When Melbourne three-piece The Grogans first formed in 2016, few could have assumed that seven years later, we’d find them in Germany for their second European tour of the year.
Chatting to the band over Zoom from their hotel room, it seems it was something they never foresaw either.
“If you’d said that two years ago, there’s no way we would have ever believed you,” explains lead vocalist and guitarist Quin Grunden. “But it’s also been about understanding and accepting that you don’t really know what’s going to happen.
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“It’s been exciting for us because we now go, ‘okay, where are we going to be in five years or two years?’, and it’s helped us start backing ourselves a bit more,” he adds. “We’re in Europe and we’re doing this thing now, but we’re not done. This is as if we were back playing Cherry Bar, only over in Europe.”
Indeed, it was only seven years ago that The Grogans – rounded out by guitarist Angus Vasic and drummer Jordan Lewis – burst onto the scene with performances at Cherry Bar and a debut EP. 2018’s Grogan Grove EP started drawing attention from outside listeners, and by late 2019, they’d released their debut album, Just What You Want.
Despite the advent of a global pandemic, The Grogans didn’t lose any momentum, with Day / To / Day arriving in 2020, and Which Way Is Out being released just last year. Not content to rest on their laurels, the band almost immediately got to work on their fourth record, emerging with Find Me A Cloud in October.
Arguably their most accomplished release to date, Find Me A Cloud is a stirring step up from the band, with the album featuring a rather even split between fast-paced rock numbers and more reflective cuts. Ultimately, it feels like The Grogans are on the cusp of the big-time, but not ready to turn their back on where they came from.
“I feel like a lot of the faster songs on this album are really reflective of all the earlier stuff that we have. I feel like it’s a very early Grogans sort of thing,” explains Lewis. “Then we always try to put in a couple of cruisey slow ones.”
This throwback to their early days is also present within the songwriting as well. While tracks like Can’t Stand are rooted in a more personal and nostalgic vein, Find Me A Cloud feels like something of a full circle moment for the group.
“Most of the tracks came from just a week of writing down the coast,” recalls Vasic. “They all kind of came within the same little frame of time. It was pretty natural. We always sort of do records at a certain point in time for us.”
“We went back and wrote this one where Gus’ family’s holiday house is and that’s somewhere we’ve been going for a long time,” adds Grunden.
“When we’re writing down there it almost feels like we go back to when we were 16, 17, whenever we started writing in the shed.”
“We were just amped to be playing songs and writing rock and roll tracks, and that’s just naturally how they come out when we’re in that environment.”
For a band who doesn’t take things too seriously, and who simply just seem happy to be sharing their music with the world – wherever they may find themselves within it – The Grogans’ continued success is admirable. From playing in Grunden’s shed after school to touring the world, they have indeed come a long way since playing Cherry Bar, but they’re just keen to enjoy the ride, even if they can’t quite pinpoint the secret to their own success.
“I reckon it is definitely hard work and stuff, but the three of us together, it’s just a very honest thing,” muses Grunden. “I think that’s what started resonating with people – the conversations and the way we act when we’re at the pub together is the same way we would act when we’re on stage or something.”
“We’re also constantly thinking about new songs, writing, touring, and stuff,” adds Vasic. “The Grogans are never really on the back burner with us.”
The Grogans are playing NYE On The Hill this December, get tickets here. Find Me A Cloud is out now.
