Trauma Party are one of those rare bands who manage to turn urgency into electricity. Born on Waiheke Island and sharpened by relentless touring across Aotearoa, the four‑piece have carved out a sound that fuses garage‑punk with post‑punk and a sly pop sensibility. Their latest single, Speak to Me, is a vivid example: a taut, motorik, chant‑driven wake‑up call that confronts loneliness, delusion, and the quiet slide toward society’s fringes. Its accompanying video, filmed at The Woolshed on the Waiheke Dirt Track, humanises those who feel unheard, pairing political tension with emotional honesty while still landing as an energetic live favourite. With their debut EP Because You’ve Been Good already making waves on student radio and a full‑length album on the horizon, Trauma Party are stepping into 2026 with momentum, conviction, and a sharpened sense of purpose, making now the perfect moment to sit down with them for a deeper conversation.
You formed on Waiheke Island (New Zealand) in early 2025. What was happening in your lives and in the local music scene that made Trauma Party the band you had to start?
TRAUMA PARTY: A collision of serendipity and opportunity! In late 2024, drummer Kirsty Swanney and bassist Ron K recruited vocalist Buddy Olson and guitarist Derek Solomon for a live show with Attrition (UK). Kirsty and Ron’s previous incarnation Glass Cell had been offered the slot, but a wedding meant their guitarist was unavailable.
Trauma Party formed from that brief union. There was immediate chemistry, an ability to work together, and most importantly a 'sound'. After the Attrition show, the band just got in the room and started writing. Buddy arrived with the lyrics to Roll Up (It's The New Truth), Ron had the bassline, Derek created all the textures, and from the moment Kirsty added the drum parts Trauma Party was born.
You’ve cited The Skeptics, Jesus Lizard, Bauhaus, Swans, Killing Joke and Gang of Four. Which of these influences has grown stronger as you’ve developed, and which unexpected artists have shaped your debut EP?
TRAUMA PARTY: We are firmly rooted in post punk and those influences are definitive for 3/4 of the band. It's reflected in the guitar parts, the polyrhythms, and the sheer force of our sound. However, our bass player Ron brings in something else entirely. His influences veer away from this, and he brings in unique bass lines that a lot of our music is built from.
Ultimately all 6 of these influences were never far from our reach when creating our debut EP. The angularity and muscular beats, the abrasion and melody, and the lyrical content. It’s not a conscious action; they are a part of our psyche.
“Trauma Party” is a striking name. Where did it come from, and what does it capture about your worldview, humour, or creative identity?
TRAUMA PARTY: We had what felt like hundreds of band names, and could not decide for weeks. The group chat was going crazy late into the night! We were on the fence with Trauma Party for a while, but kept circling back, wondering why it felt right for us.
As a band we are all little creative bundles of trauma, bringing our lived experiences into the band room, and into our music. Our name works as both a light-hearted dig at ourselves, and a recognition of the current tumultuous global state of affairs; the rise of the far right, late-stage capitalism, and environmental destruction.
Is it mocking? No, not at all. We want people to join us, to party, to scream and yell, to experience the uplifting catharsis of a Trauma Party show.
If one piece of your gear turned out to be haunted by a mildly unhelpful ghost (not evil, just annoying), which item would it be and what kind of unhinged, tour‑ruining chaos would this ghost specialise in?
RON: Ha. It is probably the case that much of our gear is actually haunted and resulting in chaos! The ultimate chaos agent though, is probably bass overdrive pedals. They can be pretty unpredictable and quite capable of sabotaging your low end. There is definitely a ghost in my overdrive (we won’t say which company the pedal is from). Sometimes the ghost is in a good mood, sometimes it carries on like a self-centred teenager. It should probably just be taken off the pedal board, but I’m worried about upsetting the ghost…we wouldn’t want it to switch gears and go from ‘just annoying’ to ‘evil’.
Your music blends garage punk energy with post‑punk tension and subversive pop hooks. How do the four of you approach writing together, and what does a typical Trauma Party song look like in its earliest form?
TRAUMA PARTY: We practice and create music surrounded by trees in a huge old converted Woolshed on Waiheke Island. A Trauma Party song often begins with either a bass line from Ron, or a guitar piece Derek has brought in, and we jam it out in the Woolshed. Playing around with the riffs, feeling it out.
