The pairing of two, motorcycle-loving mates who decided to jam together when they moved to Queensland from Darwin half a decade ago (after been in other bands together), Burger Joint are G and T Bone – a pairing that create 'catchy, funky, danceable ear worms'.
The two-piece peddle in funky, soul-drizzled jams liable to infect those in audible range to bouts of uncontrollable dancing showcasing gnarly interpretations of that old-school '80s dance craze, the Mullet Flap that the 'kids' are bringing back (good on 'em).After a relatively fallow period releasing new music (2019 EP 'Best Day Ever' being their previous release), Burger Joint are back today with the raucous, frenetic, four-to-the-floor groove monster, 'Pub In The Middle Of Nowhere', the first taste of Burger Joint's new EP due early 2023.
It features a fat, wailing groove, chunky, scorching guitar licks, and Aussie-flavoured (and slightly cheesy) lyrics that'll have you hanging for a frosty one like thirsty dingo who's just pulled a sickie on the boss.
The accompanying music video is equally epic as the lads go cruisin' in search of pubs in the middle of nowhere. Pay attention to the most excellent tribute to Slash's guitar solo from the 'November Rain' music video as well.
With a run of summer live shows in the works at some of Australia's oldest, regional pubs, T Bone settles in with a schooner and chicken parmie to answer some of our questions.
For those new to Burger Joint, what's the elevator pitch re: your sound/ style?
Burger Joint has been described as the people's band – we're all about having a good time and celebrating the small wins in the everyday. Once described as the sound of a '70s cop show, it's music that doesn't take itself too seriously.
The Burger Joint backstory; how did you two first cross paths and decide to make music together?
We've been mates for years, and played in other bands together over that time when we lived in Darwin. So when we both relocated to Queensland in 2016 we decided we should have a jam.
We put ourselves down to play at the Buskers By The Creek festival, so we went up to our mate's property in Currumbin Valley for a couple of nights, and after a couple of beers and few laughs we ended up writing a whole EP worth of tunes in those first few hours, that we still play today.
We were essentially just taking the piss and making each other laugh, and it turned out when we played in front of an audience, they were laughing too. Then we just started booking gigs and playing tiny venues and pubs up and down the east coast till eventually we were playing festivals.
Playing together has always just been fun, and wherever we play, people have fun too, so it's just grown organically.
'Pub In The Middle Of Nowhere' is your new single and lead track from your forthcoming new EP; you've said it's like a schooner after a long day's drive – blows the dust out and leaves you wanting more. What else can you add to that delicious explanation?
This song is like roaring down the freeway in your old V8 HQ Holden. It's a windows down, road-trip song with the exact BPM to flap a mullet back and forth to and a chorus everyone can sing-along to. It's us raising our glass to the old pubs that always welcome you with a smile and cold beer.
You posted to your socials that this new EP has been the funnest one you've made; why's that; and what else can listeners expect from the other tracks featured?
We had a year and a half break over the pandemic, so when got back together we blew out the cobwebs and decided to get some songs down that we'd been playing live but never recorded.
Songs like 'Just Got Paid', which was literally written live in front of audience by just riffing and coming up with words on the fly, or 'I Got A Beer For Myself, And Nobody Else', which is a song you sing when your mate comes back from the bar or the esky and only sorts themselves out.
We've captured the live Burger Joint feel, which is all about having a good time. We had so much fun recording it, and we think it's just as fun to listen to.
Scotty French from Love Street Studios was involved in the recordings; what did he bring to the project?
Scotty is an absolute wizard in the studio, and a lord at what he does.
We love working with him because not only is he so talented, he gets our vibe, and is totally onboard to get silly with us. He always puts little easter eggs into the mixes and the way he takes our sound and fattens it up and makes it shiny always blows our mind.
There's a music video as well for the song, where you lads went bush with no plans to film at a host of different pubs; how was that adventure and what tales can you share from filming?
Along with Aimee from Kerbside who did the film clip, we jumped in the car at 7am and the three of us just went west looking for cool pubs.
