Spotlight: Joe Mungovan

(Image credit: Mikey Conlon)

JOE MUNGOVAN

HAILS FROM: Illawarra, NSW
PLAYS: Solo
SOUNDS LIKE: Groove-inflected indie-pop
LATEST DROP: A Flower In The Weeds (LP out now independently)

What’s your current go-to guitar?
At the moment I’m playing a Fender American Professional II Stratocaster. I purchased it last year and haven’t put it down since. I love the versatility and feel of this guitar.

How did you initially fall in love with the instrument?
I started out as a drummer, but at the age of 13 I had a pretty hectic skateboard accident that left me in a wheelchair for a couple of months. Without the use of my legs I couldn’t play my kit anymore, so I turned to the guitar. I taught myself how to play by watching Rage and copying their finger positions. I strummed away for years on the guitar that my dad had lying around the house, which was a beautiful, custom-made nylon-string guitar – I still use this guitar to record on!

What inspires you as a player?
As someone who learned the drums from a young age, I will always be influenced by rhythm. A lot of my songs use quite a few guitar tracks in different polyrhythms. Lately, I’ve been listening to a lot of Khruangbin, The War On Drugs, Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Leif Vollebekk, all of whom use the guitar completely differently and in such interesting ways.

Are you much of a gear nerd?
I wouldn’t say I’m too much of a gear nerd, just more of a plug-in-and-play guy. I recently picked up a secondhand Reverend Manta Ray that has a beautiful, warm, deep tone.

Do you have any ‘white whales’?
A Fender Jaguar (American Original ‘60s) would be a nice addition!

What would your signature model look like?
I’d love to have Andy at T-Guitars whip me up a custom semi-hollowbody with a couple of humbuckers.

If you could jam with any guitarist, dead or alive...
I’d love to play ‘Strangest Thing’ with The War On Drugs.

Ellie Robinson is an Australian writer, editor and dog enthusiast with a keen ear for pop-rock and a keen tongue for actual Pop Rocks. Her bylines include music rag staples like NME, BLUNT, Mixdown and, of course, Australian Guitar (where she also serves as Editor-at-Large), but also less expected fare like TV Soap and Snowboarding Australia. Her go-to guitar is a Fender Player Tele, which, controversially, she only picked up after she'd joined the team at Australian Guitar. Before then, Ellie was a keyboardist – thankfully, the AG crew helped her see the light…

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JOE MUNGOVAN

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