From ‘Sad in Carolina’ to ’Happy to Be Here’: Listen to new EP from Dexter and the Moonrocks

First they were “Sad in Carolina,” and now Dexter and the Moonrocks are Happy to Be Here.

That’s the name of the band’s new EP, though its title may betray the actual feeling of the song.

“You know what’s hilarious? ‘Sad in Carolina’: happy song,” drummer Ryan Fox tells ABC Audio. “‘Happy to Be Here’: terribly depressing song.”

“Sad in Carolina,” which hit #1 on the Billboard Alternative Airplay chart, appears on the last Dexter EP, 2024’s Western Space Grunge. And while Western Space Grunge boasts the breakout Dexter hit, the band feels that Happy to Be Here blows it out of the water.

“It would be like if you made a UFC fighter fight a 5-year-old,” Fox adds.

“Happy to Be Here in four,” declares frontman James Tuffs.

Giving Happy to Be Here a clean sweep isn’t the only basketball reference Tuffs makes. On the EP’s single “Ritalin,” he sings, “Said you wanted just a rebound/ All I ever do is shoot.”

“We love to slide a good basketball reference in any time we can, actually,” Tuffs says. “We love basketball.”

As they’re originally from the Dallas area, the Dexter members are big fans of the Dallas Mavericks. Or, at least, they were until the Mavs traded beloved franchise superstar Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers, which has them questioning their allegiances.

“Saying ‘we’ about the Lakers is weird to me, but I’m definitely rooting for them, rooting for Luka,” Tuffs says. 

Happy to Be Here is out now.

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