Photo:
For fans of the angry satirists Charlie Brooker and Chris Morris the early 2000’s Channel 4 sitcom Nathan Barley was a work of unadulterated brilliance. Lampooning the Shoreditch ‘media nodes’ and wannabe scenesters it brought neon clad wankers to the screen years before Klaxons or Skins were even a twinkle in our eyes. It’s no great shock then that when Reading’s electro punks Does It Offend You, Yeah? first burst onto the scene over a year ago, with their elusive press photos and ‘wacky’ band name many people dismissed them as products of the scene mocked by Barley and Morris. If not in fact an elaborate in joke by the latter to show just how bad things have got.
Clearly this was just hopeful conspiracy at work as DIOYY? may well have one of the most awkward names around but they are also purveyors of the most exciting Prodigy meets Daft Punk brand of club slaying music this side of Justice. Gigwise met up with Dan from the band to discuss how they went from two DJ’s to the band that have just released the glorious ‘You Don’t Know What You’re Getting Yourself Into’ LP.
“Basically what happened was me and James had been friends for like ten years, known each other through DJ’ing at warehouse parties and squat parties in Reading. One day as a laugh we started writing tunes and putting them on Myspace because we started hearing tunes we really liked that were different to what we were into at the time. Months later we started getting record contracts sent to us and it was all very strange because we wanted to be a band not just two guys sat behind laptops. We signed early on because we didn’t want the attention to go away, so we went away and tried to get the band together. We’ve known our drummer Rob for years and we have been going to clubs with Morgan (Vocalist) for ages as well so it all came together very naturally.”
Beginning with a relatively slow build up of limited edition single in ‘Battle Royale’ DIOYY? first made it onto the radar with last summers ‘Let’s Make Out’ featuring Sebastian from the sadly now defunct Death From Above 1979, how did this come about and were DFA1979 a band who influenced DIOYY? “No actually, I only first started to hear them when we first got signed really. A lot of their stuff sounds very 60’s with a modern twist so that’s a difference there but getting the chance to work with Sebastian was something we didn’t want to turn down. It happened in New York, we approached Sebastian with this tune that we thought he would sound really great on and he flew in from Canada to record the vocal. It was a really brilliant day.”
DIOYY? recently took the most high profile of their first steps by lining up on the annual NME awards tour alongside The Cribs, how did the band find that? “It was so crazy, I had to be told what day it was most days. We’re definitely the biggest party band on the tour, by the end of the set most people in the crowd are going crazy but it’s also good because a lot of people have never heard of us. The first ten rows or so are our fans but by the end we aim to get most people jumping.”
People won over by the band on the tour now have two opportunities to bathe in the DIOYY tub. The bands album (Released March 18th) and their own headline tour that begins the same week. So what can the fans expect from the debut album? The live show is really energetic and those’s reflected on the album definitely but at the same time we have written some totally different stuff as well, like some 80s pop tunes. The album will definitely throw people who were expecting eleven versions of ‘We Are Rock Stars’. We’ve got live drums on it and it’s not as heavy as the live show, we’re just trying to work out how to put the poppier songs into the set alongside the more raucous ones. ‘Feels Bad To Be Good’ is the real big 80’s one that’s influenced by The Breakfast Club dance scene. There is also a song on there called ‘Heavy Heart’ which is a really heavy Rage Against The Machine style track.
When Gigwise interjects with the notion that being in a band who embrace musical technology in a way that DIOYY? do must be liberating in the sense that they are free to create a myriad of musical styles Dan is quick to agree. “Yeah we basically just do what we want, nobody tells us what to do and if we want to write a big club banger then we will and if we want to write a softer more melodic song then we can do that as well.”
The band are currently returning triumphant from the Texan industry cattle market South By South West to embark on their own headline tour across Britain, are DIOYY? nervous about playing to people who have come expressly to see them? “Not too much really, we’re just going back to our roots really and doing small venues across the UK, it’s going to be great to get into the rammed venues and just play really loud, aggressive music to people. After that we’re going to America for a bit then Japan for a few days and back to America for the Coachella festival which I can’t wait for. We were originally playing on the Friday at Coachella and that’s headlined by Jack Johnson, but luckily they have moved us to the Saturday with Portishead.
After discussing the bands aims for a years time (“To have gone around the world once and be back recording”) the interview ends and Dan goes on his way. DIOYY? then, we will avoid the very lame line of claiming to be charmed not offended and just say that if you want a nights pure entertainment with massive beats and more aggression and power than Ed Banger could shake a glow stick at then get yourself down to a DIOYY? gig ASAP, you won’t know what you have got yourself into.
