Wonderful! - Wonderful! 417: The Sky British are Coming From Up

Episode Date: May 6, 2026

Rachel's favorite punkish sibling-duo musical artist! Griffin's favorite punkish sibling-duo musical artist! Music: “Money Won’t Pay” by bo en and Augustus – https://open.spotify.com/album/7n6zRzTrGPIHt0kRvmWoya Marsha P. Johnson Institute: https://marshap.org/ Thanks to everyone who participated in this year's MaxFunDrive! Still want to get in on the action? Follow this link to support this show (and get in on our limited-time keychain sale to benefit the Center for Constitutional Rights): https://maximumfun.org/joinwonderful

Hi, this is Rachel McElroy. Hi, this is Griffin McElroy. And this is wonderful. Welcome to wonderful. It's a podcast we talk about things we like that's good that we're into. You seem like you're in a great mood, giggling and laughing. It felt for a second. Like you were doing an impression of me.

There was something very like joyful about your posture. Yeah. And usually I'm all slumpy, dumpy. That's what you call me and you say, hey, here comes slumpy dumpy. Just because of the way I said and my general kind of mood most of the time. No, I would never.

You would never, ever say that. No, I'm just happy to be here. Happy to be in our home. We've had a wild couple of weeks with the Max Fun Drive. Huge thanks to everybody who came out in support of us. Hope you're enjoying all the Bocco

and the feeling of satisfaction that you've been supporting. Independent Art. And we also went to Huntington for the Renaissance Fair. a ton of driving with our kids and now we're home and the sun's shining. I'm feeling great, babe. Good. I'm okay. I'm feeling amazing over here. You'll have to carry this one. I will. I will definitely, what's going on? How's your heart? I mean, nothing really. I'm just, you know, weary. Oh, sure. Yeah, for me,

this is post-drive adrenaline. Oh. Yeah. I didn't know that was the thing. Yeah, so I get adrenaline during the drive. Yeah, of course. You have to. We're working really hard and, you know, we're trying to get the stuff out to the people, get the message out. And then afterwards, I have adrenaline from it being done and over and being a success. And then once that adrenaline fades, I'm totally going to crash. So probably by the end of I'll be up. I mean, it's going to happen during this recording. Okay. You're going to notice like there's going to be a noticeable dip in my kind of energy low. baby is coming right now.

Wow. That was fast. It's not my fault. I feel like maybe I brought you down a little bit. Maybe. Now it's slumpy dumpy time. You have any small wonders? I do actually.

I was thinking about this. Our small son, because I don't know, he's received a lot of adult attention his whole life. Whenever he sees any kind of large figure like a statue, he will walk over to it and be like, let's take a photo, which I always found adorable. And then kind of became hilarious yesterday because we were at a convenient store while Griffin was filling up gas in the tank. And he saw a big like display of a large

Chips Ahoey cookie holding like a bin for the product. And he was like, let's take a photo. So him and Henry walked over like arm and arm with the Chips Ahoi cookie. Yeah. Who was about their height level. Sure. And posed for several pictures. And he hits the same pose kind of like arm on the hip, like hand out, just kind of like casually leaning.

He's five. It's wild how much this kid kind of like knows his angles, how to find the light. He is a, he truly is a natural. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, that was great. I'm just going to say the Renaissance Fair in general for. for raising money for Harmony House out in Huntington. It was great to see all the folks who came out to say hi.

And our kids picked out their own costumes. Yeah. We all kind of like dressed up. And it was a real treat. It was a real hoot. Yeah. Last year you went with the boys and I was unable to go. Right.

So this was my first experience. I will say, no fault of the fair, it was very cold and windy down by the river. Yes. And that put a little bit of a damper on it for me. That's just the fantasy of it. Back in fantasy times, it was like cold and windy all the time. The whole vibe and everybody was, you know, like so friendly.