As soon as we'd walk in we'd say g'day to the locals, have a beer with them and do some filming, and they'd point us in the direction of some other pubs in the area we should check out. In 2 days we visited 13 pubs and stayed the night in 1 – everywhere we went we were greeted by locals who were happy to help out.
We asked the locals if they'd be in our clip and we'd shout them a schooner, all they had to do was bob their heads to the mullet flapping tempo.
We just found the most accommodating legends everywhere who would be up for a yarn, tell us the history of the pub and the people in the pictures on the walls. We had such a great time yarning with everyone, and this is at the heart of why we love playing out in these places too.
The song features an epic guitar solo, so when you stumbled across an old church on your travels you were able to recreate the Slash solo from the 'November Rain' vid; tell us about that?
We have been talking about doing this Slash solo sequence for years as we both grew up on that stuff and just thought it would be hilarious.
So we're out in the back of woop woop driving some backroads trying to find this old pub when G says: "I think that's an old church down there." So we pulled a Dukes of Hazzard style u-turn and pulled up out the front and there it was, the perfect church.
None of us could tell you where it was, or who it belongs to, but it was perfect. Finding it was a complete fluke, but we were able to get in, get the shot and take off before anyone found us there.
You also shouted any locals a beer if they joined you for a mullet flap; what the hell is a mullet flap?
The mullet flap is a dance manoeuvre focused on the neck, where one gets the mullet to flap back and forth with style and grace in time with the music, popular throughout the '80s, however I'm led to believe the young folk are bringing it back with force.
Of all the pubs you ventured too, which one stood out as a favourite?
They were all so charming and beautiful in their own way (and there's thousands we didn't get 'round to, but wish we could).
I'd probably have to say one of them was Darling Downs Hotel, aka Sandy Creek Pub just out from Warwick – just a nice, proper, old-school pub that has this killer beer garden, and camping out the back, and they do pig races!
The publicans Kev and Kayleen were such legends and showed us 'round to all their animals out the back, but having said that, O'Shanley's Irish Pub in Clifton is one of the most decked-out pubs you've ever seen – cool, old stuff hanging on every inch of every wall and so much character; you could spend an hour just looking around the place.
Also Rudd's Pub in Nobby was a sick old pub too with heaps of character, I think we just have to go to every pub in the country now to find the real winner.
Your ride, the yellow Landcruiser looks like a beast; the orange-red-brown detailing is schmick... did you get comments from folks regularly?
Thank you that's my pride and joy. Yeah it's definitely Landcruiser country out there, which is why we left the bikes at home for this one.
Whether it's a cool old car, motorbikes, or music, it's always great having a common interest with people wherever you go. We just loving having chats with all the old mates wherever we go and pretty much anywhere you go in this country someone's bound to say: "I had one like that years ago."
When can the people expect to see Burger Joint playing live again; will there be an EP tour?
Absolutely! We're in the stages of planning the 'Pub In The Middle Of Nowhere' tour as we speak, where we'll play a regional tour to all these cool, old pubs and people can come along with us.
We're also going to be dropping some more film clips a little later and hitting up some more venues closer to towns as well to release the EP, so you can follow us for all that jazz.
By the end of a Burger Joint set, what do you hope punters get from your performance?
A Burger Joint dance-floor is a place for everyone, and a place where nothing else matters except right now, and making friends with strangers.
A compliment we've got a few times is 'I danced my arse off, and laughed my arse off'. We hope punters leave our gig with their shoulders a little lighter, and their smile a little larger.
It's almost summer time; what's Burger Joint's essential ingredient for the ultimate backyard barbie?
Besides an esky full of cold beer, the most important thing is sun protection, like a Burger Joint trucker hat, and decent stubby cooler, like the amazing Burger Joint stubby and longneck coolers. Also, a decent playlist, like Burger Joint's greatest hits.
Burger Joint support Hussy Hicks at Mo's Desert Clubhouse (Gold Coast) 20 November. Stay tuned to their socials for the EP tour dates.
