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Raging Moby on Escapism, Urban Culture Shock and Climate Change

Raging Moby have spoken with us about how their new single Gonna Bring You Down revels in escapism, culture shock, and the climate crisis

Victoria surf-coast rockers Raging Moby have recently released their latest track Gonna Bring You Down, which has progressed the bands evolving sound with melds of surf rock, disco, hard rock and a dollop of heavy psych rock. The six sonically expressive members have been working on crystallizing a refined psychedelic sound away from mundane urban living. 

Raging Moby share their ideas and thoughts behind their music by diving into the music they grew up listening to as kids, acts like the Hoodoo Gurus, Aussie Crawl and of course Hunters and Collectors. 

The whole band moved down to Melbourne years ago and embraced the neo-psych/surf scene, falling in love with bands such as King Gizz, Tame Impala, and the Murlocs, which inspired them to approach their own music in a more experimental way.

They open up about experiencing burnout a few years ago from throwing themselves into the urban life of partying and going to gigs 2-3 nights a week, and how it informed the themes of escapism in their lyrics.

With the need to return to a more relaxing down-to-earth environment, the band focused on themselves, blending their music with recurring feelings of nostalgia.

With everything going on in the world, their songs grew darker and encapsulated the hard times they experienced with the real world. The band’s passion for outdoor adventures and interacting with a variety of people of varying opinions pushed Aussie politics to become prominent within their group. 

Have a peek into the minds of Raging Moby and read about their experiences.

Raging Moby
Credit: Summer Rain Moss

Raging Moby on Escapism, Urban Culture Shock and Climate Change

On the back of their most recent release, Gonna Bring You Down, Surf Coast psych-rockers Raging Moby use the end of a busy year to reflect on the lyrical themes and musical styles that shape the sound of their catalogue. 

Vocalist/guitarist and songwriter Liam Hogan, guitarist/vocalist Aidan Pangrazio and bassist Declan Bedford explain the group’s collective upbringing and how that forms the basis of the band’s musical direction.

LH: “All of us grew up in rural Victoria, so I think that’s certainly influenced our sound to a large degree. It definitely shapes a person in a certain, measurable way.

Musically, we all have a love for classic Aussie Rock, the sort of music our parents would’ve listened to as we were growing up and what would’ve been the first music we were exposed to as kids. I grew up listening to bands like the Hoodoo Gurus, Australian Crawl and Hunters and Collectors, so I try to encapsulate that feeling of a time and a place that the music gives me in my own writing, because to me that’s quintessentially Australian, the part of our culture I like to hang on to. 

All of us moved down to Melbourne at some point around 7 years ago, and I think this was another really formative time for the group. We were suddenly exposed to not only a huge variety of local acts and gigs almost every night of the week, but also groups of bands that were related through genre and influences, both from here and outside of Australia. This was my first glimpse at ‘scenes’, and I quickly became enthralled in the neo-psych/surf scene. Bands like King Gizz, Tame Impala, the Murlocs, Twin Peaks and Ty Segall really inspired me, particularly through their genre-bending approach to writing. It gave me the courage to just write the sort of music that I’d like to hear, which I’d like to think comes down to essentially Aussie rock, seen through a psychedelic lens.”

Talking lyrics, Liam and Aidan delve into the culture shock a big move can have on young people, and how that’s inspired Raging Moby’s lyrical themes.

Raging Moby
Credit: Charli Brown

LH: “I wrote most of the songs on our debut EP and forthcoming release a while back, over a couple of years ago. A big thing I was going through at the time was this burnout period. Initially, I’d really immersed myself in urban life, just going to gigs or parties or whatever like 2-3 nights every week, but that caught up to me in a big way after about 3 or 4 years. I think city life was starting to lose its veneer, I was just becoming increasingly aware of the negativity and overstimulation it brought, and how badly this lifestyle was degrading my mental health.

I know Aidan was going through it as well at the time, and everyone else in the band eventually hit that wall too, so escapism is a pretty prominent recurring theme for us lyrically. In essence, just wanting to move for lifestyle purposes, get away from it all, somewhere quieter and more relaxing where we could get back to focusing on the things that matter to us. I think that really complemented our musical style too, because for me the music I grew up with had some powerful nostalgia attached to it. So, when writing about getting away from it all, that certain sound I’m trying to emulate reminds me of the place I’d rather be, and kind of sets a deeper emotional context for me.”