And I don't know, it felt like a thing that we probably do again. I would love to do the Maryland Rind Fair. That's the big one around here, right? Around in the D.C. area. I think so. Yeah. I guess you need to just like put it on your calendar, I think. Well.

It sneaks up on us and then we can't get in. I was thinking more about putting it on my vision board and just kind of like manifesting because tickets go really fast for this thing. And I just figured if I could manifest the tickets, it would go a lot faster. What if you just put it on your calendar though? Right. But if I manifested, it'll be easier, I think. It'll be more guaranteed that it will work out if I've manifested.

I'm pretty good at manifesting stuff if you couldn't tell. No, I mean, you have a... I have so many Legos. Successful career and so many Legos and video games. Great family wife. Great family wife. Great family wife. You go first this week.

I do. What would you like to discuss? So it had been a while I felt like since I had brought like a musical act. Okay. So I was looking at the All Things Go festival. This is not particularly related, but I just wanted to tell you my journey. It happens in New York and in D.C. And I was looking and I was kind of going through the artists and checking out new artists and what popped up in my recommended videos was a band called Dury.

I had never heard of this band either. Me neither. It is a like a Minnesota based band suburb of Minneapolis called Burnsville. Ooh. And they have kind of the story that a lot of bands have right now. But I really love like a like a scrappy like local he. that kind of like hits hit big. Yeah, for sure.

I can see that. And this band really has that vibes, like top to bottom. Like in every possible like nook and cranny of this band, you will find another like a scrappy story. It's a band of a brother and sister. So Austin Dury, who is kind of the lead vocal and guitar on the band, he was in another band called Coyote Kid that was doing. reasonably well and had been with the band for 12 years. And then the pandemic hit. And Austin and his

wife moved back in with Austin's parents. Okay. And his younger sister is seven years younger than him. Okay. So she like had just finished high school when he moved back in. And so he was like trying to make music because that's like what he does. And he was kind of like bouncing it off his sister. because she's like officially Gen Z and he is like still within the millennial time frame. That's fun. And so he would kind of check things with her and she would weigh in

and ultimately they just ended up forming a band together. And it was funny because in my interviews that I read it said the first time she sang on stage was for this band. That's insane. She said they're like,

they're still learning how to do harmonies because, like, you know, she doesn't have any musical training whatsoever. Yeah, no, that would be a strange concept as someone who has not sung a lot. Yeah. Luckily, she had learned to play the guitar when she was like 12, so like at least that wasn't new. But yeah, it's just been really, it's cool to learn more and more about this band when they tour. So when they tour, Austin's wife plays the bass in their band. Wow.

So it really is a whole family band situation. I love that. So I wanted to play the song that kind of blew them up, specifically on TikTok. The song is called Who's Laughing Now? So good. I don't know a lot about TikTok. Yeah. And so you can tell me kind of what this means.

But the video for this song currently has 2 million views on YouTube and over like 2 million likes on TikTok. That seems good. That seems like I think pretty sure that's more than I've ever gotten on anything. Yeah. They do really clever music videos. which is why I kind of sent you the videos that I did, which was part of, I think, what kind of drew people in. The other song you sent me, the music video had that big Be Kind Rewind,

sweeted movie sort of vibe to it that I was so, so charmed by. Yeah. So when that video went up, the Austin Dure, the lead singer, said that he hadn't even finished the song yet. So when it like blew up and went like viral on TikTok, he was like racing to finish the song so they could like release it. That's wild. But yeah, I mean, obviously it's like, I don't know, there's a type of music for like,

do you remember that song I Love College that came out a long time ago? No. Oh, by Asher-R-R-R-R-R-R-H-R-R- Yeah. Yeah, it kind of gave me that vibe of like right place, right time. Yeah. Very specific kind of anthem song for like. young people who are trying to kind of figure out what they're going to do next. So obviously I could see why TikTok would be kind of like the perfect place for it.

