DMA’s are a band with an air of mystery about them. Signed to label I OH YOU without releasing any material or playing any gigs, the band was snapped up off the strength of a few demo tracks recorded in a bedroom. Their sound is self-described by lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Matt Mason as “noise pop” and “Garagey”, with a very ’90s Manchester rock feel about it.
“Patty, who is one of the guys who helps us out, he’s a guitarist and he and I listen to a lot of guitar-heavy nineties kind of stuff, so that’s where a lot of the guitar influences come from,” says Mason. “I guess Johnny listens to more kind of singer-songwriter, old country kind of bands, and Tommy just kind of listens to new stuff and Stone Roses kind of stuff.”
Their seemingly sudden appearance on the music scene a few weeks ago with their first ever show together has actually been a long time coming, as the boys have been writing music together for more than two years.
“It started off with Johnny and Tommy in another band together,” explains Mason. “Johnny was the bass player and Tommy was the drummer and they sort of started doing their own stuff. I was just kind of hanging around and I just joined that way. It’s probably been two and a half years; but before it was just kind of like a side project studio thing, whereas now it’s more of a proper band.”
DMA’s self-titled debut EP was released on March 28th and was written, recorded and produced by the boys in lead guitarist Johnny Took’s bedroom, with a surprisingly professional result considering their surroundings.
“It’s out on the 28th and I think people are going to like it,” says Mason. “It’s just songs that we recorded quiet simply really; I don’t really know what to expect myself. I’m pretty keen to get it out there. I know a lot of people have heard the songs already from the demos we had floating around before we recorded and people seemed to like them, so I’m just keen to see what happens really.”
The boys are already proving their popularity with more than 600 people showing up to a secret show they played in Sydney a few weeks ago – a landmark night for many reasons.
“It was good and it went well,” says Mason. “It was good to play loud as well, because we haven’t really had the opportunity to do that. We signed the record contract like 10 minutes before we played as well. I don’t know why we did that, but it was pretty cool.”
We also won’t have to wait too long for more material from DMA’s, with Mason revealing there are still plenty of songs and ideas that didn’t make it onto the upcoming EP.
“This year we will be recording again and just writing more and recording more,” says Mason. “Recording at Johnny’s house, we scrapped heaps of stuff and recorded a lot of stuff we didn’t end up using, so we are going to work through heaps of that.”
DMA’s have also announced a string of dates across May, which will see them play in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, building their fan base across Australia.
When&Where: Shebeen, Melbourne – May 23
Written by Zach Broadhurst