The Aus List #1: with Brisbane based 7-piece Still Full From Lunch
- August Harris
- 8 hours ago
- 12 min read
By: August Harris
Welcome to The Aus List, a new series with Cage Riot highlighting the best fresh acts coming out of the Australian music scene.
It feels wrong to start this with any band other than Magandajin/Brisbane based indie rockers Still Full From Lunch. Their debut EP, Hills Hoist, named after a type of washing line commonly found in Australian backyards, is a sun-speckled love letter to coming of age in modern Queensland. The project feels incredibly relatable and raw, with its lead single, "Termites," detailing becoming friends with the pests eating the floorboards of your sharehouse, and final single "Oh No" acting as a to-do list and lament of a directionless young person living through the nation’s cost-of-living crisis.
With seven members and an array of instruments and musical influences, Still Full From Lunch’s first release has something for everyone. I sat down with lead vocalist Jess Archibald and Flautist Matilda McEwan to talk about all things Hills Hoist, Oboe appreciation, leafy greens, and dancing like nobody’s watching.
Hi guys, so awesome to be chatting to you! So you’ve had your EP out for a few weeks now, congrats! It’s really amazing, how does it feel to have it out in the world?
Jess (J): I mean, it's literally taken, like, three or four years for us to properly release anything that wasn't a bad live recording on a CD. It's actually really nice to have a really nice-sounding recording. It feels really exciting to feel like, “okay, we're getting somewhere”.
Matilda (M): We have music out, now people can hear us other than just, like, coming to our shows, which I think is really nice.
J: Yeah, I think it's definitely keeping people more engaged with our stuff as well, which is good.
Yeah, 100%! I'd really love if you guys could give a bit more of an insight of what your writing process is like. Obviously, you’re a 7-piece band so there's a lot going on, how do you find it to collaborate with that many people? How does that work?
J: Sometimes it doesn't! I mean, a lot of the stuff so far, it's sort of been someone coming with a pretty well-rounded idea. There's definitely been collaboration, but it's sometimes hard with too many people. But, yeah, it's getting more collaborative over time, definitely.
M: I can really only speak for the woodwind and horn section, but we tend to usually write our own parts to fit into a broader idea of what's already been made by other members of the band, which is really cool.
J: Yeah, like sometimes I've written lyrics for a couple of the songs, but sometimes they're already written. I usually do the melodies, at least, of the vocals. I feel like everyone focuses on their own thing, but to get stuff started, usually someone brings forth an idea, because jamming hasn't really worked for us so far.
M: We tend to get pretty off-topic when we're just playing around, so.
That is the danger of it, hey. So you've been performing as a band since 2022, and you've had some of these songs in your arsenal for quite a while. I've seen you post on Instagram about Rain having been the first one?
M: Yeah, that was definitely the first thing that we ever actually played that sounded good, I think.
That’s so fair. I would love to know about how these songs have kind of grown and changed, and what your process has been, as far as them developing, whether that be just through practice and doing them over and over again, or in recording, because you guys recorded with Ben (Gerrard, music producer and guitarist of fellow Brisbane band Dirty Harry) right?
J: Yeah, yeah, we did. He's great. Yeah, he did such a good job. It sounds amazing! It doesn't feel like much has changed sometimes with some of the songs, but then recently I've been listening to old recordings, and it's like,
M: Oh My God!
J: Like, Termites, we used to play it so slow. Like, so slow.
M: Yeah, and it sounded really terrible.
J: So I think, thankfully, over time, we've just made better decisions.
M: Yeah, and I think just with spending time together as a band, we've gotten tighter as a group, and we understand how we all play, (which) can help as well.
J: Yeah, definitely, and I feel like also sometimes we play things faster at a gig, so then it's almost, like, over time, slowly, the tempo is sped up in a couple cases. But I think for the best, honestly.
I kind of can't imagine Termites being slow. It suits its speed.
M: It was kind of unpleasantly slow. We were listening to it in rehearsals the other week, and we were just all like, this is not right.
J: Like, literally, what is this? But otherwise, lyrics do change. I feel like when we first start performing something, it stays like that for a while, and over time, it slowly gets changed. Especially more recently, we're trying to have new stuff to play, because I feel like gigs, sometimes it's the same stuff after a while. It's kind of fun to slowly work on something over time, instead of just rushing a decision, feeling it out, and just seeing how people respond to it.
100 percent, definitely worth getting audience input and sense the vibes, sense if people are really liking it. That leads very well into my next question, actually. You guys are known for being really great live performers. Do you have any favourite performance memories, or memories that stick with you, maybe one gig that you look back on and you're like, “Yeah, we killed that, that was great”?
M: I don't know if this was an amazing memory, but I remember we, at one of our release shows, perhaps, we were playing a song that we play a lot. We haven't recorded it, but there's a bit in our performance where we'll stop just before the end, and the drummer will stop for a prolonged period of time, and we never know how long it's going to be. So we're all just kind of waiting for him to get us back in, then someone at the back of the room, I don't think they were really paying attention to what was happening, and they were having a conversation, they just went “oh my God” and then our drummer just yelled “oh my God!” and then we just started.
