DMA’S on the road from Cher to fourth album How Many Dreams?
Now four albums into a glittering career, Sydney indie rock trio DMA’S has much more to offer than the surprising cover that put it on the musical map in 2016.
Becoming known chiefly for a cover song can be a blessing or a curse for a band in the early stages of its career. Take the Sydney indie rock band DMA’S: call up the group on Spotify today and you’ll find that its surprising take on a chart-topping hit by Cher remains its most popular work.
With its arrangement stripped back to two acoustic guitars played by Johnny Took and Matt Mason, the three-minute cover foregrounded the extraordinary voice of Tommy O’Dell, whose keening, earnest delivery turned the American singer’s 1998 hit song Believe – a famously Auto-Tuned electro-pop song – into a touchingly intimate torch song.
The Australian trio’s cover was recorded for Triple J’s Like A Version segment in 2016, the same year as its debut album Hills End was released. Even with three albums now under its belt, Believe has amassed 38 million streams on Spotify alone, well ahead of any other song the band has released; the live performance in Triple J’s studio has 12 million views on YouTube, too.
This is precisely the sort of cultural quirk that can rub artists the wrong way – particularly if they find crowds constantly baying for Cher instead of their own stuff. In search of some distance from that artistic decision, DMA’S made a point of rarely playing it live, despite the cover placing at No.6 in the Triple J Hottest 100 music poll of 2016.
Up until last year, Believe had appeared only a handful of times in its setlists, including a main-stage singalong at Byron Bay festival Splendour in the Grass in 2018 and a prime-time televised slot during the AFL Grand Final in 2020, when the football match was held in Brisbane while Melbourne suffered through long Covid-19 lockdowns.
Does the song’s ongoing popularity bug the group? “Not any more,” singer O’Dell tells Review. “We didn’t play it for two or three years after we released it because we didn’t want to be known as ‘that band that plays a cover’. We purposely left it alone for ages – but now we’ve been playing it again live, and it’s cool. It’s one of those things that, as you get a bit older, you feel more comfortable with yourselves, and now we feel more comfortable to play it. I think we navigated that quite well.”
During a joint video interview, Took concurs with his bandmate. “We want to be known as songwriters, and I love the fact that we’ve got that cover out there, and people discover the band from it,” says the guitarist. “Sometimes it’s the gateway (for people to) discover the band, and hear the other songs that we write, and fall in love with the band in that way.”
He shrugs. “It’s just one of those things that was completely out of our control. We just went in there and did that version, and it was at the whim of the internet. I’m fine with it, and we have fun playing it live now: everyone sings along, and it’s a cool moment for the set.”
The trio’s re-embrace of a song that helped put it on the musical map coincides with its ongoing ascent. Backed by three more musicians in the live setting, DMA’S has become one of the nation’s leading exports in guitar-centric rock ’n’ roll, particularly in Britain, where its last headline tour recorded 65,000 ticket sales.
When Review meets two-thirds of the group – whose fully capitalised name, including apostrophe, is an abbreviated version of an earlier moniker in Dirty Ma’s – its fourth album release is a few weeks away.
Titled How Many Dreams?, it’s another accomplished set that extends its command of emotive indie rock and pop balladry, while also further exploring aspects of dance music that first appeared on album No.3, The Glow, which was released a few months into the pandemic in 2020. (It debuted at No.1 in Scotland, No.2 in Australia and No.4 in Britain, and was nominated for five ARIA Awards.)
“I’m really proud of this record,” says Took, 33. “I think it’s easy to reach your fourth record and feel like you’re running out of steam, or you’re losing momentum, or not writing songs as good as you once did maybe in your youth. But I feel the opposite: I feel like I’m still learning more than ever about songwriting and music.”
Having recently performed at Party in the Paddock in Launceston – where DMA’S received second billing, behind another great rock export in Sydney-born, London-based band Gang of Youths – the group has been thrilled by how well the recent singles are slotting into the set.
Sometimes the inclusion of newer songs among old favourites – such as Delete, Tape Deck Sick or Silver – can result in a notable dip in crowd energy. But happily, that wasn’t the case in Tasmania last month.
Mid-set, Took found himself thinking: this is turning into a festival headline act. “I’d never really felt that before, until last weekend,” he says, beaming. “I feel like we’re moving into that era, which is exciting.”
With his extraordinary voice and ear for writing soaring melodies that sound great when sung en masse, O’Dell is the band’s focal point on stage.
Initially shy as the man with the microphone, he has gradually eased into the role of master of ceremonies, whether at the band’s own shows – such as being the first act to headline at new Adelaide venue Hindley Street Music Hall last September – or facing massive crowds at British festivals such as Reading and Leeds.
