Images: Supplied by The Munch
Writer: Joe Maranta
A flying bottle of Cooper’s Pale Ale flies through a window. The ensuing crash of glass and jeers from partygoers wakes him from his slumber. As his eyes adjust to the light, the destruction surrounding him becomes clear. The freshly broken glass lays atop empty Dominos boxes, discarded pouches and graffitied dry wall panels in what looks like a shrine to the gods of debauchery.
He gets up gingerly, abandoning the once safe refuge of the upstairs couch. Head pounding, cotton-mouthed and disorientated, he carefully avoids the half-full vomit bucket and gatorbeug which lay at the foot of the couch. As he makes his way downstairs in search of his friends, the state of this house begins to take a toll on him. The nauseating stench of ashed Manchester cigarettes and piss-soaked walls make his stomach flip and eyes water with every breath he takes.
Now downstairs, the thought of fresh air beckons him outside. Still yet to find his friends, he finds the next best thing, a comfortable patch of grass and a tall light pole to rest against. Sat under the fluorescent amber hue, he closes his eyes and dreams of somewhere private to rest.
This is The Munch.
Their cathartic post-punk soundscapes are buoyed by guttural vocals and high-octane guitar breakdowns, typifying the rise of Adelaide’s thriving post-punk scene.
A boundary-pushing punk-rock quartet based on Kaurna Land, The Munch are comprised of Seb Rogers (Vox, Guitar), Gus Walton-Humphrys (Bass), Matthew Adams (Drums) and Blake Tabart (Guitar).
JOE: The Munch! Awesome to speak to you guys. So tell me, how did the band come together?
GUS: I met Matt and Blake (Drummer and Guitarist), and they were ripping in at the school band room. I’d gotten a Bass guitar for my birthday in year 9 then from there, we just asked anybody who was remotely friends with us at school if they could be our singer, I saw Seb and thought “He listens to Hockey Dad, ask that guy”.
SEB: I’d only just met them [Gus, Matt and Blake]. The first song we ever played was Viceroy by Violent Soho. I sang that and was so flat - it was so embarrassing I was sweaty and nervous. One of the first songs we wrote was about a whale’s perspective on global warming, that was early Munch.
JOE: Would you describe your songwriting as a collaborative process?
SEB: It is quite collaborative. We’d say Blake has a big influence, his life is incredibly music orientated. He’s great at forming songs and composing the flow of tracks. But when we’re in the bandroom we’re all trying to figure out what works with one another. We’ve started to put more structure in because it becomes a bit of a mess when we’re jamming, everyone is playing their own thing and sometimes it doesn’t work with anyone else.
GUS: Hearing how other band’s approach the writing process, I’d say ours is pretty democratic comparatively.
SEB: A lot of bands also build their songs around the vocals, whereas the vocals for us come second to the instruments when we’re forming a track.
JOE: It’s been 8 months now since your debut album NO SUPINE, what are your thoughts on it currently?
SEB: Some songs are good. I like the feeling of them, I’d say about half the songs I still like. I think we’ve grown past them a little bit now. One of the songs we wrote was from year 10.
GUS: A lot of the songs we wrote when we were still finding our sound. Naturally you’d hope that you’d progress a bit artistically. We’re definitely still proud of them but I think we know that we’re progressing towards something bigger, and in our opinion much better. We’re pumped on them, but you’ll always be a bit disappointed. It’s good in a way though, now we’re really motivated to get our new stuff out.
JOE: This leads me on to my next question in a way, what lessons have you taken from NO SUPINE that you’ll apply to future music?
SEB: The album was more of a compilation than an album in a way, but now we’re trying to focus on a singular body of work. It’ll be very different. We want to stay open minded with the process as a whole, we don’t want to close doors for ourselves.
GUS: In terms of the recording process for NO SUPINE, we went to a studio for around a week to get everything recorded, which was very optimistic of us. We learnt quickly that we didn’t give ourselves enough time for experimentation. We’re thinking that in the future we’ll try different avenues for recording, maybe some more home recording. At least for the demos.
JOE: Without giving too much away, what can people expect from your upcoming music?
GUS: It’s a bit hard to pin down stylistically. It definitely has a more refined identity. There’ll still be elements of punk, post-punk and hardcore.
SEB: A bit more emo I think. I want to be a bit more expressive and whiney with my vocals.
JOE: Speaking of vocals, you have a very guttural and visceral way of singing Seb - do you often lose your voice when performing?
SEB: I don’t anymore, I definitely don’t scream properly - I’ve figured something out that works for me. I’m definitely straining, I don’t know what I’ve done to my vocal chords to do it every week.
GUS: You’ve calloused them.
SEB: Yeah calloused vocal chords, scabbed up. The screams in tenor I’m happy with, I can do them pretty consistently. Sometimes I want them to be cleaner but I also like the abrasiveness.
JOE: I think Adelaide has an argument of being the best scene in Australia when accounting for population size. What is it about your city that’s so conducive to great music?
GUS: I think us being away from major capital cities contributes to it for sure.
SEB: It’s very tight here, there’s a big cross over of genres. Everyone listens to everything, there’ll be gigs with a screamo band and a hyperpop band on the same lineup.
GUS: There’s not a lot of venues here which fosters a strong community. Everyone gets to know each other and their bands. I think Adelaideans are a bit more artsy in their own right, arts are very prioritised in our culture I’d say.
SEB: Basically we’re just wankers here.
JOE: Are there many Adelaide bands you wish had more fans across Australia?
SEB: Any bands we like should have more fans than they do. I love Swapmeet. I listen to their EP all the time. They’re really well produced, their songs are so well written. Awnings are a new band, they’re like a math-rock noisy band. Perfect 50 are playing every weekend because everyone has realised how good they are.
GUS: War Room as well.
SEB & GUS: Don’t forget The Genevieves too. They make us better musicians, we always see them making such amazing music and we don’t want to fall behind them.
JOE: So for 2025 what’s on your wishlist?
SEB: It’d be sick to get our next project out. We want to keep playing gigs and getting new music out so it's fresh for our audience and for us. Also to keep improving as songwriters.
GUS: The biggest thing for me is to keep expressing ourselves. We want to be proud of a fresh batch of music.
JOE: Finally, for anyone who’s unfamiliar with your music what’s one song you encourage them to check out.
SEB: Terror
GUS: Terror, I think it shows a good spectrum of our music. It’s pretty punk - a little bit experimental punk, and it works towards a grandiose ending, something we don’t shy away from. I think it’s the most professional sounding track.
SEB: I think Got Wrong deserves more love than it gets too.
NEXT THE MUNCH SHOW: HERE
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