Interview with Dick Diver

Melbourne from the Australian state of Victoria boasts a population of more than four million people and is the second-most populous city in Australia & Oceania. Melbourne from the United States state of Florida has a bit over seventy thousand people and is nowhere near the most populous city of the Floridian state let alone the United States. With me so far? Dig: Melbourne, Florida is the third LP from Melbourne, Australia band Dick Diver, featuring gentle tones, pop songwriting, and effortless harmony. It's also the first Dick Diver LP to have a domestic release for a United States audience, by the ever-prescient, ever-tasteful Trouble in Mind Records.

Dick Diver has been on an American tour for close to a week at this point, starting in Chicago and making their way Southeast, passing through Texas en route to California before careening across the pacific Northwest. Tonight they play the Nightlight in Chapel Hill with one of my all-time favorite bands Spider Bags and if you're anywhere within the Triangle area, you need to catch this show or you're going to be kicking yourself later.

I got to bother Bill Roe (Trouble in Mind co-mogul and supreme overlord of band chaufferage) and Dick Diver for a few questions while they're on the road. Unfortunately, I will not be able to catch them on this tour, but that's no excuse for you!

Jordan Reyes: How is Bill Roe as a driver? I understand that he runs a mean record label, but if you had to give him a yelp review as a chauffeur, what would you say?

Alistair McKay: We thought Bill was coming for a holiday, but he just works from the wheel. The road is great for listening to new bands he says. I looked over at his phone one time after we'd just swerved to miss a goat and it said 'LOL. Thanks for sending. Love the sound of this :D got anything else though? :D'

JR: In all seriousness, how is tour going so far? Have there been any highlights so far?

AM: Tour is great. We've been looking up famous serial killers from each city we visit. Some real sickos. Show wise, New York last night was a blast. Start spreading the news, I'm leaving today.

JR: What are the logistics like for touring in Australia - is it feasible to tour by car? Do bands tour much outside of somewhat close cities like Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane?

AM: Lots of places to play but people are spread pretty thinly outside the cities. Last year we played a show in a town called Cockburn. It's in the outback near where they filmed the first Mad Max. population 28. I think 17 people turned out. Cockburn has 2 pubs so I guess the others went there instead. Not a lot else to do.

JR: Tell me a little bit about your record Melbourne, Florida. You guys recorded this with Mikey Young [of Total Control & Eddy Current Suppression Ring] again, right? Is recording pretty quick and easy at this point after working with him so much?

AM: We rented a place on Air BnB near the beach and set up there for a week. We took a piano down and all our other gear. Rolling hills, miles away from anyone else. It was great. We did most of the record there. We did a couple of tracks - “percentage points” and “boomer class” - and some overdubs afterwards at mikey's house and al's girlfriend's house. 

JR: How did you guys decide to release your record with Trouble in Mind? I know you went with Chapter for a domestic release. How is it having more affordable international distribution? Does this change a lot for you?

AM: Al Montfort knew Bill through Mikey Young and suggested we send him and Lisa a copy of the record as they've done a bunch of stuff we like. It's great having a label based in the states. It makes it easier to tour and to get our records over here.

JR: When I listen to your new record "Melbourne, Florida," one of the things I notice quickly is that there's not one person singing all the songs. Beyond that, these songs cover a lot of ground. Do you each write songs for Dick Diver? Are there specific themes and ideas you guys cover in a Dick Diver song?

AM: Yep, we all write songs for Dick Diver. I think everyone just writes about whatever is holding their interest at the time. My current interest right now is 90's plush toys. Love is Rupert’s.

JR: In addition to the four of you all, you had some guest appearances by way of a synth, saxophone, and trumpet on "Melbourne, Florida." Had you written these parts in before recording? Did they just come to you as you recorded?

AM: We had a rough idea of where we wanted the horns to go but the parts themselves were mostly improvised by the players Gus and oscar.

JR: I know that the name Dick Diver came from an F. Scott Fitzgerald book. Do you guys get to do much reading while touring? Have you read any good books lately?

AM: I vomit if I read in the car. I'm writing this in the car now and am close to spewing. Zadie Smith's 'NW' is a recent highlight for me. Also Javier Marias's 'Your Face Tomorrow' trilogy.

