Since 2019, Melbourne synth-punk/art-rock band Dr Sure’s Unusual Practice have become a cult favourite in the global underground, racking up albums, international tours and support slots with the likes of King Gizzard, Tropical Fuck Storm and Cosmic Psychos. Dr Sure’s channel punk in its earliest form: no limits. They’ve earned a reputation for diverse and prolific output, political jabs and feverish live performance. It’s rock music for oddballs and outsiders.

2024’s Total Reality, their third full-length, pushed the “weirdo punk masterminds” beyond the hive mind and into the limelight—earning praise from Henry Rollins, who named it in his Top 10 releases of the year, and Rolling Stone, who placed it in their Top 50 records of 2024, having previously dubbed them “one of the most important bands in Melbourne.”

Dr Sure is the alter ego of Central Queensland–born, Melbourne-based artist Dougal Shaw. The pseudonym allows Shaw to embody a mad-scientist-like character, often performing in oversized suits and sunglasses or matching boiler suits with the band. Behind the scenes, the Unusual Practice functions as Shaw’s all-encompassing art project. He writes, records, mixes and releases the music through his own Marthouse Records label and studio (Dr Sure’s, Gut Health, Bench Press), designs album artwork, posters and merch, directs music videos, and manages the band. It’s this dichotomy—the publicly eccentric Dr Sure and the privately meticulous Shaw—that gives the project it’s charge.

Shaw: “I always need to be making something. I love going all in on a project, creating a world around it—from the music and lyrics to the artwork and visuals, the release, the live show. Thinking about how all the different elements speak to each other to realise some kind of bigger vision. Completely inhabit that world, even just for a moment… then I’m onto the next project.”

While the band’s output is prolific, the scope shifts with each release: from the guitar-led post-punk of The West (2019) and Remember The Future? (2021), to the synth-punk of Scomo Goes To Hawaii / While Aus Burns (2020), and the bizarro outsider-pop and proto-punk of the Bubble (2022) and Blue (2025) EPs.

The art-punk and krautrock of most recent full-length Total Reality (2024)—released on Marthouse Records in Australia and Erste Theke Tonträger in Europe—marked a turning point for the band. The album’s release culminated in five tours throughout 2024, with over 60 shows across 10 countries. This ‘working band’ mentality has placed Dr Sure’s Unusual Practice among a new wave of Australian artists earning recognition on the world stage.

Shaw: “The first time we got together as a band—in the shed of the sharehouse where Jake and I lived—we spoke about this romantic notion of ‘the working band’, which feels a bit lost in the digital age. This idea of hitting the road and playing every pub that would have us, linking up with other artists and creative communities. That’s what it was always about—art, friendship, community, building something in the real world. We’ve been going at it non-stop ever since.”

On stage, the road-worn Dr Sure’s Unusual Practice mutate—songs come alive with fizzing intensity and the players seem larger than life. Alongside Shaw, the band’s four core members hail from different cities and pockets of the Melbourne music scene: Miranda Holt (drums), Jake Suriano (bass, saxophone), Mathias Dowle (guitar, synth) and Asher Bates (guitar). Across the band’s six years, an ever-expanding group of collaborators have contributed to recordings and live performances. In February 2024, for example, the band performed as a five-piece at New Zealand’s Camp A Low Hum festival, then recorded as an 11-piece for a split 7” with Canada’s Holy Fuck.

A collective of outsiders unbound by genre or scene, Dr Sure’s Unusual Practice invoke punk in its original sense: no limits. Their lineage could be traced from a New York dive (Television, Talking Heads, Patti Smith, The Velvet Underground), to an art school in Akron (DEVO), all the way to a Brisbane garage (The Saints, The Billy Mummies). It’s rock music for oddballs and outsiders.

With each release and performance, Dr Sure’s Unusual Practice continue to push sonic and conceptual boundaries, creating space for exploration, self-expression, and connection—inviting audiences to step inside.

Dougal Shaw - Vocals, Guitar, Synth, Samples, Drums, Precussion, Trumpet, Melodica

Miranda Holt - Drums, Percussion, Vocals

Jake Suriano - Bass, Vocals, Saxophone

Mathias Dowle - Guitar, Bass, Synthesizer, Vocals

Asher Bates - Guitar, Vocals

FORMER MEMBERS & COLLABORATORS - Tali Harding-Hone, Jack Mccullagh, Billiam, Alannah Sawyer, Stu Patterson

Australiasian Bookings - jariah@lonelylandsagendy.com

Europe/UK Bookings - jonas@yayayeahmusic.pt

R.O.W. / Management - info@marthouserecords.com

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