Super Massive (Australia)

Super Massive is the creative co-writing partnership of ex-Machine Gun Fellatio drummer/ composer/producer Glenn Abbott and singer/songwriter Malina Hamilton-Smith.

The pair formed Super Massive when they discovered a shared love of vintage 70’s funk and disco, and a common vision of creating a true 50/50 blend of electronic dance music and rock.

Uninterested in following musical trends, the duo explore the boundaries of pop, rock, electro, dance, disco and funk, seamlessly blending multi-layered synth-scapes with full live rock instrumentation, topped off by Hamilton-Smith’s dynamic and expressive vocals.

Their songs are catchy, their rhythm section irresistibly dance-inducing, their live show is visceral, exhilarating, dramatic and utterly slamming, and their sound is completely their own.

“A provocative sound that's more infectious than the plague” The Music Network

Both their debut self-titled EP, featuring award winning debut single Fists In My Pocket, and darker, more alternative follow up single Get Me Out Of My Head, were critically acclaimed and went to #1 on a swathe of indie radio and TV charts in Australia and the US. Another follow-up single, In The Twilight… was released in 2013.

The band has spent 6 years touring Australia and Asia. They’ve played numerous east coast tours and played alongside artists like Bertie Blackman, Def FX, The Jezabels and Megan Washington. They’ve performed mainstage at festivals including Australia Day in the Rocks, Surry Hills Festival, Sea Festival Vietnam and celebrations for the 1000th Anniversay of Hanoi.
They've played fundraisers including Concert to End Child Slavery and even at the famed Atlassian head office in Sydney, raising money for children’s literacy charity Room To Read.

In 2014 the duo took a break from live shows to concentrate on writing and recording their debut album, but these plans were put on hold in 2015 when the duo realised they’d need to put their musical baby on hiatus to make room for late nights with a human baby of their own. Shortly afterwards they relocated to the Gold Coast, where they took a couple of years off, before recommencing working together on new material.

In 2018, Super Massive contributed two songs to feature film Concealed, which has won awards at film festivals around the world and premiered with a sell-out season in London.

Fourth single Meltwater was released in May 2019 and with the release the band came out of hiatus to start playing live shows again. Meltwater debuted on Gold Coast ABC Drive and has had repeat play on Queensland’s commercial rock radio Rebel FM and community radio around Australia, as well as airplay in the US, UK, Germany and Mexico.

The band released their fifth single We’re Taking Over spontaneously on 25 September 2019 after hearing the voices of the children (including Greta Thunberg) who attended the UN summit on 24 Sept 2019 to file a complaint against carbon-polluting countries. Written as an anthem for the environmentally and socially conscious younger generation, the band had intended to release the song as a track on their debut album, but felt compelled to release it immediately in solidarity.

Sixth single Invertebrate was released on 29 May 2020, premiering on themusic.com.au. Invertebrate reached #3 on the AMRAP Australian Regional Radio Chart with widespread pick up on community radio around Australia as well as on darkwave and synthpop specialty shows overseas in the US, UK, Germany and Mexico.

The band launched Invertebrate with sold-out shows in in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast during the Covid shutdown. Hamilton-Smith said that even though the crowd has had to remain seated for the gigs, it hasn’t stopped anyone busting out the moves and dancing up a storm in their chairs, Rona-style.

The band released their seventh single on 27 November 2020, a spirited classic disco track called I Like It. The song has had repeat play on community radio right around the country. A hilarious videoclip for the song was released on 25 March. The track premiered on Tone Deaf with an excellent review critiquing the song as a “musical masterclass in disco funk sounds done correctly”. Rolling Stone has featured ‘I Like It’ as a “Song You Need To Know”.

In March 2021, Super Massive headlined Glenfest music festival in Glen Innes. They have now announced a five-date I Like It 2021 mini-tour, with dates on the Gold Coast, Brisbane, Newcastle and Sydney, with the final show at Sydney’s Moshpit to be livestreamed worldwide.

Before starting up Super Massive, Glenn Abbott played drums and co-wrote songs with Machine Gun Fellatio from 1998 to 2005. MGF released one platinum and two gold albums and toured Australia relentlessly for eight years, appearing at every music festival from Falls to Splendour to Big Day Out and playing stadiums with major acts like KISS, Robbie Williams, Duran Duran and Garbage. Abbott co-wrote MGF’s first Triple J Net 50 #1, Troublemaker, and other favourites of the MGF live set including Just B’Coz, Hollywood and The Growing.

More recently, as well as composing and producing for Super Massive, Abbott has been busy playing drums with a number of bands including Disco Disciples (a tribute to the 1970s disco era); Murray Cook and The Soul Movers; and Art Decade (Songs of David Bowie, 1970-80).

Malina Hamilton-Smith started off playing bass in a thrashy power-pop band called The Green Light. The band released an EP and played gigs mostly in inner Sydney but also regionally, touring with The Whitlams and supporting other well-known bands like Skunkhour, The Porkers and… Machine Gun Fellatio, which is how Abbott and Hamilton-Smith initially met.

Already writing her own songs, and keen to break away from bass and develop her singing and stagecraft skills, in 2002-2003 Hamilton-Smith moved to London where she studied performing arts at the Actors Professional Centre in Covent Garden while working behind the bar at night at live music venue, Shepherds Bush Empire, before travelling to the US to study acting, movement and voice in New York.

Returning home, Abbott invited her to dance (and later sing) in his 70s funk inspired side project The Bryan Ferrysexual Experience, which ended when both MGF and BFSE disbanded. But by then the two had started writing songs together, and over time its very own unique dance/rock sound started to emerge… and Super Massive was born.

"Few Aussie songs have been named after the reaction they provoke since Spiderbait’s ‘Fucken’ Awesome’, but you can add Super Massive to that list thanks to their exceptional new single, ‘I Like It’…. a musical masterclass in funky disco sounds done correctly." Tone Deaf

“A provocative sound that's more infectious than the plague” The Music Network

“’I Like It’ perfectly encapsulates both the Super Massive experience and the natural flair for the theatrical that both Abbott and Hamilton-Smith have.” Rolling Stone

“Super Massive will get you dancing with their turbo charged single ‘I Like It’… The whole track oozes with good time energy and is sure to put a smile on your face.” Blank GC

“…an abundance of style and talent that goes hand in hand with their inimitable sound.” Some Kind Magazine

"Super Massive brought a huge bill of funky electronic rock to Mo’s Desert Clubhouse. While the crowd had to remain seated for the gig, it did not stop anyone busting out the moves and dancing up a storm, Rona-style." Blank Gold Coast.