Rum Jungle Talk Inspiration, Touring in the US, and Learn How Their Band Name Came to Be
Columbus, Ohio. Sep, 17 2026
Rum Jungle, the Newcastle four-piece - Benny McIntyre, Josh Giles, Michael “Maje” Kolmajer, and Frazer McDonald - are officially in their new era. Currently in the middle of their global tour in support of their sophomore album Marginalia, I got the chance to sit and chat with them about all things touring, what inspired them to start making music, and even phone in parents to help them discover some new things about the band.
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Q: From some research, I saw that you guys got the band name “Rum Jungle” while you were sifting through Benny’s family’s garage and found an old poster from his dad’s band that they called Rum Jungle. How did you guys choose to sort of “adopt” that name from him, and were there any other names you guys were considering before that discovery?
Josh: We were trying to figure out a band name forever, and Benny grew up on a street called Wolfe Street W-O-L-F-E Street, and I was like “Oh.. That'd look cool on a hat!” [laughter] But that was one that I thought of, and I think a bunch of others got tossed around; I don't remember, but as soon as Benny came to us and suggested Rum Jungle, I think all three of us [Josh, Benny, and Maje] were like “Yeah, that’s it.”
Benny: I don't even know if Frazer unfortunately had a say.
Frazer: Yeah, that’s a shit name, Rum Jungle.
[All laugh]
Benny: You've finally given us a platform for a name change. Alright, quick. Name change… three, two, one.. What are we called?
Frazer: “Frazer”
Benny: Yeah, Frazer… and Co.
[more laughter]
Q: Do you know how Benny’s dad came up with the name by chance? I know there’s a Northern Territory in Australia with an old uranium mine called Rum Jungle and was curious if its inspired by that?
Benny: Oh wow, I actually don’t… That’s a great question.
You know what, actually, this is crazy, but I think it's morning in Australia right now. I might just quickly call him and ask, because I actually have no idea. Let's see if he answers.
Josh: That’s crazy, we’ve actually never been asked that question. I’d love to know the answer.
[Benny dials the phone and puts it on speaker]
Benny: C’mon dad, don’t let me down now!
[Benny’s dad, Phil, picks up the phone]
Benny: Hey Dad!
Phil (Benny’s Dad): Hey buddy, how are you?
Benny: I'm just in the middle of an interview and I’ve forgotten how you came up with the name Rum Jungle. Because I obviously stole that from you, but the question is: how did you come up with it?
Phil: Okay, two things here. You didn't steal the name; I think we just passed the name from one organization to another.
Benny: Yeah, legally, right? [laughs]
Phil: Yes, so I think that you were perfectly entitled. And the second thing is that you're in the family business, so you're trading on the family’s band name.
Josh: Yeah, we’ll send you some shares, Phil! [All laugh]
Phil: But how did I come up with it? Well, at the time, there was a lot of talk about nuclear disarmament. There was a lot of talk about stopping uranium mining because that was contributing to nuclear weapons. I did my little bits of marching against nuclear proliferation at the time—this was many years ago—and one of the major sources of uranium in Australia was Rum Jungle. Which is a small place in the Northern Territory where I guess you guys will just have to go and play one day.
Benny: Hopefully, hopefully! Perfect. Well, that’s beautiful, Dad. I'll have to call you back later just because we’re right in the middle of it.
All: Thanks, Phil!
Benny: We’re all sending love from Columbus, Ohio.
All: Love you, man!
Phil: Love you guys, too!
[Benny hangs up the phone.]
Josh: You called it! That's crazy... How about that! It’s a protest name! [All laugh]
Benny: That's awesome. I’ll take that as a definition. Wow, we all just learnt that together!
Q: What drew you all to music growing up, and how did that lead you to wanting to be in a band? Were there any specific artists that particularly inspired you guys when you were younger?
