“A lot of bands from around here don’t want to say they’re from Mandurah, they’re embarassed. When they’re asked, they same they’re from Perth. But screw that, we’re from Mandurah, and we want to be a Mandurah band.”
Such is how Michael “Grudge” Grainger describes the trajectory of Good Doogs, Mandurah’s newest party-fuelled surf-punk outfit.
Following on from a now-solid tradition, the trio of Grainger, Ash Iriks and Dylan Brown are looking to make a mark on the music scene, at least locally, by at least at this stage having as much fun as possible.
I was supporting Hockey Dad for their Perth run of shows with another band I’m in, and Grudge was organising the event. We just kinda bonded over a love for Wavves,” Iriks said, referring to one of the great harbingers of the current worldwide slacker/surf-punk revival.
“It’s our favourite band. So from that point, I think I was just like, ‘Well, let’s start a Wavves cover band.’”
Luckily, the idea went farther than just that night. Grainger brought in his friend Dylan Brown to play bass while he sat behind the drums, and the band started to work out in which direction they would go.
There have been no hard-and-fast rules placed on the band; anyone with a vague interest in their style of music would probably accept they don’t take it too seriously.
“I think the reason we want to do it is just to have fun, pure and simple,” Grainger said.
“Like we all met at the kinds of gigs we go to all the time, and we go to those gigs because they’re fun. It’s all about hanging out with the boys getting in strife, having a good time. [That’s what] we love about the music and that’s why we want to play it.”
Grainger, who has also recently started up his own events management company in Grudge Events, has gone to lengths to bring the same ilk of musicians to Mandurah and to expand on what appears to be a simmering movement.
“The bands that we work off, or play with, are the ones we really respect for having that kind of laid-back, DIY attitude. There a really big movement in this particular genre in Australia at the moment, so that means a lot of movement between capital cities,” he said.
“But we’re also all about championing where we’re from. We love it here – we grew up surfing, that’s a big influence – so we want to keep playing here.”
