We caught up with In Between guitarist Mike French to talk about the birth of his new band, a pop punk project called Dizzy Pleasure Club.
Their ‘DPC EP’ was released on Photobooth Records’ Bandcamp on November 11, with the postscript of “Recorded in Paul Leavitt’s basement. Better than a new Blink-182 record.”
Compiled of a misfit crew of members from Angel Du$t, Turnstile, In Between, Red Death, and Pure Disgust; Dizzy Pleasure Club can be summed up by the one tweet they’ve ever sent; “Fuck All Time Low.”
If you’ve been waiting for a pop punk band to finally come around that isn’t a saccharine, overproduced, sorry excuse for music, Punktastic is pleased to introduce you to Dizzy Pleasure Club.
The formation of DPC is essentially a group of ridiculously prolific young musicians deciding to start yet another project together. Nick (bass) and Pat (vocals) play in Angel Du$t together, and Mike has toured as their guitarist. Between watching bands at a hardcore festival Angel Du$t were playing in Long Island, Mike overheard Nick and Pat talking about starting a pop punk band. Offering to write some riffs, and delivering them the next day, Mike says the final piece of the puzzle was getting drummer Robin.
“Robin drums in a lot of sick bands, including a short lived Lookout! style punk band that I was a huge fan of. We asked him to join and he said, ‘yeah, whatever’.”
Mike says DPC is the most ‘democratic and collaborative’ band any of the members have been in, and that they all just miss when pop punk was ‘snotty songs for slackers’.
Listing key influences for their sound as Dookie, Dude Ranch/Enema of the State, Through Being Cool, Milo Goes to College, My Brain Hurts, and the first Elvis Costello record, DPC have certainly achieved sounding like the early 00s pop punk they emulate.
‘DPC EP’ is produced by All Time Low producer Paul Leavitt, which Mike claims was like “a dog marking his territory”, when pressed to explain further, we got a bit more.
“Paul and I are good friends. We bond over the medication we take and shit. It was fun tarnishing his reputation with our band. I just hate when he ignores my texts.”
With a busy lineup like DPC boasts, finding time to record could be difficult, but Mike assures there is no such problems, yet.
“We’re only a few months old so we haven’t had to work too hard. All the Turnstile/AD/DCHC guys like to spread themselves thin, so we’re around a bunch of people who do 100 things at one time. It’s what we’re used to. As for writing songs: Nick and I live together so we’ll just wake up, eat breakfast, and record demos on my laptop.”
“We already have an LP and EPs worth of material laying around. Once our lawyers look over the contract, and the advance is just right, we will do an LP.”
With the elusive promise of new music for us to hear on the horizon, below are Mike’s favourite tracks on the EP, we hope you enjoy them as much as us.
“I’m Torn between “Nothing Comes True” and “Ghostlimb.” The former I like because it’s chordal in a Beatles-y way; the latter because it was the most collaborative song. I wrote the music, Nick wrote the lyrics, Pat wrote the melody and harmony. I tend to like the mid-tempo, power poppy stuff.”
TOP 5 WITH DPC:
1. Best description of your sound? ‘That Thing You Do’ played after sniffin’ glue and drinkin’ beer.
2. Dream Tour for DPC? The Ergs, Jimmy Eat World, Rancid, My Chem.
3. Favourite track to play live, and why? ‘Ghostlimb Lover’ because it’s easy to play.
4. What’s the breakfast food you’d most associate with the record? Does coffee count? That.
5. Is there anything you’d do over if you got the chance? More guitar solos.
Stay up to date with Dizzy Pleasure Club via their Facebook page