Catch up with Mosquito Coast

Having already claimed their crown as winners of Triple J’s Unearthed High in 2015, Perth-based duo Mosquito Coast have well and truly made their mark in Australia’s national music scene. With a WAM nomination for Most Popular Act to add to the repertoire, it just keeps getting better for the Perth-born pair. At Perth Underground, we’ve been lucky enough to meet the talented twosome - Conor Barton and Naomi Robinson - to hear more about their upcoming tour, their obsession for burgers, and their top picks from Perth’s local music scene!

Where do you guys call home?

Naomi: Conor’s from Scarborough, and I’ve just moved from City Beach to Samson in Fremantle… so I’m a Freo rat now. 

PU: They always say that where you’re from is basically where you spent age 15-21, that’s the time that defines your personality…

Conor: My Mom’s house - perfect.

Whereabouts do you write your music?

N: We started writing at my parent’s house in their basement. It always had a kind of medieval dungeon vibe, but it was a great place to get in the mood for writing tunes!

C: We used to go down there, turn off all the lights, and just sit there in the dark and get in the writing vibe.…you think we’re joking but we actually did that!

Growing up in Perth, where were your favourite places to eat and hangout?

C: We eat a lot!  At the moment, Lucky Chan’s is our fave hangout- you’ve always got to go to the top floor with the view (unless it’s raining, obviously). We usually aim to write music, but then end up eating too much and watching TV because we’re too full to play.

N: Little Creatures is good in Freo too.

You’re obviously both Perth-based musos, have you got any favourite Perth bands at the moment?

N: We really like Dream Rimmy, Kitchen People, Koi Child and Spacey Jane - she used to go to my school! Dream Rimmy are definitely one to look out for - they’ve been amazing for ages!

C: We saw Spacey Jane down at Mojo’s the other night. They were the first ones up, and they were so tight! Ben Aguero will be really big too - he’s constantly making beats, and he's only 19.

Where do you guys usually hang at night time? 

N: Mojo’s - we play so many boat show gigs there. It kind of feels like your workplace after a while! Badlands is also cool…it reminds me of a cave - it’s got a bit of a Dracula vibe to it!

C: Late Night Valentine is also good.

Out of the venues you haven’t performed at, what’s the place you want to play at most? 

C & N: The Belvoir - it’s this super cool amphitheatre in the hills. We saw Tame Impala there. It’s so cool, especially when you’re down the bottom looking up at the gig, and the acoustics are really good.

When you guys are off performing over East, what’s the things you miss most about Perth?

C: Not a lot! You’re having too much fun on tour to be worrying about back home.

N: I miss Jus Burgers—you only get them in Perth. Same with Flipside

C: You can get away with going to Grill’d though… because the burger I get at Flipside is Taxi C.A.B, which translates to the Simon Says at Grill’d. Bacon, chicken and avocado… I’ve got the core ingredients, I just have to work it out from there! 

2016 was a crazy year for you, what’s on the horizon for 2017?

C & N: We’ve got another tour coming up really soon - we’re playing at PIAF at the new Chevron Festival Gardens which is really exciting. Then we’ve got shows lined up till we go to Melbourne in March. We might write a bit more after that… maybe a track album.

You’ve got a lot going on with music, but are you guys looking forward to going to uni or anything like that this year? 

C: I’m going to uni to study politics and journalism. I don’t know how I feel about it - I’m excited I guess! Other than work, I do literally nothing at the moment, so it’ll give me something to work towards!