We aren’t rigid in the writing process, and aren’t trying to fit a genre. The song will just naturally end up 'traumatized' simply because it is the sum of all our parts, of collective creative input. Ultimately, we are a ‘less is more’ type of group, we trim the fat in the song writing process, and definitely work to not repeat ourselves. Each song has its role in both the live show and our EP.
Your track ‘Speak To Me’ tackles loneliness, delusion, and ideological drift with empathy rather than judgement. What personal experiences or observations fed into this song and its message?
TRAUMA PARTY: Buddy’s original inspiration for the Speak To Me lyrics came from observing people disappear down rabbit holes, chasing down random theories, on some mistaken belief that they have found a hidden truth. Seeing the malicious spread of disinformation feeding people’s need to be included, but deluding them, swaying them with extremist rhetoric.
“Speak to me, preach to me, teach me what I need to believe…
Speak to me, reach to me, give me all I need to receive”
Our ‘Speak to Me’ video, directed and filmed by Derek, solidifies these themes, but with our group in the video ultimately rejecting the rhetoric and storming out of the meeting. We believe helping to highlight extremist propaganda techniques is a great way to resist, along with helping to create strong, supportive music communities.
If you had to choose one artist (living or dead) to act as your personal “emotional support musician” during a stressful tour, who would you pick and what oddly specific advice do you think they’d give you?
TRAUMA PARTY: David Yow from The Jesus Lizard would be amazing. He would tell us we need to give more, go harder, live through the music, create more of a shared experience. He would encourage catharsis and a visceral output, where only blood, sweat, and the occasional boxers should be left on stage.
You’ve already toured the North Island and shared stages with Guitar Wolf, The Jackets, Schkeuditzer Kreuz and LUNG. What do you want people to feel when they walk away from a Trauma Party show?
TRAUMA PARTY: We want them to feel exhilarated! Alive! To know they’ve been part of something wild, fun, sweaty, and untamed. That they gave everything they have, right alongside us.
If you could curate your own three‑day mega‑festival, which bands or artists (they can be alive or dead) would you choose to headline each night, and why do they represent the spirit of Trauma Party?
KIRSTY: Haha, I’ve got to grab this one. So, I’ve been to my share of mega festivals so this is easy…
Headliners:
Day 1 The Beat (The English Beat)
Anti-fascist, pro-inclusion and social justice. Stunning creative songs with punk rock, ska, and pop elements. A great warm up.
Day 2 Dropkick Murphys
Very active working against fascism.. Saw them at a huge festival in France in 2024 and their celtic street punk had the whole crowd joining together, jumping around, and making friends at the end of the night. Everything we want at a Trauma Party show.
DAY 3 The Jesus Lizard
Yes, like you’re getting a bit wide eyed by the third night and The Jesus Lizard is gonna take you to the absolute next level! I’d like to think Trauma Party channels a bit of David Yow at every show. And yes, drummer Mac McNeilly blows my mind.
AFTER PARTY: Kiwi band S.P.U.D from the early 90s. I’m sure vocalist Glen Campbell shares some Yow genes.
Please tell me about your favourite cheese? How do you take it, are we talking crackers/biscuits, crusty bread? I need details please!
RON: There is this tasty cheddar cheese here that is my go-to. Kind of crumbly. Multiple uses, sometimes with crackers, sometimes shredded and incorporated into other dishes. It is a cheese for all purposes.
KIRSTY: Haha, you can afford cheese?!
If Trauma Party hadn’t formed on Waiheke Island but instead in a completely bizarre alternate universe, what would that world look like and what would your band be infamous for there?
KIRSTY: Ok, so my dream universe? I would need a purple sky, is that doable? I feel like Waiheke Island has a huge influence on our music, for the three of us that live here. It is very much an island of the haves and the have-nots, so that’s always going to breed an underbelly of rebellion. But also we have the beauty, and the artistic community. Swimming in the pristine ocean before band practice or after sound check, surrounded by nature out at our practice space, and only a quick ferry ride to the booming music scene of Auckland, Tāmaki Makaurau.
I feel like in an alternate universe, if there are humans, there will always be a need for Trauma Party, a need to celebrate, get wild, fight back. Perhaps we would be infamous for writing songs about our dreams. Dreams of a bizarre alternate universe, with a funny little island, where we live surrounded by clear blue water, and make music in a big old Woolshed.
Finally, would you rather live with a singing gorilla or a dog that can clean?
RON: I’ll take the dog that can clean, because I hate cleaning and my autism prefers silence. So that gorilla wouldn’t work for me.
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Photo by Brenna Gotjé