Melbourne duo Cry Club have always existed in their own colourful universe. It’s a place where maximalist pop, punky electronics and unapologetically queer joy crash together in spectacular fashion. Since forming in 2018, best friends Heather and Jono have carved out a loyal audience with their theatrical live shows, heartfelt politics and their ability to make chaos feel cathartic. Armed with a brand new single, “This, Forever,” the pair are now gearing up for a huge new chapter.
“This, Forever” arrives as one of Cry Club’s most luminous releases to date it’s a shimmering, euphoric track drenched in warmth and emotional clarity. It captures a very specific ache, one that both members felt deeply but differently while crafting it. As Jono explains, the song came from a shared yet unspoken emotional space. “We write a lot of the lyrics and things together, so both of us might feel like a song is about something… but because it’s not coming from one place, it ends up being completely different feelings,” he says. “For me, I remember it being about a community aspect- like, we’re all in this together, that kind of thing. But now even the title has now changed what I think about the song since it’s come out- especially thinking about all of the friends who were in the community that we started the band in, but have since moved on and venues we used to play have wrapped up.”
Heather felt that same bittersweet pull. “It is about community, and the longing for a consistent community,” they add. “Being a queer band, being trans, there’s always an element of political activism. With that comes a lot of arguing with people who are on the same side as you… when you sit back and look at the bigger picture, it’s not helpful. I think where we were both coming from is that sense of loss of a community and a real desperate need to build something consistent with people you can be honest with and disagree with — and it doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world.”
That tension- the love, the frustration and desire for connection- pulses through every beat of “This, Forever.” But interestingly, the song didn’t begin as the bright, euphoric track we hear now. “This was a lockdown song, wasn’t it?” Jono recalls. “It started as an acoustic ballad…we could just never get it into the right format.” The breakthrough came when they finally stopped overthinking it. “We often resist doing things we feel we’ve done before. There’s this sense of always needing to be pushing something exciting… but then we were like, what happens if we treat it more like the kind of songs that we like?… it kind of fits the format of songs that feel more in line with our first album- Very direct, synth-heavy. Can we combine that with the breakbeats and sampling stuff we’re doing now? It felt like acknowledging the past but staying in the present.”
Heather nods in agreement. “Letting the song be what it wants to be – not trying to make it something we think is more clever. The process was completely different to how we would’ve done it ages ago, so it still feels different.”
That shift in process is part of a much bigger evolution for Cry Club. With new music in the work, they’re working harder than ever in the studio but with more respect for their other commitments. Gone are the week-long studio marathons of their debut God I’m Such A Mess. Now, life simply doesn’t allow it.
“With the new batch of songs, life just got more intense,” Jono shares. “We’re better off being able to say, cool, this week we record vocals and guitar for that song, that’s all the time we’ve got. We’ll pick it up next week.” On top of constant movement including two house moves, touring, and a shifting studio setup, the gradual approach became both a necessity and a relief. “It’s been a practical relief that’s also creatively satisfying. Being able to land on an idea and then to be able to reconsider some of the songs with that angle in mind has been a really valuable process.”
Self-producing, however, comes with its own set of creative traps. “It’s really satisfying and really difficult, because you don’t know when to stop,” Heather laughs. “When you have that limit of booking some time in a studio or you’re working with a producer, there’a time pressure. Not having that is good, because you don’t have to make decisions right then and there, but it’s like, ‘what if we go back and change everything? What if we zhuzh it and turned it into something completely different?’” But every detour has helped define them. Though they’re working on new music solo, they’re able to do this thanks to the skills they’ve learned from people who helped them along the way. “It feels like an accumulation of all the people we’ve worked with – little bits of them are in what we’re doing now, which I love.”
Despite the intensity of doing everything themselves, Cry Club’s foundation is firmly built on a solid rock- their friendship. Jono describes it simply: “We are deeply blessed. There’s never creative differences about where something should go. There’s always this drive to go- it’s always: do what’s interesting but clear.” Their complementary backgrounds help, too. “Jono comes from production and theory, and I’m from acting and musical theatre,” Heather says. “Sometimes we think we’re disagreeing but we’re actually saying the same thing in different ways…Our interests overlap, but we each bring these specific little offshoots – I listen to a lot of K-pop, Jono listens to metal and electronic stuff -and we blend it.”
The only memorable disagreement? “On the first record,” Jono recalls. “The song ‘Lighters’. Heather wanted it auto-tuned the whole time.” Heather grins. “Yeah, I didn’t want it to get too real.” The compromise was a gradually intensifying effect which became one of their favourite creative solutions. “Combining both ideas made it better,” Jono says. “Instead of, one of just saying,’I’m right.’”
Of course, the biggest adventure of their career so far didn’t happen in the studio, but in Europe during their 2024 tour, where they have a loyal fanbase and plenty of radio play. In 2024, “It was crazy when people were singing along,” Jono remembers. “It’s the coolest thing you’ll ever do – and deeply stressful. We were burning money to be there. But the second it finished, I understood why bands do it.”
For Heather, the thrill went beyond the shows. “It was a cool way to see Germany. We went top to bottom – Berlin’s edgy art scene, Bavaria’s movie-set towns. Our driver was from Belgium, spoke French, and none of us knew what was going on half the time,” they laugh. “Seeing how the industry works over there was amazing too, like venues getting government subsidies if they support artists with food and accommodation. People were really invested in live music.”
With a new era taking shape, Cry Club are closing out the year with their This, Forever Australian tour before wrapping things up with a big New Year’s Eve show at Northcote Social Club. More news is dropping in December – and if “This, Forever” is any indication, 2026 is shaping up to be massive for the duo.
To keep up with Cry Club and snag tickets to their NYE show, click HERE.
Photo credit: Marcus Coblyn
