Born out of lockdown chaos and fuelled by raw poetry, dark humour, and blistering beats, Austerity Dogs are carving out their own corner of Liverpool’s underground. What started as a chance experiment between engineer/producer Lachlan and writer/comedian Jono has grown into a post-punk spoken word project that blends grit with wit, politics with poetry, and rage with moments of sharp relief. From cassettes passed between friends to gigs alongside Goldie Lookin Chain, the duo have been steadily building a reputation for music that’s as unfiltered as it is unforgettable.
We caught up with Lachlan and Jono to talk about their beginnings, the influence of Liverpool’s DIY scenes, and how real life—from riots to comedy clubs—shapes their sound.
For our readers can you tell us a bit about yourselves and how Austerity Dogs came to be?
Lachlan: Honestly just a bit of chance. During the pandemic I couldn’t work so I built a small studio in this horrible little flat I was renting at the time on County Road so I could keep doing my job as an engineer and producing for rappers, me and Jono were messing about putting some of his poems to beats as he couldn’t do the comedy due to lockdown and it kind of went from there really.
Jono: Like Lachlan said, I was doing stand up comedy and was getting back into it taking on more gigs, then lockdown hit and I needed to do something. I come from a writing background I’ve wrote screenplays, short stories, jokes. I started making poems and we put them behind beats. Like the streets if they were into the fall.
You’ve described yourselves as a post-punk spoken word duo. How did your backgrounds—comedy and producing—shape the way you approach music?
Lachlan: I’ve always been in and out of hardcore bands so it felt quite natural to merge that with the production side of things, I’d been thinking of doing a project like this for a while before Jono stepped in the booth and when he did the comedy side of it mixing in made it all sort of just clicked I think.
Jono: It means we have a quick turn around too, I’ll mock up a poem, Lachlan some instrumental. Then we water it down and try and structure more of a song, find a chorus. A lot of our work is bare bones poetry but we can’t always get the crowd singing back, so we make songs like This is Great Britain for some crowd interaction. A lot of our music is very dark and touches on some upsetting themes sometimes, so we might use the comedy to lighten the tone, or if you listen to our tapes, the next song after the one that made you cry might make you laugh.
Who has inspired you musically or lyrically, both in Liverpool and beyond?
Lachlan: As far as Liverpool goes I’d say the underground rap/drill scene I work with has definitely rubbed off on me musically, nothing’s sugar coated, it’s raw and real and I feel we also embody that to an extent. I grew up bridging two scenes so I kind of draw influence from all over. With Austerity Dogs I feel like we’re sort of modernising that black flag, bad brains and circle jerks kind of punk where there’s really no rules on what you can play it’s more about the message.
Jono: For me my music taste is eclectic. If you didn’t know I had ADHD look at my recent artists on Spotify. But I take a lot from John Cooper Clarke, Mark E Smith, musically too we take from The Fall. But we will mix it up a bit, we will have a drum and bass style track followed by a joy division bass heavy sounding track.
Your first EP, Self Entitled, was a kind of experiment. How did that process help you discover your sound?
Lachlan: We tried a lot on that first one, some of it worked, some not so much we definitely learned our strengths and leaned into them on the next one.
Jono: Our thinking behind it was really let’s just drop something out there. We won’t know if we like it until we release something to the world. If the world hates it fine, we will make it for us. But it’s very very rough. Some good tracks on there, but it’s not the best intro even with it being our first one haha.
The Void gained traction through friends in comedy and music circles. How did it feel to get that kind of recognition early on?
Lachlan: It was a decent response to be fair, we got some really good gigs off the back of it as well, gave us the motivation to keep building on that sound and developing more as an act.
Jono: It did well better than it should have that’s what I still say. There was a massive jump in quality and it’s the perfect intro to us. From the back of it we got some cracking gigs, new fans, we sold merch associated to it. You can even get it on cassette tape but it’s very limited. As much as I love it and want everyone to hear the void, I quite like the open source approach to it.
Can you walk us through the making of Necropolis? What were the main differences compared to your earlier work?
Lachlan: Necropolis was different because Jono came to me with a full concept and we worked from the ground up to make sure it flowed properly, kind of like an album would I guess. We really spent a lot of time on the mix/master to try and get it as cohesive as possible when listening through in one go, we did a lot of retakes and demos developing the tracks which I think shows in the final record.
Jono: When I mentioned I’m from a writing background, a lot of that is in horror. I had this dream of a horror inspired release. But with real structure this time. Essentially what an album would sound like. It told a tale, references to the apocalypse, all building up to the last track. A party. Think fall of Rome. But the entire time i want the audience to feel haunted. Like the ep is cursed. You can’t put your finger on it. But you know something is wrong.
Lion Man was inspired by some intense local events. How do real-life experiences shape your songs?
Lachlan: Honestly just the world we live in right now, the country is in shambles and it’s sad, that’s mainly what inspires our lyrics. Lion Man was inspired by the riots on County Road where I used to live, we were playing Penny Lane Weekender Festival and had to leave early because they set the library and a few other things on fire next to the studio, that was a very dark time for the city in general to be honest.
Jono: The County Road riot was terrible, and terrifying not just for us but our neighbours. Real life really does inspire both of our writing. We want to make music that’s relatable. We even go as far to re word verses in case we feel they’re a little pompous and up itself. We don’t need fancy words to describe what we’re feeling. We want to appeal to the every day person.
Have there been any particularly memorable gigs or experiences that shaped you as a band?
Lachlan: We got the chance to play London supporting Goldie Lookin Chain which was surreal, the trip went a bit sideways on the way back aswell but we can all laugh about it now when we look back.
Jono: Yeah we’ve had cracking support spots. We’ve turned up to Leeds with a coach full of our supporters and nearly got thrown out because the Scouse accent while drunk, especially outside the city, can be seen as a little intimidating. But the Goldie Lookin Chain one was out there. Loved them as a child. And finding out they knew our lyrics was unbelievable.
Are there any upcoming projects, collaborations, or new sounds you’re exploring?
Lachlan: We’ve been working on a new mixtape actually, once our new studio is finished hopefully we can get back on track, it’s quite varied sound wise so I think there’ll be something for everyone on there.
Jono: We’ve got a gig in Wigan on 18th October, back local early December just waiting on the exact date. Our next release is gonna be more lighthearted too. We’ve released some very dark records, and Necropolis is meant to scare you. So this time round we want to make you laugh a little. But not take away from the thing that makes us what we are. Two angry Scouse kids that came from nothing and are angry with what’s around them.
Follow @austeritydogs on Instagram for updates.
