VOWWS On The Unseen Inspirations For Their New Album, "I'll Fill Your House With An Army"
Haunted sounds for modern darkness
Photo by Gretchen Lanham
VOWWS' "I'll Fill Your House With An Army" is a Manifesto for the Modern Condition
Los Angeles-based duo, VOWWS, are set to release their highly anticipated new album, "I'll Fill Your House With an Army," on October 24, 2025, via German independent record label, Out of Line Music. The duo, comprised of singer-keyboardist Rizz and singer-guitarist Matt James, has cultivated a distinctive "death-pop" sound that blends industrial, melancholic pop, and old-school goth. This will be their third full-length album, following their 2015 debut, The Great Sun, and 2018's Under the World, but the band has kept fans engaged with impactful singles like "One by One" and "Wait" in the years since. Co-produced by Billy Howerdel of A Perfect Circle, the new album is their most ambitious to date, featuring drumming legend Josh Freese and Korn guitarist James "Munky" Shaffer. The band has already built a cult following from tours with Deftones, Twin Temple, and Poppy, and a recent breakout performance alongside System of a Down and The Mars Volta has them poised to make a statement with this record, which explores themes of longing, alienation, and the surreal beauty found in life's broken things. We were happy to get some time with the band for the latest installment of our series On The Line.
GC: Hello! Thanks for your time. To start off, what is your hometown and where are you currently based?
Matt: Our hometown is Sydney, Australia, and we’re currently based in Los Angeles.
GC: Who was the first person that got you into music?
VOWWS: I would have to say my Mum. She would always sing around the house, and she would be up late at night listening to Edith Piaf, Janis Joplin, Creedence, and others. She has a very romantic, sentimental side to her, and that reflected in her musical tastes, and later, mine.
GC: Do you remember the first song or album that had a big impact on you?
Matt: My older sister introduced me to Smashing Pumpkins when I was a teenager, before I really got into alternative or heavier music. I lived inside 'Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness' for at least a year, and it was hugely formative for me.
GC: What prompted the move to Los Angeles, and what are your favorite and least favorite things about the city?
Matt: It’s very hard to pursue a life making music in Australia, or at least the way we wanted to do it. We decided pretty early on to take the risk and relocate, even if it took a while to get our shit together once we got here, which it did. My favorite thing about LA is probably that people are super willing—even excited—to help you if you are trying something risky and challenging. People here are proud of what the city represents, and in my experience, are welcoming to newcomers. My least favorite things are probably the smog and the traffic, but even they have their own character. I used to hate how the weather never changes, but now I appreciate the stability.
GC: Do you have a favorite place in Los Angeles to perform?
Matt: We’re playing the El-Rey on October 30th. It was where we played our first show on a bigger stage, so we have very fond memories of it.
“Come on slowly
Wind me up 'til it's all slow motion
Promises for me and me only
Turn me into a walking shadow
If I ever let go” - Blood’s On Fire
GC: What's been the biggest non-music inspiration for you, lately?
Matt: It’s usually visual stuff or fiction books. I often watch visually compelling movies while I’m working on sounds and song ideas. It’s like you’re creating the soundtrack, and it makes a kind of feedback loop between what you’re doing and the visuals. Also the distraction and stimulation can make you try things you normally wouldn’t if you were staring at a wall trying to come up with something. When I’m writing lyrics I like to read or listen to fiction books, get as lost in them as I can, and keep my ears alert for interesting turns of phrase, concepts or ideas. If something gets said or described in a way I haven’t heard or thought of before, I’ll make a note of it. Then I can reach for it whenever I need some inspiration.
GC: How were the EU dates in June? Did you play with any new bands that you enjoyed?
Matt: Amazing. We played a lot of festivals we weren’t sure we’d ever have the opportunity to play. I’m fascinated with Europe, and every time we go there we get to see more of it. At Rock for People in Czech Republic we played just after Maruja, I had never heard them but really enjoyed their set—they reminded me of where we came from, in a good way. Back in Australia when we were starting out, we played with a lot of experimental rock/jazz/metal etc. bands that were pushing boundaries, and that was formative for us. We didn’t get to see too many bands at the festivals though, we were always in the van and driving to the next show before we could see anything.
GC: What would be the perfect tour package for a Vowws tour?
Matt: Tricky one to answer. We feel like we can play with almost anyone, and we’ve never had a situation where we’ve had a bad show or tour cause the ‘fit’ wasn’t right. That said, I think it would be cool to do some kind of film score focussed show, with composers doing live sets, and maybe with live visuals we all play to. We’re so influenced by film music, and visuals are a huge part of what we do, so combining those things in a live setting would be pretty special.
GC: We're looking forward to "I'll Fill Your House With An Army". Can you tell us a little bit about the title and what inspired it?
Matt: Well, I can say that it doesn’t mean I’ll fill your physical house with an actual army, although I like how absurd that sounds. A ‘house’ can be someone’s place of power, the home of their consciousness, wherever they feel at home and in control. And the Army is symbol of something - it’s menacing, a symbol of power and violence, but can also just mean I’ll flood your consciousness with everything I’ve got. Given the times we’re living in, and what the music was saying to us, it just felt like the right title. But once we release an album, it doesn’t belong to us anymore. It can be very personal, or global and historical. So whatever it says to people, and however it colors their experience of the music, that’s all that matters.
