Vermantics Detonate Pure Alt-Rock Chaos on Their New Single “Mess”

Australian rock trio Vermantics aren’t here to play nice; they’re here to blast open your ribcage and make you feel something. Their new single, “Mess,” is the kind of track that grabs you by the collar and shakes the clarity back into you. It’s loud, unapologetic, and brimming with the kind of emotional turbulence that refuses to stay bottled up.

Built from the bones of rock’s greatest eras, 60s melody, 70s swagger, 90s grit, 2000s indie recklessness, Vermantics don’t mimic nostalgia; they weaponize it. Brothers Stefan and Daniel Fedele, backed by their powerhouse cousin Julian Perrotta on drums, grew up on stages, in sweaty pop-punk venues, and ultimately in the chaos of Melbourne’s rock ecosystem. That history shows. This band doesn’t “perform” rock. They live it.

“Mess” is Vermantics at their sharpest: a relentless, hook-heavy, guitar-driven uppercut that never loses its grip. It’s built on a riff that refuses to back down, drums that crash like a stampede, and vocals that feel like someone standing in the wreckage of their own mind and finally shouting the truth out loud.

This isn’t just a breakup song or an anger song. “Mess” digs deeper into mental fog, into emotional manipulation, into how easy it is for someone to get inside your head and twist the wires. It’s about that moment when you finally realize the chaos isn’t coming from outside forces… It’s coming from the inside. And the only way out is through your own damn strength.

The band describes the track as a reflection of being mentally hijacked when one person’s influence becomes so overpowering that you start forgetting what your own thoughts sound like. The clarity comes later, in the realization that you’re not powerless, you’re just lost in the noise. “Follow your gut, you have enough power within,” the band says. That’s the heartbeat of “Mess”: a rallying cry for self-reclamation.

Fresh off a hugely successful UK tour, packed crowds, explosive live reactions, and a whole new wave of fans, Vermantics are stepping into 2025 with blood in their teeth and momentum at their back. And with plans to return to the UK in 2026, it’s clear “Mess” is just the ignition point for a much bigger firestorm.

“Mess” is the anthem for anyone who’s ever spiraled, gotten stuck in their own head, or let someone else’s voice drown out their own. It’s loud. It’s cathartic. It’s Vermantics, raw, reckless, and absolutely unstoppable.

“Mess” tackles the feeling of having your mind twisted inside out by someone else’s influence. Was there a specific moment or realization that sparked this song for you? There wasn’t a real specific time for me it was more of a slow burn where someone else’s opinions and emotions had started to shape the way I thought myself. The spark came from the moment I realised I was no longer thinking in my own voice.

The track sits in that rare space between chaos and clarity. How do you personally navigate that turning point, the shift from falling apart to reclaiming your own mind? I usually hit a point where the noise in my head becomes so overwhelming that I’m forced to ask myself what’s real and what’s just fear. The turning point really feels like when you stop blaming the chaos and start asking what it’s trying to tell you. You need to take your inner power back.

You pull influences from nearly every era of rock, but your sound still feels modern and sharp. What part of rock’s past feels the most powerful or relevant to you in 2025? We really feel like the rawness of the 90s hits hardest for us. Bands that weren’t scared to be imperfect. There’s also something about early 2000s alternative music and the energy of classic hard rock that still feels timeless to us as well. We’re on a path of keeping our music as real and as live sounding as possible!

Your UK tour was a major turning point. How did being in front of international crowds shift your energy, your confidence, or even your writing going into this release? It honestly blew our minds! Being in venues you’ve never heard of or been in before and just latching onto the energy of crowds, who are new was amazing. It made us braver in our writing too. There’s something about hearing a crowd react in a live room that changes the way you think about structure, intensity, even lyrics of a song. It gives you a different kind of confidence for sure!

“Follow your gut, you have enough power within” is a strong message. What’s one time in your career or life where ignoring your gut nearly derailed you, or listening to it saved you?

Early on we were getting lots of advice on what music we should be releasing - to be more “safe.” For a minute we almost listened and changed our bands vibe completely. But our gut was telling us that the rawness and the intensity was exactly what made us, us. It just felt wrong not producing the music we wanted to produce.