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Beware, this band will bring up memories from your forgotten teenage past. Aloof and dark, the Brissy three-piece Jouk Mistrow make pseudo-nihilistic alt-garage rock about your wasteland of a yesteryear so you realise that emotions are bad. After racking up plenty of shows in their hometown and taking out last year’s Ric’s Exposed Competition, Jouk Mistrow are an up and coming band you want on your radar.
Spitting out some dark vitriol with apathetic swagger, Brisbane three piece Jouk Mistrow’s greatest weapon is their nihilistic view of the world.
Dead set on not being a feeling feelings kind of band, Ethan Greaves (guitar/vocals), Rian King (bass/vocals) and Stuart Mckenzie (drums, who also plays with fellow Brisbanites Good Boy) are an interesting bunch. After watching you hang out in coffee shops and clubs, or just generally wandering the streets, they make tunes about what they thought of you. While that might sound a little twisted, this makes their music deeply dark and cool.
After releasing their debut 3-track Did We? last year and getting a fair bit of airplay, the lads cemented themselves as something of a rarity. Three sardonic tunes about girls with black hair and tattoos, politicians, betrayal and community service announcements reminding us that our emotions will only make us suffer, they definitely don’t like covering the typical themes. But, that’s cool, Jouk Mistrow’s cigarette-singed garage rock is dangerously sinister in every way that’s wicked.
Lighting up some smoky guitar riffs, their latest few tracks are like Bombay Bicycle Club only a million times sadder. Releasing tunes off their upcoming EP I’m The Villain So Don’t, each single bubbles over with teenage angst whilst still sounding completely detached. Recently released single Deers lures you in with its opening line, “Life is a mystery that I don’t understand”. A dark rock tune that builds with its menacing guitar lines and murky vocals, it is an inescapable haze.
Charging in at a more manic pace, A Silhouette’s ferocious guitar-driven intro ropes you in. Still loaded with dark themes, Greaves’ breathy delivery keeps the mood subdued despite the raucous drums. Villainous lyrics continue in standout track Oh Well. Recorded and mixed by The Belligerents’ Konstantin Kersting, it is an avalanche of massive and all-annihilating noise. Burying you with its crushing guitars, roaring drums and formidably chilled vocals, it’s a furious mix of sounds.
These three Brissy lads are heating up the scene with their pseudo-nihilistic take on garage rock. Despite coming off as aloof, their music is actually loaded with melancholy and nostalgia that’ll most likely bring up some long lost memories. With their upcoming EP due out later this month, pull out your Yearbook now and get ready to relive the angst of your teenage past.
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