‘Fuzzy, Haunting, Psychedelic’: Welcome to Earth Tongue’s World

This interview is part of our Future of Music 2026 series. Follow all the coverage here.

Earth Tongue are loud. Very loud. And somehow there’s just two of them.

After making the move to Europe — Berlin, to be precise — the Aotearoa fuzz-rock duo have quickly built up a strong following on the continent’s live music scene, with shows in their home country also regularly selling out.

Their rambunctious and theatrical third album, Dungeon Vision, arrived last year, which guitarist Gussie Larkin and drummer Ezra Simons finalised in Los Angeles with a little help from garage-rock king Ty Segall.

“Ty’s been a big driving force,” Simons previously said. “We supported him in New Zealand back in 2023, and he’s backed us ever since even bringing us on tour through Europe and the UK in 2024.”

Dungeon Vision hits hard wherever one listens to it, but Earth Tongue really deserve to be heard up close. If they come through your town next, make sure you go see them.

Read an exclusive interview with Earth Tongue, and watch a special In My Room session from the duo, below.

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Rolling Stone AU/NZ: What does it mean to you to be included in Rolling Stone’s Future of Music series? 

Earth Tongue: As a heavy psychedelic rock band from the bottom corner of the world we are absolutely thrilled to be included in Future of Music! Rolling Stone has had a huge global impact on the spread of good tunes, so we’re very happy to be a small part of that legacy. 

How did you first get your start in music? 

We were both playing in different bands in the thriving Wellington music scene in our early 20s. We were deeply inspired by all the music around us – some of our favourite local bands were active at that time, and there were a good amount of small venues and festivals happening around Wellington. We knew that we wanted to pursue a career in music, the hard part was figuring out how to keep it sustainable in such a small place. We embarked on international tours early on and slowly grew our following by getting out on the road DIY-style.

Describe your sound to a new listener in three words.

Fuzzy, haunting, psychedelic.

Tell us about your latest release. 

Our third album Dungeon Vision came out in February 2026. It’s a fuzzy and fantastical collection of songs taking influence from 1970s psych-folk and prog bands like Trees and King Crimson. We wanted to make a fun, adventurous and fuzzy album that conjures up its own internal world.

We recorded it in Los Angeles and it was engineered and produced by Ty Segall — someone we’ve toured with a lot and who has always been a huge influence. It was released on In the Red Records, and we’ve been touring non-stop since.

What’s your favourite career memory so far?

Supporting Osees on a mountainside in Switzerland was pretty cool! 

What are the positives and negatives of being a musician in 2026?

Musicians in 2026 need to wear more hats than ever. We’re content creators, we’re logistics experts, marketing gurus, music video directors, bedroom sound engineers. It can be hard to survive out there, so we do everything ourselves. This means we can create and control our own vision, but it can also be too much at times. 

What’s one thing you’d change about the (AU/NZ) music industry.

The biggest change we’d like to see in the music industry is a collective move away from streaming as the primary way of consuming music. The convenience of streaming is great, but the system is set up so only the companies themselves and very few of the biggest artists and their labels get paid. I’m not saying you need to stop streaming all together, but if you are enjoying a particular artist on there, make sure you find ways to support them in other ways too! 

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Are you hopeful for the future of music in ANZ? 

New Zealand punches way above its weight when it comes to music. Something about the isolation and the small population is a recipe for unique and interesting music. Because there’s no real industry ladder to climb, people make exactly what they want to make with no compromises. The rest of the world seems to be discovering these underground New Zealand music gems more and more — that’s what keeps me hopeful! 

Name one other ANZ act you’d like to see make our Future of Music series in the future. 

Womb are a great band from Wellington that everyone needs to know about. They make this layered, reverb-drenched psychedelic pop music that encompasses everything we love about New Zealand music. Every time we are lucky enough to see them live it is a blissful, out of body experience. Highly recommended!  

What’s coming up for you this year?

This May we’re on tour in the east coast of the US. We have an exciting few months coming up playing some great festivals in Europe and the US over summer. In a few weeks we’ll be playing in a cave in Switzerland, then we’ll come back to the US and play in the mountains in Colorado, for Field of Vision (King Gizzard’s festival).

We’re excited to be sharing our music with lots of new people and seeing some fresh new places! We’re also hoping to be working on a new album at some point soon, but if the tour schedule keeps up this momentum we’re not sure when that will be.