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Indie-punk gang rejoice! Wollongong/Sydney’s Raised As Wolves have finally released their debut album, Nervous Feelings.
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It’s one for the faithfuls, who’ve been spinning their singles since 2016. We caught up with the band’s vocalist Brad to dig into how it came together.
Hysteria: What’s the Raised As Wolves origin story?
Brad: Me and Mason (bass) are brothers. We’ve been playing together long before this band was even a thing. Then we moved to Ulladulla when I was 15 and met Joe (drums). We started as kids playing covers. The band grew from there.
Congratulations on the release of your debut LP! A long time coming, tell us about the journey to get to it.
For the last couple of years, there’s been COVID. But outside of that … five or six years ago, we thought we were where we wanted to be. But since then, there’s been a conscious change in what we sound like. I’m glad we waited. I think if we jumped the gun, we might’ve not released the record we wanted.
So what was different for you now compared to a few years ago?
When we saw PUP play at Yours & Owls Festival in 2017 – I think. It was game-changing. They showed us we could be a punk band and be heavy but not have to play fast. It was a positive moment and what we wanted to move towards. We wanted to move away from the cliquiness of the 90s punk thing.
I’m not shitting on bands who play like that. We owe a lot to them, we grew up playing with them, and they influenced us. But I didn’t think we were doing it better or even as good. So we decided just to do what we were more into.
I’m glad we waited. I think if we jumped the gun, we might’ve not released the record we wanted.
[ Brad, Raised As Wolves ]
And what inspired the tracks lyrically?
There’s no story behind it. Obscure lyrics aren’t really our thing. We’re pretty straight up, not cryptic. You listen to our songs once, and you’ll get what’s going on.
What are your favourite tracks from the record?
My personal favourite is track three, Dig My Heels In. It was fun to record, has a really good hook, and holds up live. We wrote the whole record in a pretty short period, so every song has its moment.
I know Joe really likes the opening song. And Mason likes the back end of the record. But for me, I’d definitely say track three or Frayed Out.
Who would you most like to share the stage with – dead or alive, and why?
We’d probably still say PUP – that’s the conservative, realistic answer. The silly answer would be Bowie in the rock and roll era. Or The Kinks. Or Bon Scott era AC/DC.
What Aussie bands have you been spinning lately?
Press Club. We just played some shows with them, but their recent song is really great.
I’m not listening to much guitar music at the moment. There’s a guy from Wollongong called Charbel, and he’s great. He’s a hip-hop artist, and I’ve been listening to him a lot.
There’s also King Stingray. I just saw them the other night, and they blew me away. And RAT! hammock too.
What’s next?
We’re pencilling in a lot of gigs now. There’s a bunch not confirmed for September-October. We have a launch show in August that we haven’t announced yet. That’ll be a standalone one, but it’ll be followed by a tour. We’re playing in Sydney with Mid City on July 15th too.
We’ve been sitting on the record for a long time, but we have a lot of other stuff written. We weren’t able to get into them until the record was out, so we’re keen to go record more stuff. Who knows, we might have something new out by the end of the year.
