Alford Way is out now!
Image: Andrew Briggs.
Western Australian five-piece, The Deenys have delivered their debut EP, Alford Way. To celebrate the release, the band are taking us through the collection of songs track-by-track.
“This EP is a mix of tunes we already have in our set and songs that we have either never played live before or only played once or twice. Being our debut EP we wanted to showcase how diverse our music can be.” the band share.
Early next year, The Deenys will embark on on a Western Australian tour, kicking off at Indian Ocean Hotel in Scarborough on December 15. The run of shows will continue on to Leederville and Fremantle, before wrapping up in Joondalup on January 20.
ALFORD WAY
Alford Way is written about a house that Drewe used to rent on a street called Alford Way, in the far north of Perth. It’s where The Deenys formed and started writing music together. That house has a special meaning to all of us for different reasons, but one thing we can all agree on, it was fun. The song itself is about the house parties, the kick-ons, and the messy, fun times that we, and our friends had in that house. The song is just about having fun with your mates; so naturally, the song is short, fast and loud. We love playing Alford way, and it’s become a bit of a pump-up tune for the band. It’s punk, it’s indie, and it’s a good time. The song perfectly encapsulates that time in your life after you move out of home and in with your mates and your freedom dawns on you, in the best possible way. We wanted to kick off the EP with this one and set the tone with some chaos.
LAST MINUTE WINTER
Last Minute Winner tells the story of a young, shy guy who has fallen in love with the popular, outgoing girl who is loved and adored by everyone, but is out of his league. Shane got the inspiration for this song after one of our close friends had his heart broken in similar circumstances. It’s something that we’ve all experienced at some stage in our lives and is the perfect premise for an energetic love song. Shane’s idea was to make the Last Minute Winner feel like an anonymous love letter, which expresses some feelings that you’d never want the receiver to hear. The term ‘last minute winner’ was a playful metaphor about a girl that Shane came up with, making a sly reference to scoring a last minute goal to win a football match. In his words “What’s better than a last minute winner?”. In the music video, we all decided to wear retro football shirts of our respected teams and just have a laugh while playing the song, paired with highlights of our favourite last minute winners. The song got its first big feature after its single release, on the Sky Sports football breakfast show ‘Soccer AM’, which we all grew up watching religiously on Saturday mornings. People have told us the song sounds a bit Wombats, a bit Arctic monkeys, but we all agree that this song sounds like The Deenys.
EVERYWHERE, NOWHERE
Everywhere, Nowhere is a moody rock song about wanting to get away from routine, the 9-5 life in the same-old town. It centres on the ideas of frustration and escapism, wanting to get away from the mundane and escape with someone special. It feels a bit like running away, when you aren’t exactly sure where you’re going. Gilly was driving us mad at rehearsal one day, playing around with the bass riff for ‘The Less I Know The Better’ by Tame Impala. In the process, he stumbled upon a new bass line. On it’s own, it felt quite brooding, sort of like walking through a dimly lit street in a rough area at night and feeling untouchable. Once Craig started putting the drums together, and Lloyd cranked his guitar up, we realised that we wanted to make this one loud. The vocals for this song are intentionally minimal; we wanted to allow for the guitars, bass and drums to carry the energy and mood of the track, particularly in the chorus. Tracks like ‘Club Foot’ by Kasabain and ‘Columbia’ by Oasis were big influences when writing Everywhere, Nowhere. In the studio, Gilly and Lloyd were experimenting with different, weird ways of creating the feedback that we wanted at the end of the intro. In the end, the answer was simple. We pushed our guitars right next to the studio monitors, turned everything up, and let it swell along with Craig’s drums. This one has been a crowd favourite at recent shows and by the end, has everyone moving.
EYES WIDE SHUT
Eyes Wide Shut touches on the idea that we all want to feel more in control, but right in front of our eyes we’re being lied to, deceived and cheated by people in power. It’s about those moments where you feel beaten down, sh*t on and you want to fight back. We usually avoid these types of themes when writing, but it just felt right in the context of the song.
Lloyd came to rehearsal one day and played a chord progression that caught all of our attention. We were all listening to a lot of different music at the time of writing this song. As a band, we were all collectively going through a bit of an Oasis phase (which we still are). Channelling a lot of energy from albums like Definitely Maybe and The Masterplan, Gilly and Lloyd were playing around with Noel Gallagher-esque vintage overdrive and sustain driven guitars combined with chugging, melodic acoustic layers. Drewe was particularly fired up when he heard the guitar ideas and wrote most of the lyrics on the spot while jamming. It just felt right. We also drew a lot of influence from other artists such as DMAs and Kasabian, which are all a part of our regular musical diet. The song changed a lot from inception to the studio and we are really proud of how it turned out.
VISION OF HEAVEN
Vision of Heaven is a bit of a personal song for Drewe, who wrote about his struggles with depression and anxiety and the ongoing battle that people face with mental health. In the midst of all that dark, there’s light at the end of the tunnel. Your loved ones, your memories and your friends, and the sentimental places you hold deer... a vision of heaven.
Previously, as a band, we have shied away from the heavier topics, but as we all know, being open about your own struggles can be as important for other people as yourself. The song was heavily inspired by the shoegaze era of the 90’s particularly from the sounds from bands like Ride and Slowdive. We felt like the shoegaze era matched the overall tone of the song and what it represents to us, so we leaned on our influences when putting the track together. We were keen to experiment with some drowned, reverbed guitars and vintage synth strings on this track, to project the emotion behind the song. Gilly whipped out his Roland Juno-106 and had laid the foundations for the dreamy vibe behind the track. When we got to the studio, our producer Dylan suggested using guitars to emulate the synth sounds of the Juno and after some tweaking, we found the sound we were looking for. We felt like there was still an angry, impassioned undertone to the song that needed to come out and the fuzz-heavy bass along with the drums were the driving force throughout. Drewe wanted the vocals to be as raw as possible, as we all wanted the words to stand out amongst the heavy instrumentation. The song has plenty of highs and lows and eventually swells to a wistful crescendo. Vision of Heaven just felt like the right way to end the EP.
Alford Way is out now!
THE DEENYS ALFORD WAY TOUR DATES
Friday 15th December Indian Ocean Hotel Scarborough
w/ Sonic Haze, Hey so Hungry, Star Arcana
Saturday 16th December (All Ages) The Y HQ Leederville
w/ Teenage Vertigo, Retromode, Hey so Hungry
Friday 12th January Mojos Bar Fremantle
w/ Centre, Sonic Haze, Star Arcana
Saturday 20th January LOOP Joondalup
w/ Star Arcana, Jordan Allen (UK), King Blue