MR INDUSTRY

Writer: Joseph Maranta

Images: Jesse Pretorius @Goofy_jpegs

All images were taken by @Goofy_jpegs

His pupils are fully constricted. The iris has taken prominence as the blue light of his phone brings the blue of his eyes to the fore. Hours of short-form content consumption have failed to sedate him, nor the incessant stressors which have kept him restless the past week. For every step forward he makes, his desire to track backwards grows. His creative outlets are constantly stymied by an overwhelming yet intangible feeling of guilt and gluttony. 

As he tosses and turns the night away, his eyelids eventually gain weight, providing a glimmer of hope for a much needed rest. 

His mundane hedonism bears little fruits, bar the occasional dishy multi that hits. 

The lifestyle is forsaken, the excuses are plentiful but the yearning for more remains. 

This abstract interpretation attempts to embody the feeling of Mr Industry.

Originally hailing from Canberra, the quintet recently made the move to Melbourne, where they’ve since released their debut EP Dancing To My Own Internal Rhythm.

Though it is cliché to say, their music is very, very hard to box or label. It’s high paced, maniacal, and entertaining above all. Here’s our chat with them.

JOE: So you’re all originally from Canberra, what’s the move to Melbourne been like?

SEB: It’s been wild, but I think it’s been for the best. 

JOE: Can you remember the first gig you each went to in Melbourne?

CHARLIE: Mine was ‘00’ at The Gem Bar. 

LACHY: Yeah that was mine too, with Propaine as well. I think that was the first week we all came to Melbourne. 

JOE: Your debut EP ‘Dancing To My Own Internal Rhythm’ (DTMOIR) has just come out - how did you enjoy the process of putting a project together

CHARLIE: Recording music is a constant learning curve. Even for this EP - we chose to record it the way we did, because we spent five days in a studio at the Central Coast doing our last batch of singles, and we ended up scrapping two of them. 

BRENDAN: In the past I don’t think we really knew what we were doing, and we’re still learning now. Like the original plan was to record [DTMOIR] in a week and then release it from there, but every time we’ve set a deadline for this EP it gets pushed back. The deadline approaches, we get stressed and then we wind up making decisions which are rushed or a little shit. 

LACHY: Yeah Brendan is a big fan of misspelling our titles. 

BRENDAN: I have made some mistakes on DistroKid in my time. 

LACHY: But it’s not that we struggle to record a good take - it’s more making sure that everyone feels good and is happy with what we make. We’re all on a cycle and we all need to align. Sometimes a recording won’t be bad because someone can’t play a part - but because someone is in a bad mood or because someone hasn’t eaten yet. 

CALEB: Yeah, five voices is a lot of voices. 

BRENDAN: We’re definitely getting better at it though!

JOE: And where was it recorded?

CHARLIE: Taste Police HQ, it’s a little DIY set up within this empty loft type of thing in Brunswick. We ended up doing the whole EP there in the studio with Vince. We love you Vince. 

BRENDAN: He recorded and produced the whole thing, the project wouldn’t be what it is without him. 

JOE: Well it’s an incredible project, it has a very fresh sheen on the alternative / post-punk genre which is so prominent currently. Were there any artists you were consistently listening to during its production?

BRENDAN: I don’t want to speak on behalf of anyone else, but there was one big influence on me, which started during the recording of ‘Birdie’ and carried through the whole project - and that’s Squid. 

MR INDUSTRY (in unison): Yep. Squid. 

SEB: Especially on a song like Bagpipes, it’s where you get that krautrocky sort of thing, it’s definitely the furthest we’ve reached. 

BRENDAN: It’s that very groovy, progressive style of post-punk you hear in London. 

CALEB: Windmill core. 

JOE: Is there a favourite track to perform from the EP?

CHARLIE: Ohhh I don’t know actually. Maybe DTMOIR (the song). 

LACHY: As a drummer I’d say Growkit or Birdie. Just because they start and then they go. DTMOIR is a long track, and it’s very cathartic. It’s always the end of the set so we just let go a bit. 

JOE: One thing people will notice about this EP is the length of the tracks comprising it. Why did you lean into longer run times on this EP?

