“The album was finished super recently. I’ve never felt happier. TEED [Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs] said, ‘You look so happy’.” Spending time writing songs for the album while constantly on tour can be difficult, often changing re-working a song to keep it from sounding dated, but Francis has made it the tour/recording life work and has also made collaborations work too. “Sometimes I’d set aside a month, spend time in hotel rooms and random weeks off, come up with something super random, send that to my manager and then spending four days in a studio. The collabs well most were through the wire either phone calls or via the computer.”
Combining pop culture, EDM anthems, pop-sensibility,‘90s throwback nostalgia (especially on Not Butter) humour into the mix and a track with an f-bomb, Money Sucks, Friends Rule is a festival-ready album and one that combines his love of multiple genres. What’s That Spell off his album, referencing a Country Joe McDonald chant first used at Woodstock, is a perfect example of his use of humour and songwriting that’ll translate well for festival shows. “He stopped his show to do this ‘fuck’ thing and I told TJR we should use this as a sample. We only had two chances to get the live recording of the F.U.C.K chant at a show. The first time my voice cracked on the ‘K’,” Francis laughs.
While he says Not Butter is his mum’s favourite track off the album (someone who regularly appears on his social media), Francis says his recently released track Love in the Middle of a Fire Fight is his favourite: “It’s in my eyes, perfect.” Featuring Panic! At the Disco’s Brendon Urie, the song surprisingly came together rather organically, even if it was all via the internet. After some back and forth on Twitter exchanging instrumentals, some were ultimately forgotten about, until they finally got onto a winner: “[Urie] immediately sent back vocals the next day and I thought, ‘Holy shit this is incredible’.”
2014 has no doubt been a massive year for the Californian DJ and producer. Along with dropping his long-anticipated debut album, Francis recalls being interviewed by Nardwuar the Human Serviette, as the absolute highlight of his year, a real ‘Holy shit, we made it’ moment.
To wrap up an amazing 2014, Francis will be celebrating the New Year at Beyond The Valley in Phillip Island, where he’ll be performing along the likes of Danny Brown, Aluna George, Kaytrandra, Peking Duk and Nina Las Vegas. In his previous visit to the country, he ended his set with Spice Girls 2 Become 1,and has in the past trolled audiences mid-set, by playing a T-Pain song before the bass is meant to drop. “That was the pinnacle of my trolling. Trolling is my favourite thing ever. I was playing a show and saw Taco from Odd Future side stage and I didn’t feel like playing house anymore and I told him I’m gonna drop some T-Pain.” What can Beyond The Valley festival goers expect from a Dillon Francis’ New Years set? “I’m not sure yet but I’m gonna’ do something crazy as hell. I’ll figure it out when I’m down there. Maybe get Emoh [Emoh Instead of What So Not] naked.”
Francis is a highly likeable dude. An incredibly strong social media game, hilarious and interesting merchandise (which he donates profits to charity), a party starter DJ and even just chatting to him over the phone, you see what you get. “I made [Money Sucks, Friends Rule] it to make everyone happy. Put the CD in the car and play it from tracks one to 12 and hopefully it’ll make people happy and they can see the diversity like, ‘Wow, this is fucking awesome.’ There’s a song for everyone, including your mum and dad.”
BY MIMI VELEVSKA
