Squeezing us in between touring, sightseeing (“Hull? It can't be as bad as Fargo, North Dakota”) and coping with the loss of WOMEN, we caught up with DD/MM/YYYY – the busiest and non-mushiest dudes out there...
Welcome to England, how are you guys enjoying the tour experience so far?
We're in good spirits and we love playing live but there's been a bit of an obstacle with our good buddies WOMEN breaking up. It was hard to have them cancel their dates with us and we really hope we don’t get shafted and lose some shows. Being in a band can be trying sometimes but we always find some optimism to persuade us to forge ahead.
How come it's taken you guys so long to release over here?
We don't know. I guess we had to meet Geoff Barrow (producer) when we did. It was quite the feat for us to escape the factory life waiting for us in Toronto, so the fact that we've made it here after tons of hard work is really something we do not take for granted.
Is it annoying constantly fielding questions about why you have such an odd name?
Well if you had a weird name would you be super happy to have to explain it all the time? Of course you would! Attention is nice to receive and we are happy to converse about whatever your heart desires.
So, why do you have such an odd name?
Have you ever filled out a cheque and it says dd/mm/yyyy? Ever look at a package of milk or yoghurt to check the expiry date? The name is not odd at all in our opinion. It’s everywhere and it makes sense. Also DD/MM/YYYY looks cool in capital letters.
The DD/MM/YYYY sound is a bit ADHD. How would you describe it?
We like to think that our music is more simple than people see it; we don't like appearing complicated for the sake of being complicated. But we do have strong ideas that stem from being complex people. We cannot write love songs in traditional form 'cos we don't experience love in that way. We are much too busy and sarcastic to be mushy love types, so we write songs about being busy non-mushy dudes. We call it exploring dynamics, but that's music talk.
If your sound is simple, your stage show is pretty hectic. How do you decide who's doing/playing what? Is it just a free for all?
Nothing is free. If it sounds good we do it, but when it comes to the on-stage variables we can't control them. At times we just want to see the audience loosen up so we try to be more casual by taking our pants off or rolling up our sleeves. At times we get the urge to be really stoopid. We have a rule: if you look sexy doing it then it must be right.
Ready for some tenuous questions about dates? If you could set the DeLorean to any DD/MM/YYYY what would it be?
We wouldn't go too far in time, just far enough to open for Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart, Suicide, Sid Barret’s Pink Floyd, Pere UBU, This Heat. That would rule!
What's the best month?
June is pretty sweet every year. Sunshine and Lollipops. Bikini Rainbows. Tanning lotion and Beers. Sand and Sandwiches. Butts and Bikers. June Bugs.
OK, enough of that... Your videos are always really trippy, a bit like being on shrooms and getting lost inside a comic book. Do you design them yourselves? (We know you guys are pretty arty.)
Most times we look for cool film/video people to help us put our ideas into a visual aesthetic that brings out the nature of the songs. Some of them we design ourselves. I made the 98 Pound Weakling animation as a quick way into my subconscious without censorship. So I made boobs sing and faces melt – wouldn't you do the same? I guess we are arty, but mostly just alive and reacting to how crazy fucked up the world is.
Finally: who would you back in a fight between a bear and a dragon?
How about this.... why even fight? It's sad when things fight. Just give it up already. Stop fighting.
No comments:
Post a Comment