We’re weeks away from experiencing the wonder that is Soundwave Festival around Australia, and one of the local bands to be a part of the bill are Melbourne’s Deez Nuts. Philippe caught up with the band to talk about the festival, their latest album and more…
There were a lot of guest spots that appeared on your latest album ‘Bout It!’. How did these collaborations come to be and what was it like working with them?
Well it’s always been very important for us to have good friends involved in anything we do, wether it be production, recording, art work, photography, so obviously it’s even more so when it comes to guests on songs. So having said that we just reached out to our friends who we thought would kill it on whatever song, and if they were down, they jumped on the track. Were just blessed to have very talented friends, some of whom are also some of our biggest influences and inspirations.
When you collaborate, do you sit down with the artists with the idea fully fledged and ready to go or is this something you work on with them?
It depends really, it was different on each track. For example the track “not a face in the crowd” with Freddy Madball we structured the lyrics and even where the chorus and verses sat together bouncing ideas. And the music itself was co written by our good friend slim (bury your dead, BMTH) so that song was very much a group effort. Where as “band of brothers” I had the lyrics and melody mapped out for Sam Carter before I sent him the track, but he still changed it a little and put his stamp on it, made it his. Every collaboration is different.
In general, why did you decide on the more collaborative take on this album compared to your previous albums?
As soon as we had a solidified line up for a few years and it was apparent we felt and played the best the band ever had and no one was going anywhere I new I wanted to write as a team. I was ready to work in a traditional band set up again not write and record alone. I felt I’d gone as far as I could with that and wanted people to bounce ideas off of and breathe some fresh life in to DN. Also I wanted the others to be involved in the album and put there stamp on DN’s music so they could be proud of what they’re playing, not just playing my songs.
At the same time, the line up is unified in a touring sense too. How has it been being able to have a core group of people around you to share ideas with?
It’s the best, I’m just glad I did have rotating line ups for the first few years till I finally did find he perfect line up. And I’m blessed that was possible because that never happens for. Lot of bands. We genuinely love each other and enjoy spending all year playing and traveling the world together. And as a result we write and arrange together very easily.
Is this Deez Nuts is more of a band now compared to the solo project aspect of the band when you started out?
Oh yeah for sure, that fell by the wayside many years ago. We’ve been a “real” band for close to 3 years now in line up and in attitude for much longer.
You have spent a lot of time in Europe, how does that part of the world treat you and what do shows there compare to what you might find in Australia?
We tour mainland Europe and Eastern Europe and surrounding countries 3 times a year. Were there every summer festival season for over a month and we do two headliners there a year. We spend WAY over a quarter of our year in Europe every year and as a result our fan base and reception is a hell of a lot different to here. We played to 40,000 people at one show last summer in Germany, we didn’t play to 40,000 people in Australia that even if we added all of shows together haha.
Touring seems to be the consistent thing for Deez Nuts. Have you found it a burden for you on the road all the time / do you crave for quiet time occasionally? Or is life just as you’d like it?
Of course there’s moments when my brain and liver would like to escape my body for a few days. But as soon as I get home and spend a day on the couch, I crave the tour life again. It’s all I’ve done since I was able and I still love it. But I strongly believe that’s because we surround ourselves with bands and people we love to for with. I wouldn’t wanna do this shit at all if it was with people I didn’t love.
Are you looking forward to Soundwave? Anyone on the lineup you are wanting to see yourself?
We can’t wait, we waited very impatiently for that call since the inception of SW haha. So when we got it we were thrilled and very great-full. We can’t wait to see our good friends in the ghost inside, terror, whitechapel and to many more to mention. And the list of bands we wanna see as fans is insane haha. There’s a lot of excitement about alkaline trio, glass jaw, story so far and korn in the DN camp.
What can we expect from the shows?
Were gonna do what we do best and have the time of our lives doing what we love doing and give everyone else the time of there lives as a result. You can expect that!
What else is in store for 2014?
Extensive European, UK, Russian, Australian, South American, North American and south East Asian touring. And hopefully a new DN album time permitting!
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Don’t miss Deez Nuts when they tour Australia as part of Soundwave 2014!
SOUNDWAVE FESTIVAL DATES & VENUES – FEBRUARY/MARCH 2014
SATURDAY 22 FEBRUARY – BRISBANE, RNA SHOWGROUNDS
SUNDAY 23 FEBRUARY – SYDNEY, OLYMPIC PARK
FRIDAY 28 FEBRUARY – MELBOURNE, FLEMINGTON RACECOURSE
SATURDAY 1 MARCH – ADELAIDE, BONYTHON PARK
MONDAY 3 MARCH – PERTH, CLAREMONT SHOWGROUNDS
TICKETS ON SALE NOW: http://soundwavefestival.com/
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