THE RSAs | INTERVIEW + TRACK REVIEW
- The Wizard
- 4 days ago
- 6 min read
Melbourne’s The RSAs are the loud, sarcastic voice in your head every time you’ve worked retail and had to smile through the pain. Their latest single “Are You Gonna Pay For That” is a rowdy, riff-driven anthem straight from the checkout line — equal parts frustration, humour, and chaos. It’s a cathartic release for anyone who’s ever been asked, “is it scanning?” or told “you should smile more.”
With a sound built on ‘90s grunge grit, punk energy, and an unexpectedly perfect splash of synths, The RSAs have carved out their own lane in Australia’s alt-rock scene — messy, honest, and very fun. Their music is for anyone who’s ever worked a customer-facing job and dreamt of screaming into the void (or at least into their break room).
We caught up with the band ahead of their single launch at The Beast in Brunswick East to chat bad customers, Aaron Gocs, pre-show rituals, and what they’d scream from the rooftop of every Westfield in the country. This is a paid collaboration with 'The RSAs'.
TRACK REVIEW
Straight out the gates, this one grabs you by the collar. Driving, punchy, and just the right amount of unhinged — “Are You Gonna Pay For That” feels like The Chats and Offspring had a synth-loving baby. There’s this raw, mysterious energy running through the verses that instantly pulls you in, before the track starts layering up and getting heavier and more chaotic in the best way possible.
Production-wise, it’s a build that pays off — every section adds something new, like a slow-boiling rage after a long retail shift. And that chant “are you gonna pay for that” just worms its way into your head whether you want it to or not. It’s sweaty, sarcastic, and cathartic — a retail worker’s punk rock anthem.
“Are You Gonna Pay For That” feels like the ultimate retail worker anthem. What’s the wildest or most frustrating customer interaction that inspired this track, or any of your songs?
We all deal with theft in our day to day work environments - regular thieves, thieves that think they’re pulling off an Oceans Eleven style heist, thieves that are half your height giving you the finger as they shove cans of Woodstock in their bag, thieves with balaclavas, there’s a massive variety. But one of us had to remove a guy dressed as a polar bear from the premises, cause he was carrying some very nasty drugs on him. Who knows if he was paying for his drinks or not. Do polar bears even have money?
The music video features Aaron Gocs, who’s become a bit of an alt-Aussie legend in band vids. How did that collab come about, and what was it like on set?
We contacted him around this time last year to actually feature as an emcee for our EP launch at The GEM Bar, and we’d seen friends bands collaborating with him, so we thought that he might be obtainable. He’s a man of few words off stage, but doesn’t beat around the bush - he joined us for the EP launch last year and we’ve since had a good relationship with him. When we planned the video, he felt like the perfect option to play a thief, so after some logistical manoeuvres, we made it happen, he flew down from Queensland and slotted perfectly into the role - his experience surely played a part in that. He was making Simpsons references and small jokes off camera, ordering raspberry lemonades at the Sporting Globe as the “big kid”, and sourcing a power point just about anywhere we were shooting, as his phone struggled to charge overnight and might’ve seen better days. However, the whole day was so much fun and we’d get him back in a heartbeat.
If The RSAs ran a retail store together, what would you sell—and how fast would it fall apart?
If the RSA’s ran a retail store it would almost certainly be a bottle-o and I think it’d fall apart as soon as one of us ran out of the store to chase a thief, as that is much more dangerous out in the real world and would make the business uninsurable.
Your sound throws back to ‘90s grunge and punk, but with a distinctly modern, Aussie flair. What’s the weirdest or most unexpected influence that’s crept into your songwriting?
The most unexpected influence is Toby and his keytar. We did not expect that when we started out as a three-piece punk band, and he just sat in on a rehearsal one day and fit in like the missing piece to a puzzle. He has added Tame Impala-adjacent pads and crazy synth solos to the band. It definitely resulted in a shift from 70’s punk and rock influences to 80’s post-punk, synth music.
Let’s say there’s a workplace break room with a hidden camera. What part of your writing or band dynamic would be caught on tape?
