CULTURE EATERSean: Your new album Jackpot Juicer comes out in less than a week. What’s the feeling like in the DGD camp?
Matt: We are super excited to finally share it with the World. It seems like we recorded so long ago! I would say for me, out of all our albums we have released over the years I’m most proud of this one.
Sean: The album is eighteen tracks and just over an hour. Some bands find it hard to make an EP to keep peoples interests but here you guys are having me want to press repeat as soon as the album’s done. How did you get to eighteen songs and how hard was it giving them their own place to stand out on the album?
Matt: We started writing at the very beginning of the pandemic lock downs over here in the US. We just kept consistently getting together and writing and before we knew it we had 17 songs. We totally intended on cutting a couple but after listening to them all recorded we felt that we needed all the songs to truly make the record well rounded and complete.
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The next three questions were sourced from the Swanposters over at Facebook.
Sean: What is your favourite song/proudest moment on Jackpot Juicer?
Matt: It’s hard for me to pick because I’m so very proud of all the tracks however if I had to right now at this very moment I’m really into One Man’s Cringe. The tones and vibes on that song instrumentally really capture the feelings we were going through at the time of uncertainty and what was going to happen next in the world. It’s truly a beautiful song in my opinion.
Sean: Who thought of the Rat King story line in the latest videos/how did it all come to be?
Matt: That idea was made up between the director and story line writer of the video, Sam Halleen and Jon Mess.
Sean: What are your favourite van jams when you’re on the road?
Matt: I listen to so much it’s hard to choose but we all love checking out new artist when we are together and on the road. I do however always have my go to’s which consist of bands like The Strokes, Dredg, Sigur Ros and much more.
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Sean: What are you hobbies when you’re not doing music related things?
Matt: I love riding my motorcycles. I have a couple Harley’s that I’m in love with. I also enjoy playing games on the switch with my wife such as Mario Golf, and Super Smash Bros.
Sean: Your Dance Gavin Dance and Friends tour kicks off soon and you’ll be revisiting older material with Kurt Travis. Are there any songs from the back catalogue you’re excited about playing live again?
Matt: Yes, I am super excited about playing “Rock Solid” and “Acceptance Speech!” 1 song we haven’t played in forever and the other we haven’t even ever played it live before!
Sean: With eighteen tracks on Jackpot Juicer, how do you decide what are going to be the leading singles? Especially with this album where any song could to stand on its own.
Matt: It was difficult with this record to be honest because we felt there were a lot of songs that meet our criteria for singles. We just discuss back and forth and take things to a vote to decide which songs will be singles. We usually like doing 1 song that’s catchy and has a simplistic format, then 1 song that caters to the more technical styles of playing we enjoy and then 1 that’s a little more risky and not like other songs we have done before.
Sean: The band is no stranger to different genres and incorporating them into your sound but is there one genre/style you’d love to sneak into a song in the future?
Matt: That is a difficult question to answer actually. I just like to see where the wind blows us at the time when we are writing and what we feel like writing.
Sean: Speaking of future, DGD are never ones to have long gaps between releases. Are you guys going to take break after this cycle, or start the next phase of DGD?
Matt: No break for us. We have always had the use it or loose mentality when it comes to writing. So we like to keep the creative juices flowing consistently. Hell if I were to be completely honest with you guys we already started writing before this tour we are currently on. Why stop now when it’s what we love to do and are extremely passionate about.