I'm not sure if this really equates as a new Australian band,...

I'm not sure if this really equates as a new Australian band, but I'd certainly like to see them live.
Rob Hirst, Jim Moginie & Martin Rotsey from Midnight Oil from a new band with Violent Femmes bass player Brian Ritchie called "The Break"
Echoes of "Wedding Cake Island" Bones Hillman must be enjoying his new life in Nashville as a session player to be interested..

Members of Midnight Oil and US band Violent Femmes have teamed up to form a new surf rock band, The Break.

Midnight Oil founding members Rob Hirst, Jim Moginie and Martin Rotsey and Violent Femmes bass player Brian Ritchie have united over their shared love of old surf music.

"It just seemed very exciting that we loved this music from our childhood, the surf music, and decided to use all our energies to try to play surf music with a new twist," Hirst told AAP.

"After all, Midnight Oil started at a surf pub down at Narrabeen Beach on the northern beaches of Sydney all those years ago and one of our earliest songs was Surfing With a Spoon on our first album, and our first audience was really a surf audience."

The four men first met when Midnight Oil and Violent Femmes were touring the US in the 1980s and '90s and shared a tour manager.

After Midnight Oil performed at last year's Sound Relief concert, they decided to start a new band, and invited Ritchie, who had moved to Hobart.

"Brian used to turn up backstage at Midnight Oil gigs all over the place, and we got to know Brian, really admired his playing," Hirst said.

"Jim and Martin and myself from Midnight Oil have never stopped playing in our various bands over the years, but we've been looking for a way to find the best vehicle for us to play together again."

While Midnight Oil were known for their politically and socially aware lyrics, The Break's songs will be largely instrumental.

"We actually had a few guest vocalists come in last year, whilst they were all incredible in their own way we realised that we just really enjoyed each others company and it was sort of less complicated," Hirst said.

Moginie adds: "We've found the lack of vocals opens up all sorts of possibilities in the music that we couldn't have even imagined in our wildest dreams."

The band wrote and recorded 15 tracks in nine days, and their debut album will be released on April 16, titled Church Of The Open Sky.

The first single, Cylinders, will be available on iTunes from February 9, just before the band head out to play three live shows around Sydney and Wollongong.

If all goes well, they hope to capitalise on the international success enjoyed by their previous bands.

"Because Midnight Oil and Violent Femmes had an international audience, one idea was to chase down those places of the world where there's a surfing following, whether that's South Africa or Brazil or the west coast of the States or wherever," Hirst said.

"But initially we just want to play in our home town and then around Australia."