Although R.M.F.C’s music has always felt urgent and nervous, ‘Reader’ instantly feels even more terse. After a dirt-encrusted guitar sets the track’s turbulent atmosphere with some dark, spluttering chords, the song rockets out from underneath itself, led by a careening rhythm section while synths fluctuate and Buz Clatworthy’s signature tunnel-vision vocals cut through the sprawl.

The press release suggests this track has Buz revealing his maturity as a songwriter, and it’s not wrong - while R.M.F.C’s earlier releases were marked by a kind of haphazard vigour, ‘Reader’ feels self-assured from the get-go. However, with every abrupt tempo shift and chanted vocal hook, it’s also clear that Buz has no intention of forgoing the fervent gleam in the eye that has made his music so instantly addictive.

We caught up with Buz to get the low-down on the new 7”, and found out a bit about almonds too.

TJ: Hey Buz, wanna tell us a bit about yourself.


BC: Hello my name is Buz, I am 19 years old and I love to play and listen to rock music.


‘Reader’ is a real blitz, and we’re very keen to hear ‘Faux Freaks’ when the new 7” drops. Any reason why those two tracks were paired together on the upcoming 7?

I had a few tracks in the bank for the next LP including these two. When we decided to do a 7" I figured ‘Faux Freaks’ wasn't really strong enough for the album so it'd be a good B-side and ‘Reader’ was just one of the stronger/fresher sounding tracks I had ready. ‘Faux Freaks’ also sounds like a good fit for one of the Hive tapes so I guess this 7" sorta documents a departure from that sound. 


Did writing and recording for a 7” change your process at all, compared to working towards a longer release? Is there a full-length release on the cards yet?

Nah I usually just make songs one by one and hope that they fit well together for a longer release so the process wasn't any different for the 7" - just heaps easier cause you only really have to worry about the one song. A full length is most certainly on the cards but I'll probably take another 46 years to write it.


You’ve spoken a bit about your recording process in interviews already, but is there any new processes you’d really like to try? Do you think the band will end up playing on R.M.F.C tracks?


Yeah I'm keen to record with someone else who has similar ideas but could bring more to the table. It's looking like when I finish writing this album 46 years down the track I'll record it with Billy Gardner so long as he stops eating so many almonds. Each individual almond takes 1.1 gallons of water to grow and some dickhead keeps selling ours off. If my calculations are correct and Billy Gardner continues his current daily intake of almonds he will have drained the entire country of water by 2066 and we will all be dead. If I finish writing this album in less than 46 years maybe the band will play on it. Until then, Grace who also sings in the live band has done vox on a bunch of demos (and a ‘Girls At Our Best’ cover which will probably have come out by the time this interview is published.)


I feel like every other thing I read about R.M.F.C calls you some variation of a child prodigy - does that get annoying or it’s something you’re happy to lean into? Do you think being younger actually has an influence on the music you make with R.M.F.C?


The whole child prodigy thing stemmed from the artist description/bio thing on my Bandcamp page which reads: “extremely talented, intelligent and famous child prodigy”. I just thought it was funny at the time and still do. It doesn't annoy me when it gets brought up in interviews/write-ups and people taking it seriously makes it funnier to me. I guess being younger may have influenced the lyrical themes and imagery especially with earlier releases. If I had have started the band now it probably wouldn't be called Rock Music Fan Club but that's life. 


Often garage and punk can either be real primitive and sorta boneheaded, or weirdly intellectual, but I think R.M.F.C fits somewhere in between both. Do you feel like you’ve got something to say or it’s more about making a bunch of noise?


I love both. R.M.F.C was initially intended to be the former hence the name etc. but I didn't wanna just make primitive garage music. I don't have too much to say and making a bunch of noise would feel like a waste of time to me so I guess it fits nicely in the middle. 


R.M.F.C have had a pretty steady rise over these past couple of years. What do you wanna do with the next couple?


Play and listen to rock music.