The Lonesomes have dropped their EP ‘Paranoia Destroyer’
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The Lonesomes have dropped their EP ‘Paranoia Destroyer’

We sit down with Geelong born and bred vocalist and drummer Matt Callan of Queensland rockers The Lonesomes to discuss their new EP, Paranoia Destroyer.

Blending tones of garage rock, surf punk and distortion– where do you draw from, or who are your biggest influences to your music making and more specifically your new EP?
Our influences are a bit of a mixed bunch. I listen to a lot of older stuff or ‘Dad Rock’, everything from 60’s garage like The Seeds to 70’s Australian punk like Radio Birdman. Kesh [Head, Guitar] likes anything that most people would consider ‘weird’ like Primus & The Garden, and our bassist Lewis [Jamison] really gets around heavy breakdowns and dudes screaming. It’s an odd mix of influences, but I guess that helps to make the sound that you just mentioned. Although, we never necessarily had a specific sound or genre in mind when we started, it just kind of happened!

Is this an EP you’ve been working on since forming the band?
We have been sitting on these songs for almost a year now. We had our minds pretty set that we wanted to record with Greg Jard in Byron Bay who does sound for Frenzal Rhomb and Regurgitator. We love the vibe that Greg brings to recordings. He’s a busy man so we had to wait a while before we could track him down, but I’m glad we did because we are pretty proud of the finished result.

For a fairly fresh band, forming only last year, you’ve been making a name for yourselves, playing alongside The Chats and Peter Bibby (just to name a couple). How did The Lonesomes come to playing together? Have you come from different bands?
Those guys are legends! Lewis and I formed The Lonesomes at the start of 2018, but we thought we were done after a few gigs because our guitarist at the time moved to Japan. Then, I was having a house party at my place one night and a friend brought along Kesh. He found my guitar in the lounge room and started playing it. I set up my drum kit and started jamming with him in the middle of this party although I didn’t have any sticks at the time and used paint brushes instead, but people were still getting around it… After that Kesh was pretty much in the band.

Based in QLD, a lot of your gigs are played up in the East of us here in Melbourne, where are some of your favourite venues to play and where would be your dream venue?
Our favourite venue and basically our second home is Miami Shark Bar. Unfortunately, it’s closing down at the end of this week which is a huge blow for the Gold Coast music scene. But they are throwing a big farewell party with DZ Deathrays, Voiid, Crum, Radolescent and heaps more. I think we are jumping up for a cheeky appearance, it’ll be a fun send off to an amazing venue! As for dream venues, not really sure we have one. But I’m from Geelong originally and all my family is there so I’d love to play a few shows down south soon!

I grew up playing in bands around the Melbourne/Geelong area as a grom. I’ve always really enjoyed playing Barwon Club, The Tote and The Nash (R.I.P). The Geelong region has always had an exciting music scene with bands like King Gizz and The Vasco Era coming out of there, also really got a lot of respect for what Anti Fade is doing down south! The place is a breeding ground for good music so we would love to come down south for a few shows.

Where can listeners look out for The Lonesomes?
Our next show is with ‘Stand Atlantic’ which should be a fun one and after that, we have a few headline shows in the works! Our EP is also up on Spotify for interstate people who want to check it out.

Paranoia Destroyer is available here.

Written by Aine Keogh