Rusty Pickups are a four-piece ensemble from Queensland's Darling Downs with members Michael Cook, Lee Fielding, Ayden Roberts and Waylon Katz, who each have a different musical background and found their way not only to each other but to a musical identity that takes advantage of their differences and has led to something uniquely theirs. And that is fun – and fun is certainly what I had when interviewing frontman Michael Cook, known as Cookie, who shares the band's journey, their approach to creating music, and the joys and challenges of being a working musician.
From the braying of donkeys and the bleating of sheep outside Cookie’s home studio, affectionately dubbed Possum Studios, to the occasional crow that needed to be shooed away, the band has learned to roll with the punches and let the unexpected moments become part of their creative process.
‘It's almost chaos,’ Cookie explains, ‘and you get to watch it up close and go, “I can't do any of this.” And I'm just loving watching, and I'll just sit in the middle and jangle along. That's my thing. So I consider myself lucky in that regard.’
This willingness to embrace the unpredictable has led Rusty Pickups to a refreshing approach to their music. Rather than trying to fit into a specific genre or chase trends, the band has chosen to simply create the songs they love, drawing from the diverse musical backgrounds and experiences of its members.
‘We just kind of went, you know what? We got our own studio. We're old. Who cares? We're just going to do whatever we want,’ says Cookie. ‘So now we pick the songs that we want to do and we go, how can we best serve this song?’
This authenticity has resonated with their audiences, as the band has found themselves playing at festivals and venues that span the spectrum of country music, including a huge run of shows at this year’s Tamworth Country Music Festival.
Rusty Pickups’ ability to seamlessly transition between these different musical worlds is a testament to their commitment to staying true to themselves. But the band's journey hasn't been without its challenges. The gruelling schedule of Tamworth, where they played almost 24 hours of music over nine days, tested their friendships and physical endurance. However, Cookie reflects that the experience ultimately led to a necessary break and a renewed focus on what they truly want to create.
‘We got back into the studio and we started thinking, what do we want to do different? Which is, it's always hard to just see what you want to do that's different to what you're doing if you're still doing the first one,’ he explains.
Part of what they’ve done since then is create their latest single, ‘Mister Mary Read’, which is in the pirate country genre – something Cookie may have come up with … The song has an intriguing backstory and it is completely different to its single predecessor, ‘Goddamn Sunday’. And you can hear all about that in this interview!
Listen to Rusty Pickups on Apple Music
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