Erica Dunn of Tropical Fuck Storm can't wait to visit Phoenix for the first time

During a recent phone call, Erica Dunn of the Australian band Tropical Fuck Storm told me about their van losing its A/C (she calls it ‘air con’) on their way to St. Louis last week. Poor thing. She has no idea what is coming her way when she and the band hit Phoenix on Wednesday, July 2, 2025, at Valley Bar. According to the National Weather Service, at least at the time of this writing, it is supposed to be around 105⁰F.

“Holy shit, I’m excited. Where we come from, it’s hot, but we’ve never been through Arizona at all, and it is going to be extra special because it’s Fiona’s birthday,” says Dunn, who plays guitar, keyboards, and sings in the band.

The ‘Fiona’ Dunn is referring to is her Tropical Fuck Storm bandmate, Fiona Kitschin, whose bass lines on the band’s material are ridiculously good. The last time Tropical Fuck Storm was supposed to come through town in 2023, the band had to cancel because Kitschin had been diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer.

According to Dunn, the band got right back on the road after Kitschin finished her chemotherapy.

“Crazy time that was. Fiona is just so amazing. She underwent all of the treatment, and we just kind of stood at a standstill, but when she finished her treatment in May (of 2024), we were back on the road on May 27. It’s hard to believe that it was 13 months ago. It’s great to be back on the road. I think it had crossed our minds that it might not be possible to ever be on the road again or play again,” says Dunn.

Tropical Fuck Storm released their latest record, “Fairyland Codex,” on June 20. Dunn is excited about the work the band put into the record.

“We spent a fair amount of time just hanging up at (singer/guitarist) Gaz (Gareth Liddiard) and Fee’s house and taking it pretty easy but still trying to record as a way to keep morale up. (“Fairyland Codex”) is a result of spending more time than we normally would have been allowed in the studio because we weren’t touring, so it’s a different kind of record. I think it is much better for that reason,” says Dunn.
Because of the recent release, the band is playing many of the songs from “Fairyland Codex” for the first time live on this tour. The extra studio time allowed for the songs to be a bit more complex than previous recordings, but Dunn is enjoying the challenge so far on this tour.

“It’s really exciting, and it’s been really fun, kind of pushing them into life. You know, when you make a record, sometimes it feels like ‘goodbye,’ like that it is done. It’s literally a record … it’s documented. Then the fun bit is when you get to take the songs on the road and stretch them out in a whole new way,” says Dunn.

Tropical Fuck Storm, which also includes drummer Lauren “Hammer” Hammelin, formed in 2017 and have developed a reputation for being an explosive live band. It makes sense, too, because their sound is extremely hard to define. Tropical Fuck Storm is noisier than most bands, and some of their tracks come off as slightly disjointed at times (like “Teeth Marché” off Fairyland Codex), but their mix of The Fall meets Captain Beefheart meets Black Box Recorder if they were reimagined as one of Justin Pearson’s bands (The Locust, Dead Cross) is utterly badass.

If, like me until very recently, you were something of a virgin when it comes to Tropical Fuck Storm, I highly encourage you to check out “This Perfect Day” off “A Laughing Death in Meatspace” or the ridiculously cool cover of The Bee Gees disco classic, “Stayin’ Alive” from 2018. Just when you think you are getting to know what this band is about, you uncover another layer to their brilliance, like the beautifully haunting “Stepping On A Rake” from “Fairyland Codex.” That song must be a complete brain melter in a live show setting.

The band’s musical dexterity surely lends itself to the type of live show that you simply have to see to believe, and you’ll probably never see the same show twice. Dunn confirmed this during our conversation.

“Some of the (new) songs we’ve already pulled into our set are already different versions. They’ve been extrapolated from the record, and some of them are trashier. Some are chopped up and changed a bit, but it’s been a fun challenge to see how they float with our kind of live setting. Some are too hard and they’re like being hunted, and there is no time to take a breath,” says Dunn.

Tropical Fuck Storm and opening act, Bill Orcutt, play The Valley Bar on Wednesday, July 2, 2025. Doors open at 7 p.m. and showtime is 7:30 p.m. This show is 21+. Tickets are available here.