A swaggering, sardonic character study wrapped in a woozy, off-kilter groove, ‘Hook, Line & Sinker’ is the latest single from Melbourne’s garage rock act The Mean Times, taken from new album Feel More Dumb is due 19th September via Golden Robot Records.
The single takes a fearless look into the mind of a man who knows his violence will go unpunished – and doesn’t care. Told from the uncomfortable point of view of a privileged abuser, the track tears into the entitlement of toxic masculinity and the culture of complicity that allows it to thrive.
Equally uncompromising musically. A sleazy bassline slinks beneath jagged guitars, while the sneering vocals split the difference between AM-era Arctic Monkeys and the jaded suburban poetry of Blur or Pulp. There’s a theatrical bitterness to it all, balanced by the raw, pub-rock punch of The Mean Times‘ Australian roots – refracted through a darker, more contemporary lens.
‘Hook, Line & Sinker’ doesn’t ask for redemption. It doesn’t offer answers. But it does hold a mirror up to a version of masculinity that too often goes unchecked, daring listeners to look… And it can be ordered here.
Thematically, the Feel More Dumb album dives headfirst into the triple threat of sex, death and depression – But don’t expect earnest navel-gazing or po-faced doom. These songs wrestle with the absurdity of adult life: lust without romance, grief without clarity, and a nagging anxiety that maybe your best days were five years ago at a pub you can’t remember the name of. It’s loud, literate, occasionally filthy, and always uncomfortably honest.
Feel More Dumb is also a testament to a band that’s stuck together longer than most marriages. Formed in 2011 via a trail of missed messages, kebab-fuelled jam sessions and accidental auditions, The Mean Times – Tom ‘Captain’ Morgan (vocals/guitar), Rob Meerkat (bass), Rhino Williams (drums) and Eoin Clements (guitar) – have built a reputation for self-deprecating charm, musical tightness, and never doing anything the easy way. This is the first time they’ve captured that live-wire chemistry in full on record.
But beneath the chaos and distortion, Feel More Dumb‘ has a clear throughline. It’s an album about what happens when the wild freedom of youth crashes into the slow realisation that you’re not invincible, not special, and maybe not even coping. It’s funny until it isn’t. Then it’s funny again.
Their previous single, ‘Hell’, was the second release from the album. Described as a “garage-pop post-punk panic attack disguised as a party anthem”, but underneath the mayhem is a message – or even, maybe, the absence of one.
Apparently it’s also a filthy, sex-positive anthem. Too many sex songs cater to straight male fantasies. This one’s for everyone who enjoys getting dirty, regardless of gender or orientation. With surreal euphemisms, cheeky blasphemy, and a whole lot of hip-thrusting swagger, it’s unapologetic, inclusive, and just plain fun.
‘Hell’ followed previous single, ‘Already Done‘, produced by Anna Laverty – A fast, fiery anthem for the overworked, overstimulated, and over-it. Packed with razor-sharp wit and relentless energy, the track is a full-throttle takedown of burnout culture, political hypocrisy, and the never-ending noise of modern life.
With punchy guitars, a pounding rhythm section, and a whole bunch of stuff that demands to be shouted, ‘Already Done’ is equal parts defiance and catharsis. The track swings from frustration to dark humour, calling out know-it-all boomers, corporate bull, the people who oppose it and the sheer absurdity of it all – because, apparently “when the world’s on fire, set alight by dickheads, there’s nothing you can you do about it but scream and raise a drink, a fist and an eyebrow”.
The singles can be streamed here.
