‘New EP’ is where a band or artist answers some questions about their latest release. Up next is Destroy All False Metal – DAFM, who have recently released debut E.P ‘Songs Of Praise’.
When/where was the new EP recorded?
We recorded the EP in October 2015 at the Pyramid Club, which was quite a while ago! We kinda left it on the shelf, and the band went it’s separate ways (Goya, Mothers Dearest, Beatcomber and various other projects). A new lineup came together and we thought these old recordings were still pretty cool. It’s pretty funny, cause it’s effectively a different band now, and the songs on the EP we do play, we play them real different to the recorded tracks. That’s kinda fun, it confuses people a little.
Who produced/engineered the EP? How did the tracks come together in the studio, or at home?
Joel (lead singer) engineered and mixed the EP. It was recorded primarily live at Pyramid Club in one day and then various other weird bits were added in the months immediately after and then over the most the last few months.
Did the shorter format of an EP give you the option to experiment in any way with your sound or with different forms of song-writing?
Technically E.Ps can be done a little quicker than albums (excuse the 3.5 years this one took). The E.P being a bit of an in-between thing between lineups, kinda left Joel able to do whatever weird shit he wanted with very little oversight. So the drums are mega compressed and distorted, there’s heaps of weird vocal effects floating about. If you listen to older recordings like mid-period Bowie, Kate Bush, Eno era Talking Heads or 80’s Prince they’re unapologetic and upfront about their use of effects, they don’t try to hide them in the mix. So there’s probably a little too much of that in this EP, but hey, sometimes it’s fun to just do something weird aye?
Was there any specific gear you used to capture that?
Nothing particularly. Just a computer, regular set up, good but not great mics. I guess Joel used pedals on his vocals for some of the tracks, so that cut down decision making later in the mix. It’s just the sound of a band all locked in at the time.
Is there a particular track or theme that the E.P was formed around?
There’s a vague theme of satirical attitude to blind faith in the title ‘Songs of Praise’, so pushing back against right-wing conservative Christianity in ‘Dancing for Jesus’, attempts to force one’s views on others ‘World Wide Fuck Fest’ and just generally not thinking about things from other people’s perspectives (the other songs on the E.P).
Where do you see the EPs place in growing an audience online? Do you see it as a progression towards an album or a separate entity?
For a band that has toured a couple of times and been playing in the latest lineup for the last year and a half or so, we haven’t had anything official online. So it’s good to get that there as an initial reference point at least. We’re starting to get played on Student Radio, which is cool. We have our next E.P mostly recorded, we just need to do percussion and vocals on it. So that should be out much sooner than 3.5 years from now. Heh.
Which digital platforms is it available on?
Just Bandcamp for now, we have a weird video for ‘Dancing for Jesus’ on youtube. We’ll be out a bit wider, maybe vinyl(?) for our next E.P. This has definitely been an introduction more than anything else.
Are you doing any gigs or promotion for its release?
We had our E.P release at Valhalla. We’ve got a couple of international support slots coming up, some house parties and a tour or so later in the year. Plus we’ve got heaps of new songs bubbling away, so probably record again before the next E.P is done, in the Wairarapa, maybe at a big house out there.