JR: Have you guys ever seen Wake in Fright with Gary Bond and Donald Pleasance? That movie blew my mind and it actually still freaks me out when I think of it. Do you think it's at all a good representation of life in the outback areas of Australia?

AM: Top movie. Rupe and I went and saw it together when they rereleased it a few years back. I remember we came out of the cinema afterwards both stinging for a beer. It was very confusing. I mean how can you still want to drink after THAT? I don't think it's representative but it might not be too far wide of the mark of a couple of joints I've visited. There's some pretty weird places. But there's a lot of outback so thankfully it's various. Like men!

JR: What all is in the future for Dick Diver?

AM: We’ll keep writing songs and making records. Hopefully we'll come back to the states early next year. Europe beckons too.

JR: Anything else you'd like to say?

AM: Thanks to everyone who's come out to see us play so far this tour. We're here having a ball for another two weeks!

Tour Dates:

USA & CANADA TOUR 2015

Wed 07/01/15 - Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle
Thu 07/02/15 - Cleveland, OH - Happy Dog
Fri 07/03/15 - Philadelphia, PA - Philadelphia Record Exchange instore
Mon 07/06/15 - Cambridge, MA - Middle East Upstairs
Tue 07/07/15 - Brooklyn, NY - Baby's All Right
Wed 07/08/15 - Baltimore, MD - OttBar
Thu 07/09/15 - Chapel Hill, NC - Nightlight
Fri 07/10/15 - Asheville, NC - Grey Eagle
Sat 07/11/15 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl
Mon 07/13/15 - Austin, TX - Mohawk (inside)
Tue 07/14/15 - El Paso, TX - Lowbrow Palace
Thu 07/16/15 - San Diego, CA - Soda Bar
Fri 07/17/15 - Los Angeles , CA - Jewels
Sat 07/18/15 - San Francisco, CA - Make Out Room
Mon 07/20/15 - Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios
Tue 07/21/15 - Seattle, WA - Vera Project @ Local 46
Thu 07/23/15 - Missoula, MT - Real Lounge

Total Control Interview

I basically heard about Total Control through a combination of Chaz from Bull City Records and Maximum Rock N Roll’s year-end issue, wherein Total Control got a lot of mentions in peoples’ top 10 lists.  It’s different than the hardcore that they cover a lot, but it is kind of a mixture between a bunch of genres, which makes it difficult to pin down.  There are synthesizers.  There is aggression.  There is darkness.  There are drugs.  And ultimately, there is brilliant song-writing.  Their album “Henge Beat” came out in 2011 from Melbourne, but is also distributed in the United States.  It’s truly an album in the purest sense in the words.  It’s one of those pieces of work that can be admired in snapshots, and certain songs are much more conventional than others, but it can also be enjoyed as an entire experience.  That’s how I think it was meant to be heard.  As an album.  You put on Side A and when that’s done you flip it to Side B.  Cause that’s what these guys wanted and truly what they made.

A Nearly Naked Group of Total Control Members

I e-mailed the band after checking out their tumblr, which can be found HERE) and Daniel Stewart, the frontman pretty much, got back to me really quickly.  It was awesome working with him.  He’s a smart guy and answers in nearly academese.  He references Nietzsche and Philip K. Dick, which weirdly have a sort of overlap.  Maybe it’s the whole insanity thing.  I don’t know.  But there are a lot of influences on his songs, which he talks about and ultimately names it Henge Beat.  It’s a good name.  Henge.  Beat.  It’s a good name.

He also runs a zine called Distort.  It’s cool.  I haven’t got my hands on a copy yet, but I’m trying to.  I’ll let you know about it.

Anyway, he’s a good explainer and a good talker and smart.  So here’s what we said to each other

Jordan:  How did you decide on the sound that you guys wanted?

Daniel:  Any impression we have given of having made a decision regarding the sound of the band has been erroneous.

Jordan:  Have you all played in other bands before?  How do your experiences in music impact total control?

