I would say in that time we only showered about three or four times, which is really gross, but I think it may have influenced the writing of the record, our sweat is in that album! – Lachlan Anderson
Die! Die! Die! is currently on a well earned break from a hectic round the world tour schedule that included playing this year’s Big Day Out and last year’s South By South West Festival, as well as a residency at New York’s fashionable music venue The Annex. While talking about recording their debut album and touring with Wolfmother in the deep south, bassist Lachlan Anderson also reveals the other famous New Zealanders that Die! Die! Die! have inspired.
Die! Die! Die! have been continuously touring for the past two years and during that time have supported some high profile bands such as The Slits and Australia’s own Wolfmother on their American tour dates last year. ‘It was amazing; those shows would easily be the biggest audiences we’ve ever played to, and they are really nice guys, they would let us stay in their hotel rooms if they weren’t using them which was great!’. While Wolfmother themselves were fans of the band, the audiences sometimes weren’t so receptive, not surprisingly the states in the deep South were the toughest audiences to win over, ‘We actually got a lot of mail from that tour, about half of it loving us and the other half was hate mail, most from the South. I think it’s because we walk funny and dress like girls.’
There appears to be a New Zealand revolution taking place with the rest of the world finally beginning to realise that some very talented people can be found in the land of the Long White Cloud, such as punk rockers Die! Die! Die!…..and Flight of the Conchords. Two groups you wouldn’t think had much in common at first glance but in fact Die! Die! Die! had a guest appearance on the comedy duo’s HBO series. ‘ Andrew and Mickey are sitting down at the café that Bret and Jemaine always eat at in one of the episodes, they also asked them about being a band living in New York, I don’t know if they actually were the inspiration for any of the episodes but they do like to tell people they were’.
Their new album Promises! Promises! was recorded during a brief break in their touring schedule – the band travelled to LA for two months to write and demo some songs before heading to New York to record. ‘We recorded the album in a barn in upstate New York, we lived there for two weeks, it was a really creepy giant old barn, and there were no showers! I would say in that time we only showered about three or four times, which is really gross, but I think it may have influenced the writing of the record, our sweat is in that album!’
Die! Die! Die! are renown for their frenetic live shows- most of the time the audience has to dodge at least one flying band member and this has resulted in some fairly creative accounts of their gigs from the music press, including one from NME that describes their shows as being like ‘watching a crack team of soviet gymnasts’. ‘I hadn’t actually heard that one! We do like to look through the press about us and laugh at what they come up with; we seem to inspire some extreme reviews. The last one we liked said something along the lines of us being like ‘nail biting razor sharp lightning coming from Mount Fuji’, which is exactly quite accurate, and if you come to see us live that’s exactly what you’ll see!’
Die! Die! Die! are jetting off to South by South West in March before returning to Australia for a tour so if you like your live shows to be a combination of being struck by lightning from Mount Fuji while avoiding the acrobatics of a team of soviet gymnasts (and who doesn’t?) make sure you get yourself a front row ticket to one of their gigs in April.
*Check out the review of Die Die Die’s new album, Promises HERE
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