A complete kick in the guts for the indie band was the sheer volume of equipment stolen. Among the items lost were drums, amps, guitar pedals, a keyboard, a saxophone, a ’90s Japanese Fender Mustang and more. That put a complete hold on the new album for DIET., who were also forced to push back a few other things because of that incident, including almost cancelling a gig. Though luckily, showing the kind mateship well-documented in the Australian music scene, “The band we played with were so nice about lending us the stuff that we needed,” says Clancy.
On a more positive note, DIET. released their self-titled debut EP last year and are about to drop more sensational new tunes. Recently the band treated the internet to a chill, breezy video filmed at a live performance of their track VB,a release that is but a mere taste of the fresh vibes to come. Though there wasn’t any sponsorship from the brewery, as sweet as that would have been. DIET. wrote the song and had their video participants waving stubbies about all of their own accord.
“Nah, we just have a great love for the beer,” Clancy laughs dryly. “The chorus ‘49 is what it’s all for’, is ‘cause me and my uncle and my mates, when VB went back to their original 4.9%, everyone called them 49ers. That’s where it comes from I guess.”
An occasion truly worth celebrating, with another celebratory event on the horizon for DIET. care of their new single, Clothes Off. “That’s the chorus – take all of your clothes off,” Clancy chuckles. And dare Beat ask, what’s that one about? “Streaking actually. Streaking at footy games, cricket games, that kind of stuff.” Clancy firmly states it’s nothing he’s personally ever done and instead, divulges the source of the impish inspiration for the single.
“I didn’t write the lyrics, honestly, Ben O’Loughlin our singer wrote the lyrics. They were all having drinks at someone’s house and one of our mates, who will be in the film clip – we had to halt the film clip because he got an infected foot and couldn’t do any running – he just randomly decided to streak a really low-key cricket game, which was apparently really funny.”
“I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure that’s where that song came from,” Clancy continues, that dry chuckle framing the conversation. Interestingly though, DIET. don’t always draw their themes from the weird goings on in their world. “Oddly, the lyric writing is mainly Carlos [Tinsey] and Ben,” says Clancy, “Lines will be thrown in here and there, but the song we’re releasing next is about being disarrayed and there’s a couple of songs relating to love.”
The new songs will create a bit of a contrast in themes and musical style, compared to the band’s previous work. While VB was an easy, breezy summer-esqe track, Clancy says other tracks are a touch on the heavier side of things. “It feels happy, but the lyrics are sad. One of the first songs we wrote Your House is a really unhappy love song but it feels happy – it’s weird.”
“We’re doing a Clothes Off Tour and we’ve got a good response to the poster,” laughs Clancy, evidently an inside joke there somewhere. “The tour will be the first time we go to Brisbane and Adelaide.”
Bad things may have happened to DIET., but it’s not put a damper on their spirits, nor their sense of humour. Rather, it’s allowed them to appreciate even more all the positive opportunities coming their way.
