This is what honesty sounds like.
—

Following the success of 2018’s independently released debut EP Hymnbook Vol. 1 which saw the band sell Melbourne’s iconic Reverence Hotel, secure Spotify editorial playlisting and receive national radio airplay via triple j for singles Counterfeit Guitars and Paper & Ink. 

The band released a critically acclaimed follow-up This Is What Honesty Sounds Like via the Californian label Wiretap Records in August 2020. A musical exploration of five very different human experiences, isolation, frustration, love, anger, and loss, This Is What Honesty Sounds Like earned the band national and international airplay via over 130 stations and received widespread acclaim from outlets including Alternative Press, Music Feeds, Brooklyn Vegan and Pop Matters.

The band also achieved the rare feat of having all five songs on the release secure triple j plays and landed a coveted triple j unearthed feature artist spot. The release also saw Spotify editorial playlisting support via New Punk Tracks (Song Of The Renter, The Awful Truth, A Boutique Affair, Life In Three Part Harmony) and The Scene (The Awful Truth). 

The band built off the success of the release by signing with booking agency Destroy All Lines and playing a run of shows in Australia, including multiple sold-out shows in their hometown of Melbourne.

Catholic Guilt has since gone on to appear on major Australian festivals Full Tilt and Knight and Day as well as stage a successful tour of the East Coast of Australia and play main support with US alt-rock titans Switchfoot, Pure Noise Records act Real Friends and local icons Behind Crimson Eyes, Chasing Ghosts and The Bennies.

Off the back of the success of This Is What Honesty Sounds Like, they were invited to perform at the iconic Gainesville punk festival FEST in October 2022. The band also contributed a cover of Saves The Day’s At Your Funeral to the Vagrant Records 25th Anniversary compilation Undercover On The Streets put out by Wiretap Records and Friend Club Records. This cover received Apple Music editorial playlisting on New In Rock. 

The quintet recently welcomed guitarist/vocalist Megan Sidwell and drummer Michael Condello into the fold and are playing shows in support of the singles Talking Fake and Live For The Rush. 

Talking Fake is a slow-burning, emotive rock song about the communication breakdown that occurs within fractured relationships, the song saw Catholic Guilt expand their sonic palette, incorporating a Hammond organ, a string section, congos and glockenspiel. The single was accompanied by an award-winning cinematic short, co-produced by Soft Focus Media and Taymaynari Productions, which premiered via Music Feeds. The film tells the story of a couple who are drifting apart, thrown into a fantasy-stylized world of the night they first met. The song has also garnered repeat spins on triple j

Live For The Rush is a big, blissful-sounding pop-punk/alt-rock song about wanting to feel truly alive again after far too long feeling nothing at all. Channelling sonic elements of late ‘90s and early ‘00s scene nostalgia into a modern soundscape that is packed with feels, the track has amassed over 50k streams on Spotify to date and was featured in the New In Punk playlist by Apple Music and received extensive community radio and triple j support. Live For The Rush arrived accompanied by a LUSE Media-produced video that depicts a day of activity for a Sauce bottle character named Rush that turns into an uplifting jam with some friends who need a bit of spark. 

With two fresh singles ready to roll out in late 2023/early 2024, the band are currently playing shows throughout Australia and exploring their international touring options.