In a reputable yet cosy venue, hybrid-metal-somethings Die So Fluid are patiently wandering the performance room, occasionally meeting and greeting an early punter that has sneaked in from the main bar, clutching old courage.
Like a few attendees before me, I stroll into the black and musty venue area. The soundman is pacing to and from the desk to the P.A. and the members of the act are mingling, including the striking but humble frontlady, Grog. Seizing my chance for interview, there is a typically awkward moment of introduction, but soon enough, all three members exit the room, walk upstairs and plonk onto leather sofas that many an unfortunate has got lost in at the end of a night.
We settle with ease, striking up banter. They are about to have a short American stint for their tour and due to their previous touring friendship with fellow girlgut metallers My Ruin, it seems likely they’ll fit in just fine. However, with the typical struggles of escaping major label strangleholds and the making of the latest album ‘Not Everybody Gets A Happy Ending’ being quite a drawn out affair, are times hard? Or is this a fabricated piece of journo-spin? Lettuce investigate…
R13: As you’re in amongst playing shows in all sorts of countries, have you been doing anything differently with the shows here in the U.K.?
Grog: We have honed the set we do as a support slot, which we’ve performed on the My Ruin and Ill Niño tours in the U.K. So what we’re doing now is pretty much based on that the songs from both of our albums, so it should please all fans.
R13: From what I understand from your PR, it took quite a while for the new record to be finished, due to funding and avoiding major label influences. What do you feel when you now look back upon this time of recording?
Drew: You sort of worry about having gaps between albums anyway, but I don’t think it’s been particularly damaging. You have to keep thinking about the end result and that people will be able to get it in the shops. Lots of labels wanted to help us get it out, but at the end of the day we wanted to retain control and found the money to put behind it, so it happened for the best. It was only really a year after recording it that we were able to get it out, so it wasn’t that bad.
R13: In terms of the themes within your compositions, are there any particular subjects or emotions you’ll be looking to tackle next?
Grog: Lyrically, it all comes from life experiences. There has been a theme of the band getting over hurdles, but it’s helped us get stronger.
Drew: We’re working on the next album now and are going to look into a concept of something like the Yellow Brick Road, where your life could take several different directions and you’re often left wondering what would’ve happened if things had been different at a certain moment in time. But that’s kind of a theme for the whole album, and then for each song there will be more personal stuff that Grog will slot in.
R13: What sort of equipment set-up do you like to use and if you had a signature model of your instrument, what would it be?
Drew: As musicians, we’ve had an association with Hughes and Keffner [amps] for a good ten years now. In terms of guitars, I use these cheap Washburn ones. But y’know, I’m not really into the expensive or vintage gear. It just has to be of a standard that works. [turns to Al, the drummer] But you’ve renewed your thing with Sonar? So he’s got a new kit coming out. We’ve all been using the same sort of stuff for years, to be honest.
Grog: Yeah, I’ve used Hughes and Keffner amps for a bunch of session stuff, so they’re very happy with me! [giggles] We’ve developed a relationship with them and it’s become important to the sound we make. I use G&L tribute basses and I’d like a real American one. I keep wishing it…
Drew: Actually, if I had a signature model, I1’d have the guitar I’ve got, which has got a skull on the headstock… I’d just add a little Mohican [reaches for invisible little pen and etches a tiny spiky doodle in the air] And that’s all I’d change about it, really.
R13: Question for you, Grog. Do you get bored of the Tairrie B and Siouxsie Sioux comparisons from the lazy journalistic types, and how would you really like to respond?
Grog: I guess I would say that I don’t mind the comparisons because they’re very strong performers, but I would like to suggest that people make a few other links - to male singers for instance. It’s a bit lazy just to go for those obvious women figures that have, oh I don’t know, similar hair?! There is sometimes a likeness to the way I sing that has been spotted and sounds a bit like Siouxsie, but I have my own style… I don’t really do the same thing as Tairrie; we’re good friends and when we went on tour we talked about it and said it was really good that we both do our thing.
R13: As a tenuous link regarding touring, who would you like to share a stage with, if time and money were no object?
Grog: I’d love to play with The Deftones or A Perfect Circle.
R13: You guys? Same sort of thing?
Drew: Deftones is a definite one…. It’s funny actually as there are quite a lot of Hair Metal bands from the eighties that are getting back together, and so I’d like to meet up and play with Ratt.
Grog: Well they keep coming back, actually. They’re doing another reunion.. Ratt keep coming back?!
Grog: [laughs]
Drew: I’d love to do it! I’d just hope that it would be the same people that were going to the original shows. It’s a sort of time portal with those guys. To go back to that time would be amazing.
Grog: There was supposed to be another [reunion show] in December, but the guy’s in rehab. So it’s being... umm... postponed.
R13: If you had the chance to feature on any soundtrack, what would it be?