Cameron takes the lead as boss man, Sash makes a helpful suggestion, Michael is likely in a weird mood after 9 hours of customer service and Toby is distracted, entombed in a pillowfort of keyboards playing 80s synth anthems. But hey, at least it’s better than hearing Espresso for the third time during a shift.
The phrase “soft-yachting” in your bio is elite. If The RSAs were playing a set on a yacht, who’s on board, what’s on the esky, and what song’s first?
Are we aiming for achievable selections or straight up wild picks? Let’s go with the latter I guess - Nic Cage, Billie Joe Armstrong, Kurt Cobain, Tupac, Elvis, Colonel Sanders, Peter The Great, Tony the Tiger and Jesus are the bare minimum people, amongst all our friends and family. Plenty of froffies in the esky, as well as Pimms, Aperol and Dom Perignon with Orange Juice to make mimosas. We’d either play Sailing by Christopher Cross or I’m On A Boat by The Lonely Island first I think!
You call yourselves the “primal scream of the retail worker.” What’s one thing you’d scream from the rooftop of every Westfield shopping centre?
“I’m tired and you’re not funny”
“Don’t be a dick to retail workers”
The honest answer to that is there’s not one thing to be screaming. There’s so many different wild and varied frustrations one runs into in retail and we have translated that into our body of work. There’s too many answers (“I’m tired and you’re not funny”; “I saw you put that in your pocket”; “no of course it’s not out the back the back isn’t some magical storage warehouse it’s a room with a computer, a coat rack, and some lunch I brought in a Tupperware container”) but in order to properly convey the complexities you need a whole punk album rather than shouting just one thing.
You’re playing The Beast in Brunswick East for your single launch, what’s the ultimate pre-show ritual or superstition you follow before getting on stage?
-wear something onstage so garish and outlandish that you simply have to be confident or it won’t work (and to distract from any mistakes)
-2 beers (the correct amount, quells any nerves but doesn’t invite getting sloppy)
-toilet
-check the electronic equipment is still working the same way it was in soundcheck (it never is)
-fix that
-great success
Michael’s pre-show ritual is beat himself up for not remembering all the lyrics, do a vocal warm up and use the toilet.
Cameron likes to have froffies, awkward conversations with friends and random people at the venue, as well as a few anxious breakdowns.
If each band member had to quit music and take a retail job for life, what would their role be, and who would snap first?
Michael would try get a job at JB Hi-Fi in the music section. He would almost certainly be the first to snap, despite being perfectly suited to the role.
Cameron would end up at Rebel Sport or something, constantly asking customers if they remember cult 2000s/2010s footy players like Greg Tivendale and Patrick Karnezis, as well as throwing basketballs and shoes at fellow employees
Tobias, despite his overwhelming vocation, still has a passion for bartending and mixology. (Yes, I’m aware that this is blurring the line between retail and hospitality, but the walk-up, single transaction nature makes it more retail than service I think). In a perfect world, He could bartend at a nice bar, entertain customers, suggest nice drinks, and provide a good time for a long time happily, and still does on occasion whilst doing music. It would simply be the humanity of the management which would make (and has made) stays at jobs short-lived.
You’ve got a night off, no gigs, no customers, what’s the dream way The RSAs blow off steam?
Cameron loves to play Fortnite and NBA 2K, and some of the band like to get involved with a bit of Rocket League too. If you’re playing Zero Build and find a gold coated Bender from Futurama in your game, that might just be Cameron! Also, lots of AFL. Carn the Tiges!
Tobias likes to make himself a Pimm's Cup and delve into something extremely specialised and esoteric, like a long-form televised DnD Campaign, demonstrations of keyboards he might add to his pillow fort, or preparations for the next upcoming project.
Michael would probably watch YouTube videos on geoguessr but also enjoy some rocket league with Cameron and then unwind while reading on his Kindle with a cup of chai and some peppermint biscuits. Either that or you can probably find him watching the latest streaming phenomenon, whether that be, Severance or The White Lotus.
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