Part of the DMA’s legend is how they recorded their first string of singles and much of their recently unveiled debut album in a Newtown flat the bandmates share with members from fellow Sydney crew Sticky Fingers.
Using a simple home studio setup and some well-written songs, DMA’s got to work on recording tracks like the imperishable ‘Delete’, as well as their other signature tunes like ‘Laced’ and ‘Feels Like 37’.
However, it was the band’s prolific output and steadfast commitment to recording and rehearsing that eventually saw them kicked out of that legendary Newtown flat, as guitarist Johnny Took recently told Community News.
“Pretty much everything was written in that room before I got evicted, which sucked,” Took said. “We had a DMA’s rehearsal one time and I forgot about late night trading. Apparently the guy downstairs couldn’t hear himself think.”
“We were recording the drums (for ‘Blown Away’) and we got about 30 seconds into the drum take and my phone starts ringing. Funny story; we actually used that 30-second drum take for the song.”
“I was like ‘Oh yeah, we got what we need there.’ It’s me flipping the bird at… getting evicted.” Not that the boys really need a home base right now, they’re too busy playing gigs and festivals around the world.
As frontman Tommy O’Dell recently told an interviewer, despite receiving the kind of press most up-and-coming bands could only dream of, their punishing tour schedule hasn’t been a champagne and caviar affair.
[include_post id=”473372″]
“We’ve been touring the EP all around the world,” O’Dell told Rolling Stone. “Laying the ground work… It’s been hard but fun, but still working, working hard. And it’s pretty unglamorous.”
“I’ve had to share a bed with our tour manager for pretty much the whole of the last tour, four months. That’s pretty heavy.” Meanwhile, Took isn’t too fussed about not having a bed to eventually come home to at the moment.
“There was a time and place when we were writing that album and living in that apartment in Newtown and it was cool but I’m glad in some ways that I’ve been evicted; it forces you to move on and change is good,” he said.
