Melbourne Post-Punk Outfit Mr. Industry On Their Debut EP

Fresh off a string of shows alongside acts like Radio Free Alice, Sonic Reducer and Twine, Naarm/ Melbourne post-punk outfit Mr. Industry now reveal their debut EP Dancing To My Own Internal
Rhythm. Towing the line between experimental post-punk and hypnotic noise rock, DTMOIR – as the EP has affectionately become known – is laced with eerie tension, unsettling chaos, and unfiltered beauty.

Clocking in at nearly forty minutes across six tracks, Mr. Industry don’t waste a moment, delivering a body
of work that’s unpredictable, uncomfortable and utterly addictive. Lead single and opening track Birdie is a menacing, magnetic descent into madness inspired by the eerie tension of Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992). The tracks’ jagged guitars and spiralling vocals feel like they’re feasting on themselves much like the song’s sinister inspiration.

Produced and mixed by Vincent McIntyre (Fan Girl, Elizabeth M. Drummond) with additional production and mixing by bassist Caleb Skewes, the EP features previous singles Grow Kit – a raw confrontation with ignorance and maturity – and Cokies – a slow burning fear of turning into your parents. The band answer a few questions about the EP.

Congrats on the release of your debut EP! How does it feel to finally have a body of work out in the world?
Thanks so much! A mix of excitement and relief I would say haha. The EP encompasses about three years of work, more or less, in order of start to finish. So we’re all very glad to see our hard work realised and as I said – relieved. We can be pretty meticulous and songs can go through a half dozen phases before we arrive at something we’re all happy with, so sometimes there can be a bit of waiting for a creative breakthrough.

The EP comes in at nearly forty minutes, which is unconventionally long. Was it a conscious decision to push these norms, or did it just evolve naturally?
For me the difference between an EP and an album isn’t the run time, but more the cohesion of the tracks. The songs on DTMOIR weren’t written with the same goal/ idea in mind, and it’s certainly more of a canvas of different sounds and ideas we had while trying to discover what we can do.

The title Dancing To My Own Internal Rhythm is dark and mysterious yet freeing – much like the songs on the EP. What does the title mean to you as a band, and is it something that fuels your writing?
The title means doing you, not worrying about how other people “dance”, and trusting that it’s the right thing to do. It’s become a bit of a mantra for us for sure. We’re definitely always trying to push ourselves to create something out of our comfort zone that’s still true to us as all individually and as a collective. We really feel that it’s important to trust your gut when creating – “make up your own dance as you go”

There’s definitely a sense of experimentation to your production. How much of the music is written before you hit the studio and how much chaos spills out during the recording process?
Pretty much all of the material on the EP came to the studio more or less fully formed, with exception of the title track DTMOIR. That one went through several iterations during recording before we felt like it was ready. It was pretty new to us to write and brainstorm on the fly in the studio like that and we really enjoyed it. Writing in the control room allowed us to relax a bit, knowing we didn’t have to keep ideas pent up for weeks, fearing they’d lose their potency or meaning. It was really cool having so many interesting tools and instruments at our disposal too. We felt like kids in a candy store in a way and I think it made the excitement in the room palpable, which in turn made working through the track super easy even if it was a grind.

The other tracks were the result of us writing in various rehearsal rooms over the past couple of years and reiterating until we were happy, when it was time to record them in the studio they were pretty much good to go, with stuff like percussion, ear candy and extra production being the only real additions. We would definitely like to write in the studio even more in the future, it just feels right.

What’s the story behind the name Mr. Industry?
Early in the band’s timeline we met someone who had supposedly “done just about everything in the industry” and they gained the nickname “Mr. Industry” The band sharing this person’s nickname isn’t to spite that person or anything like that, we just thought it was a funny name for a band, while also being a fun way to poke fun at grifter types in the music industry who insist they know what’s best for you and your art.

Now that Dancing To My Own Internal Rhythm is out in the world, what’s next for Mr Industry?
We’ve got an EP launch show at the Evelyn on the 2nd of August, with locals Flossy and Camomile and The Munch from Adelaide all supporting us – it should be a great time. Beyond that, channel some of the drive and enthusiasm from this EP release into playing more shows and continuing to write. We have some vague ideas about where we want to take our next body of work, but we’ll all be having a nice little holiday before any serious studio endeavours take place. It helps us to come into a creative space refreshed.

Interview By Dean Valentino

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Launch Date