A band with Simpsons themed doom rock, need we say more? Originally from Portland the band will be heading to Arockalypse in Warrnambool to bring their unique sound, and a helluva lot of Simpsons references. We had a chat with Dr. Jon about how they came to singing about the popular American TV series.
Hi guys, thanks so much for chatting to us, what are you up to at the moment?
The pleasure is ours. We’re still reeling from Cherry Rock to be honest. We’ve played a hometown show since then and are currently promoting our new 7” vinyl release Now getting our set together for the upcoming Arockalypse Festival in Warrnambool.
You describe your sound as ‘Simpsons themed Doom Rock’ could you tell us a bit about how your band came about?
Nath and I have played together forever. We were always joking about starting a doom band between us. One day we were in a bus between Launceston and Hobart playing shows with our old band Honeytrap and the name ‘Dr. Colossus’ came up… along with the idea that we could make it Simpsons themed. That was 2011. So it took us a few years to ever act on the idea.
Can you please tell us about your song writing process and how do you decide which references make the cut?
Generally I’ll have a riff, give it to Nath and we’ll will jam on it, combine some riffs, elaborate on some then remove some. When a song is coming together I’ll generally just grab a line or a story from whatever episode is floating around in my head. More often than not it’s been stuff from earlier episodes. In general it makes the cut if it’s memorable.
When did you first become interested in the show and roughly how much time have you spent watching since forming the band?
We watched tonnes of it growing up. I think I first became interested in it when I heard some kids at school weren’t allowed to watch it. That’s generally an enticing thing for a kid. I guess I probably peaked watching it in late high school and bought all the seasons around then. Since forming the band, I’ve only really gone back and watched season four and six again from start to finish, but I think Nath and I will probably need to study up on it some more. We’re always getting people to quote stuff to us that we don’t even remember so we’re far from being Simpsons aficionados at present – there’s always room to improve.
What are some of your fondest memories/episodes and who are your favourite characters?
Nath’s is Moe – he can’t get enough of his Moe. Hans Moleman is by far my favourite character. I also really like Gill the salesman – the more pathetic the better. Basically anyone who tells you their favourite character is Bart is a questionable person, or they are 5. It’s the ‘outside’ or minor characters which add the real depth to the show. Bart is merely a canvas for these characters to paint upon.
How have you found people responding to your music, have you found a correlation between the Doom Rock and Simpsons fans at all?
Believe it or not most people who get into stoner rock or doom are generally well and truly into watching cartoons. What we first thought might be a really strange mix has proven to be a bit more natural than expected. The problem we face is that these people are often very die-hard and will become incessant at giving us suggestions for songs. ‘Can you please write a song about [insert character here]?’ It’s a lot of pressure to write tracks when you know there’s some serious Simpsons geeks listening to all the words and trying to pick it apart. A good pressure. We’re really lucky to have that enthusiasm from people.
Could you please tell us about five of your favourite lyrics?
One of the lyrics I’m most proud of is from our ode to Whacking Day ‘Whack Sabbath’. I wrote it accidentally. The line is “Serpent slaughter on a scale you’ve never seen”. Because it’s an alliteration and also includes a pun (scale). But in general my favourite lyric that is floating around in my head currently is by Jim Lawrie and it’s something like “Give up hope being recognised at 6.15 on the Hurstbridge Line”. Just really simple lines like that that manage to deliver a real punch. If Jim Lawrie could whack snakes with his lyrics he’d surely be the king of Whacking Day. *For the other 3 just refer to Bob Dylan.
When & Where: Arockalypse @ The Loft, Warrnambool – June 5-7
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