Constant Mongrel: Finding A Happy Medium

Hugh Young and Tom Ridgewell from Melbourne garage duo Constant Mongrel have a message to dirge-y art rock bands: stop trying to be authentic and write a goddamn song. They talk to TIM SCOTT about country music heroes and finding a happy medium between noise and pop.

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.] Unless you enjoy arguing about the etymology of words and phrases such as “wigger” or “cock block” there’s probably better places to waste your time online than Urban Dictionary. But a search for the word “mongrel” on the site gives two results: a crossbreed dog or a semi-erect penis. No points for guessing which one Melbourne garage rock duo Constant Mongrel had in mind when they came up with their name.

“I was talking one day about how annoying it is to have a mongrel in the morning,” explains drummer Hugh Young. “You need to go to the bathroom but you can't really take a piss. We came up with the idea of having a mongrel all the time.”

“That's why we did the song 'Hurts So Bad,’” adds guitarist Tom Ridgewell. “It's a song about pain for those people who take too much Viagra.”

Since forming a little over a year ago Ridgewell and Young have taken the spirit of US garage rock and added their own twisted humour and charm. A split tape with Perth’s Taco Leg (who they recently played with out west) and their own self-titled cassette released on UV Race’s Hidiotic label and Constant Mongrel are one of the rising bands on Melbourne’s lo-fi garage scene.

What are the beginnings of the band?
Hugh: Tom and I had been mates for a couple of years. He used to play in a solo project called Wonderful Fellowship that was bedroom pop kind of stuff. We were just bored one day and had a floor tom, a snare and a guitar and decided to play some songs that we considered punk.

Tom: We also had some country fusion going on.

Hugh: Tom was more into country. Well, we both enjoy listening to people like Hank Williams or Woody Guthrie, but I was more into hardcore punk and I guess Tom more into pop and country. That's where we meet with Constant Mongrel.

Tom, how different was Wonderful Fellowship?
Tom: It was more twee. Kind of like Daniel Johnston. I grew out of it and didn't really care too much for it towards the end. I did a split with Woollen Kits another band that I play in.

There is a strong Woollen Kits connection then?
Hugh: Yeah, I used to play saxophone with them occasionally and Tom [played] drums with them, but Constant Mongrel was a side thing that we wanted to make heaps of fun and write silly songs.

Have you considered playing with other people?
Hugh: Yeah, we've thought about getting a bass player but I think we've just been so happy having the freedom of doing exactly what we want to do as a two-piece. Just hanging out. We will generally jam and then go kick the footy or something. Not that a third person would dramatically change that, but we feel like we can do what we want as a two-piece.

“I think everything else should be incidental to the song, the sound: you should be able to sit down with a guitar and write any song.”

What other two-piece bands do you like?
Tom: People seem to avoid them nowadays because they've reached so much success but The White Stripes’ early stuff was amazing. I'm listening to a lot of garage and rock stuff at the moment that sounds like a lot what The White Stripes were doing 15 years ago.

Hugh: Super Wild Horses. We found out about them after we started but it’s cool to watch them play and know that there's another band locally doing a similar thing. I only started out playing drums when we started and I was just doing primitive drumming. We are quite sloppy live but I enjoy it that way.

Your performance has a loose and basic style.
Tom: I started playing drums when I started with Woollen Kits and there is a primitive element to it where you are just hitting a rhythm. Drummers are insecure when it comes to being in a band, “Oh, I gotta do rolls, or I gotta do this, or I gotta do that.” In the end, you’re just a fucking drummer. It's different in Constant Mongrel because Hugh also sings but I like how [The White Stripes’]Meg White just does that straight beat through all those songs.

Hugh: We used to just yell together to see what sounded good. Yelling and simple drumming.

Tom: I found out that Hugh could do harmonies. He used to be in the Australian Boys Choir.

Do you Facebook those guys?
Hugh: No I don't have Facebook. But yeah I like the combination of our voices. Tom's whiny voice is really enjoyable to sing with. We get a bit of a contrast. On the newer songs we have a lot more harmonies.

From the band name to the song titles to even your presence on stage it seems humour is an important element.
Tom: Totally. I'm kind of sick of bands that take themselves so seriously. There are a few bands that have picked up on it in Melbourne. The vibe seems to be really downer, “woe is me”. I don’t mean to be twee or, “Let's be happy and all enjoy ourselves”, either. There's still elements of punk in what we do. But going to shows and hearing about people all so bummed out isn't that fun.

