Track by Track: DEAD

Victoria’s hardy bass/drums duo DEAD recorded their new album in Los Angeles with Toshi Kasai (Melvins, Big Business, Federation X). Drummer JEM breaks it down for us, from a Hendrix homage to their infamous “eight-minute banger.”

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]

‘Fools Will Get You Everywhere’

Must be the first song that was written on this album cos I remember playing it live a lot. I always imagined Jace was singing about fishing – you know how you catch them and chop their heads off? But I think it’s more in reference to our friends up in Canberra. Which makes more sense; Jace wouldn’t really want to hurt a fish.

The drum intro was something we started doing live sometimes and it ended up making for a good intro to the record.

‘Robert Plant: Shhh’

We both share a desire to hear the entire Led Zeppelin back catalogue with Rob’s vocals removed – especially those bits where he sings along to the guitar solos. The song has nothing to do with that, as far as I know, but I guess the working title stayed. This song is somewhat of a tribute to Nunchukka Superfly and I very deliberately channel a Joel Ellis vibe when I play this one. From memory I had little do with the writing of this one. Sometimes it’s better just to leave Jace to what he does best.

‘Chess Fantasies’

Being on a tight budget, we get little time in the studio to improvise. It’s generally an indulgence we can’t afford. But often our favourite bits come out of this. And improvising is how I learned to play and spent my first 10 years as a musician. So making this track was a lot of fun and like a little present to both of us. Jace, myself and Sean (the bloke who put us up while we recorded) crammed into a tiny isolation booth with a couple of toy instruments each and Toshi [Kasai] edited it down into something cohesive.

‘Gold Rush Burials’

I doubled up the toms and snare on this one and got to use [Melvins’] Dale Crover’s very vintage Gretsch kit that lives at Sound of Sirens studios. That was a lot of fun. I like how the delay on Jace’s bass at the end is out of time.

‘Slight Returned’

The title is a tribute to Hendrix of course. This was a 17-minute improvised piece that I originally intended would be edited down into a fairly long intro for the album. I like the idea of having the reprise version of ‘Gold Rush Burials’ at the start of the album, not the end. I can’t remember why we changed our minds. Maybe we didn’t want to open two albums in a row with ambient stuff. The full-length version of this track is being released next year on a different record.

‘Check the Exits’

This is a pop song that turns into a metal song. I love a good two-part song. It’s the first song of Side B, and I like when an album changes direction a bit when you flip it over. So that’s the idea with this one. I wanted to get a bunch of kids to sing the choruses but Toshi jumped in and laid down a bunch of harmony tracks instead. It was quite amazing to watch him do it – he nailed them.

‘Nakaken’

Nakaken is an incredible man from Japan who plays in a band called Cyberne. Our only mission when writing this song was to write something worthy of being a tribute to him. I guess it’s metal but played our way.

‘Larry Fights Twice’

Another improvised toys track with Toshi manipulating the delays live. I imagine without his input it would sound pretty average. Although these pieces are kind of like little interludes, they are no less important to us in the context of a record.

A lot of heavy bands seem to put out records where the songs are all great but they don’t let up. I always find by the end of a Motorhead LP I’ve had enough cos there has been nothing to break it up. Plus I grew up on a lot of psych, prog and soul music so I’m a sucker for an intro or interlude.

‘Beyond the Digging Stick’

This one will forever be known as the “eight-minute banger.” We played a house show in Portland and got encored. We ripped this one out and a stoked bloke (who turned out to be Dane from Drunk Dad) couldn’t believe we’d have the cheek to encore with a “fucking eight-minute banger.” It just cracked us up that he somehow he knew the song’s length.

The outro sounds very much like an album closer. So I debated for a long while about ending the record with this one or not but, fuck, sometimes you gotta go with what works, even if it is the norm.

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‘Captains of Industry’ is out now on vinyl, CD and digital through We Empty Rooms, with international release through Rock Is Hell (Austria) and Eolian Empire (US) in early 2015. DEAD play an early show this Sunday (Dec 28) at The Bearded Lady in Brisbane, with Idylls and Golden Bats; it’s $10 entry from 6:30pm.