“If I was to tell any band starting out what to do, I’d say write two albums, get one ready to release and by the time you get to put that out you’ll at least have another one that’s there in the wings so you don’t feel like you’re waiting around for years and years for the next one to come out.”
The Deathrays new record, Bloody Lovely is long overdue. It’s been four years since DZ Deathrays, Shane Parsons and Simon Ridley, released their second album Black Rat. Since then things have been quiet, but not too quiet. 2016 saw them release two huge singles, ‘Pollyanna’ and ‘Blood on My Leather’. Then 2017 saw them perform headline shows in the UK, China, and Europe; support the Foo Fighters in Brisbane; playing all four Falls Festivals and tour part of South America.
“It wasn’t as crazy as I thought it might be. We went to Chile, Argentina and Brazil, and I didn’t know what to expect. But when I got there I was like, it reminded me a little bit like Mexico and had amazing architecture, especially in Brazil,” says Parsons.
Touring has become a vital part of DZ Deathrays. “Touring keeps me interested in the band. Even though touring overseas you lose money, you’re really just going on holiday. But you’re going for work as well. It keeps us interested in the band and it keeps us excited about it, so we always try and do at least a couple of tours a year,” says Parsons.
But the guys say it can be frustrating to wait so long between releases. “I am ready for [Bloody Lovely] to be out there because four years is a long time between albums,” says Parsons. “We finished it in March as well, so to sit on it for that long, and now it’s all coming out – it’s interesting,” says Ridley. “Usually we’re last minute deadline. Put it out as soon as it’s recorded because we’re running late.”
Parsons and Ridley started the album with Burke Reid at The Grove Studios in New South Wales beginning with a recording session at the start of 2016 which was mostly a false start for the new album. Simon explains that the most important thing to come out of those sessions was the single ‘Blood On My Leather’. “Then we did two weeks again out there in March last year. He had a week to mix it or a bit over a week and then that was it,” says Ridley.
For them that break between their first and second sessions was important. “We half recorded it and couldn’t finish it, so we took it away to work on it and figure out what we actually wanted to do. I think some of the stuff ended up staying pretty much the same as it was two years ago. We thought it over and thought it over and that was the best. It can be one of those things where you overthink it and it ends up too hard,” says Parsons.
“We have a thing where if it gets too hard we bail,” says Ridley. “Our motto is, ‘Never set the bar high because you’ll never surpass it, set it real low and there’s a really good chance you’ll kick a goal,’ that’s basically us.”
Waiting has also been positive as it has given DZ Deathrays time to have everything organised before the release of Bloody Lovely, including running a meat raffle and getting special coloured vinyl pressed. “It’s the first time it’s ever happened we have the record and the vinyl. We finished it all, we got the vinyl masters done and then we had to do the album art. Which did take a while because we were in the UK, it took a few months,” says Parsons.
