Dick Diver: ‘Is Flying Nun A Label?’

Despite similarities to New Zealand’s jangly pop sound, Melbourne’s Dick Diver tell TIM SCOTT that when it comes to musical heroes, they’re Aussies through and through. During a break in a recent rehearsal, they spoke of their admiration for Paul Kelly, their debut EP, herbal sexual stimulant Horny Goatweed and what it’s like to be sprung by Steve Malkmus.

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.] In a Beavis and Butt-head-free world, a band with a name like Dick Diver would hardly raise a stir. Then again, I just typed “dick” on my keyboard and let out an appropriate snicker – I guess we’re all a little bit Butthead deep down.

Dodgy name aside, the Melbourne four-piece – Alistair McKay, (guitar/vocals), Rupert Edwards (guitar/vocals), Al Montfort (bass) and Steph Hughes (drums) – write some of the most perfect/imperfect Antipodean pop you’re likely to hear on either side of the Tasman. Taking their cues from the Flying Nun canon, edgy ’70s New York post-punk and the songcraft of Forster and McLennan, they play the kind of sweet pop that make the good days better and the shit ones less shit.

Their debut release Arks Up – the second in Chapter Music’s new EP series, featuring a vinyl single accompanied by a CD with extra tracks – has proven to be one of the finds of the year. They will launch it at The East Brunswick Club in their hometown tonight (December 4).

I read in another interview that you didn’t want to mention names of previous bands. Screw that.
Alistair: Do you want to say?

Rupert: Ok Pube Breaker, there was also Gun Alley.

Alistair: Yeah, and Going Postal. It used to be, and maybe still is, the American term for “going crazy”. Yeah, I think there was a spate of shooting of postal workers. We thought it would suit our sound.

How were the gigs?
Alistair: Not that good. We didn’t do many. We did that goth club called Dream in North Melbourne.

Steph: Yeah, I’ve been there. They have a goth night and they have inappropriate bands play.

Al: Inappropriate?

Steph: Well, inappropriate for a goth night.

Alistair: Our gig was so funny. We got there and we were thinking, “This is so shit”, like there are all these goths and we didn’t really fit.

No black nail polish?
Rupert: Nah, we just got really drunk.

Was your sound then similar to Dick Diver?
Rupert: Nah, it was pretty crap. It was more like…

Al: Was it like Blur crossed with the Smiths?

Steph: The Strokes?

Rupert: We didn’t know whether we wanted to be like The Birthday Party or the Drones or like a pop band.

“New Zealand” is often used as a descriptor for your sound. How do you feel about that?
Al: I don’t know? To be compared to some of those bands is cool. Kind of flattering.

Steph. When we were up in the Dandenongs [in Victoria] rehearsing a couple of weekends ago we were saying that people were aligning us to the Flying Nun thing and Al was saying, “What’s Flying Nun? Oh, is Flying Nun a label?” I don’t think we are schooled in it. I was just probably getting into some of The Clean a bit before I was in Dick Diver, but I’m not one of the main songwriters. But even then I don’t think these guys were that Kiwi, I think you guys were more into the Drones and Aussie stuff.

Alistair: I reckon for me definitely Paul Kelly.

“I think we’re more country than punk. They are all just country songs in a way that we just sex them up a bit.”

Yeah, Paul Kelly is a legend. I wanted to go to his tribute.
Steph. Yeah I went. It was great. I thought they were going to choose more obvious songs but they threw in some songs from more recent albums. But it was an amazing night. Plus there were glow-in-the-dark daiquiris for like five bucks.

What Paul Kelly song would you guys play?
Al: We’d probably all choose different songs. For me it would be ‘Adelaide’ .. the spoken word part is awesome.

Steph: I’m pretty obsessed with all the Ways and Means stuff, how it’s a bit more gospel. [Starts singing ‘You Broke A Beautiful Thing’]. I love that song.

It’s better than Angry Anderson.
Steph: I’d like to see Paul give Angry Anderson a shoulder ride and then they could just sing together.

How did you hook up with [Melbourne label] Chapter [Music]?
Steph: There was a bidding war. We had to get our parents to be present. [Laughs] No, but seriously I think [label boss and solo artist] Guy [Blackman] played on a line-up with us and ever since he and [Chapter partner] Ben have been at the front of all of our shows. We went up to the bush to record, and then after that we just talked with them and that was it basically.

The title, Arks Up, is a very Australian term, but it seems quite odd as you all seem very chilled and easy going.
Al: I don’t think it’s meant to mean “angry”. It’s meant to mean more "excited", because it was our first release and we are just starting. We are arcing up. We're excited.

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]

Looking at the line-up for the launch on Friday night, I was a bit surprised. I mean The Twerps and Woollen Kits are a good fit but the Nation Blue seem heavier.
Steph: Yeah, but there are quieter moments too and [singer] Tom [Lyngcoln] has some poetic lyrics. I’m fucking obsessed with their new album [Rising Waters], actually. I think it has the same sensibilities as how Al and Rupe approach lyrics. There are tracks on their latest album that are a bit more melodic and quieter. I always get a bit excited about it.

‘Walk for Room’. What’s that about?
Rupert: I don’t know if I should say this but I was trying to write a Mum Smokes song but apparently it sounds nothing like a Mum Smokes song.

And Alistair, you wrote ‘The Day Michael Jackson Died’? Can you actually remember where you were when you heard the news of MJ’s death?
Alistair: Actually, I can. It’s crazy juju. I had the day off and I was sitting in my room and I hadn’t left the house all day. I only listened to one record that day and it was Off The Wall. I didn’t watch any TV or listen to radio.

Al: Were you naked? [Laughs]

Alistair: [Laughing] No, not at that particular time. But my housemate came home later that day and said, “Isn’t it crazy about what happened to Michael Jackson?” And I was like, “Wow.” It was kind of uncanny. I wasn’t massively into Michael Jackson. I wrote the song more about people’s reaction to his death.

What was it like playing with Steve Malkmus?
Al: I got into a fight with him and dacked him.

Steph: Al was more into [drummer] Janet Weiss’ fringe. We were drawing a picture of a surfboard with penises and vaginas on it and he walks into the room and goes, “Hey guys. How you going?” We were like, “Ah, pretty cool.”

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.] You recorded with both Mikey Young and Max Kohane [from Brain Children]. Are they like the indie rock Sly and Robbie?
Al: I think Max has always been interested in the band and Mikey had all the gear so they teamed up. Plus they had been doing the Brain Children stuff before, so they had been working as a team.

Steph: I got to use some of Max’s shit-hot cymbals and snares, and he actually helped out with some drum stuff.

Well, there is a punk edge underneath your pop.
Al: I’m punk because I play with a coin. A five-cent coin.

Rupert: I think we’re more country than punk. They are all just country songs in a way that we just sex them up a bit.

Al: [Laughs] Yeah, we take country music and add some Horny Goatweed.

Steph: My friend was at a party on the weekend and in the bathroom she found a stash of Horny Goatweed.

Al: I find it in my drink all the time when I’m at Rupert’s house. We played at Sexpo at the Horny Goatweed tent.

Steph: Yeah I remember that and the Crusty Demons jumped over us as we were playing. [Makes loud motorcross revs]

Al: But it was 9.30 in the morning. It wasn’t the sexiest time of day.

Steph: It is if you are on the Goat!

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Dick Diver launch Arks Up at The East Brunswick Club in Melbourne tonight (December 4). Supports by The Nation Blue, the Twerps and Woollen Kits. Cost: $10.