Habits Are (Nearly) Paying The Rent With Their Sad Goth Party Jams

Habits make music that's been described as sad goth party jams and whoever came up with that poetic description deserves congratulations. In a world of ever-expanding genres and over-simplification, it's refreshing to hear a short band bio that explains so much, yet so little at once. The Melbourne duo are Matt and Mohini, and seem pretty happy just being them. Their star has been rising on the slow boil in 2014, so we caught up with them to find out what makes them tick.

THUMP: Hey guys, how are your lives going?
Mohini: Fuck it's hot.

Money wise?
Matt: Yeah, we're devastatingly broke. The band has money cos we played a lot of shows and saved it up, but that belongs to Habits. I can't afford rent but we can afford…
Mohini: Recording!

Priorities, right?
Matt: My life right now is one big labour of love, but a completely impractical labour of love.

Is that sustainable, long term? Or is the plan to just do what you do and money be damned?
Matt: It's such a cliché, but there's some truth to that.
Mohini: Starving artists.

What did you have for breakfast?
Mohini: I didn't. This coffee.
Matt: I packed myself a little lunch, which I haven't done since primary school. I have a sweaty bagel in my bag. It's going to be so good.

So how does that work? How do you support yourselves?
Mohini: I have some savings, but they are getting really low. I don't have any income, so I don't know. Next month's rent is going to be hard, but I always manage to work it out. I struggle with when friends ask me to come out and do stuff, go to a bar or whatever, and they say 'Don't worry I'll buy you a drink'. I don't want to take advantage of that. I don't leave the house much either, socially. There's some anxiety there as well. I've made shows my social-ness.

So like a social anxiety?
Mohini: Yeah definitely. A doctor once asked me ' how can you be anxious if you perform?' How fucked up is that?
Matt: There's been times where Mo has had a full on panic attack on stage, and I've just seen her channel that energy and hold it together. Such a professional. I really admire that.
Mohini: Aww thanks baby. It was bad at Meredith 'cause the crowd was so big, but we were only singing backing vocals for The Harpoons. The next week at Camp Nong I was having attacks everyday but once I got there I pulled it together.

Is there an element of catharsis or therapy there?
Both: Absolutely!
Matt: Playing music live is the place I feel comfortable. Once I start it's a safe space for me. But when shit goes wrong, I'm not quite as good at channeling that as Mo.
Mohini: Yeah when we have a bad show, we hide and talk about it for half an hour or so.
Matt: We have a party vibe, so seeing the audience respond to that well while feeling shit inside is a bizarre experience.

It must be so validating though?
Both: Yeah, exactly!
Mohini: Most of our lyrics are pretty honest though, with a bit of a party beat. But then we're like 'we're depressed, we're having a shit one.'
Matt: I like to think that communicates to an audience though, 'cause they are very honest songs. But we love making…
Mohini: Bangers!

Matt, you made a little B-Day banger for your mum a while ago, right?
Matt: Yeah I just posted it on Facebook. I made a textbook trap banger with me barking HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM over the top. She loved it.

One for the EP then?
Matt: Err, I might have to put that to the rest of the band, hahaha.

So you have two tracks out, BEAST and VINNIES. When did they come out?
Mohini: Fuck, nearly two years ago. We're really due. People have been asking for it.
Matt: Because music is the main thing in our lives, when we went from playing a gig a week minimum to saying 'let's stop and record' took a lot of discipline. But yeah, it's nearly done.

Looking forward to it. So you'll be delivering to the fans?
Matt: It's weird. We feel old even just being 22. We have a bunch of 18 year old fans, and of course we're stoked to have any fans. It's just bizarre because we used to be those 18 year olds going to shows getting hammered, haha.
Mohini: And now we're too scared to leave the house.

You both grew up in Melbourne?
Mohini: I grew up in St Kilda East back when it was cool and less touristy. I was pretty much just a little street kid, hang out in the park and the beach and catch sharks. It was great, then I left when it got really touristy. Now I live in the city, where it's tourist central. It's gross.

Matt: I grew up in Oakleigh. Strong Greek heritage in the area. It was a nice place to grow up as a child, but it's kind of like if you're not Greek, or if you're visibly queer, you're a visitor. Every time I would walk through town heads would turn. I mean I'm totally aware of my privilege in this context, but there was definitely a sense of being on the outside. There's more diversity and acceptance on the Northside.

You mentioned visibly queer. What does that mean to you?
Matt: Visibly queer is, well there's obviously no homogenous way to act that's queer, but you can definitely move through the world in a way that doesn't identify you to strangers. You can be unnoticed or have a more simple peaceful time if you present in a more conservative way. There's a thought out there that people are fine with gay people as long as 'they don't act gay around me.'
Mohini: I just cringe. Just come into the 21st century or go away.

Has there ever been any experience like that at shows?
Mohini: No not really. We demand respect on stage and try to create a safe and comfortable and fun space for people.
Matt: Anyone is welcome at our shows as long as they're respectful of others. But we do have a new song coming out where we call out bros, specifically someone who isn't aware of their surroundings and might not consider how their words affect others.  Some friends said they saw some bros at a show that got uncomfortable with that song.

Can we get a sneak peek?
Matt: My favourite line is 'Performative masculinity, you're a joke that isn't funny. Check your privilege at my fist.'
Mohini: When we sing that song, we don't wanna alienate anybody, just wanna say 'hey, check yourself a bit.'

So you have an EP coming out in the next few months.
Mohini: Yeah we worked with our friend Vito Lucarelli who has been great, and we also did a track with Marty King. He's such a sweetheart. Few remixes on the horizon too! We did everything, but he did everything we can't. We 'produced' it but he engineered.

How does the EP compare to earlier releases?
Matt: A lot more complex. We've learnt a lot as opposed to being at the mercy of the software. It's a lot darker.
Mohini: We got more comfortable with sharing, stronger goth vibes, but still very irreverent.

Still, music to dance to?
Mohini: Definitely!

Any parting words that sum up Habits?

Mohini: RIP The Knife.
Matt: Definitely.

*CUE GROUP HUG*

Rei Barker is ever engaged in deep thought, and can be found on Twitter