Featured on the cover of NZ Musician magazine back in 2010, Die! Die! Die! still rate as one of the country’s favourite, and by now surely our longest-standing, indie rock act. In mid-February, they released their seventh album, perhaps provocatively named ‘This Is Not An Island Anymore’. It’s as delightfully raucous as you’d expect it to be – a stark contrast to most other releases this musically tame summer. Frontman Andrew Wilson answered NZM’s questions on behalf of the trio. Made with the support of NZ On Air Music.
Kia ora, NZ Musician! Collectively we have all become dads within the last 12 months which has changed the way we operate! However, musically everything was focused on releasing and finishing this album!
The album title is tied to the first song on the album, This Is Not An Island Anymore, which is about being aware of the consequences of our actions – times change, people get older and need to change, and realising how interconnected, we are. You can only operate entirely in self-interest for a finite amount of time before it comes back and you need help.
We were asked to play Laneway in Auckland at the beginning of 2018 and we had just finished touring ‘Charm Offensive’ in Europe. We had been seeing Lachlan every time we went to the UK (where he was living) and it just felt right to ask him to rejoin the band when the ‘Charm Offensive’ stuff was all over. I had a lot of regrets about how the band splintered back in 2011, and it’s a really good feeling to tie up the loose ends.
We recorded the album in Tāmaki at Roundhead, end of 2020, and at Earwig Studios in Birkenhead at the beginning of 2021. We worked on it with Steven Marr.
We wanted this to be a really honest reflection of the band. No guitar overdubs etc and a very live-sounding record. So recording to tape was essential for this.
Is it okay to say I don’t have a favourite? I am really happy with the song choices Lachlan chose to put on this record.
We are pretty self-sufficient these days, but we have a community of friends around the world who help us stay motivated. But no managers etc. My poor friend Jase in the UK from Buzzhowl Records has to deal with me asking him for help with the internet a lot though!
We still use our Hotcakes which have appeared on all DDD albums, and Lachlan uses his Prunes & Custard. I couldn’t imagine this album sounding the way it does without my TTTides guitar.
Cherish your friendships. Respect people who want to work with you.
Bandcamp Friday has been amazing. I don’t want to comment on NFTs, haha.
Call me old-fashioned but I need a physical object to appreciate music. We only thought about how we would like to appreciate our records as a music fan.
Yeah, we don’t live off DDD anymore… haha. But I still feel pretty lucky with where we are as a band in 2022.
Hopefully, we can tour this album sometime in the future! There is other music to release as well, but we will see.