Johnny Took has a roaring headache. “I’m at the Norfolk, smashing a Bloody Mary,” he tells Tone Deaf down a scratchy Sydney phone line. Took “went out last night’ but has spent much of the past few weeks in a bedroom studio, working on DMA’s’ debut album with his bandmates, fellow guitarist Matt Mason and lead singer Tommy O’Dell. The bedroom, which belongs to Took and forms part of a Haberfield apartment that he shares with Sticky Fingers’ bassist Paddy Cornwall, is an integral part of DMA’s raw sound. Its existence also goes some way to explaining their success so far.
Rather than slave away on the Sydney pubs and clubs circuit, the trio stayed in and worked on songwriting and production until – through the brute emotional force of breakthrough single ‘Delete’ – an audience found them. “It was the best thing we ever did,” Took says of the decision. “The last year has been crazy, you get so busy and you’re touring heaps. I’m so happy we took those first few years to focus on the songs and get heaps under our belt.”
In a similar – yet admittedly smaller-scale – way to Melbourne’s indie-world-beating Courtney Barnett, DMA’s have built their following off the back of a few infectious singles and the palpable sense that something truly great is just around the corner. After they wrap up appearances at Groovin the Moo in May, the Sydneysiders will jet off for a series of dates in the UK – where their anthemic guitar pop has already found favour – and the US. Back home, however, mouths are already watering at the prospect of a full-length album. And, as with Barnett’s debut, the stakes will be high.
“I feel like it’s the calm before the storm at the moment,” Took states thoughtfully. Most of the album has already been recorded, he adds, but there’s no rush to see it in your iTunes. “We’re just doing it in my bedroom again. You can wake up at 2am and work on some guitar parts, which is cool. Obviously you don’t want to linger for too long but it’s good way to chip away at it. You can come back to songs rather than just, ‘you’ve got two weeks in the studio, now, do it right.’”
“I feel like it’s the calm before the storm at the moment”Fans of the band’s output so far are likely to be reeled in again, with Took describing the record as simply a collection of “good, honest pop songs”. Among the tracks likely to make the cut are ‘Timeless’ (“it’s pretty ballsy”) and ‘Step Up the Morphine’, a reflective, medium-paced ballad that the trio will surely hope resonates the same way ‘Delete’ did last year.
“I wrote it just after my grandma died [last year],” Took explains. “She was on morphine for nine days. She couldn’t eat and was just lying there. She was an old school Christian lady who just wanted to go to heaven and move on. I’d never really had anyone close to me pass away before. The way Tommy sings it, the timbre of his voice, it’s just beautiful.”
“Beautiful” and “honest” are Took’s go-to adjectives when he talks about music, which he does with enthusiasm. On Took’s melodic radar at the minute are Goon, the debut record from 70s-styled, Canadian balladeer Tobias Jesso Jr., Courtney Barnett (“How good is that ‘Depreston’ song!”), and Scottish noise-pop journeymen the Jesus and Mary Chain. Those words provide the best description of ‘Delete’, which pulled he and his bandmates from relative obscurity in 2014. It’s easy to imagine the song becoming both a blessing and a curse in coming years; it has already seen them compared relentlessly to Britpop heroes Oasis (and with its anthemic hooks, plaintive acoustic guitar, and O’Dell’s nasal sneer, it’s easy to say why).
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In Took’s mind, however, that comparison is, well, wrong. “It’s heaps more like The Verve,” he says, a bit perplexed by critics’ constant references to the Brothers Gallagher. Listening to the sonic swashes that guitarist Matt Mason imparts as ‘Delete’ reaches its climax, you feel Took has a point: it’s a sound as much indebted to Urban Hymns as Morning Glory. “There’s other bands we sound like as well, other aspects to our music,” continues Took, keen to any dispel myths of a blinkered set of influences confined to Britpop and Madchester. “We listen to all types of music. From Drake and [American rapper] Freddie Gibbs to Neil Young and The Beatles. Everything.”
Many of DMA’s songs begin as tunes penned by Took and Mason, with frontman O’Dell then injecting equal parts heart and swagger and, in a live setting, providing a focal point. On YouTube there are old video recordings of Took singing his own songs – some with a country twang, others more in the vein of[include_post id=”442209″]DMA’s – which may suggest the way the band operates involves a level of personal creative sacrifice on his part. So does he ever have mixed feelings about handing his songs to O’Dell? “Never,” he quickly says. “Me and Mason talk about it heaps. If it’s a song I’ve written or [Mason’s] written, we give it to Tommy and he puts his own spin on it.” On their EP opener ‘Feels Like 37’, for example, it’s O’Dell’s elongated vowels (“gone awaaaaaay”, “staaaaaaaay”) that transforms DMA’s into a vehicle for the rejuvenation of rockin’ guitar pop; into something that’ll have a field full of bucket hat-wearing twenty-somethings dusting off the cheap Squier electric guitars they got for Christmas in year 8.
A lot has happened for DMA’s in the past 12 months. They’ve signed record deals, played overseas (“a dream come true”, says Took), and hit Triple J’s Hottest 100. “Last year I learnt a lot about what kind of band we want to be,” he says. “I want to be in a band that consistently writes good, honest tunes. That’s all I want from this. But it takes time to prove that. You can’t just come out with one single. For example, when ‘Delete’ came out we’d never even played a gig before. But if you get the time you can eventually prove yourself, that you’re consistently putting out heartfelt songs. That’s the kind of band I want to be. And I want be known for having a fucking loud, great live show.”
DMA’s are currently on tour as part of Groovin The Moo Festival, for more info visit the Groovin The Moo website
GROOVIN THE MOO 2015 DATES & TICKETS
Saturday, 25th April 2015
Oakbank SA (ANZAC Day)
Tickets: Groovin The Moo
Sunday, 26th April 2015
Bunbury WA (ANZAC Long Weekend)
Tickets: Groovin The Moo
Saturday, 2nd May 2015
Bendigo VIC
Tickets: Groovin The Moo
Sunday, 3rd May 2015
Canberra ACT
Tickets: Groovin The Moo
Saturday, 9th May 2015
Maitland NSW
Tickets: Groovin The Moo
Sunday, 10th May 2015
Townsville QLD
Tickets: Groovin The Moo
