Comin’ to get you!

Known as much for their hilarious in between song banter as their balls to the wall, chaotic and catchy rock’n’roll, a Digger and The Pussycats show is always an adventure. Their loud, frenetic songs and irreverent lyrics set the tone for what you can expect as soon as you’ve passed GO! and gotten that all important stamp on the wrist at the venue door. Fun and good times to be had by all! I’ve been going to see Digger and The Pussycats play for years now, so I was absolutely stoked to get the chance to throw some questions their way and have them be a part of this issue. So, get your dancin’ boots on and let’s go!

For those who don’t know, please tell us about yourselves - who are Digger and The Pussycats - how did you guys meet and how did the band get started - what’s in the history?
Digger and The Pussycats are a two-piece band featuring Andy Moore on drums and vocals. I’m Sam Agostino and I bring up the tail on guitar and vocals. Andy and I met at Monash University a long time ago, when you could go to Uni and hang around in the bar all day. After being friends for a few months, we started playing in bands together. Our first gig was at a house party that my friends were having near Melbourne Uni. They asked if I could put a band together and I knew a bass player, but I needed a drummer. We just showed up and started playing, I can’t remember rehearsing. We jammed on funky stuff like Hendrix and James Brown. The party got pretty wild, and we’ve stuck at it since then. From there we put another band together called Fort Mary and when that finished, we started Digger and The Pussycats for a bit of fun and then our “real” band, Kamikaze Trio. Kamikaze Trio crashed and burned, but Digger is still going strong some 20+ years later.

We recorded our first record around 2003, and it put it out through Spooky Records. After that we went on tour in Europe. That pretty much set us rolling for what’s happening today. We’ve done a lot of touring in Europe and played shows in the US, China and Korea. We’ve put out a bunch of records and singles on different labels around the place too.

How would you describe your sound and who would you say has influenced you and the band?
I would describe us as a garage punk band and sometimes we stretch into other more experimental territories. Our influences are/have been The Make Up, The Gun Club, The Cramps, Scientists, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Spencer P Jones, Beasts of Bourbon, Sonic Youth, Louis Jordan and other jump blues things, Richard Pryor, Magic Dirt, PBS, RRR and probably a million other things.

You guys have the best banter and stories between songs - like you just seem to attract madness! So what is one of your favourite gig/ tour stories?
Trouble seems to follow Digger, but overall Andy and I are pretty calm. I’ve got way too many stories that you won’t be able to print. A fond memory that comes to mind was on our tour in 2006. We missed the ferry from Gothenburg to Kiel and so we had to drive around the long way. We were touring with another band, and we had a driver for this tour. Everyone was really hungover cause it had been a massive show in Gothenburg the night before. So big that I fell off the front of the stage and cut my arm up, so I was covered in blood. 

In the middle of the long drive, somewhere in nowhere Sweden, our driver Lars woke me up and told me that we’d run out of fuel. So, Andy and I trekked 3 kms to the next petrol station and negotiated fuel with the attendant who wasn’t that keen on us. 

Finally, we arrived at our town, about 2 hours late for the show. No GPS or Maps then, so we were greeted by a car on the outskirts of town, who signalled for us to follow, and we went to some strange part of town. Once we got out of the car, we were greeted by the occupants of the other car. It was a middle-aged lady and a teenage boy, who was maybe just 13. The teenage boy proudly introduced himself to us and told us that he was the promoter for the show. We all went inside and there was a room full of 10- to 15-year-old kids waiting for us to play. Clever kid had written to our agent, asked what the fee was and then sold tickets to all his friends. So, we’ve gone from one night, playing a wild, fucked up, drunken gig, covered in blood to 500 beautiful Swedish people, to playing to what looked like a 13-year-old’s
birthday party.

After the gig we stayed at the promoter’s house, and he had maybe 12 brothers and sisters, and they lived in a really old German farm house in the middle of nowhere. I slept in a bed where everything below my knees stuck out of the bed, so I presume it was one of the little kids’ regular beds. The next morning everyone woke up, had breakfast with this huge family of kids and then quietly got in the van. Anyway, beats working in an office.

You guys have toured a lot over the years, but what’s been your favourite place/s to play and why?
It’s a tough question. We love being in Europe because it feels like being on holidays. We love eating and drinking all the incredible local food in every town we play. And then at night we see all our friends that we’ve met over the years and it’s like a great celebration. 

We really love playing club shows in Europe! Our tours in China and Korea were fantastic because culturally they are really different to Australia, and it was a great time.

But it’s always great playing in Melbourne. We love seeing all our mates and it’s a great night out. Usually someone comes down to the show you haven’t seen in years, especially after COVID, so it’s really fun.

What can we expect next from yourself and Digger? 
We’ve got a LOT of plans for 2025. In June and July we’re playing another tour in Europe, I think its number 12 or something like that. We have a big festival date in Spain and then a bunch of club shows in Spain, Germany, Netherlands, and Belgium. We’re also writing a lot of new material so hopefully we get some of that out this year or early next year. We have heaps of material, but we aren’t sure if we want to do a record or maybe just do digital releases for a bit with a record to follow. 

As well as Digger, I’m working on my side hustle band Brat Farrar. We’ve just finished recording a new record, which sounds excellent, and we’re hoping to get that out later in the year or early next year with some European tours to follow.

Links
diggerandthepussycats.bandcamp.com
Instagram: @diggerandthepcats
bratfarrar.bandcamp.com