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.