I recently spoke to emo gang Dikembe about the year that's passed, and what we can expect from the band in the next year.
Hi Dikembe!
For the record, and the unacquainted, who is Dikembe and how did you get together?
Dikembe is a group of four ding dongs, all transplants, in Gainesville, FL. Steven and I play in a band called Wavelets that put out a split a while ago with another band of Kenny’s called Senders. David is my uncle, twice removed, and he’s the fourth best drummer I know, so we asked him to be in the band.
How has your 2012 been? What's been the best moment?
2012 has been amazing, and too busy. We’ve made tons of friends, seen lots of places, and had the opportunity to do lots of things. We put out Broad Shoulders which already sold out of its first pressing! I never would have expected that to happen at the beginning of the year.
I think we’d all agree that the best moment of the year was our Friday night set at Fest. We were all pretty apprehensive beforehand, but there ended up being way more people there than anticipated, and a good portion of them were poppin’ off. We are incredibly grateful to have been received in such a way. Being able to play with such radical bands on that show was also a plus.
What are you up to at the moment?
Right now we are getting ready for tour and taking care of affairs in our band life and personal lives before we leave. We are in the process of approving stuff for our 4 way split on CYLS, and we just recorded a song for a split that hasn’t been announced yet that I think a lot of people will be really excited about. We also have a few songs written for the full length we plan on having finished early next year. I’ve also spent the last few days organizing a huge merch order for tour.
How was Fest 11? What were the highlights? And what other bands did you check out?
I touched on it earlier, but Fest 11 was amazing. It was definitely my best experience yet. We played 3 nights in a row, all of which were awesome. It was great to be able to make so many new friends, and see so many old friends. Highlights included John Dadley singing the wrong words to our songs into the microphone for an entire set, replacing the Orange backline with my $200 Bugera head, and watching Braid not play. I didn’t watch as many bands as usual this year, but Glocca Morra and Burning Love both stick out as exceptional, though every band I saw was excellent.
What can we expect from the upcoming Winter tour with You Blew It!?
90s alt rock covers. Andy stinkin’. Beer drinkin’. Brutal noogies. A lot of complaining about how cold it is. A lot of complaining about everything from David. SHEETZ!
How the recording and writing process for Broad Shoulders? How did it differ to that of Chicago Bowls?
It mostly consisted of Steven writing the backbones of the songs, bringing them to either just David or all of us, tweaking it and jamming it out til it felt right, and then tracking everything one person at a time. We then spent something like 2 months mixing it, only to decide that we were unhappy with it, retracking some of the instruments, and totally remixing it again. Writing and recording for Broad Shoulders was definitely a more concerted effort. I really don’t think we spent more than two weeks from start to finish with Bowls.
Are you completely satisfied with the record? Or is there anything you wish you had done differently?
I’m happy with it. I think it’s a fair and accurate representation of what we were trying to get across with Broad Shoulders. I’m happy with the way it sounds, as well as the songs themselves. The main thing we should have done differently would have been to leave some breathing room in between writing songs and recording them, which we are doing with the next album. We’re going to try to focus on one or two songs at a time instead of knocking down 10 songs at once. We actually had 12 songs for the LP, but scrapped 2 of them before we finished recording them.
What are your plans for the near future, other than the tour with You Blew It!? Any plans to release again soon?
Like I mentioned earlier, we have 2 splits coming out pretty soon, and hope to be finished with our 2nd LP in early 2013. I’m not really sure what we have planned beyond that.
What have been your favourite releases out of 2012?
Glocca Morra - Just Married. You Blew It! - Grow Up, Dude. Heat Dust’s EP. Dads - American Radass. The Weeknd - Trilogy. Torche - Harmonicraft. Neurosis - Honor Found in Decay. Every Time I Die - Ex Lives. Title Fight - Floral Green.
These are all of the albums I can remember myself and the dudes talking about. I know I forgot some others.
If Dikembe was a type of sport what would it be?
Helmet touch.
Final words?
Be excellent to each other.
Listen to Dikembe on Bandcamp.
