Brisbane thrash-pop duo DZ Deathrays have just released their debut album "Bloodstreams" and are currently on a mammoth tour. They have hit UK shores to tear things up so we headed down to Leeds Cockpit to chat to Shane and Simon about all things touring, the album and Jägermeister!
Hi guys. This is the beginning of a long
summer of touring for you guys; how’s it been going so far?
SIMON- It’s been good; it’s probably the
best overseas tour that we’ve done. We were last over here in October.
SHANE- Yeah, there’s definitely been a bit
of progress in the crowd numbers coming down, so it’s been good. I looked at
the dates today and realised we’re only about a quarter of the way through our UK and Europe
stuff and then we have lots of shows over in the States.
You guys are from Australia , Brisbane ;
how does the music scene and touring over there differ from the UK
SIMON- Brisbane’s a lot more eclectic I
think; people from different genres hang out together and are all supportive.
At the moment Brisbane
SHANE- But touring over in Australia
SIMON- You can really only get away with a
house party on a Saturday night at home.
 |
| DZ Deathrays debut album |
SHANE- We’d been writing those songs over a
couple of years, so there’s bits and pieces that were written really close to
the record and other bits that we’ve been playing live for a while. We just
grouped together what we had and went through the process of breaking each song
down. Most the songs have stayed pretty similar to what they were. Richard gave
us direction on putting the songs gether so it was tight; when we play together
it’s pretty loose. On record everything
had to be pulled together. It was pretty relentless; we did two weeks and did a
song each day.
You’ve released a video for “Dollar
Chills”; you have skull masks on and are destroying buildings. This is very bit
different from “The Mess Up” video where you sat and were drinking Jagermeister;
did you enjoy making it?
SIMON- Yeah, it was a lot of fun to do because
it was just us and a couple of friends.
SHANE- The funnist thing you can do is
breaking things. We had these vague ideas and we wanted to do stuff with flares
and home-ade fireworks and Tristan who directed it is our friend and ound that
steel wool burns really easily. So we put it in an egg whisker on a rope, and
spun it; little hot bits of burning steel go flying everywhere so he shot it
with this crazy,expensive camera and it looks like homemade fireworks!
And, I have to ask you; after “The
Mess Up” video are you sick of Jager yet?
SIMON- We still drink it all the time! People
bring it and pour us shots.
SHANE- It’s still the easiest drink to
shot. That’s why we chose it in the first place; if we did that with Tequila
there’s no way we would’ve gotten through the three minutes of the video.
You guys started at a house party
and everything has kinda of blown up from there; did you ever think this would
happen?
SHANE- [Laughing] No, never. We had another
band before and were trying to book shows for ages and nothing would ever come
through. So, with this band we just wanted something that we could go to our mate’s
house party and up and play. Then leave all our stuff there and stay there and not
have to worry about getting home and packing up the gear. That was the idea
behind the band in the first place; It was about simple songs that were fun to
play live and then opportunities opened up from there.
And there’s a houseparty after
tonight’s show right?
SHANE- Yeah, the support band asked us and
I was like “are you guys allowed to have a house party on a Monday?” Well we’re
going to do it anyway; if the cops show up then the cops show up!
 |
| DZ Deathrays on stage in Leeds |
SIMON- Yeah we love that guy, we’re big
fans.
SHANE- We played a show with him at SXSW
and really wanted to meet him but didn’t. This sound guys set up everything on
stage and the band started playing with no Andrew. Then from the back gate he just
runs and jumps on stage and jumps on the mic and is just like “time to party”. Everyone
goes crazy and at the end he just runs back off the stage into a car and he’s
gone; man of mystery.
Talking of partying hard; Ie read
that you were on a French motorway hungover trying to change a tyre?
SHANE- That was scary as s**t.
SIMON- There was no where to pull over, no
guard rail or anything; the van could hardly fit off the road.
SHANE- I had to climb out of the window to
get out and all of these trucks are going past at like 130km/h and we’re trying
to figure out what we’re going to do and the van’s s shaking every time a truck
goes past. We got it done though; Simon had a fluorescent vest on trying to
direct traffic on the French motorway for like forty five minutes.
SIMON- We had to unload the entire van
because the spare tyre was right at the back!
SHANE- Then today we went and replaced the
tyre that blew and they were like “alright lads, in you go” and we pulled it in
there; five minutes they had it up, tyres changed and there you go, done! We
are amateurs.
Thanks guys!
And here’s what
happened when DZ Deathrays took to the stage…
 |
| DZ Deathrays' lead singer Shane |
 |
| DZ Deathrays in Leeds Cockpit |
Shane carries on regardless; this is probably one of the milder things to happen at a DZ Deathrays gig. On a level with Andrew W.K in terms of the band’s party ethos they’re not quite as theatrical as his stage show, keeping things intimate and less over the top [no pizza guitar here!]. DZ Deathrays redefine the thrash party pop genre and are a band not afraid to push the boundaries and naturally have the ability to captivate an entire venue. Melodious but at the same time harsh, gritty and loud; how can two people make that much noise? But more than noise DZ Deathraus encourages a frenzy from within the audience and strike a connection with the crowd here tonight. On to the house party it is…
Catch DZ Deathrays on tour this May-
22 EDINBURGH @ Sneaky Pete’s
23 WREXHAM @ Central Station
24 BELFAST @ McHughs
25 DUBLIN @ Academy 2
27 SOUTHAMPTON @ The Joiners
29 BRISTOL @ Lousiana
