Latest / HEAVY Music Interviews / Fearless And Unstoppable: Inside The World Of DANCE GAVIN DANCE
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: I am Matt Mingus, and I play drums in DGD.
- 0:06Speaker 2: Sorry, my daughter was just coming in. She got taken
- 0:08Speaker 2: out by my wife.
- 0:10Speaker 3: I'm Andrew.
- 0:11Speaker 2: I sing for Dance Gavin Dance.
- 0:13Speaker 1: Beautiful.
- 0:15Speaker 4: And we're coming to Australia November 6th. I can see
- 0:19Speaker 4: they're all listed right there on Chris's screen, all the shows.
- 0:24Speaker 5: They are. Dave, we don't even have to talk about it.
- 0:26Speaker 3: People can just sit there and look at our heads
- 0:27Speaker 3: and they know exactly what's happening.
- 0:30Speaker 5: That's right.
- 0:30Speaker 3: I love it. I love it.
- 0:31Speaker 1: Perfect.
- 0:32Speaker 5: No worries, guys.
- 0:34Speaker 3: So as the sign says, Dance Captain Dan's returned to
- 0:38Speaker 3: Australia this November for a run of dates, starting in
- 0:40Speaker 3: Brisbane on the 6th before hitting Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and
- 0:44Speaker 3: finishing in Perth on the 12th.
- 0:46Speaker 5: So not really that long, guys. He is packed and
- 0:48Speaker 5: ready to go.
- 0:50Speaker 2: I think so.
- 0:51Speaker 1: Coming up soon.
- 0:52Speaker 2: Yeah, we're ready. We got our set ready. We're practiced up.
- 0:55Speaker 2: I'm excited. Can't wait to get back there.
- 0:58Speaker 4: Yeah, we've been going like so nonstop. It's been like tour,
- 1:01Speaker 4: a week off, play a festival, then go on tour,
- 1:05Speaker 4: a week off, play a festival.
- 1:06Speaker 1: So, I mean, we're ready. We're primed.
- 1:09Speaker 4: I feel like the band right now is super solid
- 1:12Speaker 4: and we're really looking forward to coming back to Australia.
- 1:16Speaker 5: I've got to say too, Matt, this is a rarity today.
- 1:19Speaker 5: If you did a percentage of the amount of drummers.
- 1:22Speaker 3: That I speak to, it'd probably be less than 5%.
- 1:25Speaker 5: For some reason, they just don't offer drummers. Why is that?
- 1:30Speaker 1: Dude, I don't know. The drummers don't get any love, man.
- 1:33Speaker 4: It's like the Travis Barker shit.
- 1:36Speaker 1: Give the drummer some love.
- 1:38Speaker 4: I feel very blessed that I get to be a
- 1:41Speaker 4: part of a lot of the interviews and and do
- 1:44Speaker 4: a lot of stuff for the band.
- 1:45Speaker 1: I love it. I mean, the band is my pride
- 1:49Speaker 1: and joy.
- 1:50Speaker 4: And I've been fortunate enough to be around the whole time.
- 1:54Speaker 4: So I think some of the other guys are just
- 1:58Speaker 4: a little more standoffish, you know, when it comes to
- 2:01Speaker 4: this type of stuff.
- 2:02Speaker 1: But, like, Andrew and I, we're, like, pretty social. Yeah,
- 2:05Speaker 1: we're just two peas in a pod. Sometimes too much.
- 2:08Speaker 3: I remember I asked Styx from Steel Panther the same question,
- 2:12Speaker 3: and he said– Because drummers are all fucking stupid, mate.
- 2:18Speaker 4: I mean, trust me, I can be fucking stupid sometimes.
- 2:22Speaker 4: I get it.
- 2:23Speaker 1: I get it.
- 2:24Speaker 3: This is going to be your first time out here
- 2:27Speaker 3: since November in 2023. So it's about three years, guys.
- 2:31Speaker 3: So what's changed with Dance Gavin Dance Between Visits?
- 2:35Speaker 2: A lot? Yeah, we parted ways with our old singer.
