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The ‘Dolewave’ movement in all it’s glory has given birth to bands like Dick Diver and The Stevens, sweeping the nation with a fitting sound of the working class reclaiming Australia’s dispersed identity. New additions Regular Boys fits the mould of a DIY rock band with heavy undertones of the confusion growing up in Australia.
Yearning for some gritty Australiana guitar music but can’t seem to find any that tickles your fancy? Look no further, Regular Boys have got you sorted with their debut EP Newcastle St Deli.
Slacker rock purveyors Regular Boys* are made up of Perth mates Lee Napper (guitar and vocals) Alec Thomas (guitar), Jake Chaloner (guitar and keys), Will Langdale (bass), and Dan Harrison (drums). Described by Napper as “Not the most exciting story“, the band was reborn out of the ashes of their old band – similar to the legendary Phoenix. The boys seized the moment, seeing the opportunity to jam the type of music they had been wanting to play for a while.
Heavily influenced by the likes of Midnight Oil, Scott and Charlene’s Wedding, and The Clean, the lads like to keep their lo-fi wall of sound resonating as close to home as possible. Their debut EP merges solid songwriting about the mundane with catchy melodies, honing in on rum-soaked fuzz guitars and matching vocals.
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Sharing his thoughts on fitting in the Dolewave movement, Napper says “Man I’ve been doing some reading about the term ‘Dolewave’, because for years I genuinely thought it was just another genre for Australian bands with a certain sound, but some say on the world wide web that it’s a joke genre made up after bands like Twerps and Dick Diver broke out, but to me, I’ll always see it as a way of identifying these Australiana bands with this certain sound. At this stage I’d say we’re a wannabe ‘Dolewave’ band, hopefully we’ll pay our dues appropriately and earn our stripes.”
After being recorded to tape by Broderick Tunafish, Newcastle St Deli needed some overdubs done by the boys at home before it was shipped off to be mixed at Sexy Dads Studio, and then mastered by Mikey Young. The cohesive EP kicks off with Tired, a swirly, upbeat track with punchy drum beats and catchy melodies.“Tired is literally about spending a lot of time being tired due to insomnia,” says Napper.
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Energy Now is bursting at the seams with brilliant riffs and references to Berocca as the boys give us their take on indie rock with a sludgy edge. Mon3y employs gritty vocals and solid beats accompanying arid the vocals as Napper snaps, “Give your money / give your money / give your money to me.”
Monophobia takes off with languid apathy, recalling events within deadpan hyper reality. “Monophobia came about when I was house sitting and used one of the rooms to try and get a song idea down,” reveals Napper. “I got bad anxiety from being alone and the room I was in was some girl called Rosie’s room. Only reason I knew that was because it was on the door. Hope Rosie was cool with it, cheers mate.”
Cones finishes off the EP with exhaustive, dragged-out guitars and the saw-toothed, echoey lyrics of “Oh how I’ve tried” before cutting off unexpectedly – a perfect snapshot of the band: young, distortion-hungry and tirelessly to the point.
*There not just a regular band, they’re a cool band. Obligatory Mean Girls quote (I’m sorry [not sorry]).
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