Royal Headache say that was one of the reasons why they started out too.
Tom: Yes, I honestly think there's more, um ... I'm not going to say skill, but there's a lot more to be said if you can be good in the confines of a rock’n’roll band then some art/noise band. It's more difficult to make riffs and sing over the top than it is in getting a delay pedal and singing droney non-melody over the top of repetitive synths.

What you’re saying is that you prefer the Jay Reatard school of songwriting?
Hugh: Yes. We really like the American stuff at the moment.

Tom: We'd really like to get a release on an American label. Have you heard of Burger Records?

No, where are they from?
Tom: California. They do awesome releases. It seems tape re-releases are their bread and butter. Things like Hunx and his Punx and this amazing band called Audacity and Cum Stains. We want to do some new recordings and send it to labels such as Burger. Our recording on the tape is very dry whereas everything in the States at the moment has the blown-out kind of thing. I'm not sure if many bands in Australia have done that style of recording yet, it doesn't have to be that clean. You don’t want to go too far though. I think sometimes think bands like Eat Skull or Times New Viking go too far. There is a happy medium in there somewhere that's what we are going for.

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]

You have a close relationship with School of Radiant Living.
Hugh: We've known Simon, their drummer, for a long time. They are just nice and fun people. They are cool to hang out with.

What do you think of their cover of your song 'Goofy'?
Tom: It was good. It was different. The first time I heard it was kind of weird. We'd just played and I was feeling a bit weird and kinda wanted to go home before they went on. Simon told me I couldn’t leave because they were about to cover one of our songs and then I had to act surprised.

I believe the song is about someone?
Tom: Yes it is.

Who?
Hugh: If you listen to the second verse it may give you some idea.

Tom: It's about Jarrod from Fabulous Diamonds. He called out Woollen Kits in a fanzine interview on a pretty mislead opinion that was formed on a show he probably saw a year before he made that opinion. At the time Woollen Kits didn't have much of a status. We were nothing. Just some kids. I just wanted him to know that there's a bunch of young bands that don't want to be told what's considered cool.

Not all your songs are so direct though?
Hugh: No, not all. And even that song is not direct. There's one song, 'Baby (In the Door)’, on the tape … It’s totally made up on the spot.

Like theatre sports?
Hugh: We literally just said hit record as he made a riff up and I made a drumbeat up. It was like a call and response.

How did you end up in Perth earlier this year?
Hugh: We released a split with Taco Leg. They came over here and the idea was that we'd go over there as well. We stayed with Claire from Golden Staph and it's just really nice going over there. Obviously it's a tight knit group in smaller city. We played a house show and a rehearsal space they hired. Both shows were amazing and people were super friendly. We can't wait to go back there again.

What’s the deal with Hiditoic?
Hugh: It’s a label run by UV Race, or Georgia, Al and Dan from UV. Woollen Kits and School of Radiant Living are putting out a split 7” with them. There was talk of a UV Race and Thee Oh Sees split, but I'm not entirely sure.

I’m curious about the country element in your sound.
Tom: Yeah, I really like the old stuff. Hank Williams or Jimmie Rodgers. He actually did it 20 years before Hank, maybe with a bit more yodeling, but Hank sounds a lot like Jimmie

You’re saying that Hank bit his style?
Tom: Yes and no. That's the main thing about music back then. Up until the 1970, bands sounded like other bands. There was nothing wrong with it! One of the obsessions of music nowadays is that you have to be original, but the reality is you don't. Rock’n’roll bands in the ’60s covered The Rolling Stones and The Kinks and The Animals and Dylan, and only played three or four original songs in their set.

Hugh: It's like the Back From the Grave series, just all these lost forgotten gems from the garage scene. It's just awesome to know back then that so many people were doing the same thing, a whole lot of good stuff was lost in the middle.

Tom: I think post punk seemed to instill this prejudice in independent or underground music towards anyone that didn't do anything original. I think everything else should be incidental to the song, the sound: you should be able to sit down with a guitar and write any song. I feel like saying to some people, “Sit down and play a song with a guitar.” I bet people would walk out, not because it was misunderstood but because the songwriting talent is not so special.

So you like Velvet Underground? Yeah, but Lou Reed could sit down and write an awesome song. It's like being an abstract painter and just chucking shit on a canvas. Anyone can do that, but the great ones could also sit down and draw a great picture and I think that's the difference. I think that's the difference between what we or UV, or Super Wild Horses or Woollen Kits or Royal Headache are trying to do. We’re trying to draw a picture and not just be random or different.