John Goodridge chats with Dominic McGuiness of The Bohicas ahead of their first trip to Australia – a short trip, but one that has been greatly hyped about since the dates were announced.
Hey Dominic, how’s it going?
Yeah, pretty good thanks. How you doing?
Yeah, good. I just want to congratulate you on your song “XXX” which got a lot of airplay in Australia and to be honest was one of my favorite songs of the year, too.
Fantastic. Thank you.
Who does all the songwriting?
I do the songwriting, the chords and lyrics and stuff, but it gets all improved when I take it to the band. I tend not to complete a tune when I’m writing it, I do a rough kind of map of what’s going on and when we take it to the rehearsal room it gets re-energised again. Yeah I do the guts of the song but when it comes to the magic the rest of the band get involved.
So how did the band get together? You’re from East London?
Yeah that’s right. I’m technically Essex, which is just neighbouring East London, but three of us met at secondary school and we all started learning instruments around the same time and getting into the same sort of stuff. Because, I mean, at that time it was kinda the birth of The Strokes and The White Stripes and there was a whole wave of new fresh music and we were kinda discovering that for ourselves and it was cool to be twelve, thirteen and hearing that stuff. You’re a bit too young for it because all the older kids at school are embracing it and they kinda looked the part because the Converse looked better on them and all that sort of crap. Not many kids in our year when that sort of stuff was happening were tuning into it.
I reckon at thirteen years old that’s a pretty advanced musical appetite to have.
Yeah it’s weird but we all grew up on similar kinds of music that our parents were listening to like The Beatles, The Stones, The Kinks, Ray Charles and a lot of blues and that, and we all shared that and liked our parents music, weirdly. You know, a lot of kids get into their own stuff. So we had that kind of stuff embedded in us and then we refined this appetite in a new rock and roll band. So that mix of getting into that and learning our instruments – trying to learn tunes like “New York City Cops” by The Strokes and then kind of stealing that kind of riff, that kind of drum beat and making a naïve attempt at our own thing. So yeah, we’ve known each other for a long time.
I can see that Strokes influence in the music and it must be a bit of a thrill to be able to produce that sort of music yourself.
Yeah, it’s great that we get these opportunities to go into the studio and meet these producers. You know, get to practice and make a record. It’s a great thing to be encouraged to do all this sort of stuff. I mean, we’ve worked hard enough at it.
Well that’s the trick isn’t it; a bit of hard work and dedication and eventually it will pay off?
Yeah, unless your Dad’s someone famous then you’re gonna have to work hard for it.
And you guys have supported Franz Ferdinand?
Yep that’s right, we supported them twice. Last year in September or was it December, I can’t remember, we did Ibiza Rocks Festival and that was incredible. I mean before then we were only playing small stadiums or pubs and bars and clubs in London and we got this opportunity. The idea was to go out and support Franz Ferdinand on this big stage in Ibiza and then the next couple of days shoot a music video for “XXX” and “Swarm”. I think we were there for three days and it was kinda choc-a-block busy kind of activity all around the band and it was the first proper experience of that instead of ‘Oh, this guy might want to do something’ – sort of airy potential new stuff. Until something like that came along we just kind of honed in a bit of a kind of gung-ho activity. It was great, really good fun meeting them as well. Franz Ferdinand are really lovely guys.
Yeah I met them once and they seemed like really good guys.
Yeah we supported them again a few months after that I think March maybe in the Camden Roundhouse in London and that was great because that venue has a rehearsal scheme, a band rehearsal project for young people in London, between thirteen and twenty-five. You pay a pound per hour to rehearse in these rooms. I mean they were tiny and it was quite a distance for us to travel in our early twenties doing all that, but if we had a project like that when we were thirteen round our way it would have been total game changing. So it’s a really good thing. So we had that kind of thing where we were practicing there when we were rubbish and then we were playing there a couple of years later so it’s kinda cool. From the bottom to the top. Well not the top but you know what I mean.
Yeah, the place where you can get to tour internationally.
It was a great experience playing that venue.
I actually wanted to ask you about the video clip. It’s an amazing clip – it’s a cross between a zombie flick and a Western.
Great! I’m glad you’re into it.
It’s truly dark and funny. How did it all come about? Who was the driving force behind it?
It was directed by a guy called Andy Soup. He did the The Streets’ song “Fit But You Know It”. I don’t know if you know it, but he directed the video for that. He’s a great lad. I wanted to do something quite literal to the lyrics because I quite like the lyrics and I think that there’s something quite cinematic about it, make a fun little, like Sin City film clip out of it. I mean things change and you kind of adapt to the environment when you’re out there. You realise you’re in Ibiza and this place is incredible.
