Rogue Half Return With Isolation Anthem 'Play Pretend'

It's been a hot minute since RADelaide upcomers Rogue Half dropped their last banger 'Bite My Tongue' but they're back, amidst this COVID-19 situation with an alt-rock anthem spawned from the pandemic itself (and it hits hard).

According to vocalist Matt Keal, the boys kept busy in isolation by writing and this is one of the end results of their efforts which he explained:

"I think during this time a lot of people understandably can feel quite separated from friendships and I think comes through in the lyrics and visuals. Maybe you start to question your relationships and their significance. This is a weird time and everyone is dealing with it in the best way they can."

I couldn't leave it at just that... Knowing how testing this time has been for relationships/friendships/flatmateships etc I dug a little deeper into the song/band with Matt...

What was the hardest thing you found with isolation/COVID?

I think you go through your day-to-day with a support network and a certain way you interact with them. Having that support network effectively taken away is tough, and you have to work out new ways of keeping your friendships and relationships intact.

Was expressing those emotions into lyrics a therapeutic release for you or did you just keep writing to cure boredom?

Honestly a bit of both. We were all stuck at home in front of computers and instruments so what better way to fill the time than to write, but also whatever is currently going on in our lives tends to come out in our music so I guess it was an emotional release of sorts

How do you feel the band has grown from this whole pandemic?

I think it has made us focus more on each other. Now more than ever, tempers can flare over different aspects of the music/art so it has pushed us to make more of an effort to include everyone in all aspects of the process.

Look out for your mates and their mental well-being.

Things returning back to normal in RADelaide now?

We are definitely getting there! People are just daring to start thinking about live shows again for later in the year but I don’t want to jinx it so we will just see how it goes!

What's next for the band? Coronavirus EP/Album on the way?

We have released these few singles, and now we are looking ahead for what to do next. Most likely an EP in the future, and also working on practicing our live set to make sure we are ready to hit the ground running when we are able to play shows again

Looking forward to that day whenever it comes.. stay safe!

Interview by Browny @brownypaul

Follow the band on Facebook and Instagram

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvtiGW3nQ48&w=853&h=480]