Our Chat with Paraquay

Written by Fred Carlyle

Photo Credit: @eve.wickson

Crowded House weren’t exaggerating when they wrote ‘Four seasons in one day’ for It’s only in Melbourne where one would have to consider if wearing summer appropriate clothes for a hot summer’s day is the right call to make. 

We were on the last legs of Summer and were about 12 or so minutes into our interview on the grass of Alexandria Gardens with Bellarine Peninsula’s alt rock trio Paraquay (You gotta say it like Para-Key, not like the country) where our insightful conversations about our favourite simpsons characters, whether or not Toyworld still exists and so on was interrupted by a flash thunderstorm which forced us to the shelter at the entrance of some riverside boating club. 

Comprising of guitarist and singer/songwriter Gus (favourite simpsons character is Lionel Hutz), Bassist Jade (favourite simpsons character is Lisa Simpson) and drummer Jett (dad didn’t let him watch the Simpsons); we have a trio who, at the time of our chat with them, sat with our faithful interviewer, giving off nothing but warm, friendly and wholesome energy as the day’s weather seemed to bring us all close together (quite literally as we had to practically huddle together for the remainder of our interview).

If you’re wondering when Paraquay formed and came to be what they are now, we have two answers for that question. In regards to what the members would reflect on as the official formation of Paraquay, it would have to be over at Geelong’s Barwon Club Hotel in 2021 where they had what they refer to as their ‘first proper gig’. Unofficially however, it was in a friend’s backyard on the back of a truck in lieu of a stage as part of a D.I.Y bushfire-fundraising festival in the early days of 2020 when a few mates in their senior highschool days introduced themselves to a crowd of punters as ‘Paraquay’ for the first time. This homegrown, first chapter of the band held a short life however as 2020 (In pure 2020 fashion) threw a Covid-labelled-spanner into the works of Paraquay’s blossoming and so the band’s adventure was put on a reluctant pause before promptly resuming themselves in the following two years, where they caught up on lost time via a bunch of gigs and dropping a self-titled EP in early 2022. 

It was in the middle of 2023 however when Paraquay really made a mark on our local music scene. By tracking the dates between their releases; you can get a funny idea of how much the band were absolutely agitating to get back out there during Covid times- like a dog at a park eagerly waiting to be unleashed before it can bolt through the grass- for it was just under a year since the release of their first EP when Paraquay returned to unload their debut album, ‘Here For Your Pleasure’ (HFYP for short) - a chock-full package for a indie group’s first record with it’s 13 tracks and close-to-an-hour runtime. 

Now, while there’s a few tracks on this album that provide an appropriate, melancholy soundscape to befit the serious introspective topics within its lyrics; a key component of Paraquay’s unique and compelling identity that’s established within HFYP is the band’s love for contradiction. If you pay close attention to the songs in the album- and wade through their volumes of energetic instrumentals- you’ll come to find that Paraquay have a cheeky habit of embedding topics of crippling anxiety and agonizingly introspective self-reflections underneath their seemingly light-hearted and care-free sound of grungey alternative rock. 

Describing their first album as a product of feeling trapped; the songs that comprise ‘Here for Your Pleasure’ were primarily written in Gus’ later half of his teen years. The complex array of emotions that one experiences in the limbo stage of childhood and adulthood is far from being a new lyrical theme to explore in music as I’m sure you’ve heard countless emo or midwest songs complaining about their highschool days or raging from being misunderstood. However, what separates Paraquay’s first album from the flavourful examples I just gave you is the grounded sincerity it upholds in tackling these themes. The anxious frustration and ‘teenage angst’ found in the lyrics of this album is served with a garnish of wry humour and a mature self-awareness which prevents such themes from  coming out sounding whiney or too angsty. It instead (with massive credit to Gus’ distinctive vocal style ) comes across as empathetic, mature and refreshingly down-to-earth.

“Ya’ll don’t wanna hear me ya’ll just wanna dance” - the line taken from Outkast’s hit track ‘Hey-Ya’ was a specific lyric that came to Jade’s mind when discussing the contradiction between the tone of Paraquay’s sound and lyricism: “Our music is hooky enough where you can sing along but we’re actually talking about serious shit… If you wanna hear that you’ll hear it, if not then ya know!”

Photo Credit: @eve.wickson

Now that it’s been almost two years since the release of HFYP, you might be wondering what it is that brings us to chatting with the band now. Before we get into that however, let’s get an idea of where Paraquay have been during the then and now… “Uhh” was Gus’ response that broke the three second silence that came from my question of what they’ve been up to. The reply seemed to capture what all three of them were thinking as they all began to chuckle before straightening up and taking a second attempt at the question. ‘Gigging’ is the short and end of the answer; given the length and beefiness of their first album, the band collectively agreed that their audience had enough to delve into for the mean time or, as Jade phrases it, “There was a lot for people to listen so let’s just play a fuck ton of shows.”