- 2:39Speaker 2: I took over on lead vocals from guitar backing vocals,
- 2:42Speaker 2: so that's a big change from last time we were there.
- 2:47Speaker 2: Australia got a taste of that last time. I had
- 2:48Speaker 2: my guitar go out during a song in Sydney, and
- 2:51Speaker 2: I just hopped up on the mic and jumped in
- 2:53Speaker 2: the crowd. It was a lot of fun, and so
- 2:55Speaker 2: I think that's the biggest change. We're bringing out a
- 2:59Speaker 2: lot of back catalog stuff that we haven't played in
- 3:01Speaker 2: a long time out there. This will be the first
- 3:02Speaker 2: time they've heard a lot of these songs, so really
- 3:05Speaker 2: excited to get back out there and, and give it
- 3:07Speaker 2: our all.
- 3:08Speaker 4: And, you know, I just had an epiphany when, when
- 3:10Speaker 4: Andrew said that, that was when that his guitar went
- 3:13Speaker 4: out and he like jumped in the crowd. I think
- 3:15Speaker 4: that that's one of the re like a big reason
- 3:19Speaker 4: why we were like, dude, Andrew would be a great
- 3:21Speaker 4: front man, uh, for the band when, when, you know,
- 3:25Speaker 4: we started to kind of lean, lean in a different
- 3:28Speaker 4: direction than Tillian.
- 3:29Speaker 1: And, uh, that definitely that was a moment yeah.
- 3:33Speaker 4: That was a moment where it's like dude andrew's sick
- 3:35Speaker 4: like he's down to jump in.
- 3:36Speaker 1: The crowd and.
- 3:38Speaker 2: Work the room you gotta work the room man.
- 3:40Speaker 4: So there's a lot of that to look forward to
- 3:43Speaker 4: with this band now so that's.
- 3:45Speaker 3: Pretty cool so australian crowds have actually had a bit
- 3:47Speaker 3: of a shape or hand in shaping the future of
- 3:50Speaker 3: dance cam and.
- 3:50Speaker 2: Dance i legitimately think so Our manager was at that show.
- 3:54Speaker 2: He witnessed the moment. He was like, okay, this makes sense.
- 3:58Speaker 5: That's so cool.
- 4:00Speaker 3: You're also celebrating 20th anniversary as a band too, guys.
- 4:03Speaker 3: So congratulations on surviving this beautiful music industry for so long.
- 4:07Speaker 2: Beautiful is the way to put it.
- 4:10Speaker 3: It's crazy.
- 4:11Speaker 4: Yeah, the whole time.
- 4:12Speaker 1: It's so beautiful. Everyone's so kind in the music industry.
- 4:16Speaker 2: Yeah, all the industry people are great.
- 4:20Speaker 3: So you've got any special birthday celebrations planned?
- 4:25Speaker 5: Are you going to jump out of the cake this
- 4:27Speaker 5: time and start singing or something?
- 4:28Speaker 2: That's a good idea. We might have to credit you
- 4:30Speaker 2: on that one. That's a good idea.
- 4:31Speaker 1: We should.
- 4:33Speaker 4: I think real talk, like us playing some of our
- 4:37Speaker 4: older catalog stuff from DVM-1, That was kind of in
- 4:42Speaker 4: mind a little bit. Like, yeah, we got to play
- 4:44Speaker 4: more of these old songs to like celebrate and kind
- 4:47Speaker 4: of display like all the years of Dance Gavin Dance.
- 4:51Speaker 4: So you'll definitely get a good taste of that on
- 4:54Speaker 4: this upcoming tour.
- 4:55Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 4:56Speaker 5: And I guess like after 20 years, when you first.
- 4:58Speaker 3: Started, we're all brash and young and we can conquer
- 5:01Speaker 3: the world. So you wouldn't really make too many plans.
- 5:04Speaker 3: But now you've got this stage of your career, are
- 5:05Speaker 3: you going to start mapping out the next 10, 20
- 5:08Speaker 3: years or is it still just going to be as
- 5:09Speaker 3: it comes?
