Titled Real Rare Whale, the 10 track album is the Dunies at their punkiest, punniest, funniest best. Songs about changing the world (‘Space Cadet’), couch surfing (‘Dumb TV’), teenage crushes (‘Pamela Aniston’) and Australia’s favourite pastime (‘Drink All Day’) all make for a classic Dune Rats album.
Real Rare Whale is Dune Rats 4th long-player and follows on from their consecutive #1 ARIA albums, 2020’s Hurry Up And Wait and 2017’s The Kids Will Know It’s Bullshit. Recorded with acclaimed producer Scott Horscroft, the band relocated to Eden on the south coast of New South Wales for three months at the height of the pandemic and set out to write an album that was opposite to the negativity going on in the world. The result is an album full of fun and melodic rock n’ roll.
“Real Rare Whale is hands down the fastest, funnest and most insane album we’ve ever recorded,” the Dunies said on recording the album. “It’s an album that expresses the love of music and writing songs. Songs that will be epic to play live to thousands of sweaty bodies having a great time. We waited until now to release it as we know it won’t be long until shows start back up and we can be where we are meant to be, on stage having fun.”
“From the first track to the last, each song was written with the sole purpose of being the “other songs” to what we were hearing on the radio,” they continued. “The songs to forget about what was going on at the time and reflecting on what made us start being a band in the first place. Teaming up with Scott Horscroft, who has long been a friend, was a dream come true. We respect him so much as a producer that we knew he was the person to bring depth to these tunes whilst keeping them in the Dunies ethos.”
If there’s a surrogate fourth member of Dune Rats it would be artist Lee McConnell who has worked with the band on their art direction over their last two albums. Lee returns with incredible art for Real Rare Whale. On working with the band for album #4 Lee said: “With the sense of this album being super fun and really just wanting create a good time, the artwork needed to be bold, colourful and fun to match. One night Danny told a story of ‘Old Tom’ a famous Orca from the area who was around in the early 1900’s who was famous for his co-operation with the local fisherman. With ‘Old Tom’ being a rare whale during his time and the album born in Eden it seemed fitting to call the album Real Rare Whale. A title which was so fun to run with. Another character was born into the ever expanding world of Dune Rats. It’s always a fun journey for me creating artwork with the band. I’m super proud of it and can’t wait for everyone to enjoy it,” he concluded.
***Due 24 June 2022***
