NO
DUMMING DOWN
The
Fly - 11/09/00
Dum Dums claim their music has real substance
On the week of release of their new single, You Do Something
To Me, Dum Dums talk about their new album, It Goes Without
Saying
"We've got certain things planned when we go on Top Of
The Pops. I don't really want to spoil the surprise, but
it involves pyrotechnics in an unorthodox manner - they
might be homemade." Josh, lead singer with pop/punk/rock/call-it-what-you-want-as-long-as-you-call-it-good
band Dum Dums, is sharing his plans for their forthcoming
TOTP performance. And if I were Jayne Middlemiss or Jamie
'Why am I so slimy' Theakston I'd be purchasing the asbestos
suits now.
Although it feels like Dum Dums have been around forever,
it's only in the last year that Stu, Steve and Josh's
almost permanent presence at small venues around the country
has paid off. They've been on TOTP, supported Robbie Williams,
scored some Top 20 hits and are now gearing up for the
release of their debut LP, which lead singer Josh describes
as "The sound of the suburbs: pop music with real identity."
Dums Dums’ debut LP is entitled It Goes Without Saying.
Now that's a title cloaked in a shroud of mystery. I mean,
what exactly goes without saying? Josh tries to explain
and leads us to a rather more complicated answer than
we were expecting. "The LP is mostly upbeat musically.
There are a couple of ballads there, but mostly upbeat.
But there is a real deep emptiness about the album." What
do you mean? "It's about when you're stuck at the crossroads
of your life with not a clue about what you are going
to do with your future. It's quite depressing in a way."
That may be true, but if you took the music on its surface
value, you'd think Josh, Steve and Stu were having the
time of their lives. It's only when you listen a little
deeper, that what Josh is talking about becomes apparent.
"The latest single is very upbeat, but it deals with adultery,
divorce and fornication, domestic drug use - all good
biblical themes."
So do they think that helps them stand out from the crowd?
Josh agrees. "Yeah definitely. Look at bands like The
Police and The Beatles; they did hard hitting pop songs
that covered serious stuff." So you wouldn't lose your
melodic sensibilities? "No, we've always been into melody.
That's been the good thing and the bad thing about us
for some people. We want to make great pop but with something
to say." But as you said, people have used that against
you, saying Dum Dums are just like a boy band with guitars.
Josh takes this in his stride. "We didn't practice for
3 years and do 2 years of gigging just to be a boy band.
It's insulting when people say that, but it's only because
they don't know any better." What would you do to such
people if you were locked in a room with them? "We'd play
to them live. It's a fair question to ask, but to believe
that we’re a boy band, well it's absolute ignorance. I'd
get in a room and torture them by making them listen to
real boybands."
When The Fly speaks to the Dum Dums, they're rolling down
to Bournemouth in a rather swanky BMW. Have they suddenly,
after their apprenticeship on the toilet circuit, come
into living the lifestyle of the rich and famous? Josh
laughs and says "It's weird going from playing places
like the Camden Falcon and The Monarch to where we are
now, supporting big artists, doing the TV all the time.
It is pretty heavy, and there is a lot of taking it in.
We always thought we had the potential to do this, but
now it's coming to fruition you've got to keep your head
on your shoulders." So you won't all be doing pop starish
things like going out with Nicole Appleton? Josh puts
on a cheesy voice and says, "Hey man, Nicole Appleton
is alright. I'd go out with her on the grounds of her
being a fit chick, but on the grounds of her being a pop
star, I guess not."
This line of questioning inevitably leads to the second
oldest subject in music - groupies. "Yeah, it's weird.
Going from The Monarch or Bull & Gate where it's mostly
an indie crowd and then going to TV where a lot more people
see you. We do have serious fans but we now also get the
teenyboppers. When we show up to do a kids TV show they'll
be gangs of girls screaming at you and they'll all know
your name. Y'know 'Josh, Steve, Stu come here'. It's a
bit heavy. They're all jailbait though, so we can't really
do anything." Although this sort of attention would turn
most people's heads, the band seem to be keeping their
feet on the ground. "We were into bands like Pearl Jam
and Nirvana, bands that had proper meaning and their whole
thing was about keeping some morals about yourself and
being the same person going into it as you are coming
out. If one of us started acting all star like we'd knock
them down to size anyway."
It Goes Without Saying is released through Good
Behaviour on September 18th and the band will be touring
thoughout October with Robbie Williams.