New single, 'Hell' out 27 June 2025!

Melbourne’s finest donkeys of musical mischief, The Mean Times, are back with 'Hell', the second single from their upcoming album 'Feel More Dumb', dropping September 2025 via Golden Robot Records. 'Hell' is set to release June 27 and is available for pre-save now.

A garage-pop post-punk panic attack disguised as a party anthem, 'Hell' is part sermon, part sleaze, and fully unhinged. Imagine The Vines if they took their meds with beer instead of water. Or early Arctic Monkeys after two weeks of no sleep, bad decisions, and worse influences. It’s Dune Rats with existential dread. Depeche Mode getting personal with Jesus. You get the picture. But underneath the mayhem is a message - or maybe the absence of one.

'Hell' is a filthy, sex-positive anthem that kicks down the doors of shame and invites everyone in. Too many sex songs cater to straight male fantasies. This one’s for everyone who enjoys getting dirty, regardless of gender or orientation. With surreal euphemisms, cheeky blasphemy, and a whole lot of hip-thrusting swagger, it’s unapologetic, inclusive, and just plain fun.

Musically, it’s the collision of a breakdown and a banger, snarling sarcasm and earworm choruses, driven by a rhythm section that hits like a stolen shopping trolley careening downhill. It's the sound of trying to keep it together while everything around you burns - fast, loud, and somehow danceable. There's no redemption arc here. No moral compass. Just a hook-filled descent into joyful chaos. It’s the end of the world. Bring a saddle. And maybe a safe word.

LISTEN NOW

SHOWS

Single launch,
5 July 25 @ The Old Bar, Fitzroy

Melbourne/Naarm’s The Mean Times, are gearing up to unleash their debut album Feel More Dumb in September 2025 through Golden Robot Records. Produced by Anna Laverty (Camp Cope, Peep Tempel, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds), the record is the band’s most chaotic, honest and gloriously unhinged statement to date - equal parts panic attack and party anthem, blistering with sharp hooks, scuzzy riffs and more lyrical side-eye than a taxidermist at a petting zoo.

Having formed so long ago they can’t remember how, The Mean Times have played practically every sticky carpet in Victoria, and many more beyond. From their early synth-leaning debut EP You’ve Got the Wrong Guys, to the post-grunge garage-pop of Raw Prawn and Stunned Mullet, the band has consistently fused swagger with self-deprecation, pairing catchy choruses with subject matter that swings between mid-life dread, bad decisions, and the fun you can have before things fall apart.

The new singles Already Done and Hell preview the full chaos of Feel More Dumb - think The Vines on decaf, Blur with existential dread, or Arctic Monkeys being blackmailed by their own conscience. It’s music built to shout along with while you think. It’s raw yet polished, weird yet digestible, punk yet pop. There’s no redemption arc here, no grandstanding - just the thrill of shouting into the void with your mates and maybe pulling off a half-decent dance move before it all collapses.

Musically, The Mean Times channel everything from The Saints and Pixies to Blur, Regurgitator and Queens of the Stone Age - but they’d probably just say they sound like a shopping trolley on fire rolling down a hill into a dive bar with good chips. The lyrics are loud, literate and laced with droll humour; the energy, infectious; the vibe, all-in.

With Feel More Dumb, The Mean Times aren’t trying to save the world. They’re just here to point out its ridiculousness and make you dance while it burns.