A few months ago we gave you the premiere of a video by Death by Gong, one of these newcomer bands from Germany’s vibrant capital Berlin. We (aka me, the Beavis and Butthead of our little blog here) saw parallels to METZ but with two more videos under their belt, they show a much wider variability. References from Radiohead to Slut, the Beatles and the Mamas and the Papas jump to my mind. Man, that’s show widespread array. So, why not gather those three visuals and talk to the band about their work and what we can expect from them? Exactly, we should, we did, we deliver. Enjoy our special on Death by Gong!
First of all, here is the video for “In Despair”:
Hello, first of all thank you very much for doing this – we will be looking at your body of work and last but not least we will also have a short list of multiple choice questions (like “Roses vs Tulips” - what do you prefer?) which you please answer with a short explanation as well. Once again thank you so much and let’s go!
Jobst (vox/guitar): Thanks a lot as well! I am looking forward to the questions!
Let’s start once in a while with a question we’d usually give you in our quickfire-round at the end:
When YOU listen to the new single “Troy Toy” which connection can you understand better – people who say it sounds like The Beatles or those who compare it to Nirvana? “Across the Universe” or “All Apologies”?
I can see both things. In regards to the songwriting I think we would not have Nirvana as a band without the The Beatles. I see heavy influences there. Then again I hear The Beatles’ influence in almost every well written pop song. In terms of attitude the song is certainly closer to Nirvana. I kind of dodged the answer there, haha.
If I said it sounded a lot like Laurel Canyon to me – would you take that as an insult or as a compliment?
To me it is absolutely a compliment!
Do you like your record to be pretty eclectic or is that an unwanted result of different influences and different approaches to songwriting?
I am really not much of a “genre“ listener. I can find something interesting in almost every musical direction. To me it is often about the musical core of a composition: a melody over some chords with unusual changes. If that core is interesting it can be played in almost every way without losing its spark. If I listen to a Brad Mehldau version of Radiohead’s “Everything In Its Right Place”, it sounds totally different but it touches me in a similar way.
Because of that, I like trying out different approaches of arrangements for songs and that might also be the reason for why our music sounds so all over the place.
Talking about songwriting – how must we envision DBG’s songwriting process?
For this record it has been basically me in my bedroom writing and recording demos and then sharing those with the other guys in our Dropbox for some feedback and additional ideas. We started this band mid-pandemic and there could not have been any other way.
How do you that a certain riff, beat etc is something for DBG and not for your other musical outlets?
I have written most songs specifically for this band in mind. After my band RADARE went on hiatus, I wanted to explore something drastically different musically and I also really wanted to do something with Chris, who encouraged me to explore the heavier side of my guitar playing again.
That said, I can see some of the demos and ideas I have in my backlog work in other contexts as well, we will see!
As you all have many things to do, how often can you get together?
To be honest not nearly enough! We are all really busy and live a couple of hours away from each other. For this record we basically had three weeks together. One for pre-production and experiments, one for recording and one for preparing our upcoming tour. It really helps that Chris and I have been playing together in a band for almost ten years (LLynch) and Chris and Peter have been in Heads. together. We instantly had a great vibe an chemistry and some thing felt really almost effortless!
Now, about “Troy Toy” and its criticism of our consumer culture – how do you perceive our current state of affairs?
Basically – we are f**cked… I am more a glass half empty kind of guy and I have had a hard time coping with all the things that constantly seem to fall apart in the world around me. In moments when I really start to go deep on some of today’s issues I can start to spiral out of control. The lyrics of our song “In Despair” are basically about that.
To me “Troy Toy” is not exclusively about consumer culture but more about delusions in general. When I look at the world I see a general unwillingness to deal with reality and I think that is a huge problem.
Here is the video for “Troy Toy”:
Who came up with the idea to this cool video? How did you do it?
All the credit for the video goes to our wonderful collaborator and director Nicolai Hildebrandt! Nick and I talked about the general idea behind the lyrics and he found an interesting visual language to communicate it in an imaginative and abstract way. Nick also plays drums in the the wonderful VELCROS by the way, which you should check out! They are awesome!
Would you be open to using AI for certain things?
AI can be a great tool for generating variations and to challenge ideas as a sounding board. I find it especially helpful when there is no human at hand to collaborate. I have one rule, though. I only use it for things, that I could also do without AI, so I am able to evaluate and check the results before they are used.
If you guys could curate a one-day-six-bands-festival – which other bands would play in which order and which slot would you take for DBG?
Oh that is hard! DBG would either not play at all or in the first slot, so I could watch the other without thinking about our own show. If I can choose the line-up I would say:
- Beak
- Alvvays
- Suuns
- Wilco
- The Jesus Lizard
- Radiohead
Listening to the very latest track “Everything is Given” one has the idea of listening to a crossover between Radiohead’s earliest record and some mellow German Indie-Rock of the late 90s like Slut or Monta. Is that something you guys do listen to?
I am a HUGE Radiohead fan! Not so much of the first record, but from The Bends on I have been intensely listening to everything they did. I like some of Slut’s songs an I never listened to Monta, but I am indeed a huge fan of The Notwist. To me they are a great example of a band that is constantly evolving and everything they have put out since 12 has been a big influence on me making music. I hear a little Notwist in this song if that makes sense.
The video for “Everything is Given”:
You guys seem to put a lot of emphasis on the visual side of things so what can we expect for the video to “Everything is Given”?
We always try to find an interesting story tell with our videos. For “Everything Is Given“ Nicolai had the great idea to work with some old footage he discovered. The visuals were just so fitting for one part of the song and so we were thinking about what else we would need to tell a story. We researched some additional material that could possibly make a great fit. Nicolai then constructed a cool collage by mixing and matching the best parts of the footage we came up with. I really love how the different segments now work together. It is still abstract and open to interpretation and I also like videos that rather need to be felt than necessarily understood in a logical manner. I feel that is something that all three of our videos will have in common.
And now onto our infamous quickfire round:
“All Apologies” vs “Rape Me”? “All Apologies”! I never liked “All Apologies”Rape Me”</i>…
“Across the Universe” vs. “Nowhere Man”? “Across the Universe”, easy!
Beatles vs. Stones? Beatles. No-brainer for me.
Nirvana vs. Soundgarden? That is hard, but I have to go with Soundgarden. They have been far more influential for me growing up.
Laurel Canyon vs. New York City? That is tough. Kind of like heart vs. head! I am in a sentimental phase right now, so I go with Laurel Canyon.
Writing & Recording vs. Touring? To me writing is very different from recording. Of all the three things writing is by far the most fun to me because there is still a ton of things that can surprise me and everything feels so fresh and exciting.
Recording is more about diligence, discipline and hard work and less about play. Touring can be both fun and exhausting. I hope for fun on these upcoming dates.
26.10.2024 – Berlin, Loge 27.10.2024 – Dresden, Zentralwerk 29.10.2024 – Mainz, Kulturclub Schon Schön 30.10.2024 – Saarbrücken, commune 31.10.2024 – Nürnberg, Z-Bau 01.11.2024 – Jena, KuBa
Thank you for taking the time and talking with us, all the best for the record release and we hope to see you soon.
Thanks! That was fun!
If you like their singles and videos, check out their Bandcamp account Bandcamp account and also keep an eye on Crazysane Records’ website in order not to miss any announcement on the full-length which is to follow this fall!
And if you want to know about Death by Gong, maybe check back here with VoS on September 6th, when we give you some more insight into their influences! ;-)
