Dune Rats

Dune Rats channel a rowdy blend of defiant punk spirit and gritty hard-rock guitar energy, fitting squarely into Australia's lineage of irreverent, fun-first acts that sit near the punk spectrum. Delivering rapid, high-volume performances in the vein of earlier local acts while reveling in harmless misbehavior, the group infused 2017's The Kids Will Know It's Bullshit with melodic hooks that sharpened the tracks and a comedic edge that landed as both juvenile and sharp. The record topped charts at home, and subsequent listens to 2020's Hurry Up and Wait plus 2022's Real Rare Whale showed the band remained unaltered by acclaim. Their 2024 release If It Sucks, Turn It Up voluntarily wove pop-leaning melodies into the established dirtbag punk framework.

The Brisbane-based outfit came together in 2011 when guitarist/vocalist Danny Beausa and drummer BC Michaels, longtime companions with a shared fondness for cannabis, opted to generate raucous punk sounds as a duo. Early gigs featured rotating friends on bass, and the first year yielded the EPs Sexy Beach and Social Atoms. Live dates and singles continued steadily through the following two years, highlighted by "Fuck It" in 2012, "Red Light Green Light" in 2013, and the Smile EP that same year. Bass duties stabilized with Brett Jansch, previously of Brisbane's Bleeding Knees Club. The self-titled debut album emerged in 2014 via the band's own Ratbag Records, its lean party-punk approach resonating locally and securing festival appearances such as Laneway in 2015.

Produced by FIDLAR's Zac Carper, the follow-up The Kids Will Know It's Bullshit retained the direct, high-spirited ethos and arrived on Ratbag in early 2017, entering the Australian album charts at number one while earning an ARIA Award nomination for Best Rock Album. For the next effort, the group headed to California to cut two tracks with John Feldmann, whose credits include blink-182 and 5 Seconds of Summer. January 2020's Hurry Up and Wait combined those Feldmann cuts with nine self-produced songs, resulting in a tighter, more controlled sound that preserved the prior frantic humor; it also reached number one in Australia, capped by a sold-out Melbourne concert on March 7, 2020. Australia entered COVID-19 lockdown a week afterward, halting tours and prompting a brief pause before the members relocated to the fishing town of Eden in New South Wales to quarantine collectively and develop new material. Intent on delivering their signature boisterous energy rather than a reflective pandemic record, they issued Real Rare Whale through Ratbag with BMG distribution in July 2022; the set featured the single "What a Memorable Night," which nods to blackout drinking episodes. The 2024 album If It Sucks, Turn It Up marked their broadest stylistic range yet, incorporating prominent pop and dance elements across multiple tracks, though the closing song "Beer, Bongs, and Bullshit" reaffirmed their longstanding irreverence.