- 5:11Speaker 4: I think we just do it as it comes, you know, like,
- 5:13Speaker 4: of course, like we'll have these ideas and like goals,
- 5:17Speaker 4: you know, like, okay, like.
- 5:19Speaker 1: We're back on track.
- 5:20Speaker 4: Every 18 months we need to release a new album and,
- 5:24Speaker 4: But sometimes that beautiful music industry that we talked about
- 5:29Speaker 4: sees a little differently.
- 5:30Speaker 1: So we just kind of got to go with the flow.
- 5:35Speaker 4: But there's definitely, even though some guys are in their
- 5:39Speaker 4: 40s now, there's no intention on slowing down the train
- 5:43Speaker 4: anytime soon.
- 5:44Speaker 2: No, if this year is any indicator, all that we're
- 5:47Speaker 2: doing is ramping up. I think that this year was...
- 5:50Speaker 2: the most heavy tour year we've had in a long time.
- 5:52Speaker 2: And I think that we want to just keep that
- 5:54Speaker 2: energy and, and keep that youthful spirit in the beautiful
- 5:58Speaker 2: music industry as we move forward.
- 6:01Speaker 5: I love that.
- 6:02Speaker 3: I suppose after 20 years, Gavin would be able to
- 6:05Speaker 3: dance like a motherfucker too.
- 6:06Speaker 5: Imagine another 20 years.
- 6:08Speaker 1: He's getting sore.
- 6:09Speaker 4: He like has to, he's on crutches now because he's
- 6:13Speaker 4: so worn out.
- 6:15Speaker 1: Oh, shit.
- 6:17Speaker 3: You're bringing out the Fall of Troy and Galleons as
- 6:19Speaker 3: tour partners, guys.
- 6:20Speaker 5: So what do you think each of those bands brings
- 6:23Speaker 5: to the package?
- 6:24Speaker 1: Well, Fall of Troy, they're fucking awesome.
- 6:28Speaker 4: They, you know, for me, and I know Will, too,
- 6:31Speaker 4: had a heavy influence when we started Dance Gavin Dance,
- 6:34Speaker 4: like on that sound. So to be able to bring
- 6:37Speaker 4: them out on tour, we just brought them out here
- 6:39Speaker 4: in the U.S. They're on the first half of our
- 6:42Speaker 4: headliner tour.
- 6:43Speaker 1: And, uh, it's just neat.
- 6:45Speaker 4: And both of our sounds compliment each other really well. And, uh,
- 6:49Speaker 4: Thomas is a great guy. Like everyone in that.
- 6:52Speaker 1: Band is just awesome.
- 6:54Speaker 4: Um, so to be able to go do it overseas
- 6:56Speaker 4: and Australia with them and a whole nother hemisphere, uh,
- 7:00Speaker 4: is going to be fucking awesome.
- 7:03Speaker 1: Yeah. Very exciting.
- 7:05Speaker 2: Uh, galleons. I'm super pumped on their, their singer, Tom,
- 7:08Speaker 2: the kind of the mastermind behind the project is a
- 7:10Speaker 2: good friend of mine. He's, uh, I featured on some
- 7:13Speaker 2: songs of his as well. Just very talented vocalist, very
- 7:17Speaker 2: talented songwriter and native to Australia. So we were really excited.
- 7:21Speaker 2: We wanted to bring out an Australian band and they're
- 7:24Speaker 2: kind of the perfect fit. He's got such a cool
- 7:26Speaker 2: voice and such a cool sound that meshes with ours.
- 7:29Speaker 2: And it's kind of their debut as a touring band
- 7:33Speaker 2: as well. So we love lifting up new bands and
- 7:36Speaker 2: just bringing people on tour and helping shape the scene
- 7:39Speaker 2: to come. And I think that this is a great
- 7:41Speaker 2: example of that.
- 7:43Speaker 5: And bringing debut bands out means you get to play
- 7:45Speaker 5: pranks on them and have a lot of fun.
