Last Dinosaurs

Despite such success, it wasn’t until late August this year that they returned with album number two, Wellness. Given the momentum generated by the debut, Last Dinosaurs’ initial plan was to follow it up as quickly as possible. However, the power to do so eluded them.

“You have no idea how difficult it is,” says vocalist/guitarist Sean Caskey. “We just don’t have a choice. We can have all the songs, but it doesn’t matter – we can’t decide when we record and stuff like that. We’re very conscious of the fact that we’re on the edge of taking too long. It just kept getting delayed. But I’m hoping this one is good enough to generate interest again and then next album, hopefully we can record when we should record.”

Caskey needn’t fret that people have forgotten about Last Dinosaurs. Wellness’ first single, ‘Evie’, was an instant success, leading to a sold-out national tour in June and July. The warm welcome back led the band to aim higher on the official album tour, upgrading October’s Sydney show from Oxford Art Factory to the Enmore Theatre.

“I had a massive panic attack before the ‘Evie’ single tour,” says Caskey. “I was like, ‘This is the worst song ever.’ But I’ve got over it now, because it’s fine. When we played that tour everyone was going crazy, and at Splendour everyone went pretty crazy for ‘Evie’.”

Australian audiences aren’t the only ones who’ve been infected by Last Dinosaurs’ sharp, guitar-led indie-pop. Although the interval between albums was lengthier than Caskey would have liked, it allowed them to make an impressive dent on select overseas markets.

“After exhausting Australian touring, this massive door opened for Asia – and it was awesome,” he says. “We went to South Africa as well. We realised there was a whole other side of the world that was very interested in what we were doing. So it was kind of a blessing taking that long, because if we didn’t, we probably wouldn’t have realised there was this massive opportunity in Southeast Asia.”

Behind-the-scenes rigmarole was the major factor that stalled the arrival of Wellness, but that’s not to say the band’s creative leader is immune to songwriting challenges. “There was definitely pressure to try to beat the first one,” Caskey says. “The pressure I put on myself was just to make it cooler. I didn’t care about anything else. I wanted to do something I was proud of – songs that I thought were deeper and artistically better, and sonically cooler as well. I got older and I listened to better music and had a better idea of what I thought was cool.”

Production-wise, while Wellness sounds like the work of a compact rock band, it’s clearly not the result of a live-in-the-studio recording approach. It’s a tight, brightly produced record comprising atmospheric keyboards, guitar effects and electronic drums. Famed Aussie producer Scott Horscroft joined the four-piece in the studio and the band welcomed his constructive methods.

“I’ve admired Scott forever,” says Caskey. “I listened to Mercy Arms and Starky and The Protectors – all bands he wouldn’t really mention on his CV, but I’d see ‘Scott Horscroft’ [in the credits] and I realised who it was. What I respect about Scott’s production style is that he doesn’t get your song, pull it to pieces and be like, ‘Nah, this is no good.’ He’s just like, ‘OK, that’s your thing, I get where you’re going – you probably don’t need this little bit here, but let’s record it and I’ll record it in a way to make it better and make it sound how it should sound.’ That’s the genius of Scott – being able to appreciate and understand a band and what they’re doing.”

On that note, the slick studio sheen that characterises Wellness isn’t simply a consequence of Horscroft’s post-production handiwork. Rather, that’s down to how Last Dinosaurs’ songs tend to begin life.

“All my demos are very structured and electronic,” says Caskey. “I program everything – the drums, sometimes bass and guitar – and then I’ll translate it from MIDI to guitars later on. It’s just easier to do it on MIDI for me. Even though it’s time-consuming and I just hit one note then copy and paste and move it all, I’m not the kind of guy to bash it out on guitar. I always like to be fiddling with it, because I’m really OCD with that sort of shit. I’ve always liked doing it like that.

“[Horscroft] got that; he made the drums super tight, really quantised and stuff like that. He wanted to keep elements from the demos in the songs. We talked about it and we were like, ‘That’s perfect.’”

In some cases, Horscroft deemed Caskey’s demos strong enough to preserve them for the album. “That song ‘Wellness’, for instance, that’s actually my demo,” he says. “It’s all stock Pro Tools plugins – drums and bass and synth.”

Intriguingly, the song is one of the album’s clear highlights – a sidestep from Last Dinosaurs’ guitar-heavy signature, and an indication of a possible future direction.

“That was more [like] the stuff that I listen to,” says Caskey. “I don’t really listen to the stuff that we play. I’ll probably never listen to our stuff. Maybe except for ‘Wellness’. ‘Wellness’ is closest to the stuff I really enjoy listening to – more dreamy and a bit deeper and more soundscapey.

“I’ve always listened to Panda Bear. Panda Bear’s Person Pitch would probably have come out 2,500 times now. Mr Twin Sister was a huge influence for me. When I found them I was just like, ‘Oh my God.’ The thing that I admire is that every song of theirs sounds completely different, because it’s supposed to. They take it all the way. That’s what we haven’t really done that much. Demos I have, but then we peel it back and turn it into pop songs.”

It’s odd to hear that Caskey’s songwriting doesn’t reflect his personal taste. Perhaps this avowal could be attributed to artistic self-doubt – the common feeling that what one’s made isn’t good enough.

“I just do stuff and then I finish it and I’m like, ‘I think it’s alright and it’d probably sound alright if we played it.’ But later on I’d be like, ‘I probably wouldn’t listen to this if I heard this.’ Maybe also it’s because I listen to it and I’m working with it for so long that I semi-hate it.”

Either way, Caskey’s misgivings thankfully don’t have a negative impact on his attitude towards live performance. “When you start rehearsing it, it sounds pretty crap at the start. It always does, and you’ve got to try and remember that as well. But that’s also only our opinion as well, because people will still react. It’s all about that anyway, and that’s all I really care about too – making sure everyone’s having a good time.”