An Interview with Lachlan Anderson of Die! Die! Die!
How’s the US tour going?
It’s going well, playing every day and sometimes 3 times a day. We are in Dunedin Florida at the moment, we came here because it holds the same name as Mikey and Andrews Hometown (Dunedin New Zealand). We arrived at the show and there was a sign saying the bar was closed for the “Easter Weekend” so we drove 10 hours out of our way to get food poisoning at a chinese restaurant. Tour is going GREAT!
Any bands you saw at SXSW that we should keep an ear out for?
We saw the slits play and they were amazing! We saw them a year ago, since then they got a new guitarist and we saw them twice at SXSW and they blew us away. It’s a punky reggae party!
You’re on the road constantly. Is it hard to maintain your relationships with friends, girlfriends and family back home? Or are they used to you not being around.
We have been away for a long time, I guess everybody is used to having us away. Being away makes the time you do share with friends and family so much better. Everybody has things they need to do in life and I guess we just need do what we do.
So, you’ve just released Promises Promises, what can people expect to hear from it?
People can expect to hear a band that is moving on and not just making the same record. We have experimented with heaps more ideas than the band did on the first record. Same band different buzz.
And what sets it apart from your other releases?
More Melodies, lengthier songs, a total revamp of the bands sound. This song has slower songs and it also has faster songs than the previous record. It’s a bit of a roller coaster.
The stuff that I’ve heard from it seems less edgy than your old stuff. Was this purposeful?
Everything we did had its purpose. If anything we are pushing the boundaries of our bands sound more with this record. For us it wasn’t possible to make
the same record again. Our band would just die. We don’t want to be just another band that copies there own template just because they are in there
comfort zone and dont want to step on anyones toes. Steping on toes and creating chaos is far more interesting.
Where do you see yourselves going next?
I spose for us we are going to do a bunch of more tours, at the end of the year we would like to record. I don’t know where we are going next, but I
know that we are going to continue staying busy. Maybe move to london, write a reggae album who knows?
And now some boring obligatory questions. How did you all meet?
Mikey and Andrew grew up in Dunedin and went to school together. They played in numerous bands together. I met Andrew and Mikey in Sydney, my old bands
played a bunch of shows and tours with D!D!D! in New Zealand and Australia. When Henry Oliver (D!DD!’s last bass player) left they rang me from London
asking me to join them and we met up in Dunedin and started playing together.
How did you come up with the name?
I personally don’t know, I am a new addition to the band. I think they had to make a name up quickly because they had tours booked in New Zealand
already. I like to think it’s a misfits reference.
See Die! Die! Die! as they fly around the country this month.
