Interview with Reckless Coast: ‘We’re putting the fun back into rock ‘n’ roll!’

Brisbane’s self-proclaimed ‘coastal misfits’ Reckless Coast are turning up the heat with their fierce new single ‘Gossip’; an adrenaline-filled rockers’ dream.

The band comprises Jaeden Ogston (vocals and guitar), India Raine (bass) and Jono Frowd (drums), although they’ve had various members over the years: ‘I put a Facebook ad up and India hit it up, she was in another band playing guitar at the time,’ Ogston said. Raine nods: ‘I knew how to play bass and when he posted his influences, I thought: “I have to meet this guy!”.’ They knew Frowd as a sound technician but didn’t realise initially that he was also a drummer: ‘He had a casual jam with us and me and India just looked at each other,’ Ogston said. ‘He plays to the song.’ Their name references their upbringings: ‘We’re all coastal kids, I was raised not too far from Byron Bay,’ Ogston explained. ‘I was born in Stroud, Gloucestershire, but moved to the coast of New South Wales in Australia when I was two and Jono is from the sunshine coast up north,’ Raine said. Ogston jumps in: ‘We’re coastal misfits!,’ he quipped. ‘Yeah, we love the coast but none of us surf!,’ Raine said laughing. Their name has another provenance as well: ‘Our first tour was all on the coastline from Melbourne to Brisbane on 2019 when most of Australia was a bush fire,’ Ogston said. ‘We got trapped in Coffs Harbour. Touring Australia is like a reckless coastline, it reminded me of what Angus Young said about their touring schedule being like a highway to hell.’

‘Gossip’ leans fully into their speed rock era, mashing up the best parts of the 70’s and 80’s, centered around a swaggering riff and a stadium worthy chorus, replete with melodic hooks and the band’s signature rock groove personality. The track will appeal to fans of rock resurgence acts such as Måneskin and Amyl and The Sniffers, with the line “Well, I gossip with the devil one too many times, tell me once, tell me twice, you know I need the advice.”

‘This track is very gritty, I remember that the guitar solo is a mix of different guitars’

It has all the swagger right from the start: ‘I wanted distortion and attitude,’ Ogston said. ‘I thought: “What would Lemmy do?!” This track is very gritty, I remember that the guitar solo is a mix of different guitars. It started off with the words “gossip with the devil” but it didn’t really mean anything. I think that’s how John Fogarty (Creedence Clearwater Revival) wrote ‘Proud Mary’. I already had the riff and thought I’d like to use it for ‘Gossip’.’ It sets a mood and energises you from the start, which turns out to be deliberate: ‘I wanted to set the mood,’ Ogston said. ‘It starts off with the words “I got a feelin’ in my finger tips, I get up, out of bed, I gotta act pretty quick”. I have a bad habit of overworking (laughs). Anyone who has a strong ethic knows what I mean. People can perceive it very negatively, that’s what it’s about.’ Raine looks at him: ‘I always took it like The Beatles’ ‘A Day In the Life’ where they say “Woke up, fell out of bed”,’ she said. ‘It gives me the same kind of vibe. I can’t get enough of playing this song live, our energy goes full throttle and I love seeing the crowd’s uncontained response!’

It’s such an infectious song, so raucous and energising, it’s easy to see why the crowd would love it: ‘Our shows have become more unhinged,’ Ogston said laughing. ‘They’re more about letting go!’ Raine agrees: ‘We’re putting the fun back into rock ‘n’ roll!’ That’s exactly the feeling that Ogston was going for: ‘I wanted the song to energise people into a frenzy, it’s a bit chaotic in the best way possible,’ he said. ‘It’s such a signature, in your face, rhythmic hook.’ Raine agrees: ‘It could also be a product of being pent up in COVID,’ she said. ‘Jaeden’s guitar playing feels a bit 70’s/80’s.’

Next up will be ‘a quick tour’ of Australia starting tomorrow (3 March): ‘We’d love to expand in Europe and the US and possibly do an EP,’ Ogston said. ‘It’s getting about time.’ Raine agrees: ‘We’ve got lots of songs to release – a lot of cracking songs! If I could release an EP next week, I so would.’ Ogston weighs in: ‘We don’t want to be classed as a singles band. I like it when you get EPs, it’s like a snapshot in time. Next, it’s a possibility of two songs, we’re still deciding on which to release first. Both of them have that rock groove vibe we always go for, but one is more like a coastal rock ‘n’ roll drive vibe, the other is super grungy and gritty.’

‘We’d love to tour with the Foos and The Darkness, it would be the ultimate tour’

They have been described as “straight up rock ’n’ roll swagger, with so much damn swing, it’s a surprise the hips aren’t dislocated”, a comment that delights them both. Some tracks, particularly ‘Talk’, are very reminiscent of Foo Fighters, opening with a grungy, explosive riff that Dave Grohl would be proud of. ‘I wrote it about a really annoying flatmate I had,’ Ogston laughed. ‘They were very talkative, it’s about being stuck with someone.’ Raine grins: ‘It’s a bit tongue-in-cheek, sarcastic, rock ‘n’ roll,’ she said. Ogston nods: ‘I wanted something garagey and punky,’ he said. It turns out that they are both massive Foo Fighter fans: ‘We’d love to tour with the Foos and The Darkness, it would be the ultimate tour,’ Raine said excitedly. Ogston agrees: ‘I’d love to tour with both those bands, they seem like the best guys. Dave is the god of modern rock music, when you think he played with Nirvana and Them Crooked Vultures, it’s mind-blowing.’ Raine agrees: ‘It’s like oxygen to him,’ she said.

