The words of Simon Ridley, the drummer for DZ Deathrays!
How did you start?
Shane and I had been friends since high school and we both moved to Brisbane to do university. Eventually we formed a 3 piece band but ended up losing our drummer so then I just started playing drums and we decided to keep it as a two piece because we couldn’t find anyone else who was as dedicated as we were (also were huge DFA1979 fans at the time who are a 2 piece).
Please give an example of your music writing process?
It’s changed a lot over the years, at the moment we do it all over email because we live in different cities. One of us will send a riff or drum beat idea to the other and we just keep adding things to it and cutting it up and rearranging it until it’s somewhat complete. Then once we compile a group of say 4 or 5 songs we get together in a jam room for a few days and try play them and see if they work or not.
What are you working on right now?
The finishing touches on our third album.
What is your gear setup?
It’s starting to get a little extensive between all of us to list everything. However my touring rig is usually just a Yamaha maple or oak custom.
1 rack, 1 floor, 1 – 18″ Paiste dark energy crash, 1- 21″ Twenty Paiste crash/ride and some 14″ 2002 Paiste hats. Shane’s in the middle of configuring a new pedal board for himself and our session guitarist Lachy so who knows what he’ll end up with on there.
What do you like to do outside of music and does it affect your music?
Nothing really exciting: movies, drinking, does seeing bands count?
How would you describe your music genre?
I’d say it’s just Rock. I’m pretty over having to describe our sound in a three word niche style like ‘cyber-keytar-wave’, or ‘Hard-thrash-polka’.
Do you know any music theory?
I’ve learnt some here and there over the years. I’ve got a diploma of audio engineering but it barely touched on musical theory.
What are your plans for the future?
Put out album 3!! Hopefully it won’t bomb and then I won’t have to go find a real job for a few more years.
How did you get into music?
In high school I had a group of friends who started playing guitar and in lunch breaks we’d go in and jam around on the schools shitty acoustic guitars.
Then my friends started making bands to play at friend’s parties and it just kinda kept on going.
What are you listening to at the moment?
I always end up listening to Beck at the moment. Also a bit of M|O|O|N and occasionally some Sinatra. Also just listened to a band from Sydney called Rackett’s new ep. It’s pretty good.
Who are your top 5 influencers and icons?
In no particular order – Beck and Trent Reznor (Both for their writing styles and also because they write/record/produce everything themselves), Jimmy Chamberlin (amazing drumming style), Lemmy (just all round legend, plus his book is fucking amazing) and finally probably Shane (it’s pretty hard not to be influenced by someone you hang out with all the time).
When are you playing next?
Next month at Big Pineapple fest on the Sunshine Coast.