BRENDAN: When we write our music, we write until the song is done. Pacing is such an important part of songwriting and you want to be as concise as possible, but you also want to make sure that when a song gets to that moment, it hits. 

JOE: Seb you have a penchant for orating your vocals to portray different themes and emotions in your music, has this always been something you’ve enjoyed doing as a vocalist?

SEB: I found that in the early days I was conscious of trying to imitate someone else’s vocals, or to have this particular section sung in a certain way. But now, everything I do, I try not to think about it too much or dwell on it. To me that’s more what songwriting should be. 

Tom Waits put it beautifully when he said that you are always a net for catching ideas, but the true part of songwriting comes when you put everything in your net together. 

JOE: Are there any bands you can see breaking out of Melbourne in the near future?

SEB: Honestly all of them. It’s kind of crazy the talent pool here. 

LACHY: You go to a gig here and everybody is very serious about what they’re doing. And sometimes when they aren’t as serious, like almost joke bands, they’re just as good! Shoutout Primetime. 

I am a big Bollard fan though. 

BRENDAN: I was gonna say [The Belair] Lip Bombs, but I feel like they’re already there. 

SEB: When I was watching the Lego Movie starring Pharrell Williams, he mentioned how he and Missy Elliot would make music together in a garage when they were kids, not knowing that they’d eventually blow up as artists. That’s the same for every massive musician, they were just making music at one point. That’s how I see it with all the bands we play with, who knows where they’ll be in ten years. 

LACHY: Anybody who sticks by their art in Melbourne, will eventually get somewhere, I think.

JOE: You’ve already played with the elite of the Australian underground, having gigged with Dogworld, The Empty Threats and Sleepazoid - but is there anyone else coming up in Australia that you’d like to play with?

CALEB: We still haven’t played with Dust. 

CHARLIE: I would really love to play with Shady Nasty. 

BRENDAN: Honestly, it’s a complete mismatch but playing a Sidney Phillips gig would be so sick. We’ll be your backing band Sidney. 

SEB: I was going to say that, if there could be a meeting of worlds where Bootleg Baby, Sidney Phillips and us play together - I’d want to live in that world. 

JOE: Though Melbourne is seen as the Mecca for Australian artists across the country, have you noticed any of the pitfalls that creatives can fall into here, if they aren’t careful?

SEB: Yeah definitely. 

LACHY: Vices can be a big issue, especially in the music scene. With the mental health issues that are inherent sometimes to the scene itself, a lot of addiction and weird behaviour can occur. 

When you move to such a big city it can be very overwhelming and alienating. Maybe you want to get high, maybe you find friends who are into getting high, maybe your music friends are into getting high. I could definitely see that being a big issue for artists moving here.

BRENDAN: Moving here together has helped a lot, just having a unit from the very beginning. 

LACHY: Even when we’re pissed off at each other, it was just good to be in a house together knowing that you weren’t crying alone. It took a lot of that existential dread away. 

CALEB: It just feels enormous here. Like obviously you hear about Fitzroy and Carlton before coming here, but once you get there everyone is dressed head to toe in designer, they’re all beautiful and they’re all sinking pints with their other 30 friends. So it would be a very intimidating place to break into socially, if you were to come here alone.

JOE: So what’s the plan now that the EP is out?

CHARLIE: We want to work on some more singles and hole up in Melbourne for now. The amount of time and resources that get invested into touring, whether it’s the time it takes planning the tour, the booking fees or even just performing. It can get pretty intense. I’d say we’re trying to gig less and write more now, just to keep up that output. 

JOE: And just finally, what is success for Mr Industry?

LACHY: This might be corny, but starting a band itself is such a success to me. I’ve been drumming a lot longer than I’ve been in a band, and after Year 12 I didn’t know if it was going to happen. So us moving here, all being in Melbourne in one piece, that’s success. 

CHARLIE: People coming to shows and watching us after we moved here as nobodies, that’s so sick. 

BRENDAN: Honestly, I want to play on a big stage at a festival. And I want a Japan Tour. 

SEB: Japan Tour is the goal.

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