Q&A with indie innovators DYGL
We sat down with Tokyo’s dreamy rockers DYGL (pronounced ‘day-glo’), who unveiled their latest release, ‘Crawl’, on September 6, 2024 via their Easy Enough label. The track is an appetiser for their upcoming EP Cut the Collar slated for release later in 2024. The alt rock four-piece has landed features on NME Magazine, Japan TImes, The Line of Best Fit and Headstuff. The band has toured globally, playing shows in China, the USA, the UK (supporting Bad Suns), and Europe (supporting The Mystery Lights). They have also played at a significant selection of music festivals, including Le Magnifique (France), Treefort Music Fest, SXSW (USA), Concrete & Grass (China), Summer Sonic, Fujirock (Japan), Mahorasop (Thailand) and DMZ (Korea). Additionally, the group has opened for indie rock legends Franz Ferdinand, Pavement, and Beach Fossils. It is clear that DYGL is carving out a space for themselves in the industry, showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Influenced by Beach Fossils, Sonic Youth, The Feelies, The Garden, and Television, their particular flavour of jangle pop indie rock is sure to be enjoyed by fans of Pixies, Interpol and, of course, Beach Fossils.
Set the tone for us. Why the arts?
I feel free the most, through music. I realised music was the power that always allowed me to feel free. To think free. It’s been giving me so much energy. And the opportunity to learn the world outside of our culture. I could’ve been more conservative & narrow minded person without it. I appreciate music a lot in many ways especially for opening up the doors for my life.
Which comes first when you’re producing – the sound or the idea?
Whatever brings me the energy, anything could be a key to start creating stuff so both works actually. I like thinking so I can enjoy creating ideas even without instruments sometimes but the sound always matters. It can give us more spontaneous flow which is very enjoyable. These days I’m more trying to create something randomly than planning things in advance too much so I won’t get bored. But I actually already have so many ideas in my head too which I haven’t tried with my instruments yet. I’m gonna give them life by sounds as soon as possible.
Does your material feature any collaborations?
On this EP, not really that singer / player got featured as the collaborators. But we’ve enjoyed working with the engineer Hiroshi Ikeda to record all the stuff at his studio in Umegaoka, Tokyo. We’re also very honoured to work with JoeLaporta from Sterling Sound again for the masterings for the first time since our first album. We’d like to say thank you to Jack from Arches who has made all the beautiful artworks to our EP run this time, it all looks more than amazing. That’s the collaborations we have!
What’s on your current playlist?
Sword Ⅱ _ Master Plan
Blue Smiley _ flower
Stove _ Duckling Fantasy
Pot Valiant _ Tapir
Mhaol _ Asking For It
Motorhead _ Motörhead
Black Sabbath _ Sweet Leaf
The Garden _ Egg
Fontains D.C. _ Big
Snõõper _ Pod
Shopping _ In Other Words
Ovlov _ Strokes
Curb _ Nothing
Fugazi _ Bulldog Front
Tell us about the chemistry you have with your fans on stage.
I feel ‘a party’ is a more comfortable word than ‘a performance’ to call our show. It’s very natural & intimate. I don’t want to feel any borders between the stage & the audiences. I want to make the place fun together with them rather than just perform, they just watch kinda vibes.
What techniques do you experiment with to get your original sound?
Always being open for anything new, especially when it brings our heart joy. But still we think it’s important to be aware of our own roots which sticks to the ground of rock music. This identity somehow allows us to do some new experiments without losing rock energy.
Take us through a day in the recording studio.
Wake up a little late, listen to demos while eating brunch. Take a subway or ride a bicycle to the recording studio. Drinking coffee chatting w mates & an engineer for an hour then be ready to work hard! Lately we record basics all at once, then overdub some layers on it.
Was there a specific moment in your life where you thought, “this is what I want to do”?
The first time I play drums at my elementary school when I was 10 or 11, and first listened to the first album of the Scottish band called The View at the age of 14, I realised music is my thing. Wasn’t too sure if I could make living by it that time but either way I was totally fine, for my own purpose to do music has been to do music itself, not making it a job necessarily. But very lucky eventually many people start supporting us and it’s been making it possible for us to focus on music. We really, really appreciate it.
What do you keep close by while you’re playing a set?
Just basic stuff, like guitar picks (in my wallet), a capo(hopefully more than two just in case), pedals & kind. And SENNHEISER E945. That’d be even better if we had pints of beer with us!
Any emerging artists on your radar?
Sword Ⅱ
Texas3000
tommy oeffling
Diode
Modern Jazz War
OTTO
They are Gutting a Body of Water
What gets your creative juices flowing?
A happy feeling, a sad feeling, and basic health. Health is important I think, both physically & mentally. Whenever I hear great songs live or online or anywhere, it makes me wanna go home and write songs immediately. Beautiful graphics, films can also motivate me. Good amount of solitariness. Whenever I feel nostalgic I feel I wanna save that feeling and I write songs & words. Something like that.
Take us through your collection of gear, tech or software that accompanies your creative expression.
Fender Mexico ‘Vintera Ⅱ’ Jazz Master, MXR’s
Analog Chorus, Logic, Splice(only sometimes), rme’s FIREFACE UC (you never know how much I love it), Shure SM7B (for demos), iPhone (definitely), Braindead’s water bottle, Nintendo Switch(for the break).
Any side projects you’re working on?
I’ve just started the art rock / post punk collective ‘Deadbeat Painters’ lately. I’m planning to work on a few others too. Yosuke & our support drummer Kento play in the band called ‘never young beach’. Also Yosuke, and Kohei play with the singer ‘Yuma Abe’ too.
How have you refined your craft since you entered the industry?
Basically it’s been a journey already but I don’t think we’ve refined our stuff enough. More like we’re trying to explore deeper into our own basic musical identity as the fundamental strength which won’t change. We’ve learnt many things but sometimes we try to unlearn too. Earn it, and let go of it, and these repetition let us have the most important thing left. I think that will be our ultimate sound & we’re still on the way.
Breakdown the news for us: what can we expect from you this year?
This year, we’ll do Japan tour in autumn, after ages! I personally try to go to LA in sep too so book me if there’s anyone who wants me to play my solo shows haha We’re also gonna work on writing many songs than ever so hopefully we can put out many singles + album in the near future.
Famous last words?
My favourite words.
“Music is useless. Music is beautiful because it’s useless. The world can be a horrible place if useless things cannot exist.”
Shintaro Sakamoto
Follow DYGL:
Website – Facebook – X – Soundcloud – TikTok – Youtube – Instagram – Spotify
