Australian four-piece MOBS are throwing back to the musical and cinematic era of the 1980s with their debut album Cinema Paradiso, drawing inspiration from the likes of Phil Collins and combining that with the newer elements of The 1975 and LANY. Making their UK debut later this year at The Great Escape Festival, we caught up with MOBS to find out more, including their aims and what we can expect from their upcoming live show.
Firstly, tell us a bit about yourself and your band.
MOBS is an indie pop band from Melbourne, Australia made up of Jordan Clarey (vocals), Michael Ashfield (guitar), Scott MacDougall (bass/synth) and Matt Purcell (drums).
How did the band form and how long have you been together?
We have been together as this form for five years now, Jordan and Michael are the co-founders of the band as they used to play acoustic cover sets at public swimming pools over summer holidays. From there they established the band, Move On, Be Strong which was a pop rock band. Matt joined the band a few years after in which they released a couple of EP’s. In 2015, Scott came into the band and that’s when we decided to reset and make music according to all our tastes as there was a lot of change, and that’s where MOBS was introduced. This was a chance for us to go into a direction that expanded our capabilities as musicians into the pop genre and it was such a fun process.
Can you remember the first time you realised you wanted to make music?
For all of us, the first stages of realising that we wanted to make music stems from hearing different artist influences as we were growing up, from specific musicians such as Don Henley to John Frusciante (guitarist – Red Hot Chilli Peppers), to core albums such as Mother Nature by The Dangerous Summer and Total Life Forever by Foals. This widespread mix of influences allowed us to hone in on creating music in a weird way that just works, and I think that is shown in the way we sound. Additionally, seeing music live was another inspiration for us to take it on. Artists such as The 1975, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Tori Kelly, Missy Higgins, Gavin DeGraw, and John Mayer are unbelievable live acts and watching them perform their craft definitely gives us the sense to do the same with ours.
Who and what are the band’s main influences?
The main influences of MOBS in 2020 are LANY, M83, Hall & Oates, and Phil Collins.
What do you aim to achieve as a band?
We want to get to a stage where our live show reciprocates an element of synesthesia – where we can create a lighting show that reflects the way certain songs are heard and perceived, as well as this pushing ourselves to become the best musicians we can possibly be, but also having fun while doing it. It’s something we have always treated as our number one priority when it comes to the band – that’s live. We love writing and recording new music, though collectively we all love playing in front of an audience more than anything and that’s something we always want to aim to do and improve.
For those who are yet to see you live, what can they expect from a MOBS show?
A different range of emotions really, there is this song off the new album called Way Back and Clarey busts out these dance moves that make him look like a dad that’s embarrassing his kids, but somehow it just works. Then we have a slow rush of songs such as Say Anything and Home that really just want to make you sit back and take it all in. It’s really nice having a diverse sounding set that we can deliver to an audience because it captures our talents and tastes in a combination of one another.
What’s next for MOBS?
We are released our debut album Cinema Paradiso on 28th February. On top of this, we will be extending out to England and playing The Great Escape Festival in Brighton which should be loads of fun – we haven’t played there yet and we are so excited to explore that side of the world.
MOBS‘ debut album Cinema Paradiso is out now via Rude Records, available to stream or purchase HERE.
