Though not fitting nicely into the ‘Hardcore’ box, Brighton’s Ditz are certainly loud, intense and have one or two things to say about the world. Damian Robinson caught up with the band ahead of the release of their debut album and their tour opener at Independent, Sunderland.
Recent releases ‘The Warden’ and ‘Ded Wurst’ have both kicked out with some serious lyrical and sonic force. Tell us a little bit about the tunes and where the rage is coming from…
Shit jobs, stuck inside, no hope etc. But really, we just like angry music so that’s what we end up recreating. People forget that it’s just quite fun to shout really loud.
There’s nice production work on both singles. How did you manage to create the sound?
We took a couple of months to do the recordings working one week on, the next off. I think having a little time away gave us lots of opportunities to keep coming back with fresh heads on. We’d worked with our producer, Ben Hampson, on a few tracks before so we knew what he could sonically get out of us. The big drum sound was the most essential part.
The cover art for both ‘The Warden’ and ‘Ded Wurst’ are really interesting. Explain a little about the concept and if this will be transferred to the stage…
We did all of the visuals for the album, videos, art, record layouts and so on with a guy called Jay Bartlett. We’ve worked with him a few times before and realised that he works best with a loose brief and few cues. He had the idea for the dummy masks when I posted a picture of one of them on my Instagram story while I was doing a first aid course. He immediately bought a bunch of them and began cutting them up so we could wear them over our faces. It caught on with us really quickly and he just carried on running with it. We shot both the videos and the cover art in one very productive morning at our old lockup just outside of Brighton.
You’ll be playing Sunderland on the first night of your new tour. With the intensity of your records, how do you transfer the energy of the record onto the stage?
It’s all in the drums from our boy, Sam Evans. That and a minimum of two-amp cabs per guitar.
Aside from the energy, what else can we expect from your live show?
Maybe a sense of informality? I think we tend to think of it less as putting on a show and more as playing some songs to an audience. Lots of bands work so much on the idea of playing their perfect set and end up doing the same thing every night. We’ll end up mixing it up every night. You might not end up hearing all the songs you thought you would.
Ditz’s album ‘The Great Regression’ is released on Friday 4th March. They play Independent, Sunderland on Tuesday 15th March. Tickets, priced at £9.00 in advance, are available from independentsunderland.com.
