On Keeping The Momentum Going

After going two-for-two at the ARIA awards, Australian dance punk duo DZ Deathrays have continued to work on evolving their musical approach; fine-tuning their live act and continuing to fill their recordings with engaging riffs and rhythmic grooves.

“We are working on an album,” reveals Shane Parsons. “You always have plans to get a record done in a certain amount of time and you never get it done in time because it takes way longer to get stuff done then you ever expect. We went and did some recordings in the studio late last year. We did a few songs in there to find the tone we wanted to take into the next record. A lot of people just want to hear new music so if you can keep putting out songs then it really helps push the band and keep momentum going.

“I’ve been listening to a lot of '90s bands that have been influencing us a bit and it’s a bit of party; simple rock songs with a twist. We’ve still got a few songs to write till we’ve got a solid set of demos to take in and look at recording the rest of the album, but so far it’s been quite fun. It’s always hard at the start writing so many types of songs; you’ve got stuff that doesn’t really fit these other songs and you need to make a decision where you want to take it.

“The ARIAs were a huge surprise, we don’t expect to ever get an award for writing a record, we were just stocked to have something that is potentially going to last forever and whoever in the future can look back and listen to the music and get excited about it again. It’s your own little stamp on the industry, especially on the Australian rock industry.”

Releasing their latest single Blood On My Leather in early February, the duo have received positive responses from fans who will continue to get a taste of the track in person as DZ Deathrays prepares to hit the road again.

“A lot of people seem into it, which is cool, it’s a party track,” Parsons laughs. “It’s been a while since we put something out so we didn’t know if people were over us but it’s a fun song that has a big riff in it and people like that stuff. It’s good to see everyone get excited for shows, we’ve got Groovin The Moo coming up in April so I think a lot of kids will be pumped for the shows with new material out.

“After the first record we had to make a decision for what we were going to do on the second one so we added some guitar in choruses to add an extra layer. We had to make a decision to play with backing tracks or have someone else playing with us. I’d always rather have somebody else on stage playing the parts themselves so we have a guitarist who tours with us now.

“On this one I’ve added guitar everywhere so there’s two guitars always going, it’s great, it’s changing the flow and dynamic of the band a little bit and the guy who plays guitar shreds.”

Parsons and Simon Ridley have joined forces with producer Burke Reid to continue fine-tuning their sound and ensuring it’s radio-worthy.

“He’s kind of a mentor for us, especially in terms of songwriting. He knows how a good song is written so he pushes us to think outside of our little DZ box that you can get trapped in and look at the way that not just a rock song is written but an electronic song and a hip-hop song and take away certain elements of that to make it radio-worthy. You can put it in a playlist with a bunch of other stuff. It’s different but not completely out there.”

DZ Deathrays will be back in Perth this weekend and are ready to bring the new material with them.

“We’re just getting back into playing live," Parsons says, "so it’s going to be interesting getting back onstage again. It’s going to be a straight up old school rockers DZ show; we’ll be dropping the new song for sure.”

Originally published in X-Press Magazine