Daniel:  We have all played in bands before. I can only address this personally. Straightjacket Nation's effort to make pure, cold-hearted, aggressive and violent hardcore has had an impact on the lyrics I wrote for Total Control, which are less direct in subject and tone. The UV Race are an incongruent punk mess, and Total Control share an element of this affection for frantic punk that never wholly coagulates into that "tight" ideal of the nerd and the taxman.

Jordan:  How would you define the music that you make?

Daniel:  What you're asking for could only really be arrived at critically by someone engaged with the music we've made from the outside, and not elucidated from my own experiences. Not that I don't consider this stuff all the time - my existence is mired in hectic self analysis - but I'm not too sure any response I give is going to express anything true about myself or the music we make, just whatever cave I've dug myself into at that point will be illuminated.

An attempt at a definition of our music from my perspective would have to involve my understanding of what Georges Simenon was attempting when he wrote his romans durs, what John Brannon meant when he said "another day of nothing", that feeling of self assurance fractured by external chaos that Joan Didion captured in her early essays, Only Theatre Of Pain, "world peace can't be done", an anti-Village Green or a negation of sentimentality for the past or any kind of mythology about the "self", unpleasant use of hallucinogens, an affection for the dialogues of Salinger and his expression of the fad of psychiatry in the US at the time, dread, doom, apocalypse, Bladerunner, PKD's paranoia, Ray Brassier's confrontation with Nietzsche, Roxy Music, Low, INTEGRITY and most importantly, David, Zephyr, Mikey, Al and James

In short, henge beat.

Jordan:  I definitely thought there was a lot of punk elements in the new album, henge beat.  Did you guys come out of a punk background?

Daniel:  Sure, we all grew up playing music, have all played in hardcore and punk bands at some stage of our life, the record certainly reflects affection for UK punk, Rudimentary Penis and Wire.

Jordan:  What themes do you think that the album tackles?  Is there a story to it?

Daniel:  I'm not too sure I could adequately discuss what musical themes the album tackles, but lyrically the songs are concerned with sex and death.

Jordan:  I basically heard about the album from maximum rock n roll.  They gave your LP a lot of love.  How has that been?  Has there been a lot of good response?

Part of the Henge Beat Cover, but only if it were a Cube

Daniel:  I did not read the issue where they gave Total Control a lot of love. I haven't been reading music writ for a while, as I've been attempting to finish my own mag for the last year (distortcult.blogspot.com). So I'm not too sure how that has been, if that's what you meant, and whether there has been a lot of good response, I could not tell you.

Jordan:  Do you all plan on keeping making music and releasing total control stuff? (please say yes)

Daniel:  Yes

Jordan:  What’s in the future in terms of recording and touring for the band?

Daniel:  What we do is secret.

Jordan:  What's on your radar in terms of good stuff to listen to that's out or is coming out?

Daniel:  My radar has a shallow range. As far as new music, I stick with local bands I can see live. So the best stuff I've heard lately is from Dead Boomers, Repairs, Forces, The Zingers, Tax, Lakes, East Link, Lower Plenty, Ham Hock, Woollen Kits, Soma Coma, Royal Headache, Peak Twins and Nun. Everything else I listen to right now is from the 1960's (Love, Kinks, VU), or it is BLACK SABBATH. Most of my spare time is spent reading and writing, I don't do a lot of earnest tune chasing. I can tell you I'm excited to hear the new Boston Strangler LP, and Stab released a great single last year.

Jordan: Anything else you'd like to say?

Daniel:  I've been around this block twice now. Looking for something. A clue. I've been looking for clues and something led me back here. Yeah. So here I am. It could have been me, the one who was at Ringo's place when the shit went down. Hey. I know how it is. I've been there. We've all done bad things. We've all had those guilty feelings in our heart. I'm going to take your brain out of your head and wash it and scrub it and make it clean. I don't know. But I'm going to have to settle this. First we're going to check the hole and see what we can find. We're going to get nice and wet, and you're going to spread your legs. Oh, that's good. So you know me. You know my reputation. Thirteen inches of tough load, I don't treat you gently. That's right. I'm Brock Landers. So I'm going to be nice. So I'm going to be nice. So I'm going to be nice, I'm going to ask you one more time. Where the fuck is Ringo? I am a star. I'm a star, I'm a star, I'm a star. I am a big, bright, shining star. That's right.