Their album may be entitled Feral but RVG - Romy Vager, Reuben Bloxham, Marc Nolte and Isabele Wallace - are very much a caged animal currently. A lengthy and eagerly-anticipated 2020 touring schedule has been put on the backburner due to the coronavirus pandemic. For a band who thrive so much on the intense electricity of a live performance, this was of particular concern. Consolation arrives, however, when one listens to the full album - recorded mostly live, the record manages to capture a sliver of the raw magnetism that seeing RVG in the flesh affords.

Vager’s songwriting on Feral too is a marvel. Whether inhabiting other surreal characters or pondering a semi-autobiographical version of herself, her sharp lyricism propels the record at all times; her vocals constantly quiver with ferocity when processing her words. Vager tries to give sound to the voiceless, to the outsider, and a sense of isolation and frustration emanates throughout the album, aptly so given the current state of the world.

RVG are the rare band who can intertwine contrasting facets to make a greater whole. Feral mixes the personal and the political, being both a cry for help and a call to action, while combining their darkened writing with upbeat and thrusting post-punk rhythm. The band supported the Pixies back in March - just before coronavirus erupted and changed everything - and that gig felt like vindication for Vager and the band’s years of dedication and quality. Feral only enhances this.

We spoke with Vager on the phone to discuss the new album.

TJ: Where did the album title come from? What’s the meaning behind it?

RV: It was just a good word to use really. I don’t think there was too much thought, except I just felt like that title just suited all the songs brilliantly.

‘Alexandra’ was released as a single back in May 2019. When did the other tracks on the album come together?

It’s been a bit more than a year, for sure. We had just finished the masters and then released 'Alexandra'. And then we were just waiting to release the rest of it up until now.

That song is quite the powerful opening statement for the record - how much of it was autobiographical?

Some of it. It comes from a real place but it’s dramatic and exaggerated!

You’ve said that ‘Help Somebody’ was written on a pivotal day in global politics. What day was this exactly?

When Trump got sworn in. It felt like a good time to write a song. I just tried to write a song to be like “What can I do? What can I do to be a better person?”.

You seem to revel in inhabiting these fascinating characters, much like an Elliott Smith or Tom Waits. You did it previously on the song ‘A Quality Of Mercy’ and now here again on ‘Christian Neurosurgeon’. Tell me about that single’s narrative.

It’s just a sort of silly song. I thought that Christianity and neurosurgery are these two things that don’t quite fit together. It’s hard to fit them together, I think. So it was nice to consider these two things and how they process together in that way. It’s just quite a silly song from a really quite strange perspective.

The song ‘The Baby & The Bottle’ feels like a companion piece to ‘Vincent Van Gogh’ from your previous album - the kind of biting but funny attack on an individual.

Yeah totally! It’s that kind of vibe, sure. The person I wrote ‘Vincent Van Gogh’ about, I think is quite proud of it. He goes around telling people which I think is really funny.

On ‘Asteroid’ you sing “I was hoping I could live my life out in a shell/But then someone hatched me and down I fell/Something’s gonna change!” - this seems very emblematic of the undercurrent of hope on your album.

Yeah totally. I guess it’s just about change really. That change is necessary but not always pleasant. And it’s much easier to stay in bed and not change as much as possible.

There’s always been a juxtaposition between the darker material of your lyrics and the janglier, more upbeat sounds of your melodies. How much of this is a conscious, collaborative thing with the rest of the band?

I’ve been making little demos for a long time, that’s how I did the songs for the first record and how I did the songs for this record. The band doesn’t even need them, I just do them for myself and it sort of helps me to see everything and then I have a structure straight away when I take it to the band and then they can change it around as much as possible. There’s always an inherent song there initially. We don’t jam that much, we just rearrange bits and give them a bit more feel.

The Go-Betweens are always listed as an influence on the band. Your lyricism is so stringently individual though - were you listening to anything or anyone in particular while writing this album or did it mainly come from a solo place?

My favourite ever compilation is this compilation called The Grim Reaper's Greatest Hits. It’s this compilation of death discs from the 50’s and into the 60’s. It’s all these songs about car crashes and stuff like that. It’s incredible. I hope one day it gets released on vinyl. I found it years ago just on the internet and became obsessed with it. And I guess that's what we're going for as well, it’s quite dark lyrics, at least more complicated lyrics, but have the music be kind of nice, major chord-y stuff. That’s what I like and that’s what I was trying to do when I was writing a lot of the songs.

You recorded the album with Victor Van Vugt, who has quite the resume. What was the experience like and how did he help with the overall sound? It really feels like it captured the essence of the live performances.

Yeah it was great! It was amazing. We were very lucky to have him because he just happened to be in Melbourne when we needed to find someone to do it and it worked out really well in the end. He’s made some incredible albums so it was a no-brainer.

This is your first full-length release in three years, a relatively long time by other band’s standards. How important is it for you to take your time with songwriting and the whole process?

No not really! It took awhile for stuff to come out, with industry dramas and such. I would prefer just to have something be done and be out. I didn’t want to get to the point where it had been three years between albums but the next one won’t be I don’t think. I like doing things quickly and the band does as well.

Your previous album was recorded at The Tote. Tell me about your connection to that place.

Yeah, I love The Tote. We definitely had a golden period of time at The Tote where one of us was working there, so we did the album there and played there a lot. It’s always a special place. I have a massive love for the local venues we have in Melbourne, they’re so important to me. Hopefully these venues will be in a position to reopen (after coronavirus). It’s important to have them because it’s what makes Melbourne what it is.

You’ve always felt more like a live band rather than a recording one. How much will you miss touring during quarantine?

So much, so much. It really sucks right now because this is going to end up being the longest I’ve ever gone without playing a gig. It’s a huge thing.

You have a tour planned in Australia and New Zealand with Faith No More in early 2021. How excited are you for that?

We’re so excited for that. It’s nice to have something to look forward to. We had just got back from the last tour and we were really cutting it thin with money and stuff on that tour so it was quite stressful and then suddenly out of nowhere we got offered to play with Faith No More and Pixies and it felt strangely surreal.

Looking back, is there one particular concert or performance that always remains in your mind?

There’s been so many. Last year we played a lot of shows in Berlin. We did this tour with Tropical Fuck Storm and it was like the third or fourth time we had played in Berlin in a few months and it just felt like playing in Melbourne. It was just weird to have this kind of crowd overseas so it was exciting.

I can imagine your classic alternative rock sound translating away from Australia to places like Britain and the US easily. How did people receive you over there?

It varies. Mostly it’s good, like 99% of the time. I think the more we’ve been over there, we’ve started to see more people. When we played in Brighton and London it was a bit like “oh god” but when we got up to Glasgow it was like “more like it!”. I just loved that there were people on the streets, getting drunk and singing to each other.

So are you working on stuff during quarantine? What’s coming next?

Yeah, I’ve been slowly working on stuff. I want things to be fresh. I’m hoping I’ll walk out of quarantine with a few songs and go straight to the band and start playing them live. That’s my goal. I want to start rehearsing as soon as possible. Focus all my energy onto that.