- 7:47Speaker 3: There you go.
- 7:48Speaker 1: Yeah, we got to haze them.
- 7:49Speaker 2: You got to haze them. Yeah, you have to.
- 7:52Speaker 3: I want to see photos of that. You also celebrated
- 7:58Speaker 3: your latest album, Pantheon, which came out roughly 12 months ago, guys.
- 8:02Speaker 5: It's had a bit of time to digest now. Are
- 8:04Speaker 5: you guys still happy with it? And are the fans
- 8:06Speaker 5: happy with it?
- 8:08Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say so.
- 8:10Speaker 4: I think, you know, playing live and and looking out
- 8:14Speaker 4: at all the people and their reactions and like singing
- 8:18Speaker 4: along and, and.
- 8:19Speaker 1: Crowd surfing and opening up the mosh pit.
- 8:21Speaker 4: Like it's definitely the best reception for, for the new stuff, for,
- 8:25Speaker 4: for the songs off of Pantheon, like by far, I think.
- 8:29Speaker 2: Yeah, I would agree. I, to piggyback off of Matt,
- 8:31Speaker 2: I think that the, this is the most insane reaction
- 8:34Speaker 2: to new music I think we've ever gotten. And to
- 8:36Speaker 2: see on these tours where some of the new songs
- 8:40Speaker 2: are just like dramatically outperforming the old songs in a
- 8:44Speaker 2: live setting where you would think, okay, this history and
- 8:48Speaker 2: the context, they know the old stuff. Like a lot
- 8:50Speaker 2: of our peer type bands, that's kind of what they're
- 8:52Speaker 2: coasting on is the old stuff. Whereas our new stuff
- 8:56Speaker 2: has more crowd engagement, has more, more singing along, more
- 8:59Speaker 2: jumping and moshing and surfing and, That is really cool
- 9:02Speaker 2: to see. I would say that Pantheon's getting better received
- 9:06Speaker 2: now a year later than it did even when it
- 9:08Speaker 2: first came out, which is really cool to see. That
- 9:11Speaker 2: doesn't happen a lot from my experience.
- 9:15Speaker 3: On that path, I guess, you've got songs like Animal
- 9:17Speaker 3: Surgery and The Conqueror Worm. They've got distinct, progressive, funky
- 9:22Speaker 3: shifts in them. Which of the new tracks has been
- 9:25Speaker 3: the most challenging and ultimately the most rewarding, I guess,
- 9:28Speaker 3: to rehearse.
- 9:29Speaker 5: And bring to the stage?
- 9:31Speaker 4: Yeah, for me, definitely The Stickler, which is one of
- 9:35Speaker 4: my favorite songs on the album. But that was one
- 9:38Speaker 4: song when I wrote it and recorded it, I was like, oh, shit. Like,
- 9:42Speaker 4: this is going to be hard live. So to be
- 9:46Speaker 4: able to get that down and, like, now be able
- 9:48Speaker 4: to consistently play it every night along with a couple
- 9:51Speaker 4: others has been awesome. Now, one song that you mentioned,
- 9:55Speaker 4: The Conqueror Worm, that is a song that eventually we
- 9:59Speaker 4: do want to start playing live and i'm like shit
- 10:03Speaker 4: that song's fucking hard i got a lot of work
- 10:07Speaker 4: to do i better start practicing now even if it's
- 10:09Speaker 4: next year yeah.
- 10:13Speaker 2: I do agree with matt i think the stickler is
- 10:15Speaker 2: is a is quite a challenge vocally the chorus is
- 10:18Speaker 2: Got this big, soaring high, gritty belt. And then I've
- 10:23Speaker 2: got a very kind of Maynard James Keenan grit baritone
- 10:26Speaker 2: in the bridge. And there's a lot of challenging vocal
- 10:30Speaker 2: gymnastics that are done in that song that are hard
- 10:32Speaker 2: to replicate live. But it's so much fun. I love
- 10:34Speaker 2: the challenge of it. And it's so much fun to
- 10:37Speaker 2: play live, too. The crowd energy is insane.
