Heart, grit and a whole lot of beer. These are the ingredients that created one of the nation’s best up and coming bands, the Pist Idiots. From the suburbs of South-West Sydney, these four childhood friends are just as much punters as they are rockers. Hailing from Revesby, their exposure to the music they would soon produce came from seeing local bands at pub venues. With the grouchy, raw sound that only an Australian pub can create, the Pist Idiots are moulded straight from the schooner pounding, cigarette chaining, mosh pitting scene they now play in. As a result, their music is diverse, able to swing from head banging to downbeat both between tracks and within the same songs, but distinct, grounded in the hard ‘ocker’ sound.

“The majority of our free time is spent at the pub or going to watch bands at similar sorts of venues,” singer Jack said. “Inherently, the pub has influenced us hugely. We can play what we want, what we like and what comes naturally to us. You can bring it up with a nice fun punk track or bring it down with a ballad. It all works.”

Their most recent release, the Ticker EP, has seen the band balance this distinct character with some new styles. Replacing the heavy grunge and angry melancholy is a collection of tracks that introduce everything from pop anthems to love songs, such as “Means to an End” and “Love Nah”. The band recorded Ticker over the course of a month at the Cooper Lane Studio in Surry Hills, touching up songs they’d been previously sitting on. Since the Motor Runnin’ Tour in June, which promotes the EP’s full throttle lead single “Motor Runnin’”, and their current Ticket Tour, the band have found more and more success with the new sounding tracks, to their surprise.

“People were a little off guard, because it’s not the same old stuff, but in general it’s been going pretty well,” said Jack. “I think “Is This What You Want” and “Sweet Headache” in particular really resonate with the audience. You see people singing the words and bobbing their heads. I wouldn’t have expected that with it being out so recently.”

While the hard ‘ocker’ style of rock is directly influenced by the dirt and grim of the pub, so is the collective choruses and communal singing. This is what separates the Pist Idiots from the average pub rock band. They’ve got heart, or “ticker” as they’d call it. When asked about the best venues in Sydney, singer Jack discussed his favourite pubs both as a punter and as an artist, without ever disguising between the two. While Crowbar stood out as particularly good for the four hundred to five hundred capacity kind of show, it was the Lansdowne that stood out for its amazing sound system, that was almost tailor made for the Pist Idiots sound and taste, as well as the incredible show-floor, which had enough space up the front to mosh and enough room up the back to chill, from where Jack likes to stand and “watch the carnage”. But, for the ticker it displays, the Marrickville Bowling Club edged out as #1.

“I think the Marrickville Bowlo would be the best. As far as vibe goes across the board, it really ticks all the boxes,” he decided. “It’s got that old-school feel, with the copper brace ceiling and everything. It’s just got so much character about it that it’s hard not to love.”

Now with Ticker released, the band are hitting more and more milestones as they grown past their humble beginnings. One of these milestones is a spot at the Laneway Festival next year, making its way across the country from February 1st – 9th. Playing amongst headliners Ocean Alley, the DMAs and Charli XCX, along with fellow pub rockers The Chats, the band see it as another height they never expected to reach when they first started in 2015. Understanding, as punters themselves, the importance of festivals to music fans, the Pist Idiots are proud that this is how far they’ve come. But, as singer Jack notes, the crowd is radically different from their smaller pub audience.

“It’s a complete different animal. The atmosphere’s so cool. There’s so much more space and there’s always a lot more people,” said Jack. “We’ve done a couple now and you always walk off stage and go ‘holy shit’. That’s what we’ve just done. We’ve just played to thousands of people. You take a step back and have a look at it and it’s pretty astounding.”

The Pist Idiots are currently in the thick of their Ticker Tour, heading to Sydney on the 31st of October at the Oxford Art Factory. Tickets are available here: https://moshtix.com.au/v2/event/pist-idiots-ticker-ep-tour/115404?fbclid=IwAR0HlZt8QRO8X72Jivg3rJaZJfCHUQMZdbC0ShgsdJiyxz0U0oU6RcGvt94

For more information about Laneway 2020 and who will be joining the Pist Idiots on stage, visit the official website here: https://lanewayfestival.com