Dog Is Dead are, well, dead. Gone. Kaput. Finished.
And in their place sit D.I.D. Sure, it's the same members and the same initials, but theirs is a sound rejuvenated, an approach rendered raw. Working on their second album, the group are set to break cover and play a very rare London show tomorrow night (November 5th). Pardon the pun, but fireworks are expected.
“Coming to London is going to be great,” explains frontman Robert Milton. “We just want to showcase what we've been doing, it's just really exciting.”
Fans can expect a mix of old and new, of something borrowed from rhythm 'n' blues. Striking a rather more brusk tone with their new 'Fast Food' EP, D.I.D. are heading in a stripped down direction, one that seemingly feels rather more true to themselves as artists.
“I think with an EP it's a really good chance to try something completely different,” he says. “We've had a chance to experiment and naturally we wanted to play different styles of music and different genres of music and have our own take on it. The EP is born out of a love of 70s rock music, and then a whole bunch of like OutKast and modern R&B, as well. So it's kind of been a weird clash that happens. It's fun to play. They've got riffs. They're jams of their own. It's very natural when things are fun to play.”
Signed to Atlantic Records for debut album 'All Our Favourite Stories', D.I.D. readily admit that they rather lost their way in the London maelstrom. Lads from Nottingham, the temptations of the big city seemed to take their attention away from what truly mattered to them. “I think it's a rite of passage,” he sighs. “I don't blame us for trying new things. You have to go there to understand what it's like. And the first album process was about finding out what we're comfortable with, and how much control we need over everything. And we realised that what we like best is doing it on our own terms, in our home town, doing it ourselves. That's been much more prolific for us, it's been really good.”
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Heading back to Nottingham to re-group, D.I.D. seem to be relishing home comforts. “It's been really comforting being in Nottingham,” Rob explains, “that way we don't get caught up in anything too fancy or being in London in a big city. It's been good, so we can focus on what's really important.”
“I think right now it makes sense,” the singer adds. “We're living our lives as we're writing the record and so I don't feel like… we're not going to move to London any time soon. But for this record right now we're in a good place mentally and geographically. I always assumed that I'd go to an island off Iceland or something to make the second record but it just wouldn't work at all.”
Producer Guy Elderfield has once again signed on for recording sessions, and is helping oversee the group's second album. The process is, though, as the singer points out, very much a group endeavour: “Everyone has their input, but there's a certain amount of trust in myself and Guy that the rest of the boys have which is just really important. So yeah, we get really far down the line with everything and try to mix everything ourselves, that's been really great. As producers, we've come on so much. We've had to learn every single part of the industry, and just get really good at it really quickly.”
Refusing to give too much away, Rob explains that the material is often explicitly autobiographical. It's a raw return, one bruised by their first shot but emboldened by the renewed friendships they have found on their return. “I've tried to be as honest as I can about what's going on in my life, with relationships, with whatever,” he states. “I've basically tried to make a really honest rhythm 'n' blues record. So yeah, there's a lot of themes on it. I haven't really held back and I think it really shows.”
“I like it to be imperfect,” he continues. “I don't like it to be something that's written too wordy or laboured. I think the best songs are really honest because of the way that you talk and the way that you would portray going through. So it can never be too perfect otherwise it's just going to be too fake, I guess.”
And if there's one thing D.I.D. can never be accused of, it's being fake.
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Catch D.I.D. at the following shows:
November
5 London Oslo
6 Brighton Sticky Mike's Frog Bar
December
4 Nottingham Rock City