Frazer: For me, I just wanted to fucking play the drums, and I always knew I wanted to play the drums. I loved the Foo Fighters when I was a kid and remember finding out that Dave Grohl [laughs] was also in Nirvana. That was such a funny, cliché thing, but it blew my mind. I remember being in primary school wanting to play the drums and mom not letting me for ages because she said it was “heaps loud and annoying.” But once I started learning how to write songs, I slowly fell in love with songwriting, and that's really what started me in music, I think. Just love for the drums.
Maje: I always had instruments growing up. I started with drums when I was really little, but my dad wanted me to learn flamenco guitar because of our Spanish heritage. I didn't want to do that coming into high school because I thought I’d get bullied. [laughs] So the compromise was I’d learn guitar, just not flamenco. I picked up an electric guitar and started listening to bands like Cage the Elephant and early Tame Impala. My first CD ever was Gorillaz... c’mon. Ever since then, I've always had access to an instrument and been making music.
Benny: My first CD was Sorry for Party Rocking by LMFAO, unfortunately. You can really hear it in our music. [All laugh] There was just so much music in my household growing up. My dad was in bands, and one of my older brothers was too. Dad completely flogged The Beatles, to be honest. I used to say, “C’mon Dad, that’s enough of the fucking Beatles, okay?!” But then I fell in love with them myself, as you do.
Then around year 9, there was this massive boom of indie music in Australia in the 2010s. You had so many bands who are still massive today—Sticky Fingers, Ocean Alley, Julia Jacklin. We were lucky to be in our teens while that was happening. It made me realize, Oh my god, I need to pick up a guitar and play these songs because they are connecting with me so heavily.
Josh: For me, my dad played the guitar, so I wanted to play too—
Benny: I didn't know your dad played guitar?!
Frazer: Aaron plays guitar?!
Benny: We’re learning so much today! What?! Call Aaron! Call Aaron!
Josh: [laughs] Yeah, Dad played the guitar when he was younger. He had this $50 Australian acoustic guitar, and he just taught me how to play G, D, and C. He was like, “You can play all the songs in the world with that.” I played those chords for like two years, got some lessons, and then us three started jamming.
It was all around that Triple J culture and Hottest 100 Day. My favorite holiday of the year was always Hottest 100 Day because we’d all get together and listen to the countdown. That music scene in the early 2000s/2010s was huge, and I knew I had to be a part of it.
Benny: I think we all started there, but then it becomes that thing where you get inspired by something, and the first step is emulating it. The second step is finding your own voice, and the third is carving your own path. I think where we’re at now is wanting to do something that is obviously inspired by our influences, but figuring out how to make it new. How do we connect to those 15-year-old kids who want to hear something weird, strange, and cool?
Q: This is your second time touring in the US. Have there been any new culture shocks this time around?
Benny: Last time we pretty much did the two coasts- literally LA, New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. So this is our first time getting to experience the Midwest and the South.
Josh: People are so lovely.
Benny: I wouldn't even say it's a culture shock; it's more like, “Wow, everyone we’ve run into, at least so far, have been incredibly sweet.” It’s felt really welcoming and genuine. There was this awesome guy who walked up to the venue before the show. He had two of our vinyl records and wanted us to sign them.
He drove all the way from Michigan on his one day off and was like, “Your music has connected so much with me, man.” I was thinking, Am I gonna cry?! Thank you. So not necessarily a culture shock. Though, if I had to give one, I wish there were a few more bits of salad at the gas stations... that’s about it. [All laugh]
I love hearing that. I feel like the US often gets a reputation that we are overall "assholes," but I like to believe most people are objectively kind and want that human connection. It's great to hear people have been kind here.
Josh: I will say, I do think our Australian accents help. I think people like the accent.
Benny: Even in the middle of Chicago, some dude hits his brakes, rolls down his window, and yells, “You guys in a band?!” We were honestly expecting something negative, because in Australia they’d be like, “You’re a fuckin’ wanker, bro!” [laughs] But he just goes, “Oh sick, what’s your name?” We told him Rum Jungle, and he said, "I'm gonna listen!” and then pumped off. It was so nice.
Josh: People are way more supportive here than they are in Australia, man.
