Your parents told you never talk to strangers, but they never said anything about smiling at them.
NSW indie garage-rock trio Los Scallywaggs have a new album out called 'Smile Stranger', the band's first to be produced on vinyl.
With the new album released at the end of May, the band are piling into the 'scallywagon' for a tour in July. We catch up with drummer Nat Tyrrell for a chin-wag with a Scallywagg.
In one sentence, how would you describe Los Scallywaggs to people who haven't heard of you?
Fuzzy, garage rock & roll music.
What can fans expect from your upcoming shows in July?
We're gonna be playing the full record that we just did. You can expect very loud music, very fast, very energetic and some banter.
How has your music developed over the past couple of years?
When we first started playing music, myself and my brother Joel, we were playing sorta bluesy rock, and then my brother came and showed me something and it blew me out of the water; it just made sense how he made music with these different chord progressions that you'd never think would work.
You can make fun music really easily. We changed from bluesy rock to garage rock, which made it go a lot faster. I think our music just got progressively louder, progressively faster... progressively more progressive.
You've been compared to acts like Dune Rats and DZ Deathrays; do you take inspiration from these bands or similar groups?
Yeah of course, they're good friends of ours. We did a few shows with DZ in Europe and I think we definitely have a similar sound. I do like those comparisons, that's pretty cool. They are such amazing bands and I think we get influenced a lot by those guys.
What have you got planned for the rest of the year?
We're gonna be touring this record in July and after that we'll be starting to write again, then we're going to head back over to Europe in November to do another stint over there.
I think between July and November we'll be playing around, trying to write some new music and getting prepared to go back overseas and get f...ing weird.
How would you describe the genre of garage rock?
I think garage is back to basics; it's as raw as anything. I think it's the best.
Where do you see yourselves in the future?
I think we'll just keep playing. We want to keep writing and creating music and progress it, add more instruments and mix things together, but also stick to the genre of music we love to play, but progress it to something bigger and better.
What are some valuable lessons you've learnt from previous gigs that you'll be taking into your upcoming shows?
Just rock up and be a nice person. Don't be a f...ing arsehole. Just have a bloody ball and enjoy yourselves. Don't be an arsehole. I appreciate people not being arseholes.
Los Scallywaggs 2019 Tour Dates
Fri 5 Jul - The Tote (Melbourne)Sat 6 Jul - Newcastle Hotel
Thu 11 Jul - Oxford Art Factory (Sydney)
Fri 12 Jul - Rocket Bar (Adelaide)
Sat 13 Jul - Four5Nine (Perth)
