DZ Deathrays are squeezing a lot of stuff into one year. They’ve played showcases at SXSW and the Great Escape Festival and just before they left on their overseas jaunt they released their Brutal Tapes EP.
In an industry where the process of releasing an EP/ LP can be arduous and costly the guys have taken a novel approach to making this new release. The 7 track EP is made up of 2 studio tracks, 2 remixes, 1 demo and 2 tracks recorded live at a house party. It’s a bit of a bold move to give audiences such an honest representation of what the band sounds like in its raw state. The risk pays off though and DZ Deathrays have an EP which stands out in the crowd, it’s honest, raw and just exciting enough to whet your appetite for their full length debut, which they’re set to start work on shortly. The guys recently had a chat with Music Feeds while on tour in the UK.
Music Feeds: You guys recently changed your name from DZ to DZ Deathrays, I heard the change is due to another band with the same name. Who was the other band?
DZ Deathrays: It’s actually a dubstep Dj with the same name. He is like a veteran of dubstep and really good! I think he had given up on dubstep a few years ago when we decided to have the name DZ. It came down to the fact we knew about him and he didn’t know about us, so we decided on our own part to change to DZ DEATHRAYS he never approached us, we just got sick of the confusion (mostly online) and needed to make the decision now to actually change our name.
Music Feeds: You guys have been playing a lot of house party shows lately, you’ve even included a few tracks recorded at house parties on the EP. How do you think a house party show differs to a show at a venue?
DZ: Pretty much the only difference is a house party show is maybe a little bit rougher around the edges. People fall on to all our equipment and trash the stage a lot more at a house party. In saying that though, we want our live shows in venues to be as close to a house party as possible, or at least have that close up/in your face vibe.
MF: You’re notorious for having really cheaply made, really funny and crazy film clips, like The Mess Up and Blue Blood, if you had a limitless budget to spend on making a film clip, what would you do?
DZ: Most likely remake the fan made clip of Gebbie Street (off the Brutal Tapes EP) that is out there. It’s awesome – check it
MF: How was SXSW?
DZ: The entire festival was totally amazing. If you haven’t been then I suggest you go. It’s incredible how much music Austin stuffs into one post code. We got to catch up with Pulled Apart by Horses and Cerebral Ballzy (who we are on tour with in the UK right now) who are both amazing and totally brutal.
MF: The UK and especially London have a reputation for being expensive and having dodgy accommodation; how are you guys finding it so far?
DZ: The first night we had in London was a great show. We played to a packed room with people who knew the songs. The only thing was after the show we went to go out and party and couldn’t get into any bars after 1:30am, then tried to get to this party we knew about and had dodgy directions so couldn’t find that. We ended up on the street in the rain sobering up, so we went and slept in our car, which was parked in a rooftop car park. So yeah, pretty crap Accom in London. We are going back there soon for a few nights and we have a hotel, so that will be a bit more comfortable.
MF: You’ve just been announced as the support for the Dananananaykroyd Splendour Sideshows, what other plans await your return to Australia?
DZ: We get back at the end of the month. We have a few random shows in Sydney and then some international support tours to announce. Then its album time – can’t wait to finally put that together.