But I really love the kind of anthony vibe of it. I love how scrappy they are. It has a very crunchy, garagie type sort of feel to it. Kind of reminded me of like the TOTES, like the Possum Kingdom kind of like. Okay, yeah, for sure. I can see that. So he has also cited Weezer as an influence, which is pretty. clear. He has a he has a rock band lead singer ass voice like his voice sounds like it could fit into

this is a meant as a compliment like it could fit into any rock band like it sounds like a rock singer like he's perfectly found his calling here. Yeah he cites his influence not just Weezer but as like my chemical romance and some 41. Yeah. He said that when he was a kid specifically 12 years old, he learned how to play the guitar. He said he had two guitar lessons from his dad and then just went wild trying to convince his friends to start a band. Awesome. So they have had two albums out. The first one that has that Who's Laughing Now song was called Suburban Legend and it was released in 2023. And then their second album is called This Movie Sucks and it came out in June.

June 2025. So I actually wanted to play a little bit of that song. This movie sucks. This movie sucks. I guess when I'm dead. It's just the ending that I get. Oh, riding through the sunset. There's no bloopers at the end.

So I'll just bide my time to try my look, nod and smile and bite my tongue again. Keep trying to make the plot. Dury is their last name, right? Yes. And it's the name of the band. Yes. So it's like a Lawrence, like a dark Lawrence.

Yeah. Actually, yeah. Like a dark side. I mean, I kind of love a sibling band. Oh, dude, me too. Kind of love a sibling band. Oh, dude, me too. I can't imagine why.

But the song this movie sucks was actually kind of autobiographical because, and this is in an interview with New Noise, 20,000. 2025, Austin said, the song this movie sucks was inspired by, just like with our last album and the song going viral and all that kind of stuff and our whole kind of sudden blow up that happened from that. It's like, oh, this feels like a movie. And then we got home from tour and we didn't really make any money. And at the time of the interview in 2025, he was saying, I still live in my parents' basement and nothing really changed.

That feeling of anti-climax struck a chord. I feel like I know the moment when the credits would have rolled in a movie and then we pass that. But real life is not that. And so it's kind of like, this movie sucks. I like that. I like that song a lot too. They have a lot of different genres on the new album. There's kind of like a punky quality to some of the songs, like kind of those songs where you're like, oh, I bet this is where the people in the audience mosh.

Yeah, sure. And then there's like an acoustic song at the end. And I don't know. I don't know what's going to happen with Dury. But I really kind of enjoyed my day just kind of listening to their songs and feeling like, I really hope these guys do something. Yeah, I was glad. I was glad you found them.

I listened to that Who's Laughing Now track a few times. It's very, very catchy. Yeah. Just very positive. It just feels like them celebrating the opportunity to like make music with their friends and family. Yeah, exactly. That's obviously huge for me. There's like a very hopeful but like realistic energy.

And they remind me a lot of a band that like I would have seen it South by Southwest. Yeah. Oh man. Like gotten on board with. You know, they have that like kind of youthful enthusiasm. Yeah, that's a really good way of putting it. Even though like as I mentioned like Austin has been playing music for almost two decades now. Awesome.

Well, that's Derry. Can I steal you away? Yes. We've never done the same topic before on one episode, right? Or we both bring the same thing. It's like something we've sort of wondered would happen at some point. And we still haven't done that today, but we've gotten pretty close because I'd like to talk about another sibling-led family band. But this one is from quite a while ago.

And I specifically want to dial in on one of their songs. It is a song that I don't know how, but Henry discovered and then asked me to play for him one day, like while we were in the bath, and then has been sort of requesting it nonstop. And I'm very glad that he has because every time I hear it, it causes a deep sort of Scottish stirring in my soul. The song is, I want to be 500 miles by the proclaimers. I did not realize, I didn't know anything about the proclaimers. Didn't know anything about the proclaimers before I started looking into it. it. They are two brothers, pair brothers, Craig and Charlie Reed, and they are from a suburb of Edinburgh called Leith. And together, as the proclaimers, they messed around doing some sort of like punky stuff before we keep saying the word punky a lot in this episode. Well, I think neither of us particularly feel comfortable with punk as any kind of expertise. No, I enjoy it, but I don't know anything about it. So I never want to say punk like solid, like 100% definitely punk. A fun.

