Without Sonar Music, There’d be No Bandit Heeler

Dave McCormack, the Aussie legend known for his role as Bandit Heeler on the children’s TV show Bluey, isn’t just the voice of a talking dog. 

He is a muso at heart, starting his music career in the band Custard before co-founding Sonar Music with Antony Partos, Matteo Zingales, Jono Ma, and Andrew Lancaster.

"There's more pressure doing music for TVCs, as you have such a small time to make such a huge impact," Dave told LBB. "Film and TV you can extend the journey more."

Matteo added, "Every single second in a 30 to 90 TVC spot matters, there is so much attention to detail. It's deeply intricate and highly nuanced - it's a real skill.” The pair both described TVC music as an integral part of achieving a brand’s goal. 

Dave described music as a sugar addiction; once you have it, you only ever want more and more. 

“Music is huge, you don’t realise how much music contributes to a show until you hear it without music,” he said. “I happily accidentally fell into doing music, you know.” 

This happy accident comes in the form of his band Custard, which recently released its latest music video, ‘Heart Attacks’, from the newest album, ‘Suburban Curtains.’ Dave said the origins of Custard's name are “infantile” and heavily inspired by the Sex Pistols. 

“I'm from a music performance background. In the 90s, I was in a band and doing all that stuff. And then in the late 90s, someone asked me to do a sort of a small piece of music for a Calippo ad. Remember, Calippos? I did that, and they liked it. I haven't come from a [background] immersed in music theory or history or culture, I just love what I do.”

Dave recognised his co-founders Antony, Matteo, and Andrew as “really clever composers that win awards and do big films. And Jono is one of Australia's most sought-after music producers. They are brilliant.” Matteo and Antony are two of the country's most awarded composers; they've worked with the likes of HBO, Amazon, Disney, and Netflix. Dave met Antony when Antony was running his previous business, Super Sonic. “They had a very creative thing happening,” he said. 

“They're proper adult musician people, whereas my role is more of the ‘roll the dice’ person.” 

He described his creative process as “a fishing expedition” unless he is doing long form, when he “gets in the zone.” 

“There's certain structures that you can use to build the music around, like certain points to hit. But if I'm doing songwriting, that's more of a fishing expedition for me. Just try random things until I get something that works. And it's normally music first and then lyrics second. I sing nonsense for as long as it takes. Like taking all the tiles from a Scrabble game and pushing them on the table.”

Dave’s daughters hate to hear his music, even though Custard opened for Crowded House’s very last gig in the 90s at the Opera House (which made Dave feel like a “real rockstar”). But they love his role as Bandit Heeler in Bluey, the kid’s show which has taken the world by storm.  

Over the weekend, two Brisbane ferries switched from being CityCats to CityDogs, complete with Bluey branding and paintwork. The makeover comes ahead of the opening of Bluey’s World in Brisbane - the home of Ludo Studios - later this month, and follows other clever marketing plays like Bluey’s Queenslander house being listed on Domain, and Bunnings stores being renamed Hammerbarn.

Without Sonar Music, there’d be no Bandit - Bluey’s dad - Dave said.

“This is where it all began. I was walking down that corridor because there's a post house next door called Unison. And someone was like, ‘Oh, someone's doing a thing about an animated dog. Can you be the dad?’

“I said, ‘I don't know how to act’. And they said, ‘All you gotta do is read the script’. I said, ‘Sure,’ and I did the pilot. And then they said, ‘You want to do some more?’ And I said, ‘Okay’. And then after we did about 50, I thought, ‘What is going on? Oh, I think they hired me.’ 

“It’s a beautiful show. And it's got such it's got such a lovely heart. And as you can tell by my voice, I don't have to act. It's just me.”

When the show started, Dave’s own daughters were three and five-years-old, around the same age as his on screen daughters, Bluey and Bingo. “It was incredibly relatable,” he said. He didn’t have to pretend.

 “I don’t think I could do it if I had to pretend to be someone else,” he said. 

The show's popularity transcends Australian shores. Dave confirmed that when in America, he is, “actually a little bit proper famous.”

“There's so many sweet moments in it and that's why I think everyone loves it around the world,” he said. 

“It's a kids show, but it's different from most kids shows. It's got a real warmth and humanity, even though it's dogs or I should say canine humanity. So many things happen that happen in all families and with all people. Hopefully, it’ll go on forever.”