Frazer: I reckon people back home mistake confidence for being obnoxious. It’s like the “tall poppy syndrome” in Australia. Like you're just confident and friendly, not being an asshole, not not yourself. You just know yourself.
I see that a lot when you’re starting out making music or doing something creative. People are quick to think it's "embarrassing" until you're successful.
Members Collectively: SO much, yeah.
Maje: It’s the people you went to school with who were assholes. Back then they’d call us "little rockstars" really sarcastically. Now it's like, “Holy fuck, I’m telling everyone that I know you.” That’s not to sound arrogant, it's just interesting the way that sort of scope of things works and the deception from other people
Benny: Whereas here, even though we have very short interactions with people, Americans are just like, “This is my thing.”
Frazer: They don't give a fuck how big you are here. People just go, “You're in a band? Fuckin' cool. Keep going.”
Benny: I think that’s the biggest thing these days. Fuck being nonchalant. Why don’t you actually just have a go because it’s way cooler.
Q: If each of you had to choose one Rum Jungle song to introduce someone to your music, what would it be?
Frazer: I’d say "Glass Top Suite." That song feels very human, and it came out more organically than any of the other tracks on that album, and it shows in the sonics and the writing.
Josh: I would say "Keep." That’s the song that kind of started everything for us. If I were to look up Rum Jungle in the dictionary, I'd hope that "Keep" was right underneath.
Maje: I'd probably say "Got Time." I think it’s a representation of where we came from and where we are now sonically.
Josh: [Notices Benny scrolling on his phone] Benny’s currently researching our own discography. [All laugh]
Benny: I'm trying to remember what the hell our songs are! If you culminate those three together, the fourth one I'm throwing in is called "Disco Love." We made it in 30 minutes and at the time, we would labor on songs, but B-sides like this are purely for us. That one’s the furthest side of the spectrum—the wild card.
Q: There was only a little over a year between your recent album releases, Recency Bias and Marginalia, which is incredibly impressive. What did that look like behind the scenes, and were there any songs you guys had been sitting on to include on Marginalia?
Frazer: I actually don’t think so. They all came out pretty quickly.
Benny: I think we’re in a cycle where we’re just constantly writing. If we’re not on tour, we’re making time to write music, and if we’re on tour, we’re having ideas which I call “seeds.” You come back from tour with however many “seeds,” and then you try to plant them while you're at home. A couple of those might click and a couple of those might not. All four of us are very fast movers as well, and can’t sit still. So I think we’re constantly doing that, and we also just fucking love writing music.
The turnaround times obviously seem crazy, but for us, if we were put in a studio for three weeks and were told to come out with an album by the end of it… We would probably all want to punch each other, but we’d be able to get that done. We’re definitely not on a trajectory where that's going to slow down either. I feel like by the end of the year people will be like “What the fuck? What’s going on, are these guys sleeping?” and the answer is no. [laughter]
Q: How did the name of your newest album Marginalia come about? The name is reflected beautifully within the album art, which I think is an awesome addition as well.
Frazer: My mom actually came up with it.
Collectively: Yeah, yeah, yeah, our parents actually run it all! [laughter]
Frazer: No, it's cool, our family gets involved. My brother Cooper is usually doing all of the art, all the little sketches and stuff and he’s done it from the start.
[points to tattoo] It's one of these drawings right there. Yeah, we’re covered in his shit.
But my mom said she wanted to do an exhibition and call it Marginalia and explained that the word represents everything outside the margins in a book, any notes or illustrations, and I thought that was really cool. Cooper, my brother who does the art, claimed that from her to write a play called Marginalia, and I stole it from mum to write an album called Marginalia. She's got an exhibition, Cooper’s got a play, and we’ve got an album.
Benny: What did my dad say earlier on the phone? It’s part of the family business! So it's all legal, all above board! [All laugh]
Thank you guys so much for sitting down with me and taking the time to chat. I had a great time!
Collectively: Thank you so much, you had great questions!
Josh: I still can't believe you called that first one with the uranium mines!
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words, photos, and edits by Maddie Culbertson (@maddieculbsphotos)
find Rum Jungle here