A fun. A fun. A fun. A fun. A fun. A fun fact, one of the punk bands that they were, that they started before they made the proclaimers was called Black Flag. But they didn't know that there was another very famous punk band called Black Flag that existed.

So that one was short-lived. So they came together in 1983 as the Proclaimers, largely in a. acoustic sort of folk rocky type band. And since then, they've put out 12 full-length albums. Whoa. And they are still, like, out there. Their last album came out in 2022. And they are still kind of like out there grinding, playing live sets here and there.

Just two bros, two bespectacled Scottish bros out there doing their thing. But despite the fact that they've, like, had this really long career, they've, you know, found an enormous following in Scotland and across the UK and also in Australia for some reason. Everything I looked up about them was like Australia like really loves their shit. I don't understand how that happens. I don't either. But it's, I'm sure it's good for them. So they have like all these albums out, but their biggest song.

And there's again sort of shades of the Gary Jules mad world sort of conversation here. They have this one song that has like a billion plays on Spotify. It's the opening track off their. their second studio album, 1988's Sunshine on Leith, and that song is, I want to be 500 miles, which I'm sure you listening at home

have heard a million times, but just in case, here's a little bit of I want to be 500 miles. If I get drunk, well, I know who gets strong next to you. And if I hever, yeah, I know I'm going to be,

I'm going to be the mile who's hevering to you. But I would want to fire. I love this song from like the first time I heard it as like a little kid. Yeah, I think it was on the Benny and June. That's exactly right. I was going to ask you later. So that is very much how this song kind of joined the public consciousness.

Yeah, because that movie was, I mean, it had like indie vibes, but it was huge. It was a monster of a movie. And it sure launched the, the Proclaimers career in the United States in a big way. but before that, before that happened, this song came out, this album came out in 1988, Benny and June came out in 1993, so there were like five years where this, this song was out there and, gosh, there's so much to love about this song, genuinely. Like, and I feel like it's one of those things that is easy to kind of write off in your mind because it's such a meme isn't the right word, but like it's such a known, like you know this song.

when you hear like, like, d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d. Like, you know what's coming. Yeah. But, like, if you really start to look at it, kind of, like, critically,

like, I don't know, there's so much, I love it. The, the molasses-thic, Scottish accent, I can't get enough of. There's so much room for, like, audience participation, too.

Yeah. The, uh, that hard sort of dip-thong, they hit on thousand. Thou, like, I want to be able to, speak like that. That's such a good accent and I'm so jealous of it. You also get to learn some fun

Scottish terminology from the song. Like when they say, when I haver, I know I'm going to be, I'm going to be the man who's havering to you. So in British English, to haver means to hesitate or like him or haver. But in Scotland, specifically, uh, havering means to, uh, chatter sort of mindlessly. So it's like when I'm chattering and going on and on and on, you're the one who I'm going to be doing that too, which sounds almost like a threat. Um, Justin and Travis taught me a, a term, which is blood harmony, which I think they picked up from cocaine and rhinestones, that like country music podcast that they both got super duper into, which is literally just like this idea of a biological chemistry of siblings singing harmonies together, sort of having an increased

beauty and increased effect because of the, you know, I guess their vocal cords are the same or whatever. I adore the harmonies in this song. Truly and deeply. I, because they are so effortless. They truly are. Craig Reed sings the main sort of vocals of the song, and Charlie Reed comes in and does the backup singing, and it's almost all sort of one-note drone harmony. Yeah.

