Angelas Dish

Angelas Dish have been a staple of the Aussie live scene for years now, with some of the finest EP's and albums the local rock scene has produced under their belts, the band are gearing up to head overseas and record a new album which should see them rise to a new, well deserved, level in their careers. KYS had a chat with drummer Chris to see where the guys heads are at.

Angelas Dish have been around for quite awhile now, exceeding the career length of many of your peers, why do you think you guys have had such longevity?

I think this really boils down to two things. Firstly, we have some pretty dedicated fans who really get behind us & have been supporting us for quite a while, which is awesome. And secondly, we all get along really well. This is a pretty important aspect of keeping a band together - especially on tour. We’re all good pals & we can take the piss out of each other without getting offended & whatnot, and as we’re all at a pretty similar stage in our lives it helps strengthen us as a unit.

Over the years you would have seen the musical scene change a fair bit, what are your thoughts on the Aussie music scene now compared to when you started?

It seems touring has become harder to make viable - unless you’re Parkway Drive or Jet or some equally big band. It’s harder nowadays to be constantly on the road like we were a few years ago. Obviously the rise of digital media has drastically changed the way everyone has to approach & market their releases - that’s more of a universal change though. Also because of the ease at which people can now record music, there seems to be more bands out there getting noticed. It has almost levelled the playing field in the respect of having your music heard. All you need is a computer, some mics & some sort of digital format (SoundCloud, Facebook, etc.) & you can create a fanbase - sometimes without even playing a show. Or even being good. That wasn’t possible ten years ago. It’s hard to believe how much the industry has changed in such a short time.

You recently released a new EP titled ‘Me & You,’ tell us a little about that EP and the reactions you have had from it so far?

“Me And You” is a bit of a departure from the big rock sounds of the last few albums. It’s a lot more mellow & definitely has a cool vibe to it. Josh (guitars/vocals) produced the whole thing & our good pal Sonny Truelove mixed it for us. Reaction so far has been overwhelmingly positive. People seem to be digging it.

You guys are heading over to Florida to record your third album, how are you all feeling about that?

We’re all incredibly excited about it! It’s such a great opportunity for us to be able to go over a work with a producer of such a high calibre. Michael “Elvis” Baskette has done some massive records - most notably Incubus’s “Make Yourself” - & we can’t wait to work with & learn all we can from him in our time over in Florida.

What made you decide to record overseas? Is it mainly for the experience or do you feel that it is a necessary move to have a product that is more noticeable?

To be honest, it’s a bit of both. Obviously the whole trip will be an awesome experience for us all to not only learn a tremendous amount & improve ourselves as musicians & songwriters, but it definitely opens up a lot of opportunities for our music to be heard by a much larger audience we wouldn’t otherwise see here at home. To us, it just seemed like the next logical step in the development of this band. Also, there is no shortage of Dr Pepper over there which is an added bonus.

Has the album already been written? What can fans expect from it sound and theme wise?

We have a few “completed” songs, but we are approaching the whole recording process completely differently then we have in the past. Usually we rehearse all the songs into the ground before recording so we can just go in the studio & smash the songs out. This time around we want to be a bit more creative in the studio & feed off ideas from the band and both Michael Baskette & Sonny Truelove (who is co-producing). As far as sound goes, it’s back to the rocking tunes again. Everything so far has been a bit more uptempo than our last album “Walk Into The Sky”. I’m not sure about themes at this stage, as lyrics haven’t been finalised yet.

You guys have always been a heavy feature on the live circuit, has your live show changed dramatically over the years? How would you describe it now?

I think these days our live shows seems to be more of a show than just a bunch of dudes rocking out. While we still do that, we seem to think more about the show as a whole, not just as random songs put together. So we work out transitions between songs and try & build a really strong set that flows. Not only that but we play quite a few songs to a click track now so everything seems to be a bit tighter as well. Not only that but we’ve recently added a projector to our show which plays videos behind us on stage for an added visual element. I think fans appreciate us putting in that little extra effort for them. Also, I’m nicer to look at than the old drummer...

What new music (from other artists) is being played between you guys at the moment that might be having an influence on the AD sound?

I’m not really sure to be honest...the other boys would be better equipped to answer that. I generally listen to almost completely different stuff to them. With that being said, I don’t think anything new is all that likely to influence us. We’re more likely to look at bands like U2 or Coldplay, not so much for musical ideas but more for how they might structure an album as a whole or something like that.
Although it definitely won’t be an influence on the AD sound, at the moment I’ve been loving “Deconstruction” by the Devin Townsend Project. Very interesting & intense listen. But as I said, definitely won’t be any extremely heavy, complex songs with choirs singing about cheeseburgers on the next AD release.

Besides recording, what does 2012 hold for the band?

Touring - hopefully both here in Australia & abroad. Probably keep writing new stuff as well. Most importantly I think we’ll (read: I’ll) learn to provide more concise answers for interviews...