably at their recent BIGSOUND showcase; one that attracted international reps who were left hungry for more.
Translating this kinetic energy from the stage back into the studio in creating this album speaks to SPEIRA’s natural talent for conjuring memorable soundscapes: ‘ARKOMAI’ spills over with potential, a bright reminder that this is a band that is just getting started.
To celebrate the release of the album, SPEIRA will be on the road this November and December, supporting the likes of Dune Rats, HEADSEND, Frenzal Rhomb, WAAX and more; alongside their own headline show in Coolangatta on the 21st.
“We are buzzing for our upcoming shows, over the last few weeks we’ve been writing songs for our next project, so with these gigs we have the opportunity to play some new music live, to some really really awesome crowds. We’re promoting it as the “TASTE OF 27” so anyone who comes to these shows will get a good idea of which direction we’re taking our music over the coming year. We’re so grateful for all the bands for having us on, these shows are pretty perfectly timed with the album, and should allow us to play in front of some people who really love music.” - SPEIRA
‘ARKOMAI’ is out now on all streaming platforms.
SPEIRA
TOUR DATES
Friday 6 November Brunswick Hotel BRUNSWICK HEADS Supporting Dune Rats, HEADSEND, Special Features
Friday 13 November The Brightside BRISBANE
Supporting HEADSEND
Saturday 14 November Kings Beach Tavern CALOUNDRA
Supporting Frenzal Rhomb
Saturday 21 November The Balcony COOLANGATTA
HEADLINE SHOW with Stench Pit, Zenith, JIB
Friday 11 December The Arts Factory BYRON BAY
Supporting WAAX
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