Formula Indie Sessions : Interview with The Dharma Chain
What is your earliest memory connected to music?
Singing Neil Diamond with my mother in the lounge room at 8 years old. Couldn’t sing back then either…
How did your passion for creating music begin?
Me and my brother saw the documentary DIG! (About the Brian Jonestown Massacre) when we were younger. Next day we bought guitars and started to learn how to play!
What’s the story behind your current music project?
The Dharma Chain is my first (and last) serious project. It’s all about making weird psychedelic guitar music with people I love. Formed in Byron Bay, we moved to Berlin together, the centre of Europe seemed like a fantastic place to take over the world!!
How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music before?
TDC is a little genre bending, or so we are told. But I would describe it as a mix of psych rock, shoegaze and trip hop. We are lucky that all us band members have vastly different influences, and we’ve been able to combine and mix all inspirations together to create a sound (we hope) is unique.
What is one thing you’ve learned that completely changed the way you make music?
Learning to be a better team player and collaborate with people. A very productive skill to learn, and one I feel like people don’t mention enough. It’s been of huge personal benefit to both me and the band to love each other, work together, and push push push.
What tools, instruments, or software are essential in your creative process?
Guitars and synths are essential hardware that inspires me. On the software… initially I hated Ableton, too many options meant choice paralysis. But I have to say I’ve gotten used to it for creating drums for demos and use it happily more and more. However I keep it pretty limited on there, I prefer to play something I can hold.
Which indie artist or song are you loving right now?
Zoon Phonanta- Dim Diolch
Great new band from Berlin. Kraut as. Lots of synths and really interesting music.
How have your personal experiences influenced your music and artistic vision?
Huge shout out to the book The War Of Art by Steven Pressfield. I often find a lot influenced from outside music that inspire me to keep going. This book is a great read for any artistic person looking for help to self motivate.
What emotions or messages do you hope listeners take from your work?
Hopefully our music can take you to a unique place, somewhere you didn’t expect to go. Our sound is definitely for the curious, anyone looking for something a little different can hopefully find it here.
What’s the most important lesson music has taught you so far?
That you can create a world for yourself where you spend most of your time doing something you love. The wallet suffers a little, no denying that. But great memories and feelings of accomplishment can keep you fed a thousand times over.
What is a dream venue or festival you would love to perform at?
Hmm… Knebworth please.
If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and why?
Adrian Utley from Portishead. Amazing musician and great ethos.
Where can our listeners follow and support your music?
Oh, you know, on all the aforementioned evil streaming giants. We try to encourage people to come see us live. We are a touring band, and pride ourselves to playing in as many places as we can. So for the most rewarding experience come to a show, have a chat after and buy a record (please).
Looking toward the future, what’s your dream for the next chapter of your musical journey?
To keep growing, both personally and as a band. We have goals we haven’t reached yet, so we are all ‘heads down’ working as hard as possible. Our second album ‘Some Kind Of Pure State’ is coming out in June in SPINDA Records. New music is fun, it’s fresh for both us and our audience.
What do you hope listeners will discover about you along the way?
About the band… that we can give you an amazing live show that helps you to forget about the modern (online) addictions of this world. If a truly human experience is something you’re after, then hopefully that’s something we do well.