Now as we come back to 2025, Paraquay have marked their return to the scene with ‘Rat’, a track which can be enjoyed as both a gripping standalone experience (as it’s a bloody fun track) and also as the teasing first taste of what’s to come from the next chapter of the band. Talk about hitting the ground running: The first 40 seconds of this track does a phenomenal job of getting you excited and, if you were eagerly awaiting for the band’s return, your anticipation is affirmed instantly.  A fade in of two side-by-side guitar notes soon become a layer underneath Jett’s fiery yet collected drumming until the initial guitar notes are almost entirely drowned out by the establishment of the punchy, hooky guitar chords that’ll continue to pop their head out throughout the track before, finally, a quirky synth effect comes as quickly as it goes as it segue’s into Gus’s instant attention grabbing vocals as the song’s narrative begins to show it’s true colours.  Inspired by a rat’s habit of entering a dangerous situation despite their fear (A metaphor Gus thought of when spotting a mouse trying to find crumbs on a busy bandroom carpet); The lyrical story behind the latest track can be broken down to narrating someone who - like a rat- tries to take from life despite being utterly terrified. With his piqued delivery of the opening lyric ‘Like a rat in a corner’, we’re instantly given an established narrative that feels unleashed, like that of letting loose bottled up, pent up frustration onto your therapist. It doesn’t take too long during your listen of this track when you come to see what they meant when Gus modestly described this song as ‘a bit of an angry one’.  While they’ve had Rat as a part of their setlist for about two years now, the time between the then and now has seen significant altering and development of the song’s structure and conveyed tone as Gus had a moment in what he called ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back’ with the individual who mused the song’s story.   So, while this track’s story once began from a feeling of love, concern and care for an individual, what we have today is a product of Gus ‘wanting to wash his hands of this person. 

Knowing the context to this track really hammers home some of the already heavy hitting lyrics, as lines such as ‘you betrayed my trust’ and ‘now that I’ve given you up’  are delivered like piercing daggers. On a side note, one of the many things that I love about this track is how Gus’ vocals fluctuate in tone throughout the song; the dynamic way in which his voice shifts from this state of frustrated anger to a caring, pitiful delivery really captures captures song’s narrative and it’s emotional confliction of being sympathetic and angry.

At the time of our interview, Rat was Paraquay’s one and only example of their comeback into this year. However -you can thank my laissez faire (lazy) approach to giving myself writing deadlines for this segment- Paraquay have since released ‘Sydney Monorail’, their second single release of the year. So, what does Sydney Monorail offer? What does it have to say? In pure Paraquay fashion, what begins as lyrics that pen a simple curiosity for what happened to the Sydney Monorail (The track also takes large inspiration from the Simpsons monorail episode) shortly yields to the anxious tellings of navigating through young adulthood with the lyrics “unemployed but alive/ make a living off compromise” being an encapsulating highlight for me. And ,as per usual, we’re given that addictive “Laughing through your grievances” tone that Paraquay loves to convey as the song’s introspective rantings are veiled underneath by punchy, buoyant instrumentals that are incredibly fun to bop your head to. Aside from the continuation of Paraquay’s signature lyrical style, Sydney Monorail also emphasises how strong the chemistry of the band especially in the last legs of the track where all three members continue this  repeated chant that’s ridiculously enjoyable as you can just picture how much fun they were having when recording it… even if the chant is just a tad unnerving in it’s slightly unhinged mannerisms like that of the repeated ‘same as it ever was’ in Talking Heads’ Once in a Lifetime’.

In retrospect, HFYP practically serves as a unique time capsule for Paraquay as the lyricism and tone in sound artistically reflected the band members’ experience of transitioning from a teenager to a fresh adult. And so, with that in mind and the fact that a decent amount of time has passed since their first release, one of my burning questions for the band was what exactly they were going to be talking about in this second chapter of theirs. To answer that question, Gus simply told us that Rat, Sydney Monorail and whatever comes next will ‘‘still be anxious but in a more existential way’. To give you a little bit more, Gus added that “If the first project was about feeling stuck, (what comes next) will be about feeling lost”. So in regards to what this band has got to talk about within their lyricism, we’ve just seen the beginning so far as, I’m sure we all know a bit too well, that panicked, over-analytical introspection that we go all go through at least once in our life doesn’t just magically disappear once you enter your twenties, in most cases it just gets worse!

You’ll find that it takes little time spent with Paraquay to notice what great chemistry they have as both band members and mates so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that these three- who are all now in their early twenties- have been close to each other since their teen days and have now been mates for about 6 years (or ‘too long’ as Jett put in a cheeky manner).  Paraquay’s one of those bands where, even if you’ve only discovered them now instead of having seen them grow in front of your eyes, you can’t help but feel really proud of them. On top of that, the theme of growing up and maturing seemed to sneak into just about every aspect of the chat we had with the band. Aside from their reason to ‘do a fuck ton of shows’ following on from the release of HFYP, Gus, Jett and Jade all agreed that they felt as though they wanted to grow up a bit before they got back into the studio. One of the many ways in which you can spot the band’s growth is within the recording process of their music itself: whereas the mixing side of their first record was left to the shoulders of Jett who did it all in his bedroom, their next project is said to have a more collaborative approach from all band members as, how Gus put it “It ain’t our first rodeo now.”

If you’ve noticed the fact that I’ve been vague about stating what exactly will follow on from their two latest single releases, It’s because I know just about as much as you do, as Paraquay’s currently on the firm stance that they don’t want to spoil the surprise just yet…

Oh! Before I wrap this piece up with a bow tie and all; I’d like to -as per an eager request by today’s interviewees- give a shout out to one Bridie Coughlin, a gig booker who the members all equally wanted to emphasise how important a role this person played in the early stages of Paraquay’s career. So, on the slight chance that Bridie is reading this, please know reminded that the members of Paraquay love you very, very much

You can listen to Rat & Sydney Monorail here

You can find Paraquay on Instagram here