Hootsville Music Collective

24/10/2025

The third single from The Mean Times’ upcoming album Feel More Dumb, Hook, Line and Sinker is a cynical character study set to a woozy, lurching groove. Unco...

18/10/2025

11/09/2025

Album · 2025 · 13 Songs

23/08/2025

Today we release another new single, Hook, Line and Sinker. It’s the third single from our upcoming album, Feel More Dumb, out 12 September on

Here’s what the music critic boffins on the internet are saying about it.

A swaggering, sardonic character study wrapped in a woozy, off-kilter groove, ‘Hook, Line & Sinker’ takes a fearless look into the mind of a man who knows his violence will go unpunished - and doesn’t care. Told from the uncomfortable point of view of a privileged abuser, the track tears into the entitlement of toxic masculinity and the culture of complicity that allows it to thrive.

Musically, ‘Hook, Line & Sinker’ is equally uncompromising. A sleazy bassline slinks beneath jagged guitars, while the sneering vocals split the difference between AM-era Arctic Monkeys and the jaded suburban poetry of Blur or Pulp. There’s a theatrical bitterness to it all, balanced by the raw, pub-rock punch of The Mean Times’ Australian roots - refracted through a darker, more contemporary lens.

‘Hook, Line & Sinker’ doesn’t ask for redemption. It doesn’t offer answers. But it does hold a mirror up to a version of masculinity that too often goes unchecked - and dares listeners to look.

Listen to ‘Hook, Line & Sinker’ here: https://orcd.co/hook-line-and-sinker