O’Dell’s reluctance as a frontman is understandable, given that his life in music began sitting at the back of the stage, playing drums and keeping his head down. Took played bass in that band, and their initial connection as the rhythm section sparked a decision to write their own demos together on the side in about 2010.
These were “folky, country songs”, as O’Dell recalls, which didn’t suit the other band at all. “The way that Johnny and I write tunes hasn’t changed, really,” he says. “It’s the same dynamic: just a guitar or a piano, and they come out pretty naturally. It’s never forced, so it never really feels tedious – which I’m thankful for, to be honest, because I feel privileged that I’m in a band with Johnny and Mase, who are great songwriters. If you go through a stage where you’re not feeling overly creative, or you’re not coming up with ideas, you’ve always got other people in the band to lean on.”
Asked for the first time he realised the drummer could sing, Took smiles and runs through a few memories: O’Dell sitting at a piano at friend’s house and surprising him by banging out a great cover of The Scientist by Coldplay. Or once, during band practice, O’Dell asking about a particular part in a song by giving an imitation of the vocal line, and Took thinking to himself: “I kinda prefer his voice over the singer’s …”
As well, he recalls O’Dell making a fateful visit to his place in Newtown one day. While dropping off some drum gear, he found Took conducting some early experiments with home recording. Having set up a microphone and written out lyrics for a new song, O’Dell spied them and asked if he could have a crack at singing – which turned out to be the first time that the future DMA’S frontman properly recorded his vocals. (They’re considering releasing this first demo as a bonus track with the album release, too.)
Watching an audience respond to O’Dell’s voice is a remarkable thing, and one of the most beautiful scenes one can witness in Australian live music today. Asked what he has learned about the gift he carries with him, his response shows a high degree of self-awareness and insight into the band’s journey thus far.
“I’m always trying to give honest performances, and I think that shows through,” O’Dell tells Review.
“If you sing honestly live, and sing from the heart – and you couple that with honest songwriting, and lyrics that have been made together with best mates – I think that’s a recipe for music that people can connect to, and people find emotive.
“I guess that’s why we have such a strong fan base, because people hear that honesty,” he theorises. “I think that’s the beauty of our music: it is honest, and it’s not perfect, but it’s those imperfections that drag people in.”
Three best mates they might be, but touring the world in each others’ pockets can challenge even the strongest partnerships. What have they learned about staying positive on tour?
“I think giving people space when they need it is really important – and because we’re such old friends, we know when people need to just take some time,” says the singer. “Having the three other touring members is really helpful because you can peel off and do something with someone else, and you’re not in each other’s face all the time.
“Being great friends before we started the band is really helpful because we know each other like brothers now; we know when to support someone or when to just leave someone alone,” he says. “That intuitive friendship that we have helps keep things moving.”
Took has been listening carefully to his bandmate, and chips in, “I couldn’t have described that better. That’s exactly the vibe: you can feel if someone isn’t having the best day, well, maybe don’t do some interviews today. Or if someone comes in late for soundcheck because they’re not feeling great, it’s putting shit in perspective and not being a narc on every single facet of touring, because that’s the stuff that’s gonna make people resentful and tired, and miss their family and their partner back home.”
In this respect, the lead-up to the release of album No.4 finds both men in different life circumstances: O’Dell recently became a father while, in January, Took married fellow musician Hayley Mary, who is the formidable frontwoman of Sydney indie rock band the Jezabels and a solo artist herself.
Of the reality of a life in rock ’n’ roll, Took says with a laugh, “She knows that it’s not as glamorous as it looks on Instagram. Like anything, if you don’t know the mechanics behind it, you can kind of glorify it – then you get in there and you’re sleeping in a shitty bus, and there are long days of sitting around at airports.”
What lies ahead this year is a packed touring schedule, first across Britain and Europe, then back to their homeland in September for an unusually large regional circuit. Now in their early 30s, the trio seems perfectly placed to continue capitalising on its success without succumbing to distractions.
“It’s lucky that we’ve got each other to keep us on track and keep us grounded,” says O’Dell. “We’re quite self-deprecating in our sense of humour, which helps you not get too big for your boots.”
On hearing this, Took concurs with his former rhythm section partner, who now stands at centre stage as one of the country’s finest male vocalists. With a smile, he says, “Yeah, that’s the vibe. If anyone started acting like a wanker, they’d get shut down pretty quickly by the other two.”
How Many Dreams? is released on March 31 via I Oh You / Mushroom. DMA’S 16-date national tour begins in Hobart (September 22) and ends in Cairns (October 28).
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