Stand Atlantic

From What It's Worth to Stand Atlantic

Stand Atlantic formed in Sydney, New South Wales, in 2012 under the name What It's Worth, and took their current name early in 2014. Bonnie Fraser sings and plays rhythm guitar, David Potter plays lead guitar and keyboards, Jonno Panichi drums and Miki Rich plays bass. Two early members, guitarist Arthur Ng and drummer Jordan Jansons, left in 2016 and 2014 respectively.

Fraser told Rolling Stone Australia in August 2024 that she grew up an only child of divorced parents, was so quiet that people assumed she was mute until she was four, and started her first band at twelve, turning poems into songs. By her own account that instinct never changed: she said making music with the band was the most important thing to her, and that she had never felt more gratitude than she did at that point, even with lingering anxiety about whether any of it would last.

The record deals came in steps. The band signed to the Italian label Rude Records in June 2017, then to the California punk label Hopeless Records in September 2018, a month before their debut album. By 2026 they had moved again, to Virgin Music Group, which is releasing Godbreath.

Four albums and a rising chart line

The debut, Skinny Dipping, arrived in October 2018 and put the songs Lavender Bones and Hate Me (Sometimes) into the set, where they remain. Pink Elephant followed in August 2020 and reached number 23 on the ARIA albums chart and number 8 on the UK independent chart. F.E.A.R., released in May 2022, entered the ARIA chart at number 10 and was nominated for Australian Album of the Year at the 2022 J Awards. Rolling Stone Australia put the album's streams above 80 million and the band's total since signing to Hopeless at 300 million.

Was Here, the fourth album, came out in August 2024 and gave them their highest home placing yet, number 3 in Australia, alongside number 22 on the UK independent chart. It was made with Stevie Knight, Fraser's long-standing co-writer and producer, and she described it to Rolling Stone Australia as her most autobiographical work, dealing with trauma, toxic relationships and taking back control. Tracks such as Nose Bleed, Criminal and Deathwish have since become the back end of the live set.

Between albums the band kept releasing. In 2025 they put out a run of singles including collaborations with Lynn Gunn of Pvris and Jamie Hails of Polaris. Their touring resume by then took in support slots with Waterparks, Pierce The Veil and I Prevail, appearances at Reading and Leeds and Sad Summer Festival, and a co-headline run in the United States that Rolling Stone Australia reported sold 40,000 tickets.

Velcro and the end of a curse

The first sign of the new record came on 21 May 2026, when Velcro was premiered on triple j Breakfast and released through Virgin Music Group. The video was shot at the Young Henrys brewery in Newtown, Sydney. Fraser framed it as a break with habit: she said she had spent ten years avoiding love songs and writing only about what ended in heartbreak, and that with Velcro the curse was finally broken.

Two days later the song had its live debut at Slam Dunk Festival in Hatfield, slotted sixth in a ten-song set that opened with Kissin' Killer Cobras and closed with Deathwish.

Godbreath, announced July 2026

On 17 July 2026 the band announced Godbreath, their fifth album, for release on 23 October 2026 via Virgin Music Group, together with the single Lucid and a VHS-styled video shot at the Lord Gladstone hotel in Sydney. The tracklist runs to eleven songs: Lucid, Next2U, Velcro, So Cool, Favourite Flavour, finger, d.L.M.A, Edge Of Vegas, teeth, HeadRush and Gimme A Show.

Fraser told The Line of Best Fit that Lucid was one of the last songs written for the record and that she had felt done, running out of things to say that would not feel contrived. Her answer was to stop overthinking it and write plainly about what self-sabotage feels like. Speaking to The AU Review in August 2026 she said the title meant being the most authentic version of yourself, and that the album was about speaking and owning your truth.

Where they stand in September 2026

The 2026 calendar has been built around festivals and one big support slot. The band played the Slam Dunk run across Hatfield, Leeds, Oberhausen, Zurich and Milan between 23 and 31 May, then Vans Warped Tour in Long Beach, California, on 25 and 26 July. Nerd Rock Festival in Leipzig follows on 20 September.

The UK dates that matter most are on 2 and 3 October 2026, when they open for Simple Plan at the O2 Apollo in Manchester and OVO Arena Wembley in London. On 14 August 2026 The AU Review reported a home-country headline tour timed to the album's release: Fortitude Music Hall in Brisbane on 23 October, the Enmore Theatre in Sydney on 24 October, The Forum in Melbourne on 28 October, Hindley Street Music Hall in Adelaide on 29 October and Metropolis in Perth on 1 November. Chicago's Knuckle Puck, who toured the US with the band in 2018, support. Presale opened on 17 August and general sale on 19 August. The year ends with Warped Tour in Orlando on 14 and 15 November.

What the shows are like now

A festival set in 2026 is ten songs, around forty minutes, and front-loaded with the punchier material. At Hatfield on 23 May they went on at 4.45pm and ran Kissin' Killer Cobras, Lavender Bones, Warz0ne, Girl$, Sex On The Beach, Velcro, Hate Me (Sometimes), Nose Bleed, Criminal and Deathwish. Louder Than War, reviewing the Leeds date at Temple Newsam on 24 May, described Warz0ne as sounding like a WWE entrance theme and noted plenty of crowd interaction from Fraser and the band. The same reviewer, Dave Beech, flagged the amount of backing track in use: the electronic elements and vocal effects are core to the songs, he wrote, but they gave the set less of a live feel that jarred in bright sunlight, and he thought it would have suited the shaded Key Club tent better. The sound itself, he added, was clear as a bell.

At Slam Dunk South the weekend produced a footnote that says something about the band's place in Australian rock: Fraser stepped out during the reunited Tonight Alive's set to sing on Disappear, which When The Horn Blows said only amplified the communal atmosphere of that show.

A headline night is roughly double the festival set. On the Regional Australia tour in March 2025, the Bridge Hotel show in Forth, Tasmania, on 21 March ran to twenty songs: eighteen in the main set, opening with Wake Up-Sit Down-Shut Up and closing with Criminal and Deathwish, then an encore of Coffee At Midnight and Girl$. The middle of the set carried a medley that folded a cover of Train's Drops Of Jupiter into Toothpick. Expect the October Australian theatre dates to follow that shape with Godbreath material added, though the band had not published those setlists at the time of writing.