For example, their latest album, Calendar Days released in March, was recorded on Phillip Island with Mikey Young (of Eddy Current fame) but why they chose Phillip Island was, according to McKay’s version, a murderous motivation. Steph Hughes allegedly has a lot to answer for. “Steph really wanted to see the penguins so we thought it’d be nice to go on a road trip, maybe even take a couple of token band photos and write it off as a tax expense for gags,” McKay says. “So we get to the penguin parade amphitheatre and Steph just loses it, runs off into the dunes with Al’s (Montfort) bass, which she must have grabbed from the boot of his car, and which appears covered in blood and has been jammed into a penguin nest where we find it half an hour later. When we find Steph, sometime after this, she’s got two baby penguins with her sat up on little armchair mounds of sand, as though everything’s peachy. But they’re heads are covered in glad wrap. She must have grabbed that from the car too. ‘Steph, is everything alright babe?’ She lovingly picks up one of them by the neck, turns it to face us and in a cute little penguin voice while moving its head says – ‘We love Australian music. But I’d give it all up for a Logie.’ That was a sign. Then we went to a friend’s place down the road and recorded our second album with Mikey Young.”
In truth the band were looking for a change of scenery and the half renovated house (that they were amazed Mikey Young managed to make work) had been used by Straightjacket Nation to record in previously. While the album itself has an even more spontaneous feel to it than New Start Again, the band took a slightly more refined approach to recording with the use of bandy techy things such as overdubs and the like. Mind you, recording for this band is hardly a stretch, between the four members they have (and have had) countless other musical projects and instrument-in-hand is probably the most comfortable place for them to be. McKay and Rupert Edwards are the primary songwriters in Dick Diver (although all four contribute) and McKay explains how they’re able to keep Hughes and Montfort wanting to come back for more. “Cash – the universal glue,” he says. “It’s not cheap, but we pay what they ask because they’re worth it. The most important thing to Dick Diver is its people. Get the money right first, so you can look after your people, but then always remember to look after your people ‘cause they’ll look after you. Dick Diver: money first, people second.”
Dick Diver have been noted many times for their regionally specific lyrics and cultural references. The old cultural cringe is something Australia probably needs to get over but it seems insurmountable – any Australian references are met with the cringe of a teenager witnessing their father pull out a dad joke in front of their friends. On their latest album, McKay penned Alice after a trip to Alice Springs but holds his cards close to his chest when asked about the specific inspiration. Edwards has explained more about the song in previous interviews but McKay ensures Dick Diver don’t wander into political territory. “Alice is a song inspired by a trip to Alice Springs,” he says. “I don’t want to get drawn out on that in any political sense though. Basically, it’s a song about coming to grips with not understanding something, but also being right in the middle of it, and the emotions associated with that.”
McKay is in Sydney when we speak, “I’ve just woken up, am currently under a doona on [a friend’s] couch making up silly stories about our band before they wake up and we can all finally go to Balmain for enemas,” he explains. After that important procedure, the band are readying themselves for two big shows at The Corner with the second being put on after a massive response to the first. McKay gets ever so slightly serious for a moment when the topic of their latest tour is broached. “[I’m] super excited about the Corner shows and the others. July’s going to be a lot of fun.”
BY KRISSI WEISS