I mean, the last place I would have expected it to be filmed is Ibiza because, it looks like an American Western town.
Yeah it does. I mean, when we’re there we were looking around and it could have easily been a desert like some mad Planet of the Apes scene. It’s got some mad kind of landscape. Yeah, the video turned out to be much more kind of slow, like those slow kind of long shots and I was thinking more choppy and fast paced but I’m thrilled with the video, it’s been doing really well. It’s probably better that it was slower.
I think it’s had nearly 500,000 views on YouTube when I saw it last.
Yeah it’s incredible. There’s been a lot of love for it. We just have to up our game for the next video.
Well what do you do when you start like that? The only way is up?
There’s plenty of ammunition. I’m sure we can cook something up.
So your trip to Australia; you’re doing Sydney and Melbourne, Ding Dong Lounge and Sydney Arts Factory. What are your expectations about Australia?
I have no idea man, I’ve never been. I can’t wait. It looks incredible. I just found out about flying foxes – that massive bat that you have. That’s got, like, a big ginger head. I know it’s gonna be incredible, but that bat is huge.
I don’t know if you’ll see one because I don’t think I’ve ever seen one.
Oh, okay.
I mean I know what they are, but you don;t see them walking down the street.
Like driving the buses …Nah I can’t wait man. It’s your winter over there right?
Yeah it’s winter but like today, was 24C.
Man, that’s our summer. I’ll bring the shorts and suncream.
For sure, the hotel at least will have a pool. You’re touring a whole heap of festivals in Europe soon so you must be looking forward to that.
Big time. I meanm last week we were in Belgium and we did a little show. It was in a town outside of Oostende and before the gig, two of us went to Brussels. We got a train for an hour and a half to do this interview and they asked where we were playing and we told them and like, Belgians hadn’t heard of this place, it was in the middle of nowhere. It was great, it was a really good gig, and it was rammed with a great atmosphere, so that was a really good feeling knowing that we could turn up I the middle of nowhere and get a good vibe going. The day after we were in Amsterdam for a festival called London Calling which had a great vibe all night, so we’ve kind of dipped our toes into the whole European bit.
After our trip to Australia we’re off over to Tokyo for a weekender thing, France, Holland again, the UK – the dates are on our website, but it’s gonna be incredible. I can’t wait. Stuck in the studio – well ‘stuck’ – we’re in the studio recording an album at the minute and we can’t wait to get a bit of daylight on us. We’re in this attic and the weather, we’ve had like a mini heatwave here and when you’re in an attic it just magnifies what the weather is outside, like walking around topless trying to listen to rock and roll, trying to figure out what’s going on. You just need to get out and see people, you know.
I see you’ve played with Drenge on a couple of shows.
We’ve met them a couple of times, lovely lads.
I interviewed Eoin last year before they came to Australia and he basically said any band that complains about living the rock and roll lifestyle doesn’t deserve to be doing it.
Forget about it. No. All of this is in the name of dodging real work. It really is. I mean, if I’m desperate, I could work in a bar but when I;m playing in a band it’s hilarious for as long as it lasts.
I see you’ve got a couple of free downloads of your tracks.
Yeah you can get them from our website.
I mean, the way people release music these days compared to bands say twenty years ago just seems so different and I’m not sure those older bands cope so well. Young bands coming up just seem to embrace it.
You’ve gotta move with the time I guess. Unless you’ve got an amazing new idea that wipes everything clean, you’ve just got to embrace it. Just roll with it and just make sure your live show is the best thing in the world. I’m pretty sure in the old days with the swing bands the whole idea of the vinyl it was like a calling card. It wasn’t like a record to chill out at home with, it was like, ‘This is what we can do, come see this’. I suppose in a way, we could be returning to that kind of idea. I mean festivals have never been more important. Yeah embrace it. It’s different but so what?
Yeah, I think the festivals are where the money is at the moment.
People getting together are a different feeling to walking around with your headphones in. It’s a bigger experience.
Youire releasing an EP just before you get to Australia. Will that be released on vinyl?
I;m not sure actually how it’s getting released. I have no idea, mate. Sorry.
That’s cool. Unfortunately I won’t get the chance to see you as I’m in Adelaide, but I’m hoping you get a good taste of Australia and come back next summer.
Yeah man, do it proper, play everywhere. That’d be good.
So thanks for chatting today and enjoy your trip to Australia.
Yeah nice one, cheers – I enjoyed the chat.
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THE BOHICAS AUSTRALIAN TOUR DATES
Wed 18 June | Sydney | Oxford Art Factory |(18+)
Moshtix.com.au | Ph: 1300 438 849
Thu 19 June | Melbourne | Ding Dong Lounge |(18+)
Oztix.com.au | Ph: 1300 762 545
