DMA's Tommy O'Dell: An Interview with the Aussie Frontman
Alex Matthew
I recently shared a small chat over email with Tommy O’Dell, the lead singer of Australian trio DMA’s. Since forming in 2012 the group have steadily risen to become one of the biggest bands in the brit-pop revival as well as a key player in the indie scene as a whole. Their second album, For Now, was released in May 2018 and garnered much critical praise and commercial success. It peaked at 5 in the Scottish Albums Chart.
Below O’Dell responds to a variety of questions regarding topics such as his former career as a painter to their top song being a cover and even writing about sharing a pint with Liam Gallagher!
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Despite coming from, quite literally, the other side of the globe, your music resonates massively with people in the UK. Why do you think this is?
There’s an element of Britpop to our music I guess, and we like making music that people can relate to and connect with.
Your style has been compared heavily with Britpop of the 90s; if you could travel back in time and be in a band in that era as opposed to now, would you?
Haha … um, I dunno. I really don’t know.
What difficulties and benefits are there to being a three piece in the studio but a group of six on stage?
We don’t write our music in rehearsals or a live setting, we do it in the studio so I guess that can be a little restrictive sometimes. This has always worked for us, though, and I really believe we work better in this way.
Do you feel you’ve matured from album one to album two and, if so, do you think you’ll continue this progression onto the third record?
Yeah, I do, and I think we’ll continue to develop our sound and place more focus on production.
How do you feel, in terms of the highest number of hits on Spotify, about one of your biggest songs, Believe, being a cover?
I’d rather it be a song that we wrote but all good.
Your rise over the last few years has been astounding but is there anything in that time that you regret happening?
Nah, nothing.
What was it like having a pint with Liam Gallagher?
He’s a good bloke. It was great to meet him and chat about music.
You supported Kasabian at their Edinburgh show earlier this year; what was that like and if you could support any other band, who would it be?
We loved playing with them and they are all awesome guys. It’s always brilliant to gig with musicians that you look up too. I’d like to play a stadium gig with Stone Roses.
You were a painter for ten years before making it in music; would you ever consider returning to painting but this time as a creative outlet? Similarly, do the rest of the band have any other current creative outlets outside of music or any that they would be interested in embarking on in the future?
Haha, I was a building-site painter not an artist painter! Nah, we just play music I guess, that’s our only creative outlet.
Are there any bands that you feel don’t get enough attention, and that you would encourage others to listen to?
The Laurels.
Finally, what has been the best day or your life so far, and do you think it can be topped in the future?
Playing Splendour in The Grass 2018. Can it be topped? I really don’t know.