J: Yeah, it was pretty fierce.
M: It was so fun, and I think about that a lot, yeah.
That's beautiful.
J: I think for me, the craziest one was after we released Termites, the first show. Maybe people had sung along before, but it got to the chorus, and so many people were singing, and it was kind of emotional. I was, like “oh, this is so crazy”, and, like, I just felt so energetic after that. It made me feel really good. It's just nice when you feel like people are also enjoying (the show), yeah.
M: It was like, “people listen to this? and they like it?”, And it was like “wow, we did something cool”. It was just nice.
J: It’s crazy that something that you're performing is being received, and enjoyed to the point where they're listening to it enough to learn words, it's nice.
Yeah I imagine it would be really hard to wrap your head around that.
J: I know, it was, it was really weird,
M: It's kind of jarring, it was, you want them to know that, yeah, it's like, wait, how do you know that?
Exactly! I feel like throughout Hills Hoist, you guys do a really great job at capturing this sense of modern Australia. You use a lot of very quintessentially Australian imagery throughout the EP, particularly in the name “Hills Hoist”. You also talk a lot about home, there's one lyric in Comfortable To You that says “I make homes out of people I don’t know”. That line really stuck with me, but I wanted to know, what inspired you to make art so centred around this idea of home, and what makes you feel at home?
J: I don't know, honestly. I don't think it's ever been an intention. I think that we all just sort of relate to it a lot in some way, so naturally it's a direction that we take. Most of us are out of home and renting, and it's a lot. I don't know though, I've never really taken specific note of it. I know that, obviously, we named the EP after (a Hills Hoist) keeping in mind that it should be something Queenslander* related, but it was kind of natural, I don't think it was intentional. My cats make me feel at home. Even other people's cats, like, if I walk into a house and there's a cat there, I'm, like, I'm really happy.
What are your cat’s names?
J: My girlfriend has two cats, I've got one cat. Her cats are Roman and Dakota, and my cat is Marceline. She's a diva, she just makes me so happy! But cats in general, I feel like every home needs a cat.
Oh, absolutely, absolutely!
M: I don't have a cat, sadly, but I'm working on it! I really like cooking, and my family really likes cooking, so, I think getting home and there's something on the stove makes me feel at home.
That's so real, very cozy, I like it! So, you guys kind of seem to get a lot of comparisons to Black Country, New Road or Mouseatouille, but I know I've seen in other interviews that you all have a very diverse range of influences. What would you two say your personal biggest inspirations are, or what do you strive to bring to the band that other people involved might not?
J: I feel like, lyrically and musically, I don't know if I take that much inspiration for the band, but vocally I really love Chelsea Wolfe. She just has the most beautiful voice, and I love her stage presence. I really like the way that she writes her lyrics, but they're probably too sad for Still Full From Lunch. Pretty gut-wrenching stuff. I also love the band Miranda Sex Garden. If I could do a solo project, I would take heavy inspiration from their album Carnival of Soul. It's awesome, it's so good.
Oh, yeah, that is so cool! I mean you guys do get sad at points, like in the song “Boxcutter”.
J: Yeah, true, actually!
M: Yeah, y’know what? let's do it!
J: Let's get sadder, let's do it.
M: I'm really into more, like, kind of folk. I'm obsessed with Enya, I love Enya, and I really try to bring that kind of vibe into the music. Sometimes it's not easy, but we always get there hopefully.
Yeah, I love that, that’s so beautiful. I feel like the flute brings Enya vibes.
J: The flute is everything!
M: Thank you!
I feel like I'm seeing so much more woodwind in bands lately. I'm seeing a lot of, not just flute, but also clarinet, everyone has a clarinet now.
J: And for the better!
Exactly, everyone should have clarinets, more clarinets please!
M: More woodwinds, more, yeah, just more orchestral instruments,
J: Absolutely, absolutely!
M: I want to see, I want to see, like, an oboe.
J: I was literally about to say that! I was literally, I love the oboe, not enough people, I would love to learn to play the oboe!
M: I feel like it's really hard, but maybe that's our next project. We both learn the oboe, and then we don't do anything else, we just play the oboe.
J: And we'll leave the band, we're starting an oboe duo.
M: Yes!
Oh my god, I would stream, I would stream! More oboe, just more weird, freaky instruments!
J: Yeah, yeah, oboes are in for 2026!
Period! Well, I mean, speaking of the local scene, what would you guys say are some of your current favorite local acts? Not necessarily just local, also Australian, who's been really catching your eye?
M: I'm obsessed with Stjep.
J: I love Stjep, they're so good! We've played with them a couple times now, (they’re) awesome
M: Their song Ulcer is so good, it's on streaming platforms,
J: Yeah, no, massive fan of Stjep. Sacred Hearts are great, they just moved to Melbourne. ZZADE is also really good, I love her. A great musician (with) amazing stage presence.
