The Grogans are heading out on a mammoth tour of Australia and New Zealand next year.
The garage rock outfit are hitting the road between February and April, taking in shows everywhere from Mt Maunganui to Margaret River.
The tour is in support of the trio’s third studio album, Which Way Is Out, which was released in October to strong reviews. “Psychedelic, seductive and dripping with soul,” Beat declared at the time, and it’s a pretty apt summation.
The Grogans make the sort of hazy garage rock that’s meant to be experienced live and up close. Which Way Is Out delicately strikes a balance between laidback psychedelia and cruising rock; some songs are ideal for a massive festival crowd singalong, others for listening to amiably over a few cans in a mate’s backyard.
Alongside today’s tour announcement (see full dates below), The Grogans released a colourful claymation vclip for album standout ‘Le Fangz’ (watch below).
And if you’re wondering what the hell that song title means, we got the band to explain that and more in a track by track breakdown of their excellent new album, which you can read below.
The Grogans’ Which Way Is Out is out now via Cousin Will Records.
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The Grogans 2023 Australia and New Zealand Tour
Tickets available now via thegrogansband.com
Friday, February 10th
Ninch Fest, Mornington Peninsula, VIC
Saturday, February 18th
Temple Sessions Festival, Yeppoon, QLD
Thursday, February 23rd
Meow, Wellington, NZ
Friday, February 24th
OneFest, Dunedin, NZ
Saturday, February 25th
Yonder, Queenstown, NZ
Thursday, March 2nd
The Mothership, Auckland, NZ
Friday, March 3rd
The Yard, Raglan, NZ
Saturday, March 4th
Beast Of A Feast Festival, Mt Maunganui, NZ
Friday, March 10th
Lion Arts Factory, Adelaide, SA
Saturday, March 11th
Settlers Tavern, Margaret River, SA
Sunday, March 12th (U18 Matinee)
Y HQ, Perth, WA
Sunday, March 12th
Badlands Bar, Perth, WA
Thursday, March 16th
The Northern, Byron Bay, NSW
Friday, March 17th
Mo’s Desert Clubhouse, Gold Coast, QLD
Saturday, March 18th (U18 Matinee)
O’Skulligans, Brisbane, QLD
Saturday, March 18th
Woolly Mammoth, Brisbane, QLD
Sunday, March 19th
Eleven Dive Bar, Sunshine Coast, QLD
Thursday, March 23rd
Dicey Riley’s, Wollongong, NSW
Friday, March 24th
Crowbar, Sydney, NSW
Saturday, March 25th
The Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle, NSW
Sunday, March 26th
UC Hub, Canberra, ACT
Friday, March 31st
The Royal Oak, Launceston, TAS
Saturday, April 1st
Altar Bar, Hobart, TAS
Thursday, April 6th
Torquay Hotel, Torquay, VIC
Friday, April 14th
The Croxton, Melbourne, VIC
Saturday, April 22nd (U18 Matinee)
The Gasometer, Melbourne, VIC
‘Bugs’
‘Bugs’ is an honest track that speaks about the friendship between us three and others close to us. Through all the things we have done together, all the tours, shows, good days and the hard ones, we seem to stick together.
The lyrics are pretty honest too: “Scream n’ yell and shout, we beat each other up, scream n’ yell and shout I hope this time is never up” is as true as it comes because no matter how old we get, we never lose that young juvenile friendship of play fighting and pickling on each other (in the best way possible). We spend a lot of time together and making sure we have each other’s backs is important.
‘Inside My Mind’
‘Inside My Mind’ is a track that has been around for years. I believe it was written sometime between 2016-2017. This song is based on that anxious feeling you might get from making up irrational things in your head but understanding they are just fake perceptions you’ve created.
The whole song (lyrically and sonically) is a different feel for this album following the last two singles, but our albums tend to normally dip into a few different genres, reflecting our different influences.
‘Blurred Vision’
‘We had ‘Blurred Vision’ as a song for a while but it wasn’t until we recorded that we added vocals, so we focused the energy of this song on the music and the power rather than the story.
We wanted a reverb-drenched aggression that almost made you feel dizzy when you listened to it. I think that’s where the lyric ‘’Blurred vision’’ sort of eventuated. We always try to create albums with diversity and we thought ‘Blurred Vision’ was the kick in the guts that was needed.
‘Be Your Man’
We wanted to write something heavier as we really enjoy that side of our live show. We wanted it to be in your face but still within our nature. It’s a song about wanting to prove yourself to a partner and wanting to step up to the table, but it’s still in its simple manner a classic love track all wrapped up in a punk-ish wrapping. Dig ya teeth in and take what you will from it.
‘Le Fangz’
‘Le Fangz’ tries to mellow you out and tell a story of an imaginary creature, ‘le fang’, through a more lo-fi gritty ballad. This song actually accrued from this awful painting Quin did of these daisy-looking vampire critters during lockdown. We were having a few beers on the grass just painting on big bits of plywood. After Quin had finished he wrote ‘le fangs’ on it as the title which ended up in our studio until it one day became the main character in a song.
‘Who Knows’
During the writing of this album, there were lots of things on my mind about the things that made up the life we know today. It was overwhelming and intense to think about how many things are completely backward. I kept trying to unpack it so I just wrote some lyrics down to help process it all.
Musically we wanted to show another aspect of The Grogans to prove to ourselves that we can do other styles and feels. This track can be interpreted with deep thought or a surface level head space. That’s all we really want, for you to hear The Grogans how you want to hear it.
‘Just A Kid’
‘Just A Kid’ reflects upon the strange feeling of moving from our adolescence into a young adult while still feeling slightly caught in between. We’ve been friends for a long time which makes this song even more relevant to the band.
I felt it was necessary in the song to lightly touch upon the fact that this period of life isn’t always super easy. In fact, it sometimes feels like you just need to keep your head down and power on through the bullshit and that’s okay, it’s normal. As a whole, the song is still written to feel like an energised and up-front surf rock track but with a tinge of a new age Grogans flare.
Quin: I find it fascinating how quickly life is changing at the moment and I couldn’t really articulate it in a ‘serious’ song. Being a kid is so sick but you don’t entirely realise that until you’re older. I guess that’s what this song is all about. I’m trying to really embrace this confusion in between the changes and grasp the idea of getting older”
‘No Thanks (I’m Going Surfing)’
‘No Thanks (I’m Going Surfing)’ is a very light-hearted kind of track that was written between lockdowns last year. I think the lyrics are about politely putting your needs above what sometimes can be expected of you in a particular situation, whether it be by a partner or a friend.
It’s about going to do your own thing instead of doing something you don’t necessarily want to do – in this case going for a surf.
We’re all very lucky for the relationships we have with the people around us and are so grateful for the time we spend with them, but sometimes you need to prioritise the importance of doing your own thing and being with your own thoughts. The ocean really gives us that escape.
‘Take It Or Leave It’
This track is nice and vulnerable, completely live and raw. We recorded this super, super late one night down in Ocean Grove after a couple of red wines and a few beers. It seems like a sad song and for the most part, it feels that way, but we wanted it to be more of a song of honesty.
It represents that feeling when you’re in bed and can’t sleep and your mind is racing through all the bullshit. “Take it or leave it, sometimes it gets harder to breathe in” basically means take it day by day.
‘Lucky Enough’
This is a wholesome track and we hope that comes across to everyone that way. The whole song is a conversation between Angus and Quin which was a new concept for us, but heaps of fun. We feel lucky to have such beautiful friends and family around us and we always want to support that network.
A song about looking after each other, accepting that it’s okay to feel down but always knowing one of us has the other’s back.
