TISM announce ‘Death to Art’, first album in twenty years and tour dates

This Is Serious Mum, best known as TISM, are back.

The irreverent, outlandish, and ridiculous anonymous Melbourne rockers are returning to the national stage with a new album and tour to go with it.

Known for pushing the boundaries of what is tasteful and viable for commercial radio, TISM are staging a comeback with their seventh studio album Death to Art. The last year has seen the alternative group play secret shows across local Melbourne, alongside releases of new tracks like “I’ve Gone Hillsong”, “C..ts vs. C..ts”, and the titular track of their album Death to Art.

Their first album since 2004’s The White Albun, the new album will be marked with three concerts across the eastern seaboard.

TISM will play in Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney from October through to November with special guests Eskimo Joe, Machine Gun Fellatio, Ben Lee, and The Mavis’s joining them.

Machine Gun Fellatio will be making this their first appearance as a band since splitting up in 2005, while The Mavis’s are similarly staging a grand comeback after disbanding in 2001.

TISM’s return has been slowly building since 2022 following a surprise reunion for Good Things Festival, with secretive gigs played under names such as “Rex Oedipus and Jack ‘Elephant’ Titus” and “Dua Liposuction”. While most of the current line-up is the same as from their heyday, the band has added Vladimir Lenin-McCartney who replaces the late Tokin’ Blackman (James Paull)

While TISM is not often thrown up as much these days as one of Australia’s finest bands, they’ve had multiple tracks embedded into the national psyche: “(He’ll Never Be An) Ol’ Man River”, best known for its opening line “I’m on the drug that killed River Phoenix”, their nihilistic classic “Greg! The Stop Sign!!”, and their mid-2000s viral hit “Everyone Else Has Had More Sex Than Me”.

This Is Serious Mum have won two ARIAs, winning Best Independent Release for “I’m Interested in Apathy” from their 1989 debut album Great Truckin’ Songs Of The Renaissance, and six years later winning the same gong for their most popular release Machiavelli and the Four Seasons.

Death to Art will feature seventeen tracks, all titled with signature TISM flair - prepare for “I Can’t Wait for My Generation to Die”, “ Selling Drugs, Corner King St and Flinders Lane” and “Cnut, the Dyslexic King”.

The album is currently scheduled for release on October 4.