I will have to tap in! If you had to describe Still Full From Lunch in three words, what would they be?
J: That's a good question. I would say dynamic, I feel like we tried cover bases in terms of songs with different energy levels and stuff, large, it's a pretty large band, and, oh, maybe, for lack of a better word, like, silly.
M: Whimsical!
J: Yeah, whimsical, there we go! (We) try not to take ourselves too seriously.
Yeah, that’s something I feel like I've talked about with my bandmates, but I feel like there's an epidemic of people taking themselves so seriously. Like, you can take the process of making art and creating seriously without taking yourself seriously.
J: Yeah, seriously, it's just annoying. Sometimes, when I feel stressed or worried about it, I'm, like, “oh, what the fuck are you doing, this is meant to be fun”! Like, it's just, feeling stressed that something might not be as good as it could be, or worrying that people aren't perceiving it how you want, or over-analyzing people's reactions that show something like, “oh, my god, they hate it”, it's just, like, who cares! Who cares if it's not their thing, I'm having fun!
Yeah, exactly, and, like, why not just have a dance?
J: I know, that's another thing. Ins for 2026: dancing at shows! Hello, why am I dancing by myself?!
M: Literally! Like, don't sway, come on, move!
Yeah, what are you scared of? Like, no, seriously? Having too much fun?
M: Do you want someone to judge you? Because no one is, no one's thinking about it, literally, no one even cares! Please move! I love it!
J: Yeah, no, I love when people dance, I feel like it feeds our energy on stage, and it's like, “great, we're all having a good time”!
Yeah, it's infectious! When people are having a good time, you also want to have a good time!
J: Yeah, definitely!
M: I’ve always appreciated when the crowd is dancing, and I've always loved dancing in crowds, when I'm watching people, as well, so.
J: Yeah, I love to dance. If I'm enjoying someone's music, it's, like, I'm letting them know!
Absolutely, hell yeah! Final question, what'd you have for lunch? Why are you so full?
J: Oh god. Well, I actually did have a lot for lunch today. We had a party last night, so I went to work, I was feeling a little queasy, and I got one of those trio rap things at 7-Eleven. And I face this problem every time, two is not enough, that three is too much, but I can't, like, not have the whole third one. I stood up after having my break, and I was, like, ”bleugh, yeah, I'm, like, actually really fucking full from lunch right now”! It's annoying, though, there have been a couple of times in my life, where I feel like I've unironically said, still full from lunch, and then someone's, like, “ohhh!”
Yeah, like “ahh you said the thing”! Are you guys over it?
M: I don't know, I kind of love it!
J: HATE IT! No, no, I love it! It's funny, it's funny. It's just, like, okay, give me something new!
Yeah. Also, I did mean to ask, how did the name come about?
M: Look, I don't actually know, because I think I was away the day that we decided it, but we used to be called something else.
J: Oh my god, we were gonna go by S.P.I.N.A.C.H. Bleugh.
M: Yeah, and it stood for, what did it stand for? Oh my god, “seven people in nine awesome cool hats”.
Wait, so was somebody going to wear the extra hats?
J: I think two people were going to wear an extra hat, yeah,
M: I'm so glad we didn't do that.
J: It’s so stupid, I can't believe you remember that, that's amazing!
M: I could be completely imagining this, but I feel like, because we used to rehearse in the evenings, and then (their other bandmates) would be, like, “should we go get dinner?”, and then people would be like, “oh, I’m still full from lunch”. That could just be a lie, I could have made that up.
J: No, but that’s it now the backstory, officially.
That's fair, yeah, that is the lore cemented! I love that, I mean, I think you could still bring back the nine cool hats.
M: I don’t think we need to!
What!? So you talk all this game about having fun, and everyone's having fun, but when it comes to cool hats…
M: Actually, no, you know what…
J: Yeah, no, you're right, right!
M: I'm into it now!
Well, isn't there a band called Arugula around?
J: Probably! Oh my god, we could team up!
You could have a salad show!
M: A salad show!
J: And we could start, like, a whole record (label) and we are exclusively representing bands named after, like, leafy greens. And it's just S.P.I.N.A.C.H and Arugula, that's it. I think people will jump on the train.
M: Lettuce, broccoli..
J: Um, bok choy…
Hell yeah, What other leafy greens would make good band names?
M: Shallots, maybe? But they're not really leafy.
J: They can be, yeah.
Even just broader vegetables.
J: Leek!
I feel like, that's, like, “*someone* and the leeks”.
M: Yeah, you know, you speak the truth.
J: Yeah, I don't know, I'm not, I'm so not creative when it comes to band names, because it's so serious, yeah.
M: But, I mean, we're called Still Full From Lunch, so it's clearly not that serious.
J: Yeah, yeah, true, you make a point!
