Hockey Dad is Australia’s answer to the growing surf-rock music scene. The duo – Zach Stephenson (guitars/vocals) and Billy Fleming (drums) – released their debut EP, Dreamin’, last year, and have just announced their full-length album, Boronia.

The young duo hit the ground running in 2016, starting the year with sets at SXSW and New York’s CMJ, as well as a new signing to Brooklyn-based Kanine Records. They’re now headed back to Australia to release the 11-track Boronia, which is filled with the “pure unadulterated fun that comes straight out of the [Wollongong] surf and skate culture.” The album takes its name from the street on which they lived as boys, and you can hear the waves of a nearby beach beckoning from within the jangly guitar riffs and salt-washed beats.

“As a kid growing up, it was inevitable that we’d be picking up boards and hitting the waves, as we’re only a couple minutes’ walk away from the beach,” they explain.

In anticipation of the album, they’ve released a new single – “So Tired” – which is available digitally and on seven-inch vinyl for Record Store Day on April 16. “We ended up writing “So Tired” after a few cold ones at our manager’s bar back in Wollongong,” the band said via email to Noisey. “It’s about feeling buggered and missing someone at the same time.”

Boronia will be released on 12 August by Farmer and The Owl via Intertia. In the meantime, if you’re in Australia you can catch the Hockey Dad wave on their upcoming mini-tour.

“So Tired” Tour – Hockey Dad

Friday 15 April – The Worker’s Club, Melbourne *Sold Out
Saturday 16 April – Shoreshocked Festival, St Leonards - AAA
Sunday 24 April – Groovin the Moo Festival, Canberra
Friday 29 April – Petersham Bowling Club, Sydney *Sold Out

Image: Artist / Farmer and The Owl