Mild Manic
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Mild Manic

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This boundless optimism will undoubtedly serve the musician well during Mild Manic’s upcoming four-gig residency at the Tote. “This is turning out to be one of our biggest gigs yet,” Rees says. “The Tote is definitely one of the most popular places around Melbourne for the rock and punk scene. It’s pretty cool for up and coming bands to have a taste of [a bigger venue].”

But despite the larger scale of the gig, Rees and his bandmates are most interested in the smaller, personal moments that get peppered throughout sets – moments when the veil of performance is lifted and audience and performer can share in a unique experience.

“We just crave intimate shows, as much as they can get wild and your pedals can get stomped on,” Rees says. “We even like floor shows with everyone up in front of you. A lot of our music is inspired by that kind of vibe I guess – by everyone getting loose and rocking out.”

Rees’ voice fills with surprising confidence when it comes time to discuss the act of live performance. Many bands, both established and rising, express a certain amount of fear about the strange practice of stepping behind a microphone and baring it all, but Rees takes it all in his stride. Indeed, the thing that most unsettles him is not a crowded audience – it’s their absence.

“We put the time and effort in it and then when you play those shows where it’s a few people there, or you get your girlfriends there and it feels like band practice, it kind of feels awkward to approach the microphone,” he says. “[It’s hard] to play to people who know you already. I guess the smaller shows get me nervous. As for the big ones… we’ll see.”

The band will be using the residency to promote their self-titled EP, a raucous collection of tunes that stake out a claim in the place where punk, glam and cock rock overlap. The group are yet to tackle the work of other musicians, choosing instead to focus solely on the creation of original material, meaning their upcoming sets will be bursting with highlights from that record.

“We haven’t really branched into covers at all,” Rees says. “We have the theory that we could spend that time learning a cover, or we could spend that time, you know, creating another song. So we just weigh it up like that. In saying that, we haven’t really come across a cover that’s like, ‘Yeah, let’s nail that.’ We come from a lot of different musical backgrounds so it’s probably hard to settle on the one song.”

Although he is intensely awaiting the Tote residency, Rees seems just as desperate to get back into the studio. He has mixed feelings about the band’s self-titled EP, regarding it with a curious mixture of self-depreciation and unavoidable fondness, given what it represents for the band.

“[It] was more or less about just having something to show – about getting something out there. We hadn’t been in a recording studio together before, so it was a bit of an experience. We didn’t really feel like we grasped the sound. We’re pretty much a live band, so I feel like recording is on the top of the list to capture our sound and recreate that live energy.”

BY JOSEPH EARP