INTRODUCING: Rain Dogs

Rain Dogs have been quietly carving out one of the most immersive corners of contemporary post-punk. Described as “suave post-punk” by Skylab Radio and praised by NTS’s Flo Dill as “the most 80s thing ever, so good,” the electronic trio sit somewhere between gothic tension, DIY experimentation, and late-night hedonism. Undoubtedly murky and atmospheric — yet undeniably seductive — their sound pulls you under and refuses to let go.

With their new EP Under The Influence out now via Jpeg Artefacts, Rain Dogs push further into darker, stripped-back territory, blending warbling synths, baritone vocals, and hypnotic rhythms shaped across London, Melbourne, and China. We caught up with the trio to talk nightlife, influence, DIY production, and the evolution of their vampiric post-punk world.

Under The Influence feels darker and more stripped back than your debut EP, with nightlife and hedonism running through it. What drew you toward those themes at this point, and how did they shape the sound of the record?

We draw a lot of inspiration from the city after dark it would seem. We are pretty nocturnal people naturally and over the past year, touring through parts of Asia and Europe gave us a firsthand look at how nightlife operates across different cultures. No matter which city we were in, there was always an underground that came alive after hours - spaces built around excess and escape. That atmosphere naturally fed into Under The Influence.The record mirrors those late-night environments, a world we’re comfortable in, and one we wanted the songs to live inside.

You worked on this EP across London, Melbourne, and China. How did moving between those places affect the way the songs developed, both sonically and emotionally?

That’s when we were all together on tour and felt inspired to make music. On tour you’re moving constantly, sleeping irregularly, surrounded by excess and late nights and that energy must have seeped into our sonics and influenced the themes of Under The Influence. China in particular left a mark on the record. We were surprised by how vibrant and forward-thinking the nightlife and club culture was, particularly in Chengdu where we spent a bit more time. Being immersed in those scenes pushed us to lean into darker textures and the songs became looser and more instinctive

The EP is entirely self-produced and self-mixed, and there’s a strong sense of DIY restraint in the textures. What does maintaining that level of control give you creatively, and were there any challenges in resisting over-polishing the tracks?

We keep everything in-house because we don’t really trust anyone else to do it better or understand the vision as clearly as we do, both sonically and in terms of overall atmosphere. From writing and recording through to mixing and even the visuals, having full control gives us agility and keeps the ideas intact without outside interference.

Absolutely it’s hard to know when a track is done and it is easy to overwork songs. I think we’ve learnt that songs come together more quickly than you might expect, like they’re either there from the get go or they’re not. If you’re on to something, if the track strikes the right tone, then it’s easy to complete, if not then there’s really nothing you can do about it

You’ve cited influences ranging from Moin and HTRK to Bowery Electric, but the EP feels very singular rather than referential. How do you approach influence without letting it overwhelm your own identity as a band?

Finding your own sound is one of the hardest things about making music. It is important to have influences and garner inspiration from elsewhere - it gives you a vocabulary and a point of reference - but you cannot copy, imitate or steal from others otherwise your music will be contrived or redundant and sound hollow. We aren’t trying to be anything other than ourselves and we’re not interested in borrowing too directly from anyone. I feel the same can be said of Moin, HTRK and Bowery Electric. They don’t feel overly referential, instead their voice is singular and unmistakably their own, this is why we like these bands.

You’ve been steadily building momentum since the 2021 debut and playing shows across Europe and Asia. How has the live experience fed back into the way you now write and record, especially with these more atmospheric, nocturnal songs?

Playing consistently over the past few years across Europe, Asia and our home town Melbourne has really sharpened our understanding of how the songs function in a live space. Being able to road-test new material night after night helped us strip things back, rework arrangements, and focus on what actually resonates. We leaned more into capturing parts live rather than multi-tracking. We’re also simply better musicians now than we were in 2021, and more confident in our instincts. We have a much clearer idea of who we are and what we want to say and this EP feels like a more concise version of what Rain Dogs is.