Spanish Love Songs' Dylan Slocum on touring Australia, No Joy and proving ageless

This weekend the frontman ticks off the second part of that trifecta when Spanish Love Songs begin their first Australian tour.

"It's like when you're opening for someone," Slocum says of playing to new Australian audiences for the first time.

"You've got a limited amount of time to justify your existence as a band to people. We love the challenge.

"We've always perceived ourselves - underdog is the wrong word - but we understand it's our job to make you care about us."

Since the release of their debut album Giant Sings The Blues in 2015, the Los Angeles five-piece has steadily built their fan base through impassioned heart-on-the-sleeve melancholy and melodic punch.

Spanish Love Songs might hail from California, but they're no purveyors of surf, sun and Hollywood glamour.

Rather, their self-described "grouch-rock" on acclaimed albums Schmaltz (2018) and Brave Faces Everyone (2020) speak of trauma, drug abuse, shattered dreams and modern life's drudgery.

"I'm not usually interested in what I have to say about anything, I'm more interested in what people are going to think what something is about," Slocum says.

"You can't begin to predict that, it's part of the fun of songwriting, you wait to see what people are going to bring to a song and how they're going to react to a song."

While in Australia, Spanish Love Songs - who also include Slocum's wife Meredith Van Woert (keyboards) and Kyle McAulay (guitar), Trevor Dietrich (bass) and Ruben Duarte (drums) will release their fourth studio album, No Joy.

The album showcases a more accessible and anthemic heartland sound.

"It was a definite reaction to Brave Faces Everyone, which was a sad album that sounded sad," Slocum says.

"My favourite music sounds happy and is extremely sad, so we tried to lean into that as much as we could."

A constant theme on No Joy is Slocum's exploration of being in your mid-30s - that age when life's responsibilities ground down your dreams.

Slocum, 35, knows a thing or two about broken dreams.

As a teenager Slocum was a talented baseball pitcher for the Paloma Valley Wildcats, so much so he was expected to play at Santa Clara University.

However, a combination of a knee injury and the growing influence of music led him away from the baseball diamond.

"They're both pipe dreams for a lot of people, myself included," he says of the similarities between elite sport and rock bands.

"It's a craft, but it also feels like a dream, and people have problems wrapping their head around that.

"I can't shake the hyper-competitiveness of my previous life."

All five members of Spanish Love Songs are in their mid-30s, an age when underground rock bands are usually hanging up their guitars. But they're still moving with an upward trajectory.

"There's this feeling like, 'we shouldn't be doing this at this age' sort of thing," Slocum says.

"People can say that, but it's not a real thing. You should do whatever you want whenever you want, if you can.

"We're on this earth for an infinite amount of time and we're just trying to have fun and enjoy it as much as we can in the context of our sad band in a crumbling world."

Spanish Love Songs play the Hamilton Station Hotel on Monday. No Joy is released on August 25.