INTERVIEW: DICE SERVES OUT A FEEL GOOD SUMMER SINGLE 'DOUBLE ESPRESSO'
Perth up and comers, DICE have dropped a feel-good summer single about relying on coffee to break through the exhaustion of playing consecutive shows (along with the partying that comes with playing lots of gigs) resulting in a seemingly never-ending weekend with countless sleepless nights.
Isolated Nation spoke to the band’s frontman Ben and guitarist Tom to discuss their latest single, ‘Double Expresso’, the band’s origin story and the experience of working with Tone City Recordings.
The new song is kind of about the burnout that comes with playing lots and lots of shows along with the “partying side” of this line of work.
Particularly in the state of the world at the moment we have been very privileged to have live music here in Western Australia. Although we can’t do national or internationally touring at the moment it still takes a lot out of you when you’re playing shows every weekend around Perth and the state.
Was it like a weird feeling as a band to realise you were burnt out even though you're only played shows majorly in your hometown?
Ben: Because we only started around the start of last year, all we wanted to do was play shows. Especially because we actually started the band around the lockdown in 2020 we couldn’t actually play any shows. As soon as we were able to play shows we just accepted every single one and asked venues if there were gigs going on, if could we play them and so forth. I think for a period of four months we played at least two shows a week. Not just because we were trying to get ourselves known in the community but also because we loved playing. Whenever we would play, we just wanted to play again. It was a continuance of doing that for the whole year.
Tom: There is a high that comes out of playing live, like the adrenalin rush. We almost get into a thing where like, you want to be playing every weekend because you don’t want to be sitting at home doing nothing especially when we could have everything shut within a week (referring to the many snap lockdowns that hit the Perth/Peel region in 2021) and would never know what you are doing next weekend. I guess there is a bit of a high that comes with playing live shows and you almost get addicted to it. As Ben said before, for four months in a row from September all the way through to December we ended up playing 2-3 shows a weekend.
From your experience how was it been trying to explain to people who aren’t in a similar position to yourself that even though it looks like a lot of fun from the outside and to be fair for the most part it is, playing in a band is actually a lot of hard work?
Tom: Yeah, I think those closest to us in the past couple of months have actually realised the amount of work we put in. We’re out there writing a couple of times a week and rehearsing. Especially because us two are doing a lot of the management side of stuff, receiving phone calls at 8 O’Clock at night and 7 in the morning trying to like organizing the next show, tours and merch and that stuff. I think it's been pretty hard to explain to a lot of people about the hard work. We don’t do it for the recognition, we just do it because it's what we love doing. We’re not there for people to say like wow, these guys work really hard they’re putting a lot of hours in behind the scenes. At the end of the day, they’re there to see us play music and I think it really pays off in the end.
Ben: Yeah, it's a lot like if you play a sport or something, the shows that we actually play are 10% of all the work we put into the band. We spend at least 10 hours a week rehearsing, we do all the social media, we do all the bookings, all the managerial side of it as well as writing and developing songs and developing our own skills. There are a lot of different areas that make up the band and the shows are just the cherry on top.
Speaking of hard work, despite your band only being together for less than 18 months, you’ve managed to release 6 singles and accumulated over 600k streams. Was it an active decision to release music fairly constantly over the last 12 months or is it something that came together organically?
Tom: I think a bit of both. We love releasing new music. As soon as the last song came out we were already talking about putting out the next one. We just love releasing new music and having people sing along and stuff. In the first twelve months, there was a lot more strategyy with the amount of songs we released than we would like to admit. We just wanted to put ourselves out there and we thought the best way was just to keep putting music out there and whoever wants to listen can and whoever's getting sick of us putting music out can keep listening. That’s worked out well because we have a decent following now but we still have a long way to go. We’re managing to sell out shows when we have a new song come out. I think that's all because we planned everything out.
Ben: We can’t deny, every time we release a new song we just want to put more and more out, just because it is such a massive thrill to put it out. People from the whole of Australia and even America and New Zealand are messaging us and asking when we’re coming over so it’s a great feeling and we just want to keep doing it over and over again.
You’ve worked with Tone City Recordings for this track along with most of your previous releases, which is pretty cool. They also work with some really big Perth acts like Supathick and Siobhan Cotchin. I heard, and I’m not sure if this is true that when working with Tone City Recording, they kind of lock you in the studio for a few hours? If that is true, I was curious to know how that affects the recording environment?
Tom: I don’t know, I think we’re kind of the ones who lock everyone in.
Ben: I think we’re trapping him (referring to Sam from Tone City Recordings) more than he’s trapping us, to be honest.
Tom: Sam has the Nintendo Switch set up in the lounge room so I think that might be a bit of a rumour because it seems Sam always want to do a bit of work then have a bit of fun with Ben playing on the Switch but me and the boys are like, let's get in the studio and keep making some music. But Nah, Sam’s a great guy and he’s just launched a record label that we’re signed on to for the next 12 months and that’s a bit of an independent artist development thing. We are very excited to work with him over the next 12 months, I think that's there going tp be a few songs out this year and you’ll hear a bit more on that over the next couple of months.
It must be pretty cool when you think about all the amazing acts who have worked with Tone City Recordings, but does that also come with a level of pressure when you’re recording and writing music?
Ben: The great thing about Sam is that he’s very welcoming to new ideas. Especially when we bring something forward he’s very honest, so the record label he’s just made, it's pretty much like a family so we’ll always be honest with each other and always be supportive so if anyone has a good idea they’re always free to say it even if it might or might not work. When we’re bringing songs forward, he’s always very open and honest so if it's something that needs improvement he’ll say but that we’re really digging and is really good then we’ll go all for it. He’ll move dates and do anything possible to make sure it's the best track to come out.