Al: Star Wars!
[all laugh]
R13: Okay! Any particular scene?!
Al: They could have us going when they’re in the crusher. When they’re in the trrrash!
Grog: I’d like to be in a Rob Zombie film…
Al: Southpark!
Drew: [faux 1920s aristocrat accent] I’d like to be in The Day at the Races, with the Marrx Brothers.
[Grog laughs heartedly]
R13: There’s a real continuity there…
Drew: Yeah yeah, well, you know. We could be in a scene where they’re running around manically.
R13: Getting back on track a little, what has been one of the best tour moments?
Grog: [turns to other two] It’d be My Ruin, wouldn’t it?
Drew: Yeah, we were very comfortable being with the band. It worked very well for us, we just got on really well with them. They’re not up their own arse and they didn’t expect us to kiss up to them, they’re not like that at all.
R13: Worst moment?
Grog: God, there aren’t loads, but it’s hard when you get asked that…
Drew: What about when you played on one of the Ill Niño shows and got electrocuted?
Grog: Yeah… it was pretty serious… I’m such a stage soldier that I tried to get to the end of the song as I felt that if I touched the mic it would go again. We had the rest of the gig cancelled as one of the crew tested it and there was a massive blue arch, so they were like, Fuck! They didn’t know how I stayed on the mic! As a result [of the cancellation] there was a bit of a riot, actually.
Drew: There was a definite atmosphere. I talked to some of the guys in the crowd before the show and they had pretty much come down with an aggressive attitude. There was one of the guys who said, “Yeah, I just came down to crack heads!” and I replied, “Well there will be some music tonight as well, anyway.” So things kicked off, and knowing that there were people like that in amongst the audience, it could have got way more nasty.
Grog: [going back to the electrocution in question]: Y’see it’s difficult with something like that because most people don’t really know what it feels like, so you can only try to explain to them. I invited people to test them if they had liked. Potential death is never good.
R13: Any questions you’re sick to death of?
Grog: About [faux snotty tone] being a girl in a band. That’s lame. So we won’t even talk about that, ha! Because you just want to say about being a musician and writing music.
R13: I suppose it isn’t helped by some suspect bands that seem to promote their girl member as a tag-on.
Grog:Yeah, it’s not like that with us as we’re a three piece and each member plays an intrinsic part of the sound.
Drew: The ‘most embarrassing moment’ question is a bit awkward, as it puts you on the spot. We work for ourselves, so I’d like to get out of it and do something really embarrassing on tour. And I can’t! I keep having to think about who’s gonna drive us home, or collect the money at the end of night. But when I get the chance…
Grog: haha! You’ll go craaa-zy
Drew: Yeah… [ponders]
R13: On the opposite side, are there any questions you’d like to be asked?
Al: [drawls] Would you like to stay in my luxury yacht?
Drew: Yeah, I could go along with that.
R13: So, what’s after this part of the tour?
Grog: We’ve got another album to write, but before that we’ll be doing a promo tour in Germany in December as we’ve just hooked up with Universal over there. We’ve got loads of stuff in the pipeline… Next year, we’ll be going to Australia and Japan, so it’ll be pretty ballistic.
Drew: We’ll also have to knuckle down and do the writing. We’re halfway there at the moment but then maybe we’re not as I don’t what will come up and whether there will be new ideas to add.
It seems that Die So Fluid - with their honest, somewhat traditional style (in light of emo-nonsense) - are on the backfoot of Cool in the U.K. Despite being extremely calm and confident on stage, armed with strong personas and a sense of self, they seem to represent a sect of metal that is no longer as sought after, or even misunderstood by both sides (classic metallers and the mainstream). Perhaps it has taken a blow from the neckerchief gang, or has been tarred by the rise in mainstream bands that have traded in their synchronised dancing for spiky guitars and tried to convince the public that, seriously man, we do rock. On an even wider scale, perhaps society has moved on and the blue collar work and monotonous suburban outskirts that used to create the anger that metal thrived upon. From this political view, perhaps some of metal’s charm has now been swallowed up by a consumer culture, as the mainstream has embraced its spiky belts and black clothing, castrating it along the way down…
But regardless of all the socio-guff that may be affecting the metal scene, there remains a loyal fanbase for Die So Fluid. Despite its apparent decline, there is some sort of cohesion within the metal community that runs deeper than other genres. This night, fans come out of the cracks, from the ceiling (okay, maybe just the bar), so the act have an impressive crowd to swing their guitars over.
After the impressive and unrelenting set that sways towards the new material (see live review), Grog captures the audience with a spoiled innocence and chic. With so many shows across the whole bloody world, the chances are that if you’re into this sort of alternative, you’ll come across their name. And regardless of the season, they’ll want to make you get your Hallowe’en on. Which can’t be a bad thing.