Spike Fuck - Urban Spree - Berlin

For ten years Melbourne’s Spike Fuck has existed
more as a messy myth than an artist – sporadic works
forever poised on the precipice of triumph, rumours of
death or insanity and so on. Spike’s foray into music in
2015 served a cultural fantasy, not by any overarching
sense of ambition, but rather a would-be, cosplay pop
star arrested by his own devices and whose
melancholy wove through unlikely cultural circles. His
sole body of work, The Smackwave EP (Partisan
Records), addressed themes as literal as the title
suggests: drug use, gender identity, religion and
existentialism. Soon after its release, Spike was swept
up in the whirlwind of unexpected success, moving
from underground warehouse parties to being draped
in high fashion and editorial photoshoots accompanied
by interviews, in which he gave unrelenting and
uncensored details of his life.
On the precipice of breakthrough, Spike disappeared.
Bootleg uploads and comments on old YouTube videos
discussed possibilities that seemed wild but
believable, given Spike’s nature, fueling rumours of
monastic solitude, relapse, or reinvention as a
LinkedIn-worthy daytime professional. Only the most
sincere have kept his myth alive.
Returning in 2024 after a four-year hiatus, Spike has
returned sober, clear-eyed, and transformed. Spike is
no longer alone with a backing track, but fronting a
rotating full band. Together they channel ’70s glam,
spiritual soul, and damaged rock’n’roll; always
refracted through Spike’s unmistakable, bruised, and
poetic voice.