#twerps

3/1/25.

Dumb Things are a Brisbane, Australia band who call their music "hangover pop". I found out about them due to an alert from James Southey (guitar), who is also in Soft Covers, a band I was listening to incessantly in late 2023.

"Time Again" is Dumb Things' LP from 2019, but they have a new album, Self Help, coming out in about a month. It continues in the same vein as this album. I automatically think of Go Get Mum ("Moving Day" is still one of my favorites), but I'll turn it over to the band themselves for the rest of the RIYL. They describe themselves as, "Another chapter in the long lineage of not just Queensland forebears like The Go-Betweens and The Apartments but also the next wave of Aussie bands who also mined that same fertile ground for inspiration like Dick Diver, Twerps and The Ocean Party."

Ash, honestly impressed: How did you do that without turning around?

Jessie: Don’t you feel all warm and fuzzy, guys?

James: Warm, and very fuzzy.

Cassidy/Venus: Yeah.~

Butch: Warm as a Charmander, fuzzy as an Eevee.

Meowth: I feel warm too.

Butch: That’s nice, Meowth. 

Butch: Huh?

Meowth: 😍 Especially when I think of you.

Butch: What’s wrong with your eyes, Meowth? They’re-

Meowth: They’re filled with love for you, Buzzy.

Butch: 😬❗❗❗

Meowth: I just wanna be near you!

Butch: Please don’t come any closer!

-

Butch: Hey, knock it off! *Meowth pounces on him, and licks his face* I may be a sucker, but I’m no lollipop! Stop it this instant!

Jessie: *feels a tongue on her hand* Huh? Don’t bother me while I’m warm and fuzzy, Meowth.

Meowth: I’m savin’ all my love for Buzzy-Wuzzy.

Butch: IT’S BUTCHIE-WUTCHIE!

Jessie: *sees a Shuckle with heart eyes on her hand, and shakes her arm* Get off me!

Cassidy: Uh, guys?

*they all look around, and find a whole group of lovestruck Shuckle*

Venus: Wha-wha-wha? WHAT’S HAPPENING?!?!

(The twerps see Team Rocket trying to run away from the horde, now bombarded by the lovey-dovey Pokemon)

Ash: Team Rocket!

Pikachu: Pika!

Butch: Why won’t you get off me?!

Meowth: I gotta admit, I don’t understand it myself, Butchie-kins, my brain wants me to let go, but my gut tells me to keep hangin’ on!

Butch: *the Shuckle on his left hip pulls his shirt up from under his pants with its teeth; he screams with wide eyes and anime tears when it licks his belly button, and slumps down on the ground, face-down, with his butt in the air* I think we finally have been licked.

-

Meowth: *snaps out of his trance* Huh? Wow, I just woke up from a nightmare.

Cassidy: *holding a lovestruck Pikachu, as Meowth hops down to the ground* Oh, good; you’re back to your old, clueless self. So we can take Pikachu, and go.

Ash: You’re not going anywhere!

Butch: *holding the shiny Shuckle* Really? We have Pikachu and the Shuckle; how’re you going to stop us? *Shiny Shuckle sticks its head under his still-loosened shirt; he screams again when it licks his belly button, and he throws it in the air*

Ash: We gotta save that Shuckle!

Old Man Shuckle: Use your Vine Whip, Spoopy!

*Spoopy the Bellsprout saves the Shuckle, to Team Rocket’s dismay*

James: Now what’ll we do?

Venus: So what if we don’t have the Shuckle anymore? We still have their Pikachu, and it’s in love with Cassidy.

James: I forgot that!

Meowth: Yeah!

Ash: I think Pikachu’s feelings might’ve changed.

TR: Huh?

Pikachu: *looks up at Cassidy, angry and ready to attack*

Cassidy: Don’t... tell me Pikachu’s... back to normal.

Ash: I’m afraid so. Kiss ‘em goodbye, Pikachu!

*Pikachu strikes all 6 with Thunderbolt, sending them blasting off*

Jessie: Here we go again!

Venus: No Shuckle!

Butch: And no Shuckle Juice!

TR: Thank goodness!

And happiny, omg happiny. She is a beast. Strength like no other, constantly coming in clutch. She is the protector and the boss of this joint. I cant think of a single negative things about smoll swoll happiny.