"There is no fear of experimenting with finding new ways to write compelling, catchy tunes that utilise the full gamut of musical concepts." My Pet Rhino talks about how he pushes boundaries

My Pet Rhino; the brainchild of Sydney-based musician and songwriter, Jon Maratheftis; was created in 2024 as a vehicle to bring Jon’s biggest and boldest songs out into the wild. It is an alternative rock project which takes inspiration from bands like There Will Be Fireworks and We Were Promised Jetpacks, as well as bigger acts such as Queens of the Stone Age, Radiohead and The Killers. My Pet Rhino combines progressive rock elements with simple, hard-nosed alternative rock grooves and pop-driven melodies sure to be stuck in your head all safari long!

TELL US ABOUT YOUR NEW ALBUM OR SINGLE

Our debut album, Arrows, is a culmination of 20+ years of meticulous songwriting, and is a curated collection of only the catchiest melodies, punchiest riffs, and most creative song arrangements designed to set fire to your speakers while embracing you with a loving hug from your mother’s arms. With the help of the amazingly versatile American vocalist, Leanne "LeeLoo" Greenman, Arrows swerves its way through the peaks of soaring progressive rock epics, down through the valleys of delicate, melodic soft indie folk tunes, and out through the open plains of sweet-yet-sour combinations of all the above. Arrows has an unwavering dedication to a ‘no two songs sound the same’ approach, which ensures there is something beautiful and accessible to all kinds of rock and roll enthusiasts.

Our third single from the album, Knots, which will be released on July 10, 2025, is our bright, raucous anthem for anyone who has ever snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. With jangly guitars, sweet glockenspiel, soaring vocals and thumping drums, Knots is a reminder to take your chances and never let your opportunities slip!

WHICH SONG WOULD YOU SAY SUMS UP YOUR SOUND THE BEST?

Knots is a wonderful example of the songwriting principles which underpin My Pet Rhino songs. There is no fear of experimenting with finding new ways to write compelling, catchy tunes that utilise the full gamut of musical concepts. Knots experiments with song structure and dynamics in particular to find a way to make the chorus ‘pop’ in a non-conventional way. The other songs on the album utilise a variety of other techniques to achieve similar goals, which is what contributes to the variety of interesting and diverse tunes in our catalogue.

HOW DID YOU GET INTO MUSIC?

My dad had an acoustic guitar lying around the house when I was young which I was always trying to play. My parents decided to get me lessons, and I have basically not stopped playing again since the age of seven. After accumulating a number of original song ideas on the guitar over the course of 20+ years, I decided it was time to make my contribution to the musical universe and compile the best of these into one cohesive record.

WHAT DOES A TYPICAL WRITING AND RECORDING DAY LOOK LIKE?

Writing is done basically whenever the inspiration strikes. I like to just sit on my bed and strum an electric guitar unamplified with no effects and see if I can find something which sounds good in its rawest possible state. If I can make it sound good with no amps or effects to hide behind, then I know the song will work out ok!

By the time I went to record the tunes for the album, the songs had been well and truly written and all the parts were already determined, so I was able to systematically get all the parts finished in studio relatively efficiently. I hired a session drummer to put down the drum parts, and LeeLoo recorded her vocals remotely from overseas (before sending them back to Australia for us to input into the tracks), with myself filling in all the other instruments layer by layer until all the layers were finished.

HOW DID YOU GET YOUR BAND NAME/ STAGE NAME?

My friend and I were trying to think of interesting band names while we were in high school, and I suggested ‘My Pet Rhino’ thinking it was really clever. My friend made it pretty clear with his sudden outburst of laughter that he definitely did not agree! So I waited the best part of 15 years to finally get my opportunity to prove him wrong and use the name in a real life project.

WHAT HAS BEEN THE HARDEST THING ABOUT YOUR MUSIC JOURNEY SO FAR?

Not having a full band line up has meant I have needed to be really creative in how I went about recording a record which required a full band. I found it really difficult finding local musicians who were good enough and willing enough to help out on the songs (a lot of the tracks require a lot of skill to perform properly – they are not the simplest songs in the world, and the type of people who are capable of playing them are not generally waiting by the phone for me to offer them a job), so I decided to look to hiring session musicians to fill in the parts I could not complete competently myself (vocals and drums). This gave me a lot of freedom to explore lots of vocal options in particular, and let me hand pick the exact vocal sound I wanted to portray my tunes. However, with LeeLoo being based overseas, this brough about its own set of challenges as to how I communicated what I wanted to her so she could record it and send it back from her end. Eventually we found a system that worked for both of us, and once we got on a roll the process went really smoothly.

WHAT'S BEEN THE EASIEST?

Writing the songs! This feels the most natural part of the process, and has been something I have been able to do slowly over time as new ideas present. I don’t like to record ideas down too much as I write; I tend to just use my memory to filter out the good and bad ideas. If I can still remember a song I have written days, months or even years later without ever documenting it in any other way, then it must be a good enough tune!

WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU WEREN'T MAKING MUSIC?

I am a structural engineer as my main day-job, so I would almost certainly still be doing that even without music.

WHAT IS THE BEST ADVICE YOU’VE BEEN GIVEN?

The big life decisions you make now will bear their fruit ten years from now, so get yourself set up as early as possible to allow the success to follow. All the years of practice, patience and perseverance with my musical journey has led to me getting the opportunity to record my music and release it into the wild. With any luck, the next phase will similarly allow me to enjoy the rewards of this and to be able to continue to make the music I love.

WHAT'S NEXT?

I would love to keep writing and releasing new tunes for as long as possible into the future, as well as put together a full band to play some live shows!

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