GAUCI, the Australian pop three-piece, are back with the recently released single, Irritating. Antonia Gauci (engineer for Kesha, Troye Sivan, Lil Yachty), David Gauci (Flowertruck)and Felix Lush (supported Toro y Moi, daine) make up the group, who have recently expanded their team alongside 23 MGMT and Gaga Music. To mark the start of a new era for the band, Irritating is the start of a hit-after-hit stream for 2023. "Irritating is a melancholic dance floor anthem about hating yourself, wanting more out of life but also realising that you can break up with that voice inside yourself and get what you want," GAUCI says. "It went through many different versions but it wasn't until we experimented with a heavier guitar sound that it all came together, experimenting with distortion all over the song ended up with something a little darker to our usual sound." We spoke to the band about the new single and what's next:

Everything’s coming up GAUCI! How are you feeling after such an exciting start to the year with new music and the expansion of your team?

Honestly so stoked to have Irritating come out when it has!!! We’ve been sitting on it since lockdown a couple of years ago and feel like the time that it spent cooking in the vault really did it well, we’re so happy with how it turned out! Obviously the expansion of our team is just a dream come true, 23 are legends on all fronts and being able to now be affiliated with GAGA is a DCT (dream come true)!!

How did the three of you form GAUCI? What’s the GAUCI mission?

We all played together in David’s old indie rock band and hung out all the time, which slowly and surely led to us experimenting a bit with some music Felix had been writing on the side, and after a few late night sessions in his old Glebe living room, GAUCI was born! Our mission is pretty simple - to share hits.

We've been blasting the new single Irritating. Antonia’s vocals feel so at ease over that beat. How did the song come to fruition?

We wrote this in one of our Wednesday zoom sessions while we were in lockdown. I remember we were stuck on a few ideas for a melody, I could hear David having a go of the verse idea on his own while Felix had left the track on loop, and then something about what he accidentally did just made the verse melody click, and then the words and melody followed for the chorus. Also the bridge idea came first for a verse, we discarded it, and then resurrected it for later in the track.

We love the concept of the ‘shy inner monologue’ playing in real time. Tell us more about the realisation that happens on this song.

You just realise that there’s nothing wrong with being open about how you’re feeling, and breaking up with that voice inside your head feels a lot better after you do it than before.

Where’s the best place to experience Irritating for the first time?

At the gym, on the treadmill, wireless headphones absolutely pumping while you are walking up a storm to the beat, air-con broken and someone comes up next to you and says, 'hey what are you listening to?' and you show them your phone and BOOM - it’s like being in a club but we’re all in our fitness era’s now so this reflects that.

You’ve all worked with or toured with some great, influential artists. What have you taken from those experiences into GAUCI?

Yeah, we’ve been extremely fortunate to see how the machine can operate from many different angles. We’ve been able to take the best bits from other peoples’ practices and develop a way of working that is super streamlined for us.

Who is on the GAUCI playlist at the moment?

Yves Tumor, Close Counters, Andy Shauf, Young Fathers, 1tbsp, Weval, Beach Fossils, Duval Timothy, Kali Uchis, Kim Petras, Charli XCX, Caroline Polachek, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Yung Lean.

Great choices. You’re touring soon with Vallis Alps which is a match made in heaven. What can we expect from the Oxford Art Factory show?

A lot of new music and an updated live show!!!

As you’ve all been a part of the music industry for some time, what are some changes you’d love to see in the industry?
More venues and grassroots opportunities, less gatekeeping of said opportunities, more support for artists and industry workers - it’s a tough game out there and community is everything!

What’s next for 2023?

:) New music? Co-writes? Shows? Actually we don’t have any more shows booked so let’s get some shows happening people!  Get in touch with Bec our booking agent rebecca@collectiveartists.com.au :). We’ve got a super secret collection of songs due out at some point!! Can’t wait for the world to hear them cos our manager keeps tweeting saying she’s sitting on the best demos ever and we want her to stop sitting on them and let them fly.

Listen to Gauci HERE.

@gauciworldwide