DIET have spent time chipping away and working hard since the release of their debut EP — they're back at it again, this time with their sophomore EP Sundown. Before they take BIGSOUND by storm, they gave us an insight into Sundown, as well as the inspiration behind the EP.
Our Local Scene
We’re lucky to be surrounded by such great artists in Melbourne, who are always showing us cool ways to do things. Bands like Twerps and Dick Diver (and a stack more from the Chapter Music roster) put such a nice slacker twist to the typical jangly guitar you hear from abroad, which has increasingly become more of an influence. Another thing to take from the scene is the sincere lyricism. Recently we’ve been really taken by Candy and Slowcoaching’s lyrics, who both whip up a really nice brand of honest pop. Tracks like ‘Take Me’ and ‘In Focus’ set out with that kind of intention – corny but genuine.
The NYC Sound
Without a doubt, the biggest influence when we started up DIET was the surf sound coming out of New York, namely through the Captured Tracks roster. After getting our paws on tracks from Beach Fossils, Wild Nothing, DIIV and Blouse it was all we were focusing on in terms of crafting our sound. You can hear these reverb-soaked guitars throughout every track pretty much (but we add just a little more crunch). I know he’s from LA but while we’re talking about American acts, a huge shout out must also go to Ariel Pink…
The British Sound
This seems to be where everyone thinks we get all our inspiration. Whilst this isn’t totally true, there are a couple artists who definitely shape how we sound, particularly with the ‘Sundown’ release. Our singer Ben has been dubbed as “Morrissey, if he grew up by the beach” — The Smiths are definitely an influencer with the playful guitars and sweet vibrato vocals they put forward. The moodier end of our sound can be attributed to the incredible Shoegaze movement coming from the UK. Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine get the biggest nod for this. More recently we’ve been listening to Shame who will most likely sneak their way into our next direction.
Jangle in Asia
We’ve been really blown away by the guitar music coming out of different pockets within Asia — a scene who is also very influenced by the NYC jangle movement. Moscow Olympics from the Philippines have an incredible album called ‘Cut The World’ which we highly recommend. Also Bedchamber from Jakarta’s recent album ‘Geography’ is brilliant all the way through. Incredible how they’re able to write such beautiful lyrics in English when it is not their native tongue — kinda ties in to the honest lyricism we love from local Melbourne acts.
Nevermind Bar – Hawthorn
This is our watering hole, stomping ground, haunt (whatever you wanna call it) for many years. We played our first show here, and have been coming back for gigs ever since with an event called ‘Couchfest’ that we run there. Nevs has been the HQ for our friendship and we still go there at least once or twice a week to hang and talk shop. With the Sundown EP mixes and masters, we’d whack them over the house speakers to see how they were sounding — If we were lucky we’d see some nodding heads of approval from strangers, and maybe even an attempted Shazam!
You can stream DIET's Sundown EP below:
You can catch DIET at the below shows:
4th September - Wooly Mammoth, Official BIGSOUND Showcase
5th September - GYROstream's Hump Day Happy Hour BIGSOUND
6th September - The Brightside, Official BIGSOUND Showcase
27th September - Evelyn Hotel, Melbourne
28th September - 'Hills City' at Corner Hotel Carpark, Melbourne
30th December - 1st January 2019 - NYE On The Hill - Gippsland
More information is available here