Like Dikembe on Facebook.
Hi Dikembe!
For the record, and the unacquainted, who is Dikembe and how did you get together?
Dikembe is a group of four ding dongs, all transplants, in Gainesville, FL. Steven and I play in a band called Wavelets that put out a split a while ago with another band of Kenny’s called Senders. David is my uncle, twice removed, and he’s the fourth best drummer I know, so we asked him to be in the band.
How has your 2012 been? What's been the best moment?
2012 has been amazing, and too busy. We’ve made tons of friends, seen lots of places, and had the opportunity to do lots of things. We put out Broad Shoulders which already sold out of its first pressing! I never would have expected that to happen at the beginning of the year.
I think we’d all agree that the best moment of the year was our Friday night set at Fest. We were all pretty apprehensive beforehand, but there ended up being way more people there than anticipated, and a good portion of them were poppin’ off. We are incredibly grateful to have been received in such a way. Being able to play with such radical bands on that show was also a plus.
What are you up to at the moment?
Right now we are getting ready for tour and taking care of affairs in our band life and personal lives before we leave. We are in the process of approving stuff for our 4 way split on CYLS, and we just recorded a song for a split that hasn’t been announced yet that I think a lot of people will be really excited about. We also have a few songs written for the full length we plan on having finished early next year. I’ve also spent the last few days organizing a huge merch order for tour.
How was Fest 11? What were the highlights? And what other bands did you check out?
I touched on it earlier, but Fest 11 was amazing. It was definitely my best experience yet. We played 3 nights in a row, all of which were awesome. It was great to be able to make so many new friends, and see so many old friends. Highlights included John Dadley singing the wrong words to our songs into the microphone for an entire set, replacing the Orange backline with my $200 Bugera head, and watching Braid not play. I didn’t watch as many bands as usual this year, but Glocca Morra and Burning Love both stick out as exceptional, though every band I saw was excellent.
What can we expect from the upcoming Winter tour with You Blew It!?
90s alt rock covers. Andy stinkin’. Beer drinkin’. Brutal noogies. A lot of complaining about how cold it is. A lot of complaining about everything from David. SHEETZ!
How the recording and writing process for Broad Shoulders? How did it differ to that of Chicago Bowls?
It mostly consisted of Steven writing the backbones of the songs, bringing them to either just David or all of us, tweaking it and jamming it out til it felt right, and then tracking everything one person at a time. We then spent something like 2 months mixing it, only to decide that we were unhappy with it, retracking some of the instruments, and totally remixing it again. Writing and recording for Broad Shoulders was definitely a more concerted effort. I really don’t think we spent more than two weeks from start to finish with Bowls.
Are you completely satisfied with the record? Or is there anything you wish you had done differently?
I’m happy with it. I think it’s a fair and accurate representation of what we were trying to get across with Broad Shoulders. I’m happy with the way it sounds, as well as the songs themselves. The main thing we should have done differently would have been to leave some breathing room in between writing songs and recording them, which we are doing with the next album. We’re going to try to focus on one or two songs at a time instead of knocking down 10 songs at once. We actually had 12 songs for the LP, but scrapped 2 of them before we finished recording them.
What are your plans for the near future, other than the tour with You Blew It!? Any plans to release again soon?
Like I mentioned earlier, we have 2 splits coming out pretty soon, and hope to be finished with our 2nd LP in early 2013. I’m not really sure what we have planned beyond that.
What have been your favourite releases out of 2012?
Glocca Morra - Just Married. You Blew It! - Grow Up, Dude. Heat Dust’s EP. Dads - American Radass. The Weeknd - Trilogy. Torche - Harmonicraft. Neurosis - Honor Found in Decay. Every Time I Die - Ex Lives. Title Fight - Floral Green.
These are all of the albums I can remember myself and the dudes talking about. I know I forgot some others.
If Dikembe was a type of sport what would it be?
Helmet touch.
Final words?
Be excellent to each other.
Listen to Dikembe on Bandcamp.
Like Dikembe on Facebook.
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