Mike Noga On Breaking Free From The "Musical Safety Net" That Is The Drones

"I totally needed a break and, after The Drones stuff, I just felt like getting outta here for a bit," Mike Noga says of his decision to move to London (where he lived "on and off for a couple of years"). "[Leaving The Drones] was a pretty radical change in my life and it was my decision... but that's not to say it still wasn't sad or hard." And risky too? "It felt like a big risk," he allows, "'cause being in that band for ten years was... it was amazing and I miss it, I really do, but it's like a musical safety net in the sense that I was relevant or, you know, I was in the scene." 

"I knew I was sitting in a warehouse in Paddington - I was in the middle of bustling London - but I spent the day in a caravan in a forest just outside of this small town in California in the 1960s."

While in London, Noga went to see immersive theatre company Punchdrunk's "take on Woyceck". "It was absolutely mind-blowing!" he gushes. "It was like being inside a David Lynch film or something for about three hours." When Punchdrunk put a call out "for people to come into the set and make pieces of art in response to the play", Noga put in a submission and "got accepted". "It was really weird, I knew I was sitting in a warehouse in Paddington - I was in the middle of bustling London - but I spent the day in a caravan in a forest just outside of this small town in California in the 1960s, on this person's bed, like, with all their stuff around... And I wrote the opening piece of music on the album [King]."

Noga then decided he wanted to "have a crack" at his own version of Woyceck: "a kind of rock'n'roll album, but with these themes." But in order to push the narrative, Noga realised he'd "need a narrator". Enter Noah Taylor, whose "really Australian accent" caught Noga's ear, since King is set "in 1950s small-town Australia". "He sounds a bit like an old cricket commentator or something," Noga laughs. You can witness Noga himself doing "some 'actoring'" in a little trailer for the album. "I had to muster up a cry, and I did it!" he marvels. "I look like I'm bawling my eyes out... [Taylor] saw the trailer and he was like, 'Not a bad little thespian there, Nogie!' [laughs]."

Dancenorth are "really interested in doing a [collaborative] production" with Noga, who reveals, "We were hoping maybe to aim for Dark Mofo next year". "Our initial idea was to get a big space and have the band in the middle and have, like, four sets... The actors and dancers move from set to set and the audience follows [the action] around."

He's already done a few preview shows with a full band, and Noga enlightens "I'm almost kind of playing this character, Jack". Sitting across a high bench table in a Fitzroy pub taking sips from his beer, Noga looks like he should always have fronted bands with that enviable quiff. "I've never been just a lead singer before... so to be able to pretend you're the character is a bit easier," he admits. So is he glad he took the leap of faith out from behind his drum kit? "I'm really glad I did," he acknowledges. "This is really exciting for me... It's all validating, the music that I make; it's making me feel really happy when I do it."