THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Stagger explores yet another side to our music,” explain The Grogans. “It’s in no way a concept album — in fact it’s almost the opposite. Some of these don’t necessarily fit together side by side in theory but that’s the beauty of this album. Stagger came from this idea that it was a jagged and stylistically different album track to track.”
The Australian trio’s fifth album was heralded by the single Roundabout, which was written, recorded, and performed by members Quin Grunden, Angus Vasic and Jordan Lewis, and was mastered by Joseph Carra at Crystal Mastering (King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Amyl & The Sniffers). “Constantly stuck in the same motion over and over again, much like a roundabout,” is their summation of the song’s theme. “Everyday feels like it’s a mirror of the last, and sometimes those around you are the only thing that keeps our sense of self together.”
The genre-expanding outfit are a trio of best friends from Melbourne who explore nuanced manoeuvres in surf, punk, blues, garage, psych, rockabilly and reggae. Banding together in high school playing backyard gigs and weekly jam nights, they shared their first official release Cacteyed in 2016. The EP’s instantaneous and lasting reception was matched by the band’s playful successor Twangs n’ Cans the following year. Their third EP Grogan Grove (2018) featured the live favourite Lemon To My Lime which has now clocked over four million streams.
Since their 2019 debut album, Just What You Want, The Grogans have cultivated their style in a fairly straightforward manner and have managed to justify the meaning of their album title. In just four years, they have released multiple albums, EPs and singles, played concerts all over Australia, and collected award nominations that were long overdue. Blues, psychedelic pop, Tame Impala and The Beatles come together to create the ideal soundtrack for a life spent trying to escape the dusty Outback — or for everyone who has already done so. The band like to play with ambiguities but remain very consistent when it comes to the quality of their songs.”