Like, it's all like, I would walk 500 miles and I would walk 500 more. Like, it's all very, like, at that level, and it's so easy to kind of, like, fuck around with. It makes it, like, a, really strong contender for a karaoke duo track. Because you can like, even without much musical knowledge, you can still kind of like piece together how it works.

Also, like at a certain point, Charlie Reed who sings the backup vocals, like just starts having fun with it. Next time you listen to that song, probably when we're all in the car together driving somewhere and Henry makes it on the last repetition of the chorus, for whatever reason, Charlie Reed just sings every other word.

So he'll be like, Wood five, my, Wood, more. Like, I don't know why he does it, but it's fucking, it just sounds like he's having a really fun time. The construction of the song is just really lovely, got that driving reputation of when I blink, I know I'm gonna be,

I've got to be the man who blinks to you. And then the, you know, the chorus, which teaches you some fun, simple math. And then they just let it rip with the, da-da-da-da-da-da. Like, it must be a really fun song to, to sing and perform. They do it at all of their concerts, like, naturally.

And I bet it's one of those, I don't know, I'm projecting a little bit, but like, it seems like it would not get too old to do because it just seems like really fun to just let this shit fly, to just let it rip. There was something for me, and maybe because it's just like two guys, like, kind of singing in an unusual way. But I always, like, connected to they might be giants in my house. I mean, it helps that they both kind of look like a. Like if you mashed Flansberg and Linnell into like one guy, but then you duplicated that guy and there were two of them.

Yeah. It does like in like in together, just like they mash together and just kind of mix, mix features. Yeah. Yeah, I think it definitely kind of like the time period and the kind of like like almost like Beatles like poppy kind of like strong rhythm. Yeah. I have a few songs like from this era that I think we're largely sort of. soundtrack hits that I like send me on my way by rusted root and um in a big country you know that one I I I feel like this can hang in that sort of uh genre of like I don't know

cinematically culturally important songs uh but when it came out it was kind of a surprise because their first album was more like acoustic folky and a lot of their music also on this album and since this album it has been more kind of like twangy esterny sort of feeling. And yet this album opens up with this like immensely catchy pop song that people couldn't get out of their heads. I saw a quote that came out from a British culture magazine called Enemy about this song that came out, which said, it's real fair aisle jumper, bushy beards and beer in a

tankard time. Acid House has not touched the proclaimers. So I'm guessing acid house music was sort of big when this, with this. track came out and it obviously doesn't have much in common with that. So the song was as a single, it was a hit in the UK and Australia, but it didn't come stateside until 1993 when it was part of the, like, it was one of the main themes for Benny and June. Yeah. And after that, it hit number three on the Billboard Top 100 in the U.S. that summer and sort of cemented its legacy. It is their biggest song by an enormous margin, but the Reed bros have, like, had a really incredible career, just sort of

chasing their passions and continuing to make music. And they're really outspoken activists. And their activism is, like, a huge part of their music and their sort of philosophy. They've been big sort of, like, fighting against Brexit and Trump and fighting for Scottish independence and, like, all of these different, like, causes that they sort of lend their time and their voice to, which is really cool. And yeah, I just, I've loved this song for a long time, but I've never kind of put in the legwork to figure out, like, who are the proclaimers, though?

And I've spent some time today just like listening to some of their other music. And I found a few tracks of theirs that, like, I can really, really vibe with. I want to play another one off of Sunshine on Leaf that I feel like is just as good as I want to be 500 miles. It has that same kind of like driving repetition. and romance and harmony called Then I Met You. Yeah, that's the, that's the proclaimers. That's I want to be 500 miles.

Really listen to that last chorus next time you hear it. It's kind of hysterical how much the other brother just kind of would five my. It's something that I feel like I have heard for the first time today. And now I'm just going to only be able to hear that every other time I listen to the song. Do you want to know what our friends at home are talking about? Please. Dale says, my small wonder, is soup base slash bullion. It puts all the flavor, joy, and comfort of soup in a convenient little container.

