Ahead of their return to Nottingham this Friday, The Mic had a short chat with Dog is Dead’s Trev (bass/sax) about their recent European tour and what it means to be headlining Rock City again.
Hi Trev. Dog is Dead are returning to Nottingham for your second headline show at Rock City on 5th May. It must have been frustrating to have had to change the date of such an anticipated gig, however I’m sure fans understood seeing as it meant you got to tour with Two Door Cinema Club. How was that?
The Two Door tour was pretty intense. It was by far the longest distances we’ve had to travel whilst on tour, but the shows were awesome and we had an incredible time playing with them.
How does playing in Europe differ to playing in the UK? I heard you had some trouble with snow for a start, tell us about that.
Touring Europe is a whole different kettle of fish compared to the UK. For a start they tend to put more effort into making you feel welcome, for example friendly reps and carefully laid out riders etc. I suppose that comes down to the fact that less bands circuit various European cities, so when one comes around it’s a bigger deal. We were driving from Toulouse to Wrenne when we got caught what can only be described as a blizzard. Most of the main roads had been shut there so we were forced to take alternative routes through the countryside. Come 4am we found ourselves stuck by the side of the road and had to sleep the night in the van. In the morning a tractor helped us out of our predicament
The last time you graced Nottingham’s stage was the opening party for All Our Favourite Stories. Has the band’s connection with the album changed in any way since then? Does it still feel fresh and exciting?
The album still feels exciting; it’s composed of songs that have spanned our lifetime as a band so it could be easy to find preforming those songs pretty stale. But we’ve managed to keep the energy up and we still find it exciting playing songs we played when we were 17.
How do you find the right balance between promoting the album and writing new material?
We are pretty restless when it comes to song writing. We’ve been working on new material since the end of 2012, and it’s working out pretty smoothly so far. We’ve had chunks of free time between various tours so we used that to routinely come up with new material. I find we’ve got a nice balance between the two.
Apart from the upcoming tour, what does the rest of 2013 have in store for you? Can you give us any hints about potential festival appearances?
The rest of 2013 will be taken up by the writing and recording process of the new material we have been working on. We will have a few festival appearances but not an intensive as last years circuit, playing festivals like Rockness, Redfest and Glastonbury.
I’m hearing your music all over t.v shows! Is that something you’re used to now or do you still get excited calls from friends and family when they hear you on Made in Chelsea or the like?
It depends of the TV show! I guess it still feels weird, but most of the time it’s tiny little extracts played quietly without vocals in the background. Getting our songs played out on the BAFTAs coverage is more exciting than having our music on in Made In Chelsea, but we’re still grateful that they chose to use our music on their show though.
You must all be very excited to return to Rock City, where, as you mentioned on Facebook, Nirvana played back in the day. How important is the venue to you as Nottingham locals, and what will be different from the last time you played there?
Rock city is pretty precious to the Nottingham music fan. To have a venue that size with character like that means a lot. I remember going to shows there when I was 14 and just staring up at the stage starry eyed. It’s going to be a different show as it’s the first time we’d have played there since the album has dropped, so the dynamic will have stepped up! Also, we’ll drop in some new songs and some different takes on older songs. So it’s going to be incredible!
Dog is Dead play Rock City Friday 03/05/13. Tickets available from Box Office and See Tickets.
Support from To Kill a King and Kappa Gamma. 7pm. 14+.
By John Bell
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