GC: How has the response been to the singles "Hurt You" and "Shudder" from the new album? The videos are great.
Matt: It’s been fantastic so far. We love sharing work with people who appreciate what we do, and we love hearing how it affects people. Once something is released and you can see what it means to people, it changes the meaning and flavor of the music for yourself as well. It’s not really complete until you put it out.
“I think most artists have trouble breaking through the noise. We’re being flooded with information constantly, we’re being handed ‘friction free’ stimulation every second of the day.”
GC: It was great to see Josh Freese in the video. Did that come about via Billy Howerdel, who produced the album?
Matt: Yes it did. Billy is an extremely generous person who wants to share and help the people around him, however he can. When we were sharing demos with him, he earmarked a bunch of songs for Josh to play on, and they all made sense so we immediately agreed, obviously. And Josh was a dream to work with, he is everything people think he is and more.
GC: How cool was it collaborating with Gary Numan on "Losing Myself In You" in 2018? We're big fans! We spoke with someone recently who is mainly a hip hop head and he had just discovered Gary Numan. It's his favorite artist now. Sounds strange but it also makes perfect sense!
Matt: We did it all remotely, which probably added to the unreal feeling of the whole thing. We sent off the song, sent the parts, then radio silence. One day out of the blue, we get an email from his manager with these isolated vocals, it’s Gary Numan singing our lyrics and melodies. It was wild, especially at that time because we were total nobodies. I think electro, dark wave and things like that, they can have a lot in common with any kind of rebellious music, and hip hop often has a lot of drama and dark vibes in the production, it’s kind of the heaviest music around today in some ways. So it does make sense that there’s crossover appeal. Also Gary is an iconic artist, who in some ways is bigger than the genres he helped create, so it’s not surprising he crosses boundaries.
GC: You also collaborated with Chino Moreno around that time, right? How cool is it to work with artists at that level who really loves what you're doing.
VOWWS: It’s hard to get your head around at first. We collaborated with Chino a bit later than Gary, after we started doing some things touring-wise, etc. But Chino discovered us before that, again when we were essentially nobody. He just tweeted our video for Symbol System out of nowhere, but we had no way to get in touch with him. A couple of years later, we found a mutual friend that put us in touch. It was a total pleasure working with him, and still is—he is another generous, curious artist who wants to help however he can. When Rizz and I first played together, it was in a band where I played drums and she sang, and we covered a bunch of Deftones songs, so it’s in our musical DNA. It was all very inspiring, and motivated us through a difficult time.
GC: Are there any non-music artists you'd like to collaborate with on something?
Matt: Well, when we were writing this album, I had a poster on the wall, right in front of me, for the movie ‘A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night’ by Ana Lily Amirpour. I just loved the poster’s aesthetic, but hadn’t seen the film. When I did see it, I couldn’t get it out of my head. It looks and sounds so complete, so its own world. I’m currently making my way through her filmography. Rizz has Iranian heritage like Ana, so maybe there was some familiarity there in the language, culture and style. Maybe it's a fantasy, but I think we could do a score for one of her future movies with Rizz leading the way.
GC: Love that film! We worked on it in some capacity when we were at VICE. The poster art is definitely iconic. I remember there were some skateboard decks floating around with the poster art.
GC: What are the biggest challenges for artists in 2025?
VOWWS: I think most artists have trouble breaking through the noise. We’re being flooded with information constantly, we’re being handed ‘friction-free’ stimulation every second of the day. People have to actively look if they want something more challenging and rewarding, and it’s getting harder and harder to find underneath the endless crap we’re being fed. As an artist you have to believe in your bones creating art still matters, and that people still want and need it. It’s a very worthwhile challenge, because people are screaming for things that are more meaningful, that can challenge and change them. Good artists are still as popular as ever, and when art moves you, it’s like a signal flare from someone who is going through the same things you are, showing you that you’re not alone. It’s so comforting and life affirming, and it’s absolutely essential that that keeps happening, now more than ever.
GC: Have you had an "it happened for a reason" moment recently? Something that was challenging at the time, but led to an unexpected positive outcome?
Matt: We’ve dodged a couple bullets with label deals, things where we would have been locked into someone else’s vision and timetable, without them actually caring about who we are and what we’re trying to do. Basically, we try to keep our principles intact going into any situation. Sometimes we think we want something, it feels like we even need it, but we can’t justify it because it violates one or more principles of ours. In those cases, we almost always find out later that those red flags we were seeing were very real. And almost every time, a better situation or opportunity has come along that we didn’t have before, and would not have happened if we had violated our principles and went down the previous path. So it’s not so much ‘it happened for a reason,’ it’s more like trust your gut, adhere to your principles and you will automatically be guided away from shitty situations toward good ones, even if it takes a bit of time and it feels like you’re losing something at the time.
GC: How would you define success?
Matt: You could very reasonably argue that creating good or great work is the only success that matters, and leave it at that. But in ‘real world’ terms, I suppose it means having the ability, means, and desire to keep going. That means making some kind of living obviously, but it also means having genuine belief in whatever work you’re doing every day. If you have an audience, a belief in what you’re doing, and the ability and means to do it, that’s wild success to me.
GC: Can you share one of your lyrics that sums up your state of mind right now / feels representative of you?
“Non-stop to nowhere, I’ll be riding forever.”
Follow VOWWS on Instagram at @vowwsband
Live Photo of Rizz Photo by Dead Fox Media
