Shedding a skin is always a difficult process unless you’re a reptile… or RACKETT. What was once a band of four striding punk rockers has now been refined to solo powerhouse, Rebecca Callander, in the form of a future punk project.

Make no mistake, this reinvention has not made RACKETT’s music any less forceful - blasting through with the attitude and eccentricity of artists like Robyn and CSS, combined with the beloved 00’s electro-rock sound that’s definitely having a mini-renaissance at the moment, and you get the idea of RACKETT’s zesty new twist. The new single ‘Machinations’ is absolutely nothing we saw coming but then again, RACKETT has always been defying expectations. Bec’s current goal with RACKETT is all about “thriving in the chaotic unknown”. 

Naturally, a reincarnation of Osher Günsberg proportions is gonna pique interest regardless but keeping the legacy of the RACKETT name amidst all this chaos? This is where it gets really interesting. 

Bec dropped us the video equivalent of a postcard halfway through RACKETT’s ‘Machinations’ tour of Japan on keeping the name, inspirations, challenges, and the next move for RACKETT.

Check out the video from Japan and read our transcribe below.

So what was the reasoning behind keeping nothing but the RACKETT name?  

RACKETT’s always been my project and I didn’t want to abandon the name and my project. I’ve just presented it in a different way over the years and now this is the new RACKETT. This RACKETT’s gonna stay like this for, I don’t know, for as long as I can and I just wanted to really just stick behind it and when the rest of the band kinda dismembered and chose other life paths, I felt it was important to stay true to what I started.

How about inspirations behind this new evolution of RACKETT?

I was really inspired by artists that were making pop music but in a punk way. Kind of within the formula using pop as a template, but artists like Charlie XCX, SOPHIE, even Tyler the Creator, were creating new augmented sounds that were kind of leading the way in alignment with AI and technology and the future, really. So I’m still making punk music in a way but it’s definitely more of a pop vibe now.

Any challenges in this new direction and what’s coming next?

The challenges that I faced in keeping RACKETT this way and redefining it, keeping the name, have been that I’ve really had to start from the ground again. I didn’t really have a reality check on the fact that people might not get it immediately and I think that releasing ‘Machinations’ has made me realise that I’m starting as a new artist, all over again. Which is exciting because it means that I have this whole new aspect and views on things and the experiences that I’ve had pushing the old RACKETT, I can now apply to the new RACKETT.

And also this new music is very exciting to me. I absolutely love it. Like it’s the kind of music that I put on and I dance to and it gets me high. It’s fully hype music and I feel like that has always been some kind of disconnect with the old RACKETT. Um, yeah. I still love punk music! But I like future punk music. And I’m excited to show you what’s coming next for RACKETT!