Last Dinosaurs have been an integral part of the Australian music scene for over a decade. With songs like “Apollo” and “Sense”, their music has shaped a generation with their notable shoegaze, indie rock, synth pop vibes. Reaching international shores, they’ve also gained a huge following overseas, playing at massive festivals like Lollapalooza, Corona Capital, and All Things Go Festival. But they’re going back to the beginning (almost), with Wellnxss, a completely remastered version of the album Wellness to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the beloved sophomore record.
I had met band members Sean Caskey, Lachlan Caskey, and Michael Sloane back in 2019 after a sweaty (in the best way) show at the Howler in Melbourne, which Caskey endearingly mentions as being “the dinos revival era”. The energy and euphoric feeling of that night truly solidified my love for the band, so I count myself incredibly lucky to have had a chat with Sean Caskey in line with the release of Wellnxss.
Reflecting on the re-release of the album, Caskey is “stoked to be able to rewrite history with the album that kicked off our revival”. Speaking to the process of re-recording the album, he mentions that he had done it all on his own at home; programming the drums, using guitar parts from the old tracks, and simply singing the tracks into the microphone of his laptop.
The first time he realised the quality of the microphone on the laptop was more than decent was recording the song “Walking On Ice”, from their fifth studio album KYORYU. Caskey says he was ”getting out of the city to record the song, and realised I’d forgotten one of the most critical cables after hours of driving and tried it out.”
And maybe this is why Last Dinosaurs’ music continues to resonate with people around the world. It feels so grounded and dream-like, coming from a place of absolute purity, and proving that anyone is capable of creating music, a note that Caskey is keen to hone in on. “The point is that anyone can do this, you don’t have to be a genius to make music, or spend heaps of money on all the gear to create music.” And with that mindset, Wellnxss has come “to sound how [he] always wanted it to sound.”
Not only are they rewriting history with this re-release, but they are bringing to light five bonus songs that “were never finished and weren’t quite right” – until now. Giving credit to the dedicated fanbase, Caskey states that “with the support of our fans loving the demos, it gave us a huge injection of confidence in who we are.” Particularly the song “Kebabs”, a song that was first played back at Splendour 2011. It had been rewritten over and over again, and the band “had been trying to get on every album since Wellness”. Now, finally, along with fellow bonus tracks, “Dive”, “Dead Or Alive”, “Pink Flags”, and “Her Mind”, “Kebabs” is here, and the entire album is “exactly how it would’ve sounded if things went differently back then.”
The fans have clearly been a huge part of the DNA of Last Dinosaurs, with “this whole era being very fan driven” including a long time fan under the pen name yumeno_dinos on Instagram. She “has dedicated so many years to running a fan page, and now she’s an integral part of it, having come up with the new album cover.” Long time collaborators like Em Niwa are also back on board in this era, creating the merch for Wellnxss as well as tour posters, (who they also worked with on the cover of their third album Yumeno Garden).
With the album just a day away from being released to the world, the band have been busy in rehearsals fine tuning songs that they haven’t played in years to prep for the massive tour; including “Wellness” a song that they “never play…” with Caskey mentioning that they “only played it at the five Australian shows when the album first got released, so it’ll be cool to play in front of everyone once we nail everything.” And there’s no doubt that fans will also have the best time, with Caskey’s main goal for their gigs to “make sure that everybody has the best time that they can at our shows.”
Adding an extra level of excitement to the upcoming tour, the band are bringing down American rock band Bad Suns to open their Australian shows. Caskey says, “Bad Suns are a band we love dearly. We toured with them in America a couple of years ago and just fell in love because they’re just so good. I’ve always wanted to play with them again, and somehow we’ve had the crazy chance to bring them to Australia. So if you go in knowing the song, it’s going to be a euphoric experience.”
What’s been so great about their trajectory as a band is their eagerness to continue to take risks with their music without ever worrying about what people will think. Their sound is genuinely what they want it to be without the maddening influence of external noise, and they keep coming back with experimental music that not only continues to push boundaries but also feel more and more attune to the band people know and love. And that’s exactly what Last Dinosaurs have done with the remastered version of Wellnxss. It’s nostalgic, fresh, and will no doubt leave a mark in Aussie music history.
Last Dinosaurs are coming back to Australian shores this June to celebrate the release of the 10 Year Anniversary Edition of Wellnxss. You can buy tickets on their website HERE.
Wellnxss is out everywhere February 13 2026, with limited edition vinyls still in stock at their store HERE.
Sean Caskey also makes guitar pedals on his website HERE, if you fancy some cool new gear to add to your collection.
Image Credit: Beehive PR. Wellnxss Album cover credit Em Niwa.
