Soccer Mommy is hard to define.
The Nashville songstress is a self-confessed horror fanatic with a penchant for the macabre. While sonically, her art varies from intensely pulsating, grunge-esque electro-rock, to slow country-tinged ballads, to ’90s-esque pop, all in the space of one album.
Sonic feasts aside, it is the confessional nature and brutal honesty of Sophie Allison’s (aka Soccer Mommy) lyrics that draw listeners in with undeniable enchantment.
“I’m trying to be someone that you could love and understand, but I know that I’m not,” she gut-wrenchingly sings on ‘Bones’.
Her songs have struck a chord with many it seems. She has toured alongside Paramore, Vampire Weekend, Kacey Musgraves, and Phoebe Bridgers, and has played down under twice – first at Splendor in 2018 and then Falls Festival in 2019.
Returning in February, Soccer Mommy will grace stages in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth, and she is excited to see more of the country. “We haven’t been to Perth yet, or Adelaide, so I’m interested to see that. Oh and I want to do the koala thing.”
When advised of Adelaide’s rowdy reputation, she responds: “Ok good, I love a rowdy crowd.”
Despite two prior Aussie visits, Soccer Mommy still retains her shoey virginity, although she is open to the idea of being petitioned. “I probably wouldn’t decline to be honest. I think I would have to do it once, just one time, my own shoe maybe.”
‘Sometimes, Forever’, the third album in Soccer Mommy’s discography, was released in June this year, and in keeping with the contradictory nature of the title, featured an expansive, experimental landscape courtesy of producer Daniel Lopatin, aka Oneohtrix Point Never (The The Weeknd, FKA Twigs, Charlie XCX).
The two collaborators held nothing back, as evidenced in the track ‘Darkness Forever’ where Allison releases an unexpected ungodly scream.
“It was very crazy. I mean how often do you actually scream at the top of your lungs? Like never. I hadn’t done that since I was a child.
“So the sound that came out was completely shocking to me. I actually just started laughing hysterically when I did it. We had to do it a second time because I was so shocked. We were wanting a horror movie, slasher type of scream and it sounds very much like that. It was awesome.”
Outside of the studio, the tracks have taken on a life of their own in the live shows. “‘Don’t Ask Me’ has really grown on me,” Sophie says.
“Of course, I wouldn’t have put it on the album if I didn’t really like it. But in the studio, recording it from the demo I thought, ‘this is kinda grungy, kinda cool’.
“Then playing it with the band, there’s so much more energy, and now live, it’s the most fun moment in the set, so it’s really grown a lot.”
Recently, Soccer Mommy released the eerily relatable video for ‘Feel It All The Time’ featuring her real-life truck emblazoned with stickers reading ‘Do you believe in magick?’ and ‘A Woman & Her Truck / It’s a beautiful thing’, as she drives around aimlessly, exactly how you do in a small town.
Posed the question of crafting a video with the assistance of an unlimited budget, Soccer Mommy’s mind clicks seamlessly into creative gear. “If I had a tonne of money, I would definitely do some kind of fantasy thing, a fairy demon movie type thing. Amazing make-up transformations and stuff like that.”
Would she play both the fairy and the demon? “Yeah definitely, I would wanna do everything.”
And which actresses would she give her hard cold cash to? “Eliza Dushku or Dichen Lachman. She’s Australian I think. That’d be great, they’re both great fantasy sci-fi actors in my opinion.”
Enjoying a week off in the middle of her expansive North American tour, Soccer Mommy is blessed to be home for Thanksgiving hanging out with “as many friends as possible”.
She graciously offers her suggestion for potluck dinner. “Mashed potatoes are always great. Everyone’s gunna love it.” It sounds like mashed potatoes and Soccer Mommy have two things in common.
Soccer Mommy 2023 Tour Dates
Fri 17 Feb – The Triffid (Brisbane)
Sat 18 Feb – The Croxton Bandroom (Melbourne)
Tue 21 Feb – The Factory Theater (Sydney)
Wed 22 Feb – Fat Controller (Adelaide)
Thu 23 Feb – Perth Festival @ The Rechabite
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