To date, the songs they’ve released have been written by Ogston, including their yet-to-be released song ‘Insane’: ‘I wrote most of ‘Insane’, but it needed something for the bridge, India then came up with the bridge riff and section which suited it really well, as well as the key change /tuning variation to drop D to make it bolder,’ he said. ‘Sonically, it’s a super groovy but, at the same time, quite heavy tune. There’s a lot of bottom end growl thanks to the drop D tuning, but it’s got this groove that makes it danceable. Imagine a heavy grunge track fused with a danceable groove element. Pretty much it’s about how overthinking can drive ya nuts.’

Typically, he writes most of a song before taking it to the band to let them put their spin on it: ‘They’ll write their own parts, I’m not a bass player or a drummer, I want their personalities on it,’ he said. Raine agrees: ‘The bass and drums go hand in hand, they’re a team. We see it as a collective, we’re good at saying to the others if something doesn’t work.’

Growing up, Ogston was a big fan of AC/DC, Deep Purple and blues music, including American blues musician and songwriter, Robert Johnson: ‘He was a consistent inspiration,’ he said. ‘Currently, Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes, they’ve got a bunch of attitude but they’re fun and euphoric.’ Raine brings different influences to the band: ‘I was raised on The Beatles and The Black Crowes,’ she said. ‘And the blues – and I was at a Sting concert with my parents last night. I love Kirsty MacColl. I have her tattoo on my arm (she shows me). My grandpa was a country bassist. I don’t have a guilty pleasure (laughs).’

‘It’s got blues rock roots and a punk attitude’

Some of their tracks, notably ‘Do You Want Me?’, reflect all of these influences. It manages to seamlessly combine bluesey and punk elements with a dirty bass line and a big dose of overdriven guitar noodling. It turns out to have been written on a shift in a bar by Ogston as a kind of anthem to creatives stuck in jobs they hate in order to make ends meet: ‘It’s Aussie pub rock in the 70’s,’ he joked. ‘It’s got blues rock roots and a punk attitude.’ It’s also got the kind of wild energy that would get a crowd bouncing and singing the big chorus back to them. Around 1 minute 50 in there’s a dip after which the hooky guitar solo builds and builds into one giant riff off with the bass: ‘It’s like an interlude. Live, I’ll run into the crowd,’ Ogston said. ‘I felt like it needed a solo!’ Raine looks at him: ‘I can hear a lot of Angus Young in that part,’ she said. ‘We were jamming it in rehearsal and dropped it down.’ When they recorded it, it underwent other sizeable changes: ‘We changed each part of the guitar parts,’ Ogston said. ‘We used overdrive, delay and slapback.’ Raine nods; ‘Yeah, the Fuzz Face pedal!’

As the track erupts: “Well I’m sick of all these faces with worn out traces, I can’t take it no more. I’m tired of hypnotising my mind to try to get me back out onto the floor. Well, it seems to me it’s make believe, just what we’re fighting for. From where I stand, the preacher man has left no lock on the door.”

Both of them were bitten by the music bug at a very young age: ‘I was 5 or 6 when I started playing guitar, possibly 10 or 12 when I started singing,’ Ogston said. ‘Honestly, I have no idea why, I always had this calling to the instrument. I can’t say there’s a moment in time where it clicked, the interest seemed to just be there from the start. Then players like Angus Young just pushed me to take it further and further.’ For Raine, her grandfather’s basses acted as inspiration: ‘I first started playing guitar at age 7, and I picked up bass for fun on the side of my guitar playing around 14 years old, ‘ she said. ‘My grandpa was a bassist so we had his old basses around the house. I can’t pinpoint the exact reason I got into playing, but I knew I needed to. It instantly became a form of expression for me.’

Tracks like ‘Got That Feelin” show a different side to them, it’s funky and dancey with a thuddy, hypnotic bass line that underpins the whole song: ‘I was really inspired by Red Hot Chili Peppers when I wrote it, it’s got a fresh energy.’ Ogston said. Raine nods: ‘We lure people in with it, you see people bouncing!’ Ogston smiles: ‘There’s a video of us playing it at a New Year’s Eve gig, you can see everyone bouncing,’ he said enthusiastically.

If she could go for a drink with anyone, Raine has two people in mind: ‘I love musicians’ musicians like Kirsty MacColl and Todd Kerns, Slash’s bass player. They’re people who live and breathe music. I’d also love to meet Keith Richards and Paul McCartney.’ Ogston is thinking: ‘The main ones are Bon Scott and Angus Young, they started it all for me,’ he said. ‘They are the two guys who are the reason I started singing and playing the guitar. I wouldn’t even need to chat music with them. With Bon, in interviews, I always think that I’d like him, it would be fun just to hang out!’

I love the picture of them above in what looks to be a dark little venue with a neon light saying ‘Bloody Lovely’ and I ask where it was taken: ‘It was in O’Skulligans in Brisbane, it only had 70-90 people capacity but sadly it closed,’ Raine said. I say that it looks right up my street and as if it would have the requisite sticky floor and they laugh: ‘If there’s a sticky floor, I feel at home,’ Raine said happily. Ogston grins: ‘It’s all about the sticky floor. The star quality is definitely related to the stickiness of the floor!’

Their dream line ups would bring the same infectious energy to the stage as they do: ‘At the moment, including us, it would be Slash featuring Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators, The Darkness, Foo Fighters and Joan Jett,’ Raine said. ‘A five band line up is a lot, but who wouldn’t watch that!’ Ogston goes for the equally eclectic mix of Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones and AC/DC: ‘They’re three very different artists that all played massive roles in my creation as a musician,’ he said. ‘It’d be like a concert of my musical personality.’

(Photo from left to right: India, Jaeden and Jono.)