INTERVIEW: DMA’s Tommy O’Dell discusses new album – ‘For Now’.

INTERVIEW: DMA’s Tommy O’Dell discusses new album - 'For Now'.

DMA’S made a huge impression with their 2016 debut album ‘Hills End’, which became a Gold-selling smash at home and a word-of-mouth hit here in the UK. Now the band have raised their game with their new album ‘For Now’ which will be released on April 27th. Produced by the band alongside Kim Moyes of The Presets, ‘For Now’ is a gloriously uplifting album of beautifully honed, passionately emotive rock’n’roll songs.

The band begin a UK Headline tour for May/April 2018, including dates at the Manchester Academy, 02 Forum Kentish Town & Barrowland, Glasgow (see full tour dates below). Mark Millar recently caught up with Tommy O’Dell (vocals) to discuss ‘For Now’ and DMA’s upcoming tour.

INTERVIEW: DMA’s Tommy O’Dell discusses new album - 'For Now'.


DMA’S release your second album ‘For Now’ in April. Did you go into the recording with any preconceived ideas how it sounds and what you wanted to write about?

We didn’t have any preconceived ideas about what we wanted to write about. That just happens. All songs have different meanings as many of them were written at completely different times. I guess we wanted to use more electronic beats, and we were mindful that we didn’t want every song to be saturated with guitar layers, wanted to let songs breathe a bit more.

How did it feel recording the album in a studio compared your debut being recorded in your bedroom?

The transition felt seamless, really, we have spent a lot of time in and out of big studios. So can’t say I really noticed it too much at the time… We still did vocals and some guitars and synths at home, we didn’t want to completely lose that aspect of recording. We’ll probably always to elements of records at home in our own time.

What was the band’s songwriting process and for this record and did the songs come easy?

Same as the last record. We don’t really have a process, some songs written together some individually. Yeah, the songs came pretty easy. Some of the tunes are our oldest ones yet ( For Now, Warsaw ) and some we wrote a week before ( Emily Whyte ).

The band produced the album alongside Kim Moyes of The Presets. How did Kim get involved?

Mutual friend. Originally he was just gonna help us with recording drums for a few songs. it worked well and he liked the rest of the tunes so he jumped on board for the whole record. Helping us with production stuff too.

Did Kim influence the electronic aspect to some of the track on the record?

Yeah for songs like The End and Health, he influenced a lot. A lot of our demos are written to electronic drum loops so he helped in refining the sounds of them

Is there a particular song on the new album that you thought “this is why we are doing this”?

Time & Money

Was it an enjoyable experience recording the new album?

I have to say when we were in the big studio I was sick with flu so no..haha but a few weeks after that when we recorded vocals at home I was having a good time. I don’t really like expensive studios to be honest. I never know where to sit down, feel like I’m gonna break something. And there’s always like 10 creepy interns running around asking if you want tea Every 5 minutes.

What would you like people to take away from listening to the album?

Umm well, I want people to enjoy the songs. Hope they evoke some kind of feeling. Initially, you write music for your self, because it makes you feel good or you need to get something off your chest. You don’t really think about other people until your in the recording process or even after the song is done. If the songs mean something to you or they make you feel a certain way. It’s bound to strike a nerve with someone else.

Your brilliant cover of classic Cher hit ‘Believe’ went viral last year. What inspired the cover and do you have plans to release any more covers?

We were just mucking around in sound check one day, was just a laugh, to be honest… We don’t really have plans to do more covers unless we have to for radio. Some stations ask you to prepare covers. Dunno what we’ll do next, Maybe Aqua …

How does it feel being a band in the current music climate?

Got nothing to compare it with so yeah normal. I guess it’s more about touring and live shows than sales now so yeah gotta make sure your live set is good.

What advice would you give to new bands starting out?

Write as many songs as you can early on.

DMA’S return to the UK for their headline tour this April/May. What can fans expect from the shows?

Half new songs half old songs.

The band never intended to play live when you started out. Do you enjoy playing live now?

Yeah well, we were kind of in other bands and it’ was more of a recording project… it’s been great watching these songs evolve live and seeing people so far away from home react to them.

Do you have a record that you always return to?

Stone Roses 1st album.

How do you listen to music nowadays vinyl streaming or CD?

Stream

What have you been listening to recently that you could recommend?

It’s old but always good – Death in Vegas – The Contino Sessions

What do you do when you’re not making music?

Watch T .V, chill out at home catching up with friends.

‘For Now’ track listing:

‘For Now’
‘Dawning’
‘Time & Money’
‘In The Air’
‘The End’
‘Warsaw’
‘Do I Need You Now?’
‘Break Me’
‘Lazy Love’
‘Tape Deck Sick’
‘Health’
‘Emily Whyte’

Last seen as support on The Kooks’ huge arena tour, DMA’S return to the UK for their headline tour this April/May. Full dates here;

April

27th – Rock City, Nottingham

28th – Academy, Manchester

29th – Northumbria Institute, Newcastle

May

1st – 02 Forum, Kentish Town London

4th – The Tramshed, Cardiff

5th – Liverpool Sound City

7th – The Junction, Cambridge

8th – The Waterfront, Norwich

9th – Leeds University, Leeds

10th – 02 Academy, Oxford

21st – 02 Academy, Bristol,

22nd – Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow

23rd – Alhambra Theatre, Dunfermline

25th – The 02 Institute, Birmingham

26th – The Plug, Sheffield
27th – Neighbourhood Weekender

Xsnoize Author
Mark Millar is the founder of XS Noize and looks after the daily running of the website as well as hosting interviews for the weekly XS Noize Podcast. Mark's favourite album is Achtung Baby by U2.

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