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1. Hi guys, welcome to VENTS! How have you been?
2026 has been amazing. Mack & Cook started off with Sign of the Times, and it was great that Murray could jump out of his red skivvy and get a bit political, because down under, we certainly need it.
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2. “Dirty Laundry” has such a slow-burning, cinematic atmosphere. What was the first image or feeling that inspired the song?
The first image for me was cowboy boots on the floor with a pile of dirty laundry. It was wood, it was dirt, it was dust, it was grease, and it was frustration, actually. It was the idea that women have cleaned the boots and the laundry of men for centuries, and many women have only ever been on the floor.
As I sang the song, it became a song of emancipation and liberation, in that in the final verse, she’s gone, she’s disappeared. So it started ancient, became modern, and that’s just how songs work. They take you somewhere as you’re writing them.
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3. There’s a great sense of tension and restraint throughout the track. Was the goal to let mood speak louder than volume or flash?
Yes, absolutely. We loved pulling back. It was great staying in that muddy, tobacco-y, smoky zone.
There were moments where I remembered this place called Dead Zoo in Montana, which is exactly like that. It’s got Yellowstone and all these really old bones in it, and it feels like a sort of psychological prison on some level. That kept us controlled and contained.
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4. Lizzie, your vocal feels both intimate and commanding. How did you approach capturing that balance?
I would say staying in my head, staying in the heart of the song. When I sing, I see the story in my mind’s eye and I become that character.
Keeping the snarl in there and holding back. I’ve probably been accused of over-singing in earlier records, but this one was easy because I really just felt like I was telling the story, telling someone else’s story on some level.
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5. Murray, your guitar work is minimal but deeply effective. Do you find that saying less musically can create more impact?
Thanks. Yes, I try to match my playing to the to the mood of the song. As Lizzie and I write the music together, I have a pretty good handle on the way the guitar should serve the song. I always think that’s my role as a musician: serving the song rather than being flashy and showing off. I’m really not that sort of player.
I have a large collection of guitars, so for each song we record I like to select a guitar that matches the tone of the song. For Dirty Laundry I played a 1972 Gibson ES 330 for the dirty sound. The P90 pickups really growl. For the cleaner guitar sound I used a 1964 Gretsch 6120. It added a touch of sweetness.
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6. “Squeaky Clean” flips the energy completely into rockabilly territory. Why was it important to present two contrasting sides of the same creative world?
Yes, it was. We were really deliberately trying to stretch a song and see how much we could change it, and whether it would come with us into rockabilly territory.
We think it does. It’s a good B-side.
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7. Your music draws from blues, country, garage rock, and soul, yet it never feels like nostalgia. How do you honour those traditions while keeping the sound modern and alive?
That’s a beautiful question, and thank you. That’s exactly what we hoped to achieve.
We do honour those traditions because we love them. We love all those genres, and most importantly, we loved listening to the live music that is associated with them growing up.
When one of your first live music experiences is The Cramps, and they’re wild and mind-blowing visually, but they’ve also got a sense of menace and control, it’s something that stays with you.
We’re big fans of Stray Cats and so many other bands that have this sort of darkness in the music. If you like crime scene genre and not-too-scary horror movies, we feel like some of that has made its way into the track.
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8. There’s a storytelling quality in “Dirty Laundry,” even without spelling everything out lyrically. How important is mystery in your songwriting?
So much about imagery brings mystery, because it is painting a world for sonic audiences to meet us there in.
If we can meet them halfway, then we’re actually creating the song with them, because we’re putting stuff out there that they can pick up in that musical zone. There’s a real process involved in inviting and baiting the audience so that they will come into that room and participate.
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9. Do you often compose with visual scenes or cinematic settings in mind?
No, not really. But this one was not deliberate—we really wanted to see if we could create something that we think speaks volumes.
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10. You’ll be heading to Spain this summer for intimate duo shows. How do stripped-back live settings change the chemistry of these songs?
We’re up close and personal in Spain. I think Madrid Funhouse is just under a 200 room. It’s been a while since I’ve played in Madrid, but audiences get very, very close.
That can be fantastic and exciting and also a little bit wild. We hope to be in the thick of it, and we hope we can pack out especially the Funhouse and make it real fun.
It’s sometimes a challenge to play some of the songs without a band behind us but as most of the songs have been written using just acoustic guitar and voice, we have manage to convey the essence of the songs. I always feel that a good song should still be a good song when it’s sung with just a guitar behind the vocal.
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11. What do these two tracks reveal about the current chapter of Murray & The Movers?
We’re going to keep evolving.
As musicians, we get better with age, like a good bottle of red. I’m sure Murray would agree—he’s a bit of a fan of the red.
We definitely feel like we’re moving in the right direction.
