FAT DOG & THE TITS

Writer: Keeley Thompson

Photographer: Dane Beesley | @dane.beesley

The air throbs. A tuba bellows from the neighbour's hedge, a kazoo wails from the grill, and someone’s furiously sawing away at a violin made of twigs. Grass grows up the side of the now dried paint buckets that dot the yard, indicating their time as monoliths of the garden. A ball of tangled fairy lights sits atop a structure of spare tyres, offering limited, but necessary vision. The house, seemingly miles away, breathes in time with the cacophony of sounds. 

It seems that two tabs  of acid combined with roughly 8-10 tins of Bundy Rum, is a questionable combination of equations. 

A figure materialises from the shadows, their eyes gleaming with mischief. "I once saw a possum riding a skateboard," she declared, "downhill. It was magnificent." Confused, but also impressed, you dither along.

Walking towards the group huddled around the foldout picnic table, you decide to embrace the unhinged. Time went out the window long ago, but odds are there’s some interesting hours ahead. 

Make friends with the fuckery, enjoy the pandemonium. It’s better that way.

Welcome to Fat Dog & The Tits, the Meanjin septet that make noisy, punky, cosmic tunes that smell like brake fluid and taste like a warm Vodka Cruiser. The group, made up of Sam aka “Fat Dog” (vocals), Keisha (clarinet), Nathan (guitar), Edward (guitar), Milko (bass), Matt (drums) and Rob (keys), somehow manage to make speed dealers and go-go boots go together. 

With 14 middle fingers between them all (and they’re not afraid to use them), the band gives part WWE Fighter, part Fembot, part Diesel mechanic and part Outback Truckers. This, is Fat Dog and The Tits.

KEELEY: Let’s start with the beginning! How did you guys form?

SAM: I played a solo gig at Forest Fuzz in Beachmere. I bawled my eyes out; I thought I’d fucked it. The original idea was to play the solo set and hopefully meet some people to form an actual band with and after crying during the set, I figured that was the end of the road. 

After that set I went back to the campsite to smoke some weed and mourn and Matt and Glenzy were there and were like “hey, wanna start a band?”. The next week or two after that we went to Rob’s house and the rest of the group joined to make what we have now. 

ROB: Actually Keisha came a bit later, she originally joined as a photographer.

KEELEY: How long ago was that? 

SAM: 2021, around the end of June or July? 

KEELEY: So you all knew each other prior to this? 

ROB: I met Glenzy at a boxing match and the rest of us knew each other for ages. I knew Matt from school and played in some bands with him and Milko. We were all just kicking around kind of looking for a band at that point, so it worked really well. 

KEELEY: Where did the name come from?

SAM: So, I really wanted a one word, punchy band name. One day I came up with a band name and was like “we could be this (I can't even remember what I said at that point), or we could be Fat Dog and The Tits” and everyone loved it. 

I always wanted a band called The Tits but that’s already taken so Fat Dog and The Tits works. 

KEISHA: I honestly can’t remember the other option you said. I think as soon as you said Fat Dog and The Tits it was just agreed upon unanimously. We didn’t even need to think about it. 

ROB: Yeah, we don’t really finesse a lot of stuff. 

KEELEY: What music do you each like and do you think that influences your sound? 

ROB: Contemporary Australian Rock music. 

SAM: Shellac, Big Black, pretty much anything Steve Albini touched are my biggest inspirations. 

KEISHA: I’m probably more influenced by Indie Pop artists like Bjork and stuff like that. 

I think between the band there's a million things we’re all into and influenced by, but none of it really crosses into our music too much. 

ROB: I know the boys really like The Drones and The Cramps and things too. 

KEELEY: How did the recent tour go?!

ALL: It was sick. 

SAM: It was so much fun. The first two days were a bit of going to rip each other’s heads off vibes, but as soon as we entered the gates of Weaslestock Festival it all faded away. We literally arrived with like thirty minutes to spare before Black Dog Cat Band had to start, but they made it, and they played a sick set and it was great.

I almost had my first ever panic attack during those first two days, but we were so sweet after those first two days. 

ROB: I think the first two days were extra tough because we were all so excited and all too hyper and were drinking and couldn’t smoke so we all had to figure out everyone else's groove and how to be in a bus with 11 other people without wanting to commit murder. 

That said, it wasn’t all hectic partying and murderous shit either though. We did a lot of wholesome stuff too, like family dinners, barbecues, snorkelling at Mystery Bay, eating oysters on a cliff. It was great. 

SAM: I did not participate and stayed at the campsite because I am deathly allergic. Keisha stayed with me for that, but we enjoyed it. 

KEELEY: You’ve got new music and a music video coming out! Tell me about it.

SAM: So excited, finally after three years to have a debut release coming out. It’s so, so exciting for us. We had such a good reception from the trailer of the music video and honestly, I’m still shook. 

ROB: Yeah 10,000 people looked at it. That’s massive for us. 

SAM: We’re so stoked with it. It looks amazing. Jess and Leo nailed it. 

KEELEY: What was the process of filming like? 

SAM: It was a loooong day, but it was so worth it. 

ROB: Film sets move slowly, and it rained so the continuity was hard to keep on track. Because it was like, I walk in and I'm dry, but then the rest of the shots, I'm soaking wet. 

SAM: There’s a shot of me standing on two tyres near a car that’s getting crushed, and I’d been up since like 4am and at that point it was 2pm. During that shot Jess said to me “give it all you’ve got” and I honestly almost fainted. 

KEISHA: Oh yeah and Milko sort of got a mild concussion? There’s a shot (that we didn’t end up using) where Sam flings him over her shoulder and in that motion, he hit his head on the concrete. We asked if he was alright and he said he was all good, but he admitted after the filming was done that he probably was concussed. 

KEELEY: What have been your highlights as a band throughout the years, and also this year? 

SAM: Overall highlight would have to be playing with Boing Boing and Radium Dolls at the end of last year. We all got one stage with them when they played The Angles “Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again” and that was the best shit ever. 

KEISHA: Also getting to play with ARSE was massive for us. We’re all mad fans and we fangirled so hard, it was a little bit embarrassing hahaha. 

SAM: This year’s highlight also happens to be what I reckon is probably also our most monumental moment as a band. This weekend we’ve got the film clip and the single coming out but we’re also playing with Boing Boing and Cosmic Psychos. That feels like the highlight of everything. 

ROB: There are so many highlights I could name. We’ve gotten to play with so many legendary bands and play at so many cool venues/events. 

KEELEY: What are you looking forward to in 2025? 

ROB: Release an EP and go to Japan. 

SAM: Getting this EP out is the biggest thing for me. I’m so beyond ready to get this out and start working on new stuff, maybe at a much faster pace. 

ROB: Yeah 2025, Pepperwater Crocodile. That’s the EP name. 

KEELEY: What do you want for Christmas? 

KEISHA: I asked Santa for Vodka Cruisers, and he gave them to me. 

Did you know you can call Santa on a public phone? You call #464646 and Santa is on the other end. I called him yesterday and asked for Cruisers and then Matt came home with Cruisers so that was pretty good. Christmas came early. 

SAM: I want a water filter. 

ROB: I want a sense of wellbeing. 

KEELEY: What’s coming up for The Tits?

ROB: Single release this Friday, 13th of the 12th. “Queen of The Junkyard”. There’s a film clip. 

KEISHA: It’s also ACAB Day. 

ROB: I didn’t even realise that. Hell yeah. 

Record is coming out in mid-January. That’s going to be sick. 

And yeah, Cosmic Psychos also! 

SAM: To wrap it up. Good Times. 

ROB: Great music. 

KEELEY: 4qk. 

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