Brand Engagement Director Brianna is here today to introduce us to the Australian indie rock band “Custard” and its connection to the hit children’s show “Bluey.”

For those of you who don’t have a close relationship with any young kids or possess an urge to heal your inner child, you may not be familiar with the Australian children’s show, “Bluey.” It is an excellent cartoon that I will probably continue to watch once my kid inevitably outgrows it, because it is the gentle parent Millennials need. Episodes are roughly eight minutes long and the show explores all the nuances of raising/being kids with relatable — and at times heart-wrenching — narratives. For those of you looking for a really cathartic cry, I recommend the following episodes:

“Onesies”
“The Show”
“Baby Race”
“Cricket” (had my youngest-child spouse in tears, but not me — my older sibling was nothing like Rusty)

One TikTokker recently blew adult fans’ minds when he connected the dots that David McCormack, the voice actor of the dad Bandit, is also the lead singer of the band Custard. This indie rock band dates back to the early ’90s, with a roughly decade-long dissolution in the aughts, and has produced eight studio albums to date. So if any parents out there have lamented that their musical talents are lacking in comparison to Bandit, it’s not exactly a fair comparison.

The band’s history is sprinkled with the expected lineup changes — keeping a drummer was a real struggle in the ’90s! — challenges, and side projects of any indie musician working for generations. Custard’s music could generally be categorized under the patriarchal moniker “Dad Rock.”

This is where I have to sidetrack temporarily and lament how all the “cool” parts of parenthood are for the dads. Dads get to be (tongue-in-cheek, roll-your-eyes) funny, but moms are just embarrassing. Dad Rock, Dad Jokes, etc. might be cringe, but they are still seen through a lens of affection. On the flip side, female parents in heterosexual marriages get… (checks notes) emotional and mental labor that leaves us with less time to have fun and often burnt out from shouldering most of the work*. If there is anything to listen to from McCormack’s voice, it is not his lyrics — it is how equitably his character Bandit parents with his wife Chilli.

Alright, back on track! I did listen to a little bit of Custard's music, and it is delightfully quirky. It's not my normal taste, but then again I moved through the quintessential 2000s Emo to 2010s Hipster to 2020s Swiftie pipeline of a 30s-something Millennial woman. Though the listen was not without its highlights: Custard’s latest album does have a decent cover of “Take the Skinheads Bowling” and their 2015 comeback album’s second track “We Are The Parents (Our Parents Warned Us About)” feels like a fun bit of foreshadowing for McCormack’s eventual ascent as an iconic voice of fatherhood in the 21st century. If you listen to the band’s music and find yourself rocking out, you’ll be pleased to hear they announced pre-production on a new album back in September!

McCormack’s voice acting career began as a one-off opportunity. He was connected with “Bluey” via contacts made with his soundtrack company, Sonar. A gig he thought would amount to a few lines became a main role in the pilot for a show that is now extremely beloved by its youth and adult fan base. These days, fans can also hear him voice a character in “Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake.” He does not go to any great lengths to disguise his voice while acting, so Custard is likely to get more visibility as McCormack takes on additional animation gigs. Conversely, parents can potentially expand their children’s musical knowledge by introducing them to indie rock via Bluey’s dad. I look forward to researching more about the adult voice cast of Bluey to learn more about the show’s lore.

*If you are my spouse and reading this, I don’t mean you — you already know you’re a dream partner in parenthood, somehow even better than Bandit Heeler. And my jokes are better than yours ;)