Forever Five: Polish Club

Waxx Lyrical
1 day ago
4 min read

Ever wondered what albums sit atop your favourite artists’ turntables? Forever Five is a Waxx Lyrical series spotlighting the five records that shaped the artists we love most. No rankings, no essays — just the albums that live closest to their hearts. Come for the choices, stay for the typically remarkable playlist that follows — woven from their picks and their own catalogue — culminating in a fascinating little mini music lesson every time.

Explore more in the Media Centre and on Instagram via #waxxlyricalforeverfive.

POLISH CLUB

🔊 Rock ’n’ roll maximalists in a two-piece body

💦 Sweat, humour, hooks, repeat

🎸 Serious chops, zero pretension

Festive Polish Club promo shot from 2025 for album Christmas Stinks!

Some bands arrive with noise. Others arrive with intent. A rare few manage both — and keep it intact over a decade without losing their edge or their sense of humour.

And today’s lads? Novak and JH. Polish Club. Two humans, the volume of a small riot, and a decade-long run that’s quietly become a great modern Australian rock story.

Formed on Gadigal Land in 2015, Polish Club arrived as a lean, snarling two-piece with hooks sharp enough to draw blood and jokes clever enough to disarm you before the punch landed. True entertainment really. Alright Already announced them, and it kicked the door off its hinges. An ARIA nomination followed, triple j Feature Album status landed, and suddenly this supposedly “small” band was punching well above its weight. Then came Iguana, Now We’re Cooking, and a string of top-20 albums that proved this wasn’t a novelty act powered by loud amps and attitude, but a serious rock band with longevity, intent, and evolving craft.

Along the way, they’ve quietly stacked the kind of CV most bands would kill for. Soundtracking footy broadcasts. Cracking the Hottest 100. Twisting Like A Version into their own image not once, but twice. An APRA Award for Most Performed Rock Song. Endless kilometres on the road, sold-out rooms coast to coast, and shared stages with everyone from Royal Blood to Spiderbait to, yes, The Wiggles. That range alone tells you everything you need to know about their appeal.

The real secret, though, has always been the live show. Polish Club gigs are controlled chaos. Sweat-soaked, grin-splitting, crowd-on-your-shoulders mayhem. They play like a band that understands rock’n’roll as entertainment, communion, and release all at once. No irony shield. No apology. Just big feelings, bigger choruses, and the sense that everyone in the room is not just watching the show, but actively inside it.

In 2023, they cut the cord, left Island Records, and went fully independent on their own label, Double Double. Since then, Heavy Weight Heart and POUND CAKE have felt looser, heavier, and more self-assured. Records made by a band trusting its instincts completely, backing itself without hesitation, and sounding freer because of it.

Polish Club Forever Five

Which brings us neatly to now. This silly season, Polish Club are leaning into the chaos with Christmas Stinks!, a gleefully unhinged festive covers record rolled out via an advent-style release. Twenty songs in twenty days. It’s ridiculous, heartfelt, noisy, and somehow sincere all at once. There are Wham! classics, Mariah Carey throwbacks, a Filipino Christmas song duetted with Novak’s mum, and two Bowlo Bash shows set to turn December into a sweat-drenched tinsel blur. It’s very Polish Club: take the piss, mean it deeply, and make it unforgettable.

But Forever Five isn’t about the present hype. It’s about the foundations. The records that taught them how to swing, swagger, shout, and survive as a band for ten years and counting.

Forever Five Kris Sch

LISTEN — POLISH CLUB'S FOREVER FIVE

A trio of tracks from each of Novak and J.H.'s choices, plus an essential five tracks of their own.

The resulting playlist flows like a mini music history lesson.

THE STROKES — Room On Fire (2003)

Lean, louche, and deceptively tight. Room On Fire is a masterclass in restraint — every guitar line clipped, every chorus perfectly timed. For Polish Club, this is swagger without slop. Songs that sound effortless because of how much discipline sits underneath them. Cool as posture, not costume.

Needle-drop: ‘Reptilia’

WEEZER — Weezer (The Blue Album) (1994)

Power pop perfection with its heart on its sleeve and distortion pedals taped down. The Blue Album showed that nerdiness and brute-force hooks aren’t opposites — they’re allies. Big choruses, self-awareness, emotional sincerity, and riffs you can punch the air to. That tension between earnest and explosive still runs through Polish Club’s DNA.

Needle-drop: ‘Say It Ain’t So’

SOULWAX — Nite Versions (2005)

This is where the night gets weird. Nite Versions takes rock songs and drags them onto the dancefloor, rewiring them with repetition, menace, and momentum. It’s discipline as propulsion — groove as weapon. For a band that thrives on physical response from a crowd, this record is a reminder that rhythm can hit just as hard as volume.

Needle-drop: ‘NY Excuse’

MARIAH CAREY — MTV Unplugged (1992)

Pure flex, no safety net. MTV Unplugged is Mariah stripping pop back to lungs, soul, and absolute command. It’s about performance as truth — owning the room with nothing but ability and belief. There’s a confidence lesson here: if the songs are strong and the delivery’s real, you don’t need smoke machines.

Needle-drop: ‘I’ll Be There’

SYSTEM OF A DOWN — Mezmerize / Hypnotize (2005)

Two records, one beautifully unhinged organism. Political fury, cartoonish shifts, metal brutality, and pop instinct smashed together without compromise. These albums prove that chaos can still be catchy, and seriousness doesn’t mean solemnity. Loud ideas, louder hooks, zero fear. A reminder that you can say something and still blow the roof off.

Needle-drop: ‘B.Y.O.B.’