Prague-based Australian guitarist, singer and noise-maker Jack Phemister tears the lid off a year of continental upheaval with Sleeping Dogs, a three-song jolt of garage-punk adrenaline arriving worldwide on 8 August 2025.
Tracked in equal parts Melbourne spare room and Prague attic, Sleeping Dogs distils Phemister’s fiery stage show into ten unrelenting minutes. Opener and lead single “JUNE”—already streaming on all major platforms—careens on flanged guitars and motorik drums while Phemister’s vocal teeters between jubilation and self-interrogation. “Undertow” doubles down with snarling fuzz and a chorus built for basement sing-alongs. Closing the set, Phemister enlists former bandmates Micah Heathwood and Jesse Dowley (dogworld) for a fever-dream take on Fiona Apple’s “Fast As You Can,” recorded live to tape on a sweltering Prague afternoon.
Raised in Yass, NSW, and tempered in Melbourne’s underground punk crucible, Phemister has spent the last few years veering from tender folk reveries to industrial sermons without so much as checking the rear-view. His 2024 LP Eternal! Eternal! cemented him as one of Australia’s most fearless young storytellers; Sleeping Dogs captures that same lyrical bite under a brighter, louder spotlight. “It’s a nostalgic, drunken love letter you only write after moving halfway across the Earth,” he says of the new release—though the music itself feels defiantly present, jittering with jet-lagged possibility.
Sleeping Dogs lands on all digital platforms 8 August 2025. High-resolution audio, artwork and additional EP information are available at jackphemister.com/sleeping-dogs.
About Jack Phemister
Jack Phemister is an art-rock songwriter whose narrative-driven catalog roams from lush folk landscapes to industrial-fired punk sermons. After two full-length albums and countless gigs across Australia, he relocated to Prague in 2024, where he continues to create boundary-pushing music and collaborations.
