Interview: Sean Caskey from Last Dinosaurs
Brisbane indie rockers Last Dinosaurs are one of the most successful groups to emerge from the city’s bubbling indie scene. After finishing up their ‘Miracle Methods’ tour a few months ago they’re back home for the Caxton Street Festival. We chatted with lead singer Sean Caskey about new ‘Dinos music, terrifying seafood, and strange Asian strip clubs!
It’s been a while since you wrapped up your ‘Miracle Methods’ tour, what have you been up to since then?
We’ve basically been writing the next album! It’s been good to have a proper place now that we’ve got a studio built in the warehouse where we have our rehearsal space, instead of trying to be really quiet in my apartment.
You guys have toured extensively in Asia and Australia. Do you have any memorable stories from on the road?
Probably the most memorable story is when we went to the ‘Lady Midget’ boxing strip club in the Philippines. It was as ridiculous as it sounds, but it wasn’t that bad. We just had to do it! We were trying to find a bar that wasn’t a strip club, but eventually we gave up and just went into the deepest one to see what it was like. We figured we may as well go to the opposite end of the spectrum…
I noticed a post on your Facebook page about how you’ve been working on some new stuff. Can you give us any hints as to what you might be working on?
I’ve mostly been working on new music. Lachlan (lead guitar) has been writing a lot more this time and we’ve got a lot of sounds now. We’re planning the recording out, which is pretty exciting because last time it took forever to get the green light on the album. It’s going to be awesome!
Last year you performed a cover of Daft Punk’s Robot Rock in Sydney. Where do you draw your inspiration from, and has this changed at all between your albums?
I guess it’s always changing because you come across new music that really does something to you. Around the time we did the Daft Punk cover I was really into disco, and in the last six months I’ve been listening to lots of small Los Angeles artists on SoundCloud. I found some music that really inspired me and Lachlan, so we would make playlists and share them with each other.
Has any of this music influenced what the next album is going to sound like?
I guess so. I’ve never been the type of person who can write a song purposefully. For me it’s more about what I feel when I listen to a song. If I really feel something in a song I’ll milk the crap out of it, and then try and bring that out in my music.
Since you and your brother Lachlan are both in the band, do you think when you’re working together you get on each other’s nerves more or less because you’re brothers?
Way more, you have no idea! We’re both the kind of guys who write the entire song ourselves, but this time we’re going to have to bring it together to make the album, which will be interesting. We’ve known each other for 23 years now, surely it can’t get any worse…
So if you do have arguments, who normally wins?
Lachlan. I’m not a very strong arguer and he’s way better with words. I can only beat him with numbers so I try to turn the argument around to make it mathematical because that’s the only time I can win!
What are you looking forward to most about performing at the upcoming Caxton Street Festival?
Well we have a new synth player Alfio Alivuzza from my old band The Cairos, and we also might be doing a new cover. It’s going to be a slightly different set because we’re trying to ditch all backing tracks. We did it for a while but absolutely hated it because it felt like cheating.
Before we finish up, given that the Caxton Street Festival has a strong focus on seafood what would you say is the worst experience you’ve ever had with seafood?
It was in Japan. They eat a lot of weird stuff there. I remember I had a piece of sea cucumber, which is f*cked up because you put it in your mouth and it’s all slimy but then when you bite down it gets hard. I took a singular bite and spat it out instantly, I nearly started vomiting! I have a massive phobia of sea cucumbers in the first place, so trying to eat it wasn’t a great idea. Also, I don’t like crabs or lobsters because they are literally gigantic insects, and I just can’t get that out of my head!
Catch Last Dinosaurs at this year’s Caxton Street Festival, dates and ticket link below!