AP: “The writing process during the pandemic was also pretty interesting to watch play out, as some of our songs evolved quite drastically. Liam and I often talk about the times when we brought in a new idea, only for that to change once everyone in the band puts their own little spin on it. This process was much more difficult when we were in lockdown and band members were spread out across Victoria. It was a change of pace from what we were used to, because before the pandemic most of the band lived in a share house together in Moonee Ponds. A lot of our early music catalogue came from jams in our big music room (that doubled as my bedroom). The newer stuff is more refined, and I would say a bit more thought has gone into the songwriting process.”

LH: “I think as well, lyrically, the darker songs are a bit of a snapshot into this time period. This kind of pressure cooker environment the city forces onto you can really strain your relationships and mental health. I think moving at 18-19, you go from being a kid from a reasonably sheltered upbringing to living in this intense, bustling place, and not everyone can hack it. It was pretty hard for me at times, dealing with the real world for the first time in what has to be the most condensed version of it. That kind of slow-burn sadness you get when you realise it might not get much better than this.”

Raging Moby’s bass guitarist, Declan Bedford explains how the issue of climate change has influenced the band’s outlook and future in music. 

Raging Moby
Credit: Charli Brown

DB: Since the beginning of Raging Moby, it feels like a lot has happened in Australian politics. Naturally, we’ve followed this as a band. We all enjoy our camping, surfing and being in the great outdoors, often doing this stuff together. Moving to Melbourne from North East Victoria gave us a bit of insight into how the different backgrounds and experiences of people lead to different political views. 

Our musical outlook stems from the stuff we talk about as mates, and that often is what comes up in the news. When Liam wrote Head In The Sand (H.I.T.S) off of our first EP, it was at a time when Scomo was still pretending that burning coal & gas wasn’t contributing to global warming. And then next thing he’s our prime minister, and so for people like us that are genuinely worried about the future of our environment, it was a pretty stressful, but also deeply frustrating time. 

I remember I was playing pool with Aidan and Anders when hearing Liam play a loop of the catchy lead in H.I.T.S for the first time.  We instantly thought he was onto something sick. I think my favourite lyrics from that track is: 

“Retreat to the hills as the ocean swallows the beach

you look to the skies while the water is pooled at your feet”. 

LH: “I think that lyric probably sums up the theme of the song pretty well, which is probably an issue we, as a band, feel pretty strongly about. I see the government and corporate response to the climate crisis as a ‘kicking the can down the road’ situation. It seems like there’s just been more effort put into ignoring the effects of climate change or worse still, a begrudging acknowledgement of how the current system is contributing to and exacerbating this looming catastrophe and still not doing a single thing to address that.”

Raging Moby
Credit: Press

DB: “Back home in the Northeast, it seems like the focus is more on new real estate developments going up, and less on local environmental issues, like finding homes for the displaced wildlife and retaining and preserving the natural assets of the area.”

LH: I think towns like Wangaratta are just growing so rapidly now that they’re at real risk of irreversibly damaging the natural environment that makes the area so special to us. You can track the changes in real time, and it can be really confronting seeing what used to be a nice, wooded area or open farmland suddenly transformed into a cheap, dense housing development with like 50 houses.”

DB:A few of our songs deal with escapism, that being, leaving the city to where we feel more comfortable. One of these places is a farm in Kancoona, NE Vic. It sits at the top of a valley in the hills, where we can play music, frisbee, swim, fish and just do sweet fuck all. The best part is that we don’t have phone reception, and can totally disassociate from the outside world. That’s been a pretty important thing for all of us over the years. It’s been a staple tradition for our friendship group, for about six years now. It keeps our passion for music alive, as well as hanging out with our best mates. 

My earliest memories of love for music & nature began in Kancoona and It’s nice to be playing our own music on the porch looking over the valley.”

LH: “I think Kancoona is a real inspiration for us as a group. We head up there once or twice a year, and I think the emotional response we get from being there is something that keeps the band motivated. I think the angst and melancholy we feel towards things like urban life and the uncertainty of our future stems from the attachment we have to natural settings like Kancoona; it really puts into perspective what we have to lose.”

Raging Moby
Credit: Press

Have a listen to their track Gonne Bring You Down below and match these ideas with their sound.