Skinny Living Bring Their Working-Class Soul to Australia for the First Time

Some bands arrive polished. Skinny Living arrive with the edges left on.

Built on soul, struggle, friendship and the kind of harmonies that sound better the closer you stand together, the UK outfit have spent a decade taking the long road. This October, that road finally brings them to Australia.

For Skinny Living, the name has always meant something. It describes the reality of working-class life — hard graft on a low income, making the most of what you've got and holding onto family, friendship and a belief that something better might be waiting around the corner.

It's also a pretty good description of how the band have built their career. What began with a chance meeting at an open-mic night has grown through years of touring, word of mouth and songs that have gradually travelled far beyond the rooms where they were written. Now, after more than 90 million global streams, sold-out UK tours and a UK No.1 Independent Album with 2024's Day by Day, Skinny Living are finally heading to Australia for their first run of shows here.

And they've already got an audience waiting. Sydney and Melbourne rank among the band's five most-streamed cities in the world, making this Australian debut feel less like an introduction and more like finally meeting people who've been listening from the other side of the planet.

At the centre of Skinny Living is a sound that feels familiar without being stuck in the past. There are traces of the warmth and honesty associated with Bill Withers, Van Morrison and Paolo Nutini, but the band pull those influences into their own world of alternative soul, indie and rootsy grit.

Frontman Ryan Johnston brings a distinctly Irish ache to the songs, his voice capable of sounding bruised and hopeful in the same breath, while Danny Hepworth's guitar work and harmonies give the music its width. Together, they make songs that don't feel overly manicured or designed by committee. They're human, emotional and occasionally rough around the edges — which is precisely where much of their appeal lives.

That philosophy carries into their latest release, EP 9, the final chapter in an ambitious trilogy inspired by Nikola Tesla's 3-6-9 theory. It's another step forward for a band that has spent the better part of a decade quietly expanding its world while remaining connected to the working-class values that gave Skinny Living its name in the first place.

Along the way they've found themselves sharing stages with Noah Kahan, Calum Scott, James Arthur and Gabrielle, building a reputation for live performances where the harmonies, storytelling and emotional weight of the songs really come into their own.
Now it's Australia's turn.

Beginning in Geelong on October 16, the tour winds its way through Melbourne, Canberra, Cronulla, Bulli, the Central Coast and Newcastle before heading north through regional NSW and Queensland. The journey eventually lands in the Whitsundays, where Skinny Living will play two appearances at the Airlie Beach Festival of Music.

It's a fitting itinerary for a band whose story has always been about getting in the van and taking the songs directly to people.
There are no arenas on this first Australian run. Instead, Skinny Living will play pubs, clubs, breweries and intimate music rooms — the sort of places where you can see the musicians' faces, hear the room singing back and feel those harmonies without a giant screen getting in the way.

After ten years of hard graft, millions of streams and countless miles on the road, Skinny Living are finally making the long trip south.
Australia has been listening for years. Now we get to hear them in the room.

Skinny Living — Australian Tour 2026 
October 16 — Eureka Hotel, Geelong VIC — with Kristy Coote 
October 17 — The Espy, Melbourne VIC — with Tanya George 
October 21 — The Baso, Canberra ACT — with Lilt 
October 22 — The Brass Monkey, Cronulla NSW — with Johnny Batchelor 
October 23 — Heritage Hotel, Bulli NSW — with Johnny Batchelor & Saturn Chromatic 
October 24 — Ocean View Wamberal, Central Coast NSW — with James Bennett 
October 25 — King St Hotel, Newcastle NSW — with Samuel Thomas, Steel City & Ryan Daley 
October 28 — Woopi Brewery, Woolgoolga — with Andrew Cousins 
October 30 — Wallaby Hotel, Mudgeeraba QLD — with Ella Fence 
October 31 — Lefty's Music Hall, Petrie Terrace QLD — with Tiffany Grace 
November 1 — Kings Beach Tavern, Kings Beach QLD — with Christian Patey 
November 7 — Airlie Beach Festival of Music, Airlie Beach QLD 
November 9 — Airlie Beach Festival of Music, Airlie Beach QLD