Interview with Jaz McCartney by Paul Wade
G’day, firstly congrats on Pest From The West, we are super psyched to be putting it out this month. Last month you were touring around the UK celebrating its release. What were those shows like?
The UK shows were hectic. London in particular was our biggest headline show outside of our home state, and the crowd brought the energy. There was a fire alarm going non stop the entire show at the building next door, and we seen a brawl breakout after the show (between the bouncer and a group of dudes who weren’t there for the bands), so that wasn’t the best, but the people there for the bands were incredible.
What were some of your favourite venues that you played and the UK bands you played with?
We play the New Cross Inn in London. It was hectic, our largest headline show outside of Australia. It was a pretty rough neighbourhood and the crowd was explosive for a Tuesday. After the gig wrapped up, the pub stayed open for a few hours and fight errupted between the bouncer and a few random guys that weren’t there for the show. It spilled out onto the street. We got out of there as soon as we could. We played there with Midwich Cuckoos who were amazing. We played with them again the night before at the Hope and Ruin in Brighton. That gig was a bit more peace loving and friendly. A band called Chub also played that one, and they were probably the funniest live show I’ve seen in years.
As far as off the map goes, Geraldton is pretty far out there. What was it like coming up as a band out there? What’s the scene like?
Geraldton is literally the edge of the world in terms of music scenes. Perth is the capital city of Western Australia, and is famously the most isolated city in the world. Globally, Australia is off the beaten track for internationally touring. Nationally Perth is off the beaten track for Australian touring. Geraldton is a full 430km from Perth. Our small coastal city is the last major spot for a few thousands kilometres. There is perhaps 3 or 4 active original acts in our town. Across all genres. It’s actually pretty rad, because we have to stick together. There’s a beautiful soulful roots singer called Alexia Parenzee. We’re good mates with her and her band. It’s good, I think, we’re friends with very different artists out of necessity. The support here is amazing. Opportunities are far and few between.
Was there a conscious decision to make Geraldton and regional WA almost another character on the new album?
There was a conscious effort to dial up lore of Geraldton on the new album. We wanted to take what most of the industry sees as a negative, into a positive. There’s never been a punk album out of Geraldton Australia. The vast majority of the Australian music scene is split between Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, which is all 3000+ km from us. We thought it would be a chance to be authentic and unique. Enough people have said “you need to move to Perth or Melbourne if you want to make it as a band” and they’re probably right, but we’re stubborn and want to turn our Geraldton/regional identity into a feature not a bug.
It feels like most of Australia’s music scene is pretty east coast-centric. Do you reckon that’s still the case? What was it like trying to get noticed when you’re a five hour flight away from where most of the industry thinks the epicentre is?
Our new album Pest from the West is a direct answer to this. The major radio stations and scene is based over there. Our new album moniker is a warning to the rest of the Australian punk scene: the pest from the west is coming. Admittedly we’ve given overseas a lot more attention that the East Coast of Australia. We’re likely to play London for a third time before we play Sydney once. It’s some 5-6hrs to fly over there, and then we’ve got a few cities to play. We’d rather spend 4-5x longer in the air, to then be able to play 20x the cities across Europe/UK.
What’s touring like in Australia? How did you find it different to when you came over to Europe?
We’re the wrong band to be asking, our tours of Australia are restricted to places we can visit by car in Western Australia. We’ve never done a true Australian tour. Watch this space. Shows in Europe are different though. The hospitality in Mainland Europe verse Australia (and unfortunately UK as well) are chalk and cheese. The beers, the catering, the accomodation deals, are all so much better in mainland Europe.
What’s one stupid thing that you missed most when you were over here? (My kingdom for a potato scallop with heaps of chicken salt)
We always seem to play Europe during a heatwave, which we love the heat, but a lot of venues don’t have airconditioning and the fridges struggle to keep the beer cold. That’s it really, we just miss very cold beer. Particularly when the venue is jammed with bodies and there’s no AC and the fridges are struggling to keep up. Other than that, can’t complain, we love the food and drink over there. Oh, I will say I miss Australian breakfasts when in Europe. Aussie breakfast culture is pretty amazing.
And following on from that, what was the best or most cursed bit of british cuisine that you had over here?
Had a sausage bap from a WH Smith. Generally have to be pretty broke, no fuel in the car and only left over snags in the fridge to resort to mangling sausages and whamping some bread n red sauce over it. The fact that a store would prepare that for commercial sale is cursed.
There’s something pretty special and different about the sound of Australian music. What do you think makes it unique?
I think the Australian accent is to blame there. It’s harsh and quite hard to pretty up. It lends itself to expressive music. With the increase in studio trickery, and now, AI (gross), I think listening to music that’s not trying to sound pretty nice or perfect is a bit more what audiences are after, and Aussie music can do well there.
Obvious one: Who are absolutely killing it in Aus music that we wouldn’t have heard of over here?
If you like punk, Ten Cent Tiger or The Points. If you like heartfelt Indie Rock: Surf Shop Cops. If you like Nu-Metal: Indigo Blaze.
Back to Pest from the West, what was the goal going in to make this record? Did you set any rules going in?
Yeah we sort of stole something from IDLES third album ‘Ultra Mono’. I read once that Joe Talbot said they intentionally tried to create an exaggerated, stylized version of themselves on that one. In that vain, we wanted Pest from the West to be the most over the top version of RATSALAD as we could. We tried to make it very regional. Very Geraldton.
The album balances some pretty heavy themes but also uses lots of humor. Do you see that contrast as reflecting something uniquely Australian?
I think that’s just how we face life here. I don’t know if it’s uniquely Australian, but humour is a good tool when tackling all subjects.
Now that the album has been out for a few months what are some of your favourite reactions and responses to it? Have any genuinely surprised you in a way you didn’t expect?
We’ve had people genuinely hitting us up to buy vapes, that’s a pretty weird response to a song. Vapes are highly illegal here and the black market trade is getting cracked down on. The response to North West Coastal Highway has been huge. We’ve had a live clip of us playing that go viral. While most people like it for the musical story telling and humour, I think there’s been some people in the piss fetish community taken a shine to it. An eco reusable, antimicrobial pee cloth brand Kula Cloth reached out and were happy with the song.
You have put the album out on Lockjaw which is a label we love, how did that relationship come about?
Pee Records made the introduction to Lesley of Lockjaw. She’s a legend, we love her.
What does the rest of 2026 look like for RATSALAD.?
Not much! Few more gigs, writing some new songs, and plotting a big 2027!
