Metdog Document Their Journey through Covid in New EP
By Wil Clifford | November 26th, 2021
Darcy studied a bit of urban planning at uni, so if anyone knows what the best bus route in Naarm is, it's him.
"Personally I like the 250. It goes past the pool and you can get to anywhere in Northcote."
Soloman was condsidering the 501 ("It's pretty good, you get Footscray"), however the bassist came to agree with his roommate.
"The 250 is fresh actually, you can go all the way to Bundoora and go back the other way as well, I've caught it from the city. That's a good one, it goes through Carlton."
Metdog have quite the reoccuring motif when it comes to public transport in their music. Prior releases include 12 bar blues romps about fare-evading (Metdog Blues) as well as lessons in transport sustainability (The Bus). This tradition continues with the band's latest effort 'Certified Lover Dog', which dropped last Saturday. Initial single On the Cusp explores that familiar bus motif, this time from a more personal angle.
"In Covid, there was not much that would change up your routine or your day," Soloman said. "Randomly when you'd have to go somewhere, pick something up or catch the tram or bus, that was almost like a highlight."
"You're doing all these little things to break up your day and give spontinaity in life, that was helping me get through Covid. Eventually that all just stopped working, it collapsed and I got to this point where I was like 'Fuck, there's nothing. There's nothing holding me up anymore. I don't really have anything to lean on that's giving me some sense of positivity'."
Metdog performing at The Retreat Hotel in March (Photography by Zach Timmins)
While Metdog's signature lyrical themes and unique approach to post-production may be on full display on the new EP, the band didn't always sound this way. According to Darcy, "really shitty punk" was the starting point.
"The aim of the game at the start was to play some silly live shows, just yell and play guitar. Soloman joined the band, then when we started living together it took off because we can produce together," he said.
It wasn't until the lockdowns that the group began properly experimenting with their sound.
"We recorded [tracks] in Covid and they were pretty bad," Soloman said. "In the recordings there was a lot of space, so we found all this random shit to make up the space and put all these random ideas into the [music]."
The result was a surreal expedition into blistering punk, funnelled through a wild selection of synths and voice modulators, topped off with some humorous colloquial samples. The track Metdog Blues is the band at their most raucous, featuring a guitar solo accompanied by recordings of people bagging on Myki inspectors.
"It'd be like 'need a sample here, let's search up Holden Commodore driving in car park'," said Soloman. "It's just really fun to be super wacky and shit."
This style of absurd local culture permeates through much of the group's output; their last album 'Cars 4' features tongue-in-cheek parodies of high-end car commercials and traffic reports. The satirical attitude may not be for everyone, something that Darcy has come to recognise.
"I spose some people might find it appealing, some people probably find it just stupid. A lot of people take rock pretty seriously, especially punk stuff," he said. "We're not taking the piss out of them, we're taking the piss out of life. I think they might get a bit annoyed but I'm sure some people like it, I know I do."
"It's appealing to make music that doesn't sound like anything else. If that's something you want to do that's fine, make a nice polished band, but I really wanted complete freedom of creativity to do whatever we want, and it can sound as shit as we want as long as we have fun."
Certified Lover Dog released November 12th, just a month after the Drake album the title parodies.
'Certified Lover Dog' dropped a couple weeks ago and features a more self-reflective side of Metdog. Tracks like the aformentioned On the Cusp and Panic Attack illustrate Soloman's intimate frustrations losing precious opportunities to Covid lockdowns.
"[Panic Attack] is more about life in general and the prospect of your future and how scary that prospect is," he said. "I was feeling a bit like 'Fuck, when Covid finishes I'm basically going to have to go straight into fulltime work. I'm gonna finish my degree and all the stuff I wanted to do before that all finished is not gonna happen, I'm not gonna get that opportunity anymore'."
Bins at Brakley Square is a jaunty punk treat that highlights the band's evergrowing passion for synth, while Last Chance on a Full Moon closes the EP with an expedition in Ableton experimentation. With lyrics written by Darcy, the two tracks explore the things that are dearest to the guitarist.
"They were just things I missed; going to Barkley Square, even though it's a bit stinky I still miss going to buy beers there in summer," he said. "Last Chance on a Full Moon, just having a heaps weird night at The Last Chance Rock 'N Roll Bar. It's supposed to be a happy ending, but a strange one."
'Certified Lover Dog' marks the first time the band has utilised outside help in distributing their music, collaborating with Critter Records. According to Soloman, it's been the help the group has needed.
"We'd never done any of that press release stuff. We were like 'why is nobody contacting us or asking to do interviews or anything?'," he said. "[They] helped us out and did all the press release for us...you're putting all this effort into the music and then you're kind of like 'I don't really want to do any marketing shit, that stuffs sort of cringe'."
The Critter Records partnership has also led to plenty of opportunities networking with other bands; their next performance takes place alongside six local acts under the label, including acts such as Muma Ganoush and Electric Toothbrush. It's something Metdog is excited to do more of in the future.
"We've got a rock'n'roll show ready. There's lots of bands we've never played with, lots of people I haven't even met playing through Critter," Darcy said. "It's gonna be awesome to meet some people to be honest, I just want to hang out."
As for new music beyond the new EP, the band is already preparing for their next release, which could be even sooner than they're prepared for.
"We could easily put out some other stuff, who knows what will happen over summer," said Darcy.
See Metdog live at the Brunswick Ballroom for Critter Records' "Demos 1 Launch". Tickets on sale here.
Listen to Certified Lover Dog on Metdog's Bandcamp and Spotify.