“Real’s Not Real” starts as a fuzzy and loud rock song with a driving rhythm before breaking into a Beatles-esque verse where Stu reflects on someone’s worldview. While they paint themselves as happy, the truth is that they are afraid of change and action to a point where they can never be pleased. Their perception of themselves — and by extension reality — isn’t real. The second verse focuses broadly on humanity, arguing that in the face of climate change we need to unify and abandon our own egos and sacred cows (uncriticizable spiritual beliefs) to stop, or at least mitigate, the effects.
A demo for “Real’s Not Real” was released as part of the benefit album Woman Life Freedom — Music For Iran, Volume 2. It’s a low fidelity instrumental take with an organ part during the verses where the vocals would be. According to the liner notes of Fishing For Fishies “Real’s Not Real” was recorded at TFS Studios in May of 2018 by Gareth Liddiard, with additional overdubs in Melbourne from July to November recorded by Stu. Footage of the band recording the song was featured in How to gut a Fishie with the audio being swapped for the final studio version. Stu (electric guitar/keyboards/vocals/Mellotron/bass/piano), Cavs (drums), Eric (drums), Ambrose (harmonica/vocals/tambourine/piano) and Joey (bass) played on “Real’s Not Real,” with the track being mixed by Sam Joseph. It would be released on Fishing For Fishies on April 26th, 2019.
“Real’s Not Real” has only been played a handful of times. The earliest known performance was on 2019-07-12 at the Thebarton Theatre in Adelaide. Following this it made an appearance on 2019-08-25 before being played one final time on 2019-08-27 at the College Street Music Hall in New Haven. While it has not been played since, Stu has mentioned that he’s interested in bringing it back one day.