Cut Off Your Hands cut off no more

Cut Off Your Hands cut off no more

There's an all-new venue for the Laneway Festival when the indie music concert returns in January.

But an old crowd favourite will be keeping things familiar - post punk rockers Cut Off Your Hands are playing again for the first time in years.

Only 10 years ago, Cut Off Your Hands was a band just beginning to earn global praise.

Now they're returning from a long hiatus and embracing their status as music veterans.

"We're a legacy band now, which is strange to say!" says lead guitarist Jono Lee.

"Like, it's been 10 years, which is such a long time."

Their new single 'Hate Somebody' is their first release in the last five years.

"Life got in the way, we've been busy with other things," Lee says.

And the entertainment world is already very different to the one they left just a few years ago.

"We just got picked up on Triple-J in Australia through friends on Facebook, whereas in the old days you'd have to take them out for coffee and spend ages buying them cakes to get it on to the radio," says lead singer Nick Johnston.

The band members' lives have changed markedly too.

Gone are the days of endless touring, playing hundreds of shows a year. Johnston's an architect now - juggling music with a professional career.

"It just means trying to sneak out of the office to come to interviews like this," he says.

Though time passes, some things never change. They're still the same post-punk indie rockers - with a new sound familiar to their oldest fans.

"I kind of hear a harkening back to that old stuff," Lee says. "It draws on stuff that's violent and has energy and a lot of groove."

And that groove is returning to the stage at Laneway Festival next year.

"Playing shows is still quite novel and it's been a little while off, so coming back to it is a bit of a rush," Lee says.

After taking it slowly, the rush has returned - Cut Off Your Hands is cut off no more.

Newshub.