Post-punk stalwarts Die! Die! Die! are back in NZ after a stint abroad. They’re touring their new album Charm. Offensive and the reception has been excellent, so good in fact, they’ve had to turn people away at the door.
Die! Die! Die! Photo: supplied
“It’s never really been a Die! Die! Die! problem – popularity” says frontman Andrew Wilson wryly, “This is a new thing, [having to turn] people away from shows.”
The noise punk trio who’ve been making music since 2013, recently had a break from performing: “It wasn’t that long us going away, it was like nine months,” says Andrew.
“It’s quite funny … I talked to this guy who was saying, ‘Oh you guys have done the 100 break-up tours,’ and I was like, ‘We’ve never done any break up tours!’”
The band has a new member – Rory Attwell, formerly of UK punk trio Test Icicles. He’s worked with the band in the past as their producer, and is now undertaking bass duties. He also produced their latest album Charm. Offensive.
Rory often produces records in what he refers to as ‘The Boat’. A large, floating lighthouse.
'The Boat' Photo: Supplied
Rory: “I don’t want to be dismissive of the boat. It’s quite an impressive beast … It’s an enormous vessel – big red thing with a big light on it.”
‘The Boat’ is in London: “It’s just in the river Thames,” Rory mentions casually.
Andrew says the band chose to work more closely with Rory because they liked the sound of his stuff: “I think it was after Swim – no offence to Chris [Townsend] who [produced] Swim – but I personally much prefer the songs we did with Rory beforehand.”
Rory: “I think it helps as well – anything to do with sound aside … just me being in the band and us having more flexibility. Like we recorded this record in loads of different places – that would have been really hard for [a normal] producer.”
The band were able to take a more spontaneous approach to recording – writing things and trying them out on the road: “We could really play around a bit more,” says Rory.
