The Meanies still mean business
Melbourne punk-rockers The Meanies are making a long-awaited return to Western Australia this weekend, hitting Indi Bar on Friday, July 10; supporting Spiderbait at Ice Cream Factory on Saturday, July 11; and finishing up at Mojos Bar on Sunday, July 12—with tickets on sale now. BRAYDEN EDWARDS caught up with Link Meanie to talk about finally releasing a 25-year-old song, writing Perth its own jingle and why The Meanies still mean business.
The last time I spoke to you, nearly 10 years ago, it was for The Meanies’ Last Tour for Who Knows How Long? At the time you were planning to move overseas, and it sounded like no one knew if you’d be back. Did you expect to return?
No, I got married in Spain, so I intended it to be a forever thing. It didn’t work out that way, and here I am. It was hard missing friends and family, and I was pretty shit at learning Spanish.
Back then you also gave me a rundown of your long list of onstage injuries. Have you managed to stay out of trouble a bit more these days?
I still get injuries, but I don’t do some of the stupid shit I used to. I’ve avoided broken bones for a while and mostly do tendons, muscles, etc.
You’ll be joined by The Gnomes for the WA leg of the tour. What makes them a good fit for these shows?
They’re a good rock ‘n’ roll band. That’s enough for me, although I’ve heard they shower regularly and smell nice. I’m sure I’ve heard that they’re smokers too, so I can bot some off them. Filthy bloody habit though.
You’re touring with the new single Shutdown, but from what I hear it’s not exactly a ‘new’ song. What’s the story behind that?
That was recorded in my delusional Meanies period, where for some reason, I thought it was a good idea to record country, disco, funk and whatever other style of songs we did back then. It was fun though. I actually quite like Shutdown.
But for something genuinely fresh, you also just released The Meanies Are Coming to Perth—I guess you would call it more of a ‘jingle’ than a ‘single.’ What made Perth worthy of its own theme song? Do you have any memories of playing or travelling in WA over the years?
I was worried no one would come to the sideshows, so I thought I’d butter up the locals. As for memories, my mind is like a sieve, but a vivid memory was the time a hoard of people were chasing this guy who’d stabbed someone, and he took refuge in the venue’s kitchen, causing the gig to be temporarily shut down. I think that dude was injured and may have died as well as his victim. Very surreal.
That’s wild! I’ve heard some punk musicians say they never expected to still be writing songs at this stage of their lives, but the world keeps giving them new things to be angry about. Is it still something that drives your songwriting, or are you just enjoying making music together?
I’ve never entertained the idea of not writing, as it’s imperative for good mental health stability. My songs come from all sorts of places, so even if by some miracle there was nothing to get angry about, I’d have plenty of fodder for songs.
What’s next for The Meanies after this tour? Any more singles or jingles in the pipeline?
Yeah, there’ll be more singles until we have enough for an LP. It’s a nice relaxed way of putting out a long player.
The Meanies play Indi Bar on Friday, July 10; Ice Cream Factory, on Saturday, July 11; and Mojos Bar on Sunday, July 12, 2026. For more info and to buy tickets, head to themeanies.net
