Hey hey, we’re Mesa Cosa, we don’t use pedals, effect boards, vintage amps or tuners (because we cant afford them), we sing songs about devils, chupacabras, mountain dogs and five finger discounts in spanish and english. We’ve played shows with noise bands, punk bands, garage bands, rockabilly bands, shoegaze bands, across almost every single Melbourne venue in our short history and have broken more tambourines than any other band we know of.

Mesa Cosa, does that mean anything in another language or just name you came up with?

It’s not meant to mean anything, we just like how it sounds! We came up with the name a long time ago, a couple of us were throwing band names around and Stoo our tambo player said something, we misheard it as Mesa Cosa and it stuck. Years later when we started the band we decided to go with that. That’s how we come up with most things, misunderstanding each other.  

What’s your earliest memory of performing and who inspired you to start?

As an individual my (Pablo) first performance was a Ramones cover of ‘Psycho Therapy’ in front of my whole School, there was this big Grungers vs Homies thing going on at the time so we drew Adidas stripes on our shirts and made fun of homeboys, expecting to get bashed soon after. Turns out they dug it. Our first performance as a band was at the Cobra bar upstairs at the Tote, Nic and Stoo got into a fight on stage which was great. 

What and where was the first gig you went to?

Frenzal Rhomb and Grinspoon in Sydney right by Central Station, Bloodhound Gang and Veruca Salt played as well, it was awesome, I think it was called ‘Grudgefest’. At one point Veruca Salts electricity went out but they kept the drums going and then crowdsurfed everyone wanted to touch them, they were babes back then.

Do you prefer the studio or the stage? Which and why?

Stage sounds better for us at least, its more spontaneous and energetic, something is being created ‘live’. My favorite part is when a band fucks up and then you watch them pick up the pieces, being sort of urgently caught into having to come up with something makes music sound fresh.

Do you have a musical influence we might not expect? Any Australian bands in particular?

‘The Bedridden’ from Canberra, they were a garage-folk outfit, a crew of misfits playing songs in the backyard and recording them. One of their key members was Baterz, he was a hemophiliac and was accidently infected with HIV, he died about a decade ago which is really sad as he was an amazing songwriter. The Bedridden are one of Australias best and least recognized bands imo, you can listen to them on Grooveshark, they write songs about every day things with a real dark humor, their vibe was a big inspiration.

How do you find new music?

Surfing youtube endlessly or also picking off what people we know are listening to on Spotify, sometimes we’ll grab a magazine or go through the list of bands on an Inpress and check them out. Going to lots of gigs as well. Lloyd our sax player has an almost infinite record collection of all sorts of brutal music so just hanging with him is hugely educational.

Do you have any particular ritual before you go on stage? Perhaps some group lunges?

Maybe we should! Get some sort of tribal thing going. ‘Fuck em up! Fuck em up! Fuck em up!’ a big rally cry! Usually we just freak out about what we forgot and try to find the one or two members that are missing out back having a smoke.

If you could curate your own festival, where would it be, who would be on the bill, how many people would you let in and what features would it have?

We threw a party last year called Psicodelica which had free tacos and sangria and starred a bunch of awesome bands like Gizzard/Baptism/Keith! Party, it was really ratty and noisy with a blown out PA and too many people in one place. Thats the kind of parties we wanna throw. Fun, unpretentious crazy club gigs, where the vibe and the fun is more important than anything else.

You’re about to hit the road with Japan’s The Zoobombs, have you planned and new and exciting for your live shows?

We bought these little ukulele tuners that snap onto your guitar which we’re really excited about. We also wrote a set list. Don’t wanna be over-prepared though. We’re planning on asking the sound guy to change the color of the lights for different songs.

What’s in store for the rest of 2012 after The Zoobombs tour?

We’ve got another international support with a killer Brooklyn band that we’re really excited about. Our ‘Infernal Cakewalk’ EP is being re-released via Off The Hip records on CD, with a re-master by Mikey Young, thats going to go out to a bunch of people so hopefully we get some feedback and opportunities from that. We’re taking a month or so off to work on a second EP and we’re making a B-grade film clip, probably try to cotton on to some more good supports and keep playing raucous parties.

Catch Mesa Cosa with The Zoobombs on the following dates:

ZOOBOMBS / MESA COSA TOUR 2012

17 Aug– Melbourne, TheTote W/ Mesa Cosa, Baptism of Uzi and Batpiss

22 Aug– Newcastle, Great Northern Hotel W/ Mesa Cosa and guests

24 Aug– The Patch, Wollongong W/ Mesa Cosa and guests

25 Aug– Sandringham Hotel, Sydney W/ Mesa Cosa, Dead Farmers and guests

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