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Interview: Lunatics On Pogosticks

With a name like Lunatics on Pogosticks prepare yourself for music that will have you dancing around like a… crazy person. Happy had a chat with Lunatics On Pogosticks’ Calum Newton (vox, guitar) ahead of their tour, to talk about their experience supporting British India and Dune Rats and what we can expect from their latest EP, Slug Cat and Snail Dog.

lunatics on pogosticks

This incredible illustration is by Mitch Gee who works as a freelance illustrator and graphic designer based in Brisbane, Australia. Check out his stuff here!

Happy: You tell a pretty vivid story with Less than Sober– was it just based on a drunken night out?

LOP: Yea it was just about New Years Eve when I perished at 10:30 and my girlfriend had to hold my hair back and walk me home. Pretty woeful time cause this dude wasn’t letting anyone in the house that we were at so I had to wash my mouth out with pool water before we went.

Happy: You’ve already had a few plays on Triple J Unearthed but are you nervous to see how the EP will translate live?

LOP: Not really to be honest cause we’ve been playing these songs live since the end of December pretty much. We’re actually super stoked it’s out now cause we can play all the songs without feeling like we’re bombarding people with all this new stuff that they don’t know.

Happy: What’s your general attitude to playing live? Do you try and make it as raucous as possible?

LOP: I guess we just wanna have a good time. What’s the point of playing live if it’s just gonna be a total bore for 40 minutes or so. We just have to remember to tune up before we play haha

lunatics on pogosticks

Happy: What made you come up with the idea to do the Shaggy cover on your Bandcamp? (It’s genius)

LOP: I was just scrolling through Tumblr and saw that a friend of mine had reblogged Angel by Shaggy. I hadn’t heard it in ages so I thought it’d be a cool way to kill an afternoon. I’d actually just finished my trials for HSC that day I’m pretty sure.

Happy: How crazy was it supporting British India and Dune Rats? Also how many cones did you smoke with Dune Rats?

LOP: It was so ace! I had to sit outside on the back stairs at the Zoo when we supported British India though cause I was under 18 haha. It wasn’t too rough cause their manager sneaked me some Orange juice and vodka. Mannnn no cones were ripped with Dunies but Bryce got Brett’s digits after we played which he was stoked about. It was pretty funny cause it was a mega early gig so all of the Dune Rats just went to the city and got dinner with their parents I think.

Happy: Do you think touring with those guys has primed you for this upcoming tour?

LOP: Well we only played one show with them but it totally highlighted how good playing to a crowd that loves you is. So much crowd surfing and stuff. It was great. I don’t think we’ll receive that sort of adoration on this tour but hopefully sometime in the future.

Happy: This EP is slightly harder rock than your earlier stuff, what brought about that shift?

LOP: Do you reckon? I thought it was kind of more cheesy pop haha. There wasn’t any intention in changing our sound or anything I think it just came about cause we worked on this as collective rather then just me sitting at my computer fiddling with shit. We definitely dig it though, plus we don’t see much reason in repeating the same EP 3 times under different names.

Tour dates below:

Thursday 4th September– Collector Hotel, Parramatta, Sydney, NSW

Friday  5th September– Gallery Bar , Sydney, NSW

Saturday 6th September–Great Northern, Newcastle, NSW

Friday 19th September – Revolver , Melbourne, VIC

Saturday 20th September – Crown & Anchor, Adelaide, SA

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