DZ Deathrays: Black Rat Reunion
It’s been 10 years since DZ Deathrays dropped their sophomore album that, in their words, changed their lives forever. We chat with Shane Parsons and Simon Ridley about how Black Rat came together and the global madness that followed.
Words by Zara Richards | Image by Emilia Spitale
Black Rat is a seminal record in the DZ library. How do you feel about the 11 tracks ten years on?
Simon: I think it’s surprising how well they’ve stood up. It’s cool that the tracks don’t feel as dated as I thought they would.
Shane: There are some songs we’ve played at every show since Black Rat and I think there’s something in that. When we were [making] the record, we didn’t know if it would do anything at all. But it definitely got people interested in the band and got them to take us seriously.
What was the band’s mindset going into Black Rat?
Shane: We wanted to have something that felt cohesive. I’d moved to Sydney but I was rehearsing with Simon in Brisbane. I’d fly up and we’d use an empty nightclub to rehearse and write in. It was dark – it could’ve been any time of the day – and there were plastic cups and booze all over the floor from the weekend before. We were there Monday through to Thursday writing songs in that kind of environment, which I think helped paint the picture for the record.
You started as a house party band. Do you think your roots in making music for a live atmosphere influenced Black Rat’s packed sound?
Shane: That might’ve been with help from our producer [Burke Reid]. He pushed us. He’d be like, ‘This needs a chorus, this needs a section, this needs these parts to make the song sound exciting...’ And you knew when you did it right because he’d get up and jump around and be hilarious. That was always a good feeling, like, ‘Oh, we impressed him!’ That kept everything moving.
Why do you think Black Rat struck such a chord with listeners?
Simon: I think timing was a big thing. We’d been touring heaps with the first record, and we didn’t really slow down to put this one out. We toured hard for Black Rat. I think in three years we did 200 or 300 shows around the world. We really wanted to give it some legs.
Shane: I think the other thing [was releasing] ‘Gina Works At Hearts’. I always thought it was just a fun song, but I never heard it as a single, ever. Everyone kept saying it had to be a single – and they were right! ‘Gina Works At Hearts’ seemed to be the song that made people want to go crazy. I don’t know what it is about it –
if it’s the riff or the simplicity. But it’s definitely a moment where we changed from being this thrashy band into more of a songwriter-style band.
What’s one thing you learnt from the Black Rat cycle?
Shane: The hardest thing after [Black Rat] was writing another album. We actually had a lot of trouble. We did some recording sessions and they never really worked out. We couldn’t finish songs. We had to take a bit more time to come back and do the next record, which was Bloody Lovely. I think because we toured so much, we didn’t think about [writing]. We were just going, going, going. We were going from one continent and literally flying into a show in another, doing a run of shows and maybe having a week off.
It was kind of crazy how many we were doing – I think one year, we averaged a show every three days.
Don’t ever stop writing music. It’s easier said than done. But you need to write a lot of stuff to get to those little magic songs that help the band move to the next level or get people fired up. So yeah, I’d tell my younger self to try and write more – it was four years between Black Rat and Bloody Lovely, which I feel is too long.
You’re playing the record cover to cover. What should punters expect from the Black Rat reunion gig?
Simon: I don’t think we’ve ever played a record front-to-back before! There are loads of songs we haven’t played in ages, there’s one we haven’t ever played live. Then at the end, we’ll come out and just play the hits.
You’ve had stellar shows in Adelaide since Black Rat; what are some of your favourites?
Simon: The Waco tour with Violent Soho and Dunies at the Thebarton Theatre. That was the craziest one I remember in Adelaide. It was like, ‘Wow, do we have to stop the show soon? I think people might be dying!’ It was exciting and terrifying.
Shane: We were up on the balcony, watching down over people, and it was just this sea [of people] moving like currents. It was awesome. We’ve played so many [gigs] in Adelaide over the years. I remember playing at Rocket Bar back in the day, it was completely packed out. That was a good turning point. Adelaide’s always been rock solid for us!
DZ Deathrays play Black Rat in full at The Gov this July 13. Tickets available now via The Gov.