It's great for an easy bowl of ramen or to add flavor to other dishes. My day is always made better by a nice bowl of soup. It's kind of the wonderful pod of meal options. Yeah, you know, so I use, I've used that before when I make beef stroganoff. Yeah. So you use like a beef stock. Yeah. And it is kind of wild.

It's like this little concentrated cube and you put it in water. And then all of a sudden it's like a tremendous amount of liquid. I feel like we always had many bouillon cubes in our house growing up. And I was always so mystified by them because it would be so little. And our mom would like put it in a pot of water. And now all of a sudden it smells so funky. Like how did something so small make our house smell so funky? It's just a tremendous amount of seasoning in that.

Yeah. I mean it's the same way. Same thing as like the golden curry bricks that like they're like the size of a, you know, a nestly crunch. bar or something and then but you crumble one of them up and you get it in a pot and boy howdy your house smells like curry for days after that uh Sydney says my small wonders my yearly tradition on the first day of spring where it's warm enough to go without a jacket I go for a long walk while listening to Andrew Byrd's album break it yourself it's the perfect springtime album and my favorite way to welcome in

the warmer weather it's a great it's a really good album too I love I love especially like being in in kind of a dense area when the weather is nice and just kind of like strolling around. I remember Chicago was always like that. Yeah. It felt very like Sesame Street where people would be like, hello, hello, good day to you. Well, especially in Chicago after like the weather getting warmer

and nicer in Chicago usually. Like five months of winter. Yeah, usually marks the end of an interminable sort of winter period, which honestly this year has kind of been the case here in D.C. as well. And it's so short too. Like spring. in most of the areas I lived is like a month. And then it's just very, very hot.

If that, man. Austin would not. Austin would give you a couple weeks of just flavor. Doritos blasting you with the pollen of various flavors. Almost never really get winter there either. So spring is like. But when you do. Yeah, I know.

When you do. Hey, folks, thank you so much for listening to our podcast. Wonderful. Our podcast. I want to thank Bowen and August. for these for our theme song, money won't pay. You can find a link to that in the episode description. And also say thank you to Maximum Fun for having us on the network.

You can go to Maximumfund.org. Check out all the great shows that they got going on over there. I've been listening to a lot of triple click lately, the gaming podcast. That's one of my faves. But there's a ton of stuff over there. And if you're a member of the MaxFund Network, there's also bonus content out the ass that you could be listening to. So thank you again to everybody who came out and supported us.

For those of you that are new to network, also those of you who decided to increase your donation this year, it was a really important year for us to kind of, I don't know, get as many members as we could. And I was really happy with a number of people that kind of helped us out. It's a really tough time sort of economically, and it's a sort of challenging time for podcasts in general, has been for a few years. And it truly means the world that you all would come out in support of us. We got new merch over at the Macroy merch store. we've got a new breed of tea.

Breed, is that what they call it? Strain. Strain, a dank strain of tea called My Brother, My Brother, and Tea. We've got a mug if you'd like to get that in a bundle with the tea or standalone that says, I like all butts and no government. I forget what that was a quote from, but it's, I mean, a strong statement for sure. I like the don't talk to me. Don't talk to me until I've had my podcast mug.

is also available. That's great for anyone. Yeah, sure. Count Donuts, Cape Vault, if you want that sticker to put on something that maybe a special

treasure chest that your cats can't pee into is also available all over at macquariemerch.com. That's going to do it for us. We'll be back with a new episode next week. Until then, be good to yourselves

and each other and we'll be good. Keep watching the skies. Keep watching the skies and wait for our signal. Two lamps by land. One lamp. The sea by sea?

By sea. I mean, those are the two, right? Land and sea. Three lamps. Oh. Sky. Sky British. The Sky British are coming from up.

Balloons. Here they come. Check the lamps. There's three of them. Shit, we weren't ready for Sky British. Maximum Fun. A Worker Own Network of Artist-owned shows. Supported directly by you.