Photo Credit: Kalindy-Williams
Moaning Lisa are an indy-rock band hailing from Canberra who have been recently making big steps in Australia. With their grunge undertones steeped in overdriven guitars, the band channels influences drawn from Wolf Alice through to Pixies. Their debut offering ‘The Sweetest’ turned heads in 2017 seeing regular air play on Triple J & Triple R. We sat down with the band to talk everything from gear to gigs.
Tell us about your sound? What are your influences?
I’d call us heavy shoe-gaze? We have ‘darker punk’ vibes than most indy bands for sure. We are also heavily guitar based with big pedals boards live, we love our distortion pedals / chorus / delay effects live and in the studio. Our biggest influences are Wolf Alice & St Vincent for sure. Pixies are an obvious influence for us, we definitely sound most like those guys than the other two. We have been real lucky and played with some of our local influences over the last few months which has been a highlight for sure.
Tell us about the live music scene in Canberra?
Super close-knit scene, this is good thing as there is so much cross pollination between bands. You are spoilt for choice even across the two to three venues in town. You’ll get punk bands playing with hip-hop acts, a real varied offering most nights of the week which is good. A very creative city with new venues collectives popping up all the time, the DIY scene is big in Canberra.
What gear is integral to your sound live?
The Ibanez TS9 is a pedal we couldn’t do without, it’s a pretty iconic sound which really shapes our guitar tone live for both guitarists. One of our new favourite pedals is the Rat-2, we used this in the studio and had to get one for live shows. The TC Electronic Hall Of Fame is also a favourite, the ‘Church’ and ‘Hall’ pre-sets are used heaps throughout the set adding to the space and dynamics of our tones!
What’s next for Moaning Lisa?
We are launching a new EP in October which is exciting, we have a few festivals coming up also including ‘Spilt Milk’ & ‘Yours and Owls’ in a couple of weeks. We are always keen on playing festivals, we all love the live aspect and the festival scene.
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