- 10:40Speaker 3: I guess along those lines too, guys, when you play live,
- 10:42Speaker 3: you love to get stuck in the moment and have fun.
- 10:44Speaker 3: So when like we use a conqueror worm as example,
- 10:47Speaker 3: like if you've got to learn that and concentrate while
- 10:49Speaker 3: you're playing it, does that take the fun away a
- 10:51Speaker 3: little bit, you know, because you've actually concentrated and you
- 10:53Speaker 3: can't let loose.
- 10:55Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 10:56Speaker 4: It's, you know, usually for the first like week or
- 10:58Speaker 4: so of a tour with like a new song like that,
- 11:01Speaker 4: when I'm still getting comfortable with it and getting to
- 11:05Speaker 4: a point where I can let loose it, I don't
- 11:07Speaker 4: want to say it takes the fun out of it.
- 11:10Speaker 4: Cause there's still that kind of gratification when the song's
- 11:14Speaker 4: over and you're like, Oh hell yeah, I did it.
- 11:17Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah.
- 11:18Speaker 4: Or sometimes you don't nail it and you're like, all right,
- 11:20Speaker 4: we'll try it. We'll try better tomorrow. But versus playing
- 11:26Speaker 4: like an older song, like lemon meringue tie where I
- 11:29Speaker 4: just like can play it in my sleep and just
- 11:31Speaker 4: like have a blast and not think about what the
- 11:32Speaker 4: hell I'm doing.
- 11:34Speaker 1: It is different.
- 11:35Speaker 4: You know, there's definitely more, pressure that I put on myself.
- 11:39Speaker 4: No one else is putting the pressure on me. But
- 11:42Speaker 4: the goal is to always get to that point, though,
- 11:45Speaker 4: where it can kind of be more relaxing and just
- 11:47Speaker 4: fun to play.
- 11:48Speaker 1: And that usually happens.
- 11:50Speaker 5: Yeah.
- 11:51Speaker 3: And that was, as you say, Andrew, that was your
- 11:53Speaker 3: first album as lead vocalist or playing lead vocalist.
- 11:56Speaker 5: How did you find the experience looking back on.
- 11:59Speaker 1: It?
- 12:00Speaker 2: Chaotic and insane. It was quite... It was quite an experience.
- 12:04Speaker 2: I mean, I'm very fortunate. I've been with these guys
- 12:06Speaker 2: 10 years. I've been doing, you know, contributing vocals and
- 12:09Speaker 2: guitar for a substantial amount of that time. So it
- 12:12Speaker 2: wasn't completely foreign. But as any fan of Dance Gavin
- 12:17Speaker 2: Dance would tell you or anyone who knows anything about us,
- 12:19Speaker 2: the singer discourse is quite something. It's a lot of
- 12:23Speaker 2: things people like to argue about who's the best and
- 12:25Speaker 2: who's the worst. And, you know, and they can be
- 12:28Speaker 2: a little ruthless sometimes. I don't use social media, so
- 12:31Speaker 2: I don't give a shit about any of that. What
- 12:33Speaker 2: I care about is making great art and coming out
- 12:36Speaker 2: and putting on the best live performance I can and
- 12:38Speaker 2: interacting with fans. We have the coolest fans. So live
- 12:41Speaker 2: performance is really my opportunity to meet them where they're
- 12:45Speaker 2: at and put on the best performance possible. So looking
- 12:49Speaker 2: back on it, it was such a volatile time going
- 12:52Speaker 2: through it. But then now seeing how well the transition
- 12:56Speaker 2: went and how successful the band has continued to become,
- 13:00Speaker 2: I'm so fortunate to see that. And it reinvigorates me
- 13:05Speaker 2: and gives me so much to work for going forward
- 13:08Speaker 2: in the band with another new record that we're putting
- 13:10Speaker 2: out next year and really just spearhead this into the
- 13:14Speaker 2: best band it can be.
