Dune Rats

Dune Rats seem to live life with the gas pedal pressed firmly to the floor. Since their 2011 debut EP, Sexy Beach, Brisbane punks Danny Beus (guitar/vocals) and BC Michaels (drums)—soon joined by Brett Jansch (bass)—have made distortion-scuffed songs that detail their dedication to partying hard, playing loud, and slurping up every bit of dopamine the world has to offer. Their 2014 self-titled full-length established the trio as the latest in a legacy of Australian bands who play with reckless abandon and scream until their voices give out. But as time’s gone on, they’ve become vivid songwriters too—their sophomore record, 2017’s The Kids Will Know It’s B******t, was full of gleefully lurid stories of the wreckage they’ve created while tearing through life like Looney Tunes characters. On 2020’s Hurry Up and Wait, they demonstrated that they’re capable of emotional, introspective songs, too, weighing the toll of the excess they’ve lived. Somehow, over the years, they’ve found their way to maturity—or something like it.