THE Grogans will return to Byron Bay’s Beach Hotel on May 1, as the touring trio continues a relentless run of live shows across Australia and beyond.<\/p>\n
Surf garage rock trio The Grogans are known for their heavy touring schedule and energetic live sets, building a following both locally and overseas.<\/p>\n
Despite their name being a colloquial surf slang term with less-than-glamorous origins, vocalist, guitarist and bassist Quin Grunden said the band was initially drawn to its nostalgic feel.<\/p>\n
“It was used in surf slang in the old days,” he said.<\/p>\n
The band came across the term through an older family member, unaware of its meaning at the time.<\/p>\n
“When we first started touring, older boys would be like ‘You do realise this means sh*t right?’ and we were like ‘Are you kidding?'” Grunden said.<\/p>\n
“It’s been the funniest thing to navigate but it’s just stuck now.”<\/p>\n
Comprising Grunden, guitarist Angus Vasic and drummer Jordan Lewis, the band is often associated with surf-rock looseness, but Grunden said their music carries more depth than that label suggests.<\/p>\n
“We can sometimes get put in a certain group because we’ve got a funny name, but a lot of our lyrics actually carry weight,” he said.<\/p>\n
Their track I’m Not Sure reflects that approach, exploring the uncertainty and freedom of young adulthood.<\/p>\n
“It’s about that age between 16 and 19 and having no idea about what you’re doing but actually trying to enjoy that part of your life,” he said.<\/p>\n
That mindset extends to Grunden’s broader approach to music.<\/p>\n
“Being an artist, there’s no right or wrong way to do anything,” he said.<\/p>\n
“You’ve just got to make sure it works how you want it to and be honest with how it is to you.”<\/p>\n
The Grogans’ catalogue balances introspection with energy, with streaming audiences often gravitating toward laid-back tracks like Lemon To My Lime, while their live shows lean into heavier, more chaotic moments.<\/p>\n
“A lot of our really chilled songs are popular on streaming platforms, but live it’s the heavier stuff that gets people going,” Grunden said.<\/p>\n
Behind those performances is a demanding touring lifestyle that has taken the band across multiple continents.<\/p>\n
“Touring is the most bizarre lifestyle,” he said.<\/p>\n
He recalled travelling on a sleeper bus through North America, where the band would leave venues in the early hours and wake in a different city.<\/p>\n
“You finish a show, bus call’s at like 2am, and then you just drive overnight to the next spot,” he said.<\/p>\n
On one leg of the tour, the bus crossed from the United States into Canada while the band slept.<\/p>\n
“We were asleep the whole time and when we woke up, we were parked up in this new city,” he said.<\/p>\n
It wasn’t until they stepped out for a coffee that something felt off.<\/p>\n
“As we walked to get a coffee, I was hearing fluent French everywhere and I thought, ‘What the hell, is this some kind of French day?'” he said.<\/p>\n
“Then we got into the caf\u00e9, and everything was in French and then I realised that we had landed in Montreal, in Quebec.”<\/p>\n
The sudden shift left him feeling disoriented.<\/p>\n
“It freaked me out, I felt like I was in a time warp!” he said.<\/p>\n
After long stretches on the road, Grunden said returning home requires a reset.<\/p>\n
“I have to relearn how to relax when I come home,” he said.<\/p>\n
“You switch between two lives.”<\/p>\n
That sense of grounding is closely tied to Mallacoota, where his father was raised and where Grunden spent time growing up.<\/p>\n
“Mallacoota has always been such a huge part of my music, it’s what kickstarted me into playing,” he said.<\/p>\n
Family gatherings often turned into informal performances, shaping his early approach to music.<\/p>\n
“We’d do a lot of family gigs and wherever we went there was always someone lugging PA’s and drum kits around,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Growing up we were mainly playing old blues and funk, and it was largely improvised.”<\/p>\n
“The mindset of Mallacoota and that lifestyle has shaped how I perceive music.”<\/p>\n
Despite their growing audience, the band remains closely connected to the community, supporting Mallacoota following the bushfires and COVID.<\/p>\n
“I’ve run some workshops in the school, and we also put on a big fundraiser show in Melbourne after the fires ripped through the town,” he said.<\/p>\n
“If something hurts in Mallacoota, you feel it even if you may not live there, so there’s a whole gravity pull up there.”<\/p>\n
Looking ahead, Grunden said the band is focused on continuing to evolve while staying grounded.<\/p>\n
“We want to push our musical boundaries,” he said.<\/p>\n
“You’ve got to really soak in what you’ve got at a given time, it’s not going to last forever.”<\/p>\n
“But you’ve always got to bring it back to what’s good, and sometimes that’s just going home and being with your people.”<\/p>\n
“Always trying to evolve is a huge thing, but we want to keep being us.”<\/p>\n
The Grogans will play at Byron Bay’s Beach Hotel on May 1 from 7pm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
THE Grogans will return to Byron Bay’s Beach Hotel on May 1, as the touring trio continues a relentless run of live shows across Australia and beyond. Surf garage rock trio The Grogans are known for their heavy touring schedule and energetic live sets, building a following both locally and overseas. Despite their name being […]<\/p>\n