- 13:16Speaker 5: Would you say you're fully comfortable in your art yet, right?
- 13:18Speaker 5: Or are you still growing into it?
- 13:20Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say so. Live, definitely. I feel like
- 13:24Speaker 2: we're really hitting a stride live and the performances have
- 13:27Speaker 2: been incredible. And then on the new album, I really
- 13:31Speaker 2: think we're so locked in. It's insane. And as a vocalist,
- 13:34Speaker 2: I feel like I've said this in other interviews as well.
- 13:37Speaker 2: Pantheon was there was that thing in the back of
- 13:40Speaker 2: your head that's like, well, should I do this a
- 13:42Speaker 2: little more like Johnny or do this a little more
- 13:44Speaker 2: like Tillian? Hopefully they'll like this. It's a little more
- 13:46Speaker 2: like Kurt. Having kind of that thought in your back
- 13:49Speaker 2: of your mind as you're writing or performing or recording
- 13:53Speaker 2: of like, well, how do I fill all of these shoes?
- 13:55Speaker 3: Right.
- 13:56Speaker 2: And you're kind of catering to that. The new album
- 13:58Speaker 2: that we just finished is not that at all. I
- 14:01Speaker 2: think I grew into the role of, I don't need
- 14:03Speaker 2: to think about that. I just need to own who
- 14:05Speaker 2: I am as a vocalist and just go all out.
- 14:09Speaker 2: Like pull out all the stops, showcase everything that my
- 14:11Speaker 2: voice can do. And I think I really nailed that
- 14:15Speaker 2: on the new record.
- 14:16Speaker 1: So.
- 14:17Speaker 5: All right, Matt, this is your chance to rebut that.
- 14:19Speaker 5: What do you reckon?
- 14:21Speaker 1: Oh my God, yeah. I mean, I feel like.
- 14:24Speaker 4: first of all, I, and I get that Andrew is
- 14:27Speaker 4: like trying to fill shoes on Pantheon and all that,
- 14:30Speaker 4: but he still brought it. He still was himself. I mean, we,
- 14:33Speaker 4: we kept telling him like, dude, just be yourself, just
- 14:35Speaker 4: sing yourself. Don't try and be this guy, that guy.
- 14:38Speaker 4: But I get, you know, trying to appease all these
- 14:41Speaker 4: older fans and, and, and show them you have what
- 14:44Speaker 4: it takes. Um, and this, but this new album is like,
- 14:49Speaker 4: I mean, he really.
- 14:50Speaker 1: Grew into it.
- 14:51Speaker 4: Like he said, and it's comfortable and it's like, trying
- 14:55Speaker 4: all these new things that no previous dance Gavin dance
- 14:57Speaker 4: singer has ever done.
- 14:58Speaker 1: Like he does this crazy ass rap on a song
- 15:01Speaker 1: that's fucking stick.
- 15:03Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 15:04Speaker 4: And, uh, just, I don't know, there's all these different,
- 15:07Speaker 4: you know, octaves and tones and it's really cool. And, uh,
- 15:12Speaker 4: it also, I feel like gave, uh, John, our other vocalists, um,
- 15:18Speaker 4: kind of an excuse or like motivation to try some
- 15:21Speaker 4: different things himself too. So all around, it's just like
- 15:25Speaker 4: all these guys, it's like, I don't know, creating some
- 15:27Speaker 4: really cool art together, which was our goal in the
- 15:30Speaker 4: first place.
- 15:32Speaker 5: That really adds a nice touch to the beautiful music industry.
- 15:35Speaker 3: Doesn't it?
- 15:36Speaker 1: It really does. I think that's a beautiful.
- 15:38Speaker 3: Place to leave it to you guys. So thanks very
- 15:41Speaker 3: much for your time. It's been an absolute pleasure. The
- 15:42Speaker 3: tour kicked off November the 6th. I shall see you
- 15:45Speaker 3: guys at the Brisbane show. So until then, enjoy.
- 15:49Speaker 1: Thanks, Chris.
- 15:50Speaker 3: Appreciate you.