It’s 2018 and Sydney trio DMA’s are done with comparisons. Although most are flattering – Oasis and The Stone Roses are the names frequently thrown around – with the release of their second album For Now the three friends are living in the present and focused on the future.
However, that doesn’t mean they aren’t looking forward to meeting Liam Gallagher again in a couple months time; after all, he has been an outspoken foe turned ally of the band in recent times. Not, mind you, that the band are thinking about packing their bags and decamping to the UK full-time; as guitarist Johnny Took tells it, they’re pretty happy where they are.
The UK has become a bit of a home away from home.
“I don’t think we wanna move, but on that note, it’s been really nice how welcoming people have been. They’ve seemed to take us under their wing. Sure, there are Britpop influences in our music obviously and they could have dismissed us, but they’ve really taken it on and the UK has become a bit of a home away from home.
“I remember when we first started touring we were a bit younger and much more inexperienced to at it all,” Took continues. “It was really exciting – it’s still exciting getting over there – but it’s kind of almost more exciting coming home now. It makes me realise how much I really love Australia.”
The inner city suburbs of Sydney is where DMA’s found their voice. When mates Took and Tommy O’Dell, vocalist, bonded over whisky and riffs and decided to leave their respective bluegrass bands and a rock outfit called Underlights to form their own group, the chemistry just felt right.
O’Dell had risen through the ranks of the city’s music scene behind a drum kit. Took was an established bass player and a singer-songwriter with a keen interest in music production, but as history would have it, as soon as Took heard O’Dell’s vocals over one of his arrangements, he knew they’d found their sound and their front man
But they needed a third, and one fateful day they met Matt Mason through friends. Now, not only did they have the benefit of combining their talent and experience, they also realised their fortune of having three competent songwriters in Took’s home studio. So they got to work, writing and recording as much as possible until Mason wrote their break-out single ‘Delete’. “I think Mason was 19 when he wrote that song,” Took says.
Amidst the flurry of creativity in those early days, not only did they write and record enough to release their hugely popular debut LP Hills End, they also found themselves shelving songs that didn’t fit – until now. “We had written a lot of songs even before Hills End that didn’t make it onto that album. Not because they were better or worse; it was because we thought they would be more appropriate on our second album.”
This record is really special to us three and I think it’s an organic growth for the band sonically.
“One of my favourites, ‘Tape Deck Sick’, was written in the same year as ‘Delete’, and songs like ‘The End’ I wrote a year and a half ago, so all the songs were written over a long stretch of time.
“Actually,‘The End’ really wasn’t meant to make the record,” Took adds. “It was a demo that I had done on Ableton, but I’d normally use Protools or programs like that. When I started learning more about dance music production and we started working with Kim [Moyes, The Presets and co-producer of For Now] I sent him the track ‘cause he is a bit of a wizard and a legend in that area. Of course I was really nervous and intrigued to see what he thought, but he loved it. He made the call; he said, ‘If I’m going to do this record you have to let me have a stab at this song,’ and I think he made it better than it could have ever been, you know? It’s cool because it’s still got those electronic flavours but then it also gets pretty noisy and pretty washed out towards the end.
“This record is really special to us three and I think it’s an organic growth for the band sonically,” Took says. “It’s a little bit more hi-fi but not in a sterile, clinical way, and it’s not too bright, too light or wholesome I feel. I think there’s some really beautiful tracks on it. Also, together with the backing band that we have at the moment it’s really been the best dynamic between everyone that we’ve ever had, and everyone’s just been having a great time, so that makes it easy as well.”
Sydneysiders will be able to hear DMA’s gorgeous and inspiring new album For Now when they play two nights at the Enmore Theatre this June. As a support the fellas have hand-picked Brisbane’s indie darling Hatchie, AKA Harriette Pilbeam. “We’ve always been a fan of Harriette’s stuff and her guitarist Paddy Harrowsmith, AKA Green Buzzard, used to play guitar in DMA’s in the beginning,” Took says. “Joe from The Creases is the other guitarist in her band, and they supported us on our first ever EP tour. We’re all friends. We’ve all known each other for a while, so having them on tour again will be great. We both have that dreamy, ’90s nostalgia thing going on and Hariette’s just such a great songwriter in her own regard. “It’s just a bunch of good people hanging out on the road. There’s no wankers, so we couldn’t ask for anything more.”
DMA’s play the Enmore Theatre on Sunday, June 10 (sold out) and Monday, June 11 with Hatchie. For Now is out now through I Oh You / Mushroom.