Tom: Even from the get-go, we finished recording our first song with him in March last year and we pretty much came to the agreement as a band that he was part of the band. He’s such an open, honest, welcoming guy. He comes out to some of the gigs and loves to come out and party with us and he’s always the first guy we go to for any advice on anything. He’s definitely been a great mentor.
Ben: It's also good because he expands for more than just being a producer. It's not just going in, recording a song then leaving, then not really speaking to him again. He’s been a mentor in all aspects of the band, not just the actual song mixes and masters. He’s helped us develop our own skills, develop managerial skills and pretty much everything he’s created, he’s had a part in being able to help us develop our own skills.
You guys also got to tour Death by Denim around late last year. As far as I’m aware guys have been very supportive of yourself and also a lot of other up-and-coming bands in a similar genre in Perth. Firstly, how was the experience touring with them? And how has it been getting support from a nationally recognized band like themselves?
Tom: At first it was a huge shock. They were like, hey boys we’re digging your new song, do you want to come on the tour. I think we all fell to the floor and were all so shocked.
Ben: It was literally out of the blue because we had no communication prior. We weren't friends before, it was purely because of our music and what we could provide to that tour as well. I think the best thing about those guys is that when we went on tour, they were so welcoming. They didn't treat us like a smaller band, it was very equal. Even though they’re older guys, it doesn't matter. We’re still mates with them and we still watch bands together.
Tom: We hang out a fair bit, it’s been fun.
Ben: Those bands like Death By Denim, it’s not the sole reason why we’re motivated to do more but it proves to us that what we’re doing is working and that we have a future in this career.
Tom: It was almost a bit of a reality check, like wow, what we are doing is actually gaining attention and traction with some of the bigger bands who we listened to before we even started as a band. They're always a band we’ve looked up to so when they reached out to us, we were like wow we’re actually getting the attention of some of these guys. Since then we’ve really kicked it into gear. We released, “Stop Sign” right after that tour and that sort of took off and got on a couple of Spotify playlists as well as, “Double Expresso”, the most recent one so them coming into our lives has almost given us a bit of a boost in confidence to go up and above what we’ve already done.
Speaking on influences, you guys have credited Spacey Jane as a big influence. They are potentially the most influential band in Western Australia at the moment. I had heard a rumour that your band technically got together or organized your first gig Spacey Jane concert? Is there any truth in that rumour and if not what is the origin story of your band?
Tom: Nah I think that’s another false rumour but they are definitely a pretty big influence on us. One of my mates use to be close with the Spacey guys back in 2017 when they were first playing and use to sneak into their 18 plus gigs. They’re definitely the first big band since Tame (Impala) and San (Cisco) to come out of Perth and put their stamp on the Australian music scene.
Ben: We saw them before they got national attention, going from that to now being one of the biggest Australian bands at the moment. I think that gave us a lot of motivation that it was a possibility to get to that stage. Obviously, there’s a lot of doubt that every single band is going to get there but it gives a bit of motivation that it is possible that with enough commitment and passion anyone can do it.
That being said, what is the origin story of your band?
Ben: Tom and I have been mates since year 7. We were in the same class for years and years and shared the same passion for Indie Australian music, people like Ocean Alley and Spacey Jane. When it finally came to that lockdown period, we were basically doing nothing. All you could really do is play video games and listen to music so we started writing our first song.
Tom: It took a long time though it took 4 or 5 years of previously playing together to come up with something.
Ben: Once we got the first song down we realised it was something we could actually pursue and we got the other two guys in because we all went to school together. They were all for it and went full in. We were fully committed. We were all passionate about music and all had a similar taste in music so we just kept going and going. fortunately, lockdown ended and gigs started coming back and unfortunately but fortunately for us everything else was locked out of WA and we got “exclusive rights” of all the music fans in Western Australia.
Tom: And the Venues as well. Our first or second headline show was at the Rosemount. If you look at now all the bands booked to play the Rosemount, it's Beddy Rays and all the huge Triple J bands. With the broader opening up now, getting a spot of the Rosemount is going to be almost impossible. Before lockdown, it use to be one of the biggest venues where only national and international bands would play. We’re really lucky that we’ve been able to play some great venues, like even the Indie Bar and places like Freo Social where only normally big bands play.
Finally, my favourite question for this time of year is, what are your hopes, goals and dreams for 2022?
Tom: Well, we have a debut EP coming out, I don’t think we have a solidified date yet. That will be the first landmark to tick off.
Ben: I think that’s the band’s next progression is to release an EP and then hopefully do a regional tour. That's the next step and something we’ve all been looking forward to. We’ve had the privilege of going Down South quite a bit with other bands, supporting Death by Denim, Dear Sunday and Ra Ra Viper. To be able to do that as well is absolutely awesome. That’s definitely a big thing this year that we are looking forwards too.
After that, we just want to take it day by day. We don’t want to think too much about the future because we’d rather enjoy it right now and whatever happens, happens.
Tom: Just keep riding the wave and keep pumping out music and see what comes out. Once borders open up it will be a whole different story and seeing if maybe we can go over east at the end of the year and hopefully festivals come back here but as we said, we just take it day by day and see how it goes.
You can listen to, “Double Espresso” now via all your favourite screaming services now!
You can also catch Dice at their Single Launch on the 18th of February at Mojo’s Bar in Fremantle.
