DIVING are a new two-piece from Wellington writing expanse and atmospheric instrumental tracks. UTR caught up with Nick and Rohan to chat about forming DIVING, what they've been working on and what they've got planned for the future.
Tell us how you guys started?
Nick: Internet dating. We were actually both separately advertising for a drummer on the same website about a year and a half ago. I asked Rohan if he needed an extra guitarist for the project he was creating, then he got back to me saying he could play drums and he was keen for a jam. It all fell into place pretty quickly from there.
What influenced your sound and how did you develop it?
Rohan: We just jammed, and kept the bits that we liked. Having a recording device always switched on in the practice space proved very useful. It took a few months before songs started to really solidify, and then we started gigging and haven't looked back!
Nick: I guess we're still developing our sound and I hope it's something we never lose, there's nothing worse than listening to artists who keep churning out the same stuff through the same formula.
What have you been working on?
Rohan: Just writing music and playing gigs, which has been a huge amount of fun! We’ve done some bits of recording here and there, and have just released our first double single.
You live in Wellington. How do you find the music scene down there at the moment? Are there bands that you admire down there?
Nick: There are definitely a few bands we're always keen to see and play with, The Shocking and Stunning, Sunken Seas, The Box Car Rattle and Solo Ono would be at the top of my list. It feels like a really good time to be making music in Wellington; there are loads of great people out there who genuinely enjoy what they do and that's the most important thing.
Rohan: It seems like exciting times - the music scene seems to be thriving, although maybe it always was and I just wasn't really involved in it before. There are a lot of great bands, especially the ones Nick mentioned. I also really like The All-Seeing Hand, Wives, Seth Frightening and Jetsam Isles. We need some more venues though, with Watusi and now Fred's gone.
More generally, what are your views on the New Zealand music industry?
Nick: Hmmm, Industry… I don't particularly feel like there is much of an industry in New Zealand, or Wellington at least. Maybe that's because we're relatively fresh on the block. There seems to be a really good community feel to the whole New Zealand scene though. Everyone contributes their own skills to different projects and when you have a whole bunch of people that love what they do it works out well.
Rohan: I really like that in New Zealand it's less about industry, and more like a community of like-minded people working together, even when it's not for monetary gain - possibly even more so because we all know that there's little or no money to be made. But I think the result is great because it means everyone's really genuine and is only doing it because they really want to. So yeah, there's a huge amount of support, and it comes form a much more homely place than what I think of as the NZ music industry, which continues to support some of the blandest and most uninspired music in New Zealand.
You're currently recording some tracks. Tell us a little bit about your writing and recording process.
Nick: Basically all of our tracks come from jamming, we just start playing around with different ideas and sounds and the songs just fall out of us somehow. Rohan's doing our recording himself, he's recorded a few other bands too. Essentially all we are trying to do is to reproduce how we sound live. We're trying to stay away from overdubs as much as possible but sometimes it's a necessary evil I guess.
More generally, what bands inspire you or have influenced your sound?
Nick: Joy Division, HDU, The Gordons, Battles, Sonic Youth, PJ Harvey, HEALTH, Die! Die! Die!, Nick Cave, Bob Dylan, Queens of The Stoneage, Pink Floyd (the Sid Barret stuff), the list goes on...
Rohan: HDU, Jakob, Gerling (their 90s stuff), Slint.
What are your future plans with the band?
Nick: We've got a North Island tour coming up with Karaoke Taxi and Daniel Bobyer starting the 21st of March. Really looking forward to that. We will be playing Wellington, Whanganui, New Plymouth, Auckland and Tauranga. After the tour we're going to concentrate on finishing some kind of album/EP thing. We're making some vague plans to visit the deep south soon too.
