Die! Die! Die!

Fri 12th Nov, 2010 in Features

“Die! Die! Die! inhabit the same world as Jay Reatard and Wavves but they also flirt with notions of post-hardcore and post-punk. The attitude is raw and uncompromising but the music isn’t dumbed down or reduced to merely an outpouring of anger. Melodies cascade with almost careless abandon, not just vocally but also from the trio’s strings and drums.” – FasterLouder’s review of Form

Hailing from Dunedin in New Zealand, noisy pop/punk three piece Die! Die! Die! have only just finished touring their latest album but they’re are already recording the follow up. Fasterlouder chats to frontman Andrew Wilson about gigs in parks, freakish fans and doing photo-shoots for the free clothes.

How was the recent Australian tour? Good feed-back?
Yeah, it’s been great. Really great. The feedback’s been amazing….It seems to be an album which people either really love or really dislike. And I’m kinda glad about that because that was what we wanted to set out and do.

You guys have had quite a few different producers; Shayne Carter on Promises Promises and Nick Roughan from The Skeptics who produced your self-titled album just to mention a couple. What was the reasoning behind involving different producers?
Each album we kinda tried to approach it in different ways.

So what sort of philosophy/approach did you want to take with Form?
We just wanted to make like a kinda ‘New-Zealandy’ sort of album, just a record that I’ve always wanted to make, you know? I’ve always been a fan of those kinda loud guitars in pop bands in New Zealand and that’s the music I grew up on so I just kind of wanted to do that really. I just kind of felt like it was time we just did what came naturally to us.

Lachlan Anderson (bassist) came on board before Promises Promises. What sort of influence has he had on the sound of your music?
Oh, different. I mean we can write lots of music with Lachlan and he’s such a good friend of ours, you know, we’re all such good mates. Yeah, we’re like a big creepy family now, it’s great.

You all grew up together in Dunedin, New Zealand, how did you guys come about?
Mikey and I went to high school together…so me and Mikey were in a high school band together and me and Mikey have always played music together since we were like teenagers, since we were like 13.

And how did Lachlan become involved?
We really liked his bands in Australia and we just got a long really well with Lachlan.

What was it like recording your first self-titled album with Chicago’s Steve Albini (Nirvana, Pixies, PJ Harvey)?
Yeah he was great. He would just sort of bash it you, you know. [Laughs]

How different was Steve Albini to Shayne Carter and Nick Roughan in terms of the recording and producing process?
They’re all really different. Steve just kind of records your band and Shayne was really like ‘in’ the band, Nick was kind of outside of the band and just kinda wanted to make it really loud.

You’ve been on the international circuit for a while now, how are people overseas reacting to your music?
People react a lot better overseas now than when we started. People in New Zealand and in Australia probably react a bit more, well they just react a lot to our earlier stuff but that’s just because it’s familiar to them. You know, I think it’s bullshit when people go “you’ve changed” kinda thing, it’s just because people are familiar with your early stuff you know.

So with shorter attention spans in this digital age where people get hooked on a band when they start out and then as soon as they become popular, they bail; do you guys think you have a little bit of that?
A little bit. I think people like to have their own ‘secret band’ you know? They don’t want anyone to really know them.

How do you guys feel about that because obviously you want to keep your fans but then you want to write music for you, so is there some sort of balance you aim to achieve?
I really don’t care what other people think about our music. [Laughs]

So you’re just doing it for you and for the band?
Completely. It’s just really funny because we’re in New Zealand and the album came out and it did so well and you get a lot of people kinda putting you down but you kinda realise… the people who are the detractors ARE the people who used to show up to our first shows. I find it almost comical. I mean it can kinda mount on you but it doesn’t mean shit you know. And I’m really happy with what we’re doing and how people are taking it and I think all of us would say the same.

You said earlier people either like the album or hate it. Besides the positive feedback, have you had anyone give you any negative reception?
Yeah, we’ve had a lot of that stuff but it comes from idiots. [Laughs]

Whose opinion would you really respect regarding feedback from your work?
No-one really. I mean we know like Ian [MacKaye from Fugazi] , I dunno? I mean that’s the funny thing, I’d never have the audacity to kind of tell a band they’re making the wrong music for themselves. It just seems ludicrous.

You’ve played in parks and at house parties, any specific ones you really enjoyed?
Ah we’ve done lots of house parties. We played at a house party with The Dead Sea in Dunedin and The Dead Sea had just finished their album and we’d just finished our album. That was amazing. Well we’ve done lots of house parties. I mean, when we started and still now overseas, we kind of played lots of different locations.

What’s been your favourite location so far?
Car parks. I like places where it’s not so centred around people getting really drunk.

Your video clips are quite creative. We Build Our Own Oppressors is filmed roughly on a rooftop with double ‘polaroid’ type frames and the Golden Gate in the background. Are they all your own ideas coming through in the clips?
Our new videos are more our own content. Our older ones were whoever would make them for us really. We’re going to try from now on to try and make all our videos ourselves. It just kinda keeps a similar aesthetic. I mean, when we formed our band, we had no idea we’d be making fucking heaps of videos…so we never really kept track of that sort of stuff and as a band I think that is really important to keep track of aesthetic, your artwork and films…stuff like that. You know, we were young when we started and we never thought we’d make one video, let alone, you know, ten?

So would you say with the digital age, you do have to be aware of your band’s image?
We still drift like bums. I mean, we’ve done some really embarrassing photo-shoots. They’ll be like “Ah we’ll give you all these clothes” and we’ll be like “Sure if you wanna give us clothes, sure!”

For who!?
Ahhhh just people…

Do you have any freaky or crazy fans?
Oh yeah. We’ve got a lot of them. We’ve got people that come to all our shows in North Islands…we just attract freaks. It’s really cool. I really like them but yeah, we’ve got some pretty far out people.

You guys have quite a strong live show. What’s the atmosphere in the room when you take to the stage/car park/house party?
It’s usually pretty good now. Last night we had a really good show…was amazing but the security had obviously never heard of us and they decided to start punching the crowd because they were like crowd-surfing but that never usually happens to us because the venue kind of knows us or knows what to expect from a Die! Die! Die! show.

What are the plans after the Form tour?
Well, we were supposed to be going to America tomorrow but we moved it to February so we might do some more shows in Australia and finish another album. Yeah, we’re going to finish another album next week.

Next week?! What’s it called?
[Laughs] Yeah we don’t have a name for it yet but we’re going to try and release it. And we’re making music for a film project in New Zealand.

So this un-named record has been kept pretty in the dark then?
Yeah, it’s pretty early days. We hope to have it out the beginning/middle of next year.

Lastly but definitely not least, do you have a favourite show?
Ummmm…yeah, our last show in Perth was actually really good! We played with this band called the Moltens. They’re amazing. They’re a bit different but they’re really great. I think some of the craziest shows- like when we opened for Wire in New York in front of 10, 000 people in Manhattan, that was really amazing. .