Over the past eight years, Brissie indie-rockers, Last Dinosaurs have gone from fresh-faced teens to veterans of the game, recently releasing their third studio album ‘Yumeno Garden’. Perfectly melding the old with the new, the latest effort from the four-piece outfit sees them continue to question the state of the world as they mask dark and, at times, melancholic lyrics in melodic guitar riffs and irresistibly catchy bass grooves.

To commemorate the album’s release and the announcement of their upcoming national tour in March, we had Sean and Lachlan Caskey walk us through ‘Yumeno Garden’, track-by-track.

Track 1: “Eleven”

After watching Stranger Things twice in a row, I was red hot with inspiration from this powerful TV show. It had been a long time since anything had moved me like this. The inundation of angst and desperation lead me to write this song. Fast guitars and aggressive drums were the base for a feeling of melancholy, with a touch of despair. It’s all about that point in a story when you’re hanging on the edge and frenzied at the thought of complete collapse and desperately hoping for nothing but a happy finale.

Track 2: “Dominos”

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There were some moments in the last couple of years where we really felt that we were on struggle street as a band. I felt really helpless and not in control with my life in a time when everything should have been going so well. I made a few big changes and set myself a new path. The journey began with this song. I wanted to write a song that didn’t rely on any synths or effects to prove to myself that was I was doing didn’t need any smoke, mirrors or blankets. I just wanted raw edgy lead guitars as a symbol of independence and confidence.

Track 3: “BASS GOD”

After a big night out I woke up in the morning feeling very contemplative about a thought I had during the peak of the evening. I was standing on the side watching all the people from different cultures and religions congregate to dance together. This idea just seemed so enlightening and interesting and I was imagining these people being united by a tall, long-haired, colourful face-painted bass rock god playing all the epic bass lines that united everyone in a euphoric trance.

In the morning, I quickly wrote a spooky house track about that whole idea, which became a platform for the final song. Its origins are very distant to the final recording but the concept of being guided through life remained. The difference was it was more about finding answers from within yourself and not relying on an imaginary being.

Track 4: “Sense”

I’ve had the riff to this song for many years and we have played this song a couple of times in Asia but in a completely different arrangement. For some reason, I found it extremely difficult to create a good version of the song that complimented the main riff every time it came back in. The recording file is Sense421 because it was probably recorded 421 times, but that’s how hard I kept working to get it to a place I was proud of.

The song is about breaking up, it was written as a love letter to an ex. The truth is, I was overwhelmed with the daunting thought of the band breaking up. Sometimes the road we travel gets really rough and we went through some of the toughest times over the last 3 years but we made it. The idea of breaking up was as painful as a relationship breakup and fuelled me to write.

Track 5: “Happy”

After splitting with my girlfriend, I moved into a different house with a good friend of mine. My room was really small and I wasn’t able to set up any of my music gear, which remained in storage somewhere. One night when I knew I wasn’t going to sleep, I was suddenly pummelled by a wave of inspiration. I grabbed my laptop and tried to record acoustic guitar through my iPhone earphones which proved to be a terrible idea.

It was supposed to sound like a slow ballad on guitar but sounded like the hamster dance trapped in a milo tin. I was forced to rely on only programming so it became a synth song. I recorded demo vocals on the earphones and slowly refined the percussion and synth sounds to where they are now.

Track 6: “Forget About”

I wrote this song when I was about 19-20. Just a young boy lamenting about the same girl. Specifically, this song was a foresight towards the end of a relationship, a realisation that eternity was kind of a bit idealistic. Sean liked the demo a lot and insisted we play the song. He helped me workshop it and make it more anthemic. I think he contributed a lot to the appeal of the song. Love playing this live, can’t wait for y’all to see it.

Track 7: “Italo Disco”

I was on a bus from Florence to Verona in Italy with my now ex-girlfriend and I had a mini Korg MIDI keyboard that I was making little loops on. All the chords and melody came out with no filter as I was just recording the first idea that occurred to me. The following day, in Verona, was when my girlfriend of 5 and a half years and I agreed that we couldn’t continue. Though we still love each other unconditionally, something was given up whilst were in Verona.

Ironically, Verona is the fictional hometown of Romeo and Juliette and is hence a super-romanticised place. This prominently stuck in the front of my mind while we were walking the streets together. I think the sweetness and gentleness of the song reflects who we were at that time and place. The song is sad and honest.

Track 8: “Everything Relative”

“Everything relative to the end”, I should say. Like the majority of my songs on this album, this was written in a short period of time after I got back from travelling Norway and Finland with my ex-girlfriend. But no, actually this song isn’t necessarily about a relationship, though it completely sounds like it. I was in a rather naive, yet passionately downtrodden phase of realising basically how fucked up the world was. Quite obsessed with the details about global warming, animal cruelty and food/water wastage, I was coming to terms with how accelerated our demise as a civilisation is. Now? I don’t care because there’s nothing we can do and I’m young so I want to be happy and care less about the world’s problems. This song, however, captures my mood of absolute futility towards life.

Track 9: “Shallow Boy”

Similar situation to “Forget About” in terms of the re-jigging of the song. The idea of the song remains the same as the demo but the music is drastically different. “Shallow Boy” is about equating a place with a person or personality. In this case, we rather stereotypically decided on Paris, though the demo was regarding western Europe vaguely. I imagined these western European metropolitan cityscapes as a young, wealthy and attractive, yet shallow individual.

Though you would think it more likely be an older person, I felt that the former glory of Europe’s empires was a source of false pride, as if the history of the place reflected an inheritance of wealth. It’s prestigious and appealing but does not have much to offer in terms of real substance.

On the flip side, I was still a sucker for all the bells and whistles and realised that after a trip to all the typical European destinations, I was hopelessly enamoured with the place. I am a young girl with a crush on a boy named Europe. He’s a rude and shallow asshole, but he’s exotic so there we have it.

Track 10: “Non Lo So”

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The demo of this song was also recorded in the same period as the others. It’s supposed to capture a similar feeling to “Everything Relative” but less morbid, thank fuck. It reflected my feelings toward a Mexican girl who is still a dear friend of mine, and the extremely dark and cruel world of her upbringing.

It reflects a sort of despair towards people in general from the point of view of someone who has been bullied and degraded. I wanted to express an emotional malaise with ambiguous yet visceral lyrics.

The demo captures the ‘down-troddenness’ I little more honestly, but I hope this version is well-received nonetheless.

Stream Last Dinosaurs’ third LP ‘Yumeno Garden’ below:

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Make sure to catch the boys when they hit the road again next March.

Last Dinosaurs | ‘Yumeno Garden’ Album Tour

Fri, 15 Mar – Jack Rabbit Slim’s, Perth, WA

Sat, 16 Mar – Jive, Adelaide, SA

Sat, 23 Mar – The Zoo, Brisbane, QLD

Fri, 29 Mar – Howler, Melbourne, VIC

Sat, 30 Mar – Oxford Art Factory, Sydney, NSW

Tickets are available from 9am on Wednesday October 10th.