A Quick Chat with The Mean Times
What are the origins of The Mean Times? Where did it start?
The Mean Times is a four-headed, middle-aged chaos machine: Captain Morgan (Tom, rum enthusiast) wails and strums guitar, Meerkat stares vacantly at a bass guitar, Rhino both bashes and teaches drums, and Eoin is shredding his way into a midlife crisis.
In 2011, the Captain spotted Meerkat at a soul-crushing day job and learned he could play bass. He conned Meerkat into a “temporary” gig at the Espy in St Kilda. Fourteen years later, Meerkat’s still waiting for the real bassist to clock in.
Rhino met the Captain in 2012 at a Workers Club gig in Fitzroy, where Ryno drummed for another band. They hit it off, but it wasn’t until 2013, when they ran into each other at a kebab shop on Sydney Road, that the Captain mentioned a missed Facey message inviting Rhino to jam. Rhino joined, bailed for several years, then got roped back in 2019 as a “fill-in” drummer and is still waiting for the actual drummer’s grand entrance.
Eoin answered a dodgy online ad in 2017, replacing a guy who was replacing another guy. He hasn’t realized he’s also a temp, but his solos are too epic to question.
Tell us a bit about the new album. What does it mean to you?
We want people to put on a record that, at first glance, might seem dumb, but is actually sharp, literate, and deeply observant. It’s a wry look at how middle-class, middle-aged people are stumbling through life. We want listeners to feel that spark of recognition, then come and share in it at our shows.
These songs wrestle with the absurdity of adult life: lust without romance, grief without clarity, and the nagging suspicion that your best days were five years ago in a pub you can’t remember the name of. We aim to be uncomfortably honest. To say the quiet parts out loud.
Feel More Dumb is about what happens when the wild freedom of youth collides with the slow realisation that you’re not invincible, not special, and maybe not even coping. It’s funny until it isn’t. And then it’s funny again.
We’re not offering answers; we’re describing the questions. Feel More Dumb is what happens when four blokes hurtling toward middle age with no plan, no filter, and no idea when to stop, decide to make something real. It’s clever, cool, loud, flawed, cathartic, and oddly beautiful in its refusal to fake it.
Are there any inspirations you look to beyond music when writing or performing?
People, dickheads, misinformation, arrogance, satire, black comedy, 80s comedies, 80s action movies, ideas about masculinity, unawareness, stereotypes, sex, death, depression, getting older, burnout.
Name the five songs that have informed your song writing more than any others.
Every single song from Weezer’s Blue Album. It’s honest, naive, melodic, oddly perfect songwriting and it’s catchy as fuck. We all went to see Weezer a couple of years ago and Eoin (The Mean Times’ lead guitarist) said to me during the concert, “You have ripped off every single vocal melody I have heard tonight.” But if you listen to River Cuomo talk about how he writes melodies, he’s also just taking the best bits of great songs.
Gentle Art of Making Enemies by Faith No More – this song taught me you can scream and curse and tell someone they’re an idiot using clever, scathing words. It also proves you can create something that’s essentially a great pop song, while still being heavy AF.
Dart by Screamfeeder – this song taught me more about how to write a beautiful vocal melody over fuzzy guitars. I have no idea what it’s about, but I personally think it’s a fantastic pop song.
Know Your Product by The Saints – this song taught me how to wrap up my disgust with a particular social phenomena and tell people about it in a song. It’s raw punk and soul swagger wrapped in sharp social critique, delivered with an unmistakable attitude.
Sweet Virginia by The Rolling Stones – this song just sounds like life itself and is completely honest, unguarded and not overthought, which is what I’ve tried to incorporate into my own songwriting. It’s loose, ragged, funny, tender, and a little bit dirty. That’s exactly what I want when I listen to a song and write a song.
What Australian artists are you listening to at the moment?
Shepparton Airplane, CIVIC, Bleak squad, Bad /// Dreems.
Do you have any shows coming up?
4 Oct – Shotkickers – Thornbury – Album Launch (arvo)
10 Oct – Dissent Bar – Canberra
11 Oct – Lazy Thinking – Marrickville (arvo)
11 Oct – Chuck Trailers – Sydney
12 Oct – Hamilton Station – Newcastle
7 Nov – Thornbury Local
6 Dec – Old Bar – Fitzroy (arvo)