Australian Musician’s Greg Phillips caught up with in-demand session bassist Luke Hodgson to talk about the long-awaited, self-titled debut album from Melbourne’s ten-piece boogie/funk collective Mondo Freaks. Co-founded by Hodgson and drummer Graeme Pogson (The Bamboos), the group has evolved from a covers residency band celebrating late ’70s and early ’80s disco and funk into one of the most exciting original acts to emerge from the city’s renowned soul scene.
Although Mondo Freaks’ debut album is newly released, the band’s origins trace back to 2009. As Hodgson explained, their early days were spent reinterpreting extended edits of funk and R&B classics at residencies around Melbourne, before the desire to create original material took hold. Their first taste of recording came with the 2016 single Love Rain Down, but it wasn’t until the pandemic lockdowns that the group fully pivoted toward writing and recording their own songs. “We’d pass tracks around online,” Hodgson said. “Graeme and I would record an idea, send it to Jade (MacRae) in the States, she’d write overnight, and we’d wake up to something new.”
Recorded live to tape at Sing Sing Studios during a fleeting break between lockdowns, the album captures an authentic, vintage sound built from era-accurate gear, including Hodgson’s 1975 Precision Bass, 1982 Jazz Bass, and 1978 Music Man StingRay. “Everything was played on vintage instruments,” he noted. “You can’t fake that sound.”
To mix the record, Hodgson reached out to legendary Grammy Award-winning engineer Michael Brauer, whose résumé includes Aretha Franklin, Grace Jones, and Luther Vandross to name a few, all touchstones for the band. Brauer, whose early work at New York’s Media Sound studios helped define the original boogie sound, was instantly taken with the project, telling Hodgson: “I’ve been waiting for years to mix music that brings me back to my happiest days working on R&B at Media Sound.”
Featuring powerhouse vocal contributions from Jade MacRae, Francisco Tavares, Jason Heerah, Susie Goble, and Aaron Mendoza, the album highlights the group’s deep connection to Melbourne’s thriving soul scene. Standout tracks include Won’t You Decide (featuring Mendoza) and Pumped! (written specifically for Tavares), each channeling the exuberance of the early 80s New York sound with modern precision.
Hodgson credits the band’s chemistry to years of shared experience. “We’ve all played in different projects together over the years,” he said. “There’s a deep musical connection here, you can hear the fun, love, and joy we bottled on this record.”
With live shows already drawing packed crowds and their debut album winning strong praise, Mondo Freaks are ready to take their Melbourne-made groove to the world. As Hodgson reflected, “It’s not just a throwback. This is the music we love and it just happens to sound timeless.”
https://mondo-freaks.bandcamp.com/album/mondo-freaks
MONDO FREAKS – Album Launch Party
8:00pm, Fri 12 December, 2025
HOWLER, MELBOURNE, VIC