RVG: 'I’ve Just Gone A Bit Mad, When I Think About It'

On RVG’s second record Feral, you’ll find Romy Vager’s knack for melodramatic, emotionally supercharged lyricism, amplified by her bandmates Reuben Bloxham, Marc Nolte and Isabele Wallace’s consummate playing.

Taken at face value it's easy to think you've got Vager’s lyrics figured, that a track like Prima Donna is a reference to feeling too demanding or maybe second album burnout. But the album documents everything from a sense of apathy after falling out of love to 20th-century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein’s life's work coming unglued in an instant (“I spent 45 years thinking/Got proven wrong in a day”).

Over the phone, Vager says she often arrives at songs "in weird ways"; Prima Donna in particular is actually written from the viewpoint of a “bitter Capt'n Snooze” from the '90s bedding commercials.

“When I was younger, I used to busk," says Vager. "And I met this comedian [Rod Quantock] who used to play Capt'n Snooze on the television. He’s like the sweetest guy, I haven’t met him since I was 17, but I just remember he invited me and my girlfriend at the time to a show.”

They were chatting to Quantock out the front of a Safeway when someone yelled out of their car: "Aw, Capt'n Snooze!"

“And I was just like, imagine being remembered for being that character," explains Vager. "It would just be completely bizarre.”

Vager mentions the devil in three separate songs on Feral. (“Do I?” she asks). You’ll hear these satanic references in Little Sharkie & The White Pointer Sisters, Alexandra and Christian Neurosurgeon, and she sings “I could gaze into hell/to admire its flaws,” in Help Somebody.

When asked whether she grew up in a Christian family or if she’s just a bit metal, Vager says, “I didn’t grow up in a Christian background, but I’m from Adelaide so, Adelaide’s like the metal capital of Australia. But the only reason I play indie music in the first place is as an escape from the nu-metal thing that was going on in Adelaide at the time.”

"I feel like if I can write songs and if I can perform them, then I can communicate with people on a level that I sort of can’t do a lot of in real life."

RVG returned to the city last year and saw roughly 100 metalheads outside the gig. “You don’t see it at all in Melbourne basically. In Adelaide it’s still there, they’ve never left.” When it comes to devilish lyricisms, she’s just a fan of the macabre, embellishing it to the point that it feels silly. “It’s not meant to be taken too seriously,” Vager adds. 

When asked what motivates her to make music, she says, “I think I have trouble dealing with very basic things a lot of the time.

“I’ve always been like that. It’s always been really hard for me to kind of make friends or be around people. I’m a bit of a misanthropist as well sometimes. But I feel like songs are my door. I feel like if I can write songs and if I can perform them, then I can communicate with people on a level that I sort of can’t do a lot of in real life. It’s cathartic more than anything. I just need it, you know?”

Like many artists, Vager is processing the sudden halt in shows due to the spread of COVID-19. After two sold-out dates with Pixies at Melbourne's Palais Theatre, RVG were set to support the alt-rock mainstays around the country through mid-March, shows that were inevitably cancelled. They were also supposed to play Fait No More's national dates next month, which have been pushed to February/March 2020.

“It takes the steam out of you a little bit,” explains Vager.

She’s decided to pass the time by writing new songs - “I think that’s the most productive thing you can really do in this situation” - as well as singing to her cat Jennifer, often to the tune of Donavan’s Jennifer Juniper. “I’ve just gone a bit mad, when I think about it,” says Vager.

As for how she plans to get through hard times ahead, Vager says, “I think it’s important to stay connected with the people that you care about. That’s the most important thing for me. And my cat. Like, I fucking love my cat.”

RVG launch Feral 24 Apr via Instagram.