Australian guitarist Johnny Took found a different musical perspective while living in Leith.
Now, as DMA’S prepare to bring their new self-titled album to Edinburgh, he reflects on Scotland, songwriting and the music that first inspired him. A particular kind of musical journey can only be understood by following the trail backwards. For Johnny Took, guitarist with Australian indie trio DMA’S, it leads from Sydney to various parts of the UK, particularly the north-west of England, through the influence of Oasis, the Stone Roses, the Verve and the Happy Mondays, but also to Edinburgh, where he spent a year living in Leith.
Took returns to the city he called home for a while next February when DMA’S play the Usher Hall, a venue he remembers fondly. Last month the band released their fifth long-player, simply self-titled DMA’S. “For this fifth record, we’ve come back to our roots,” Took explains. “It is self-produced, and anything we would have done on synths on previous records, we purposely did on guitar. It’s a tip of the hat to coming back to that guitar music we became known for at the start.”
The record carries the anthemic spirit of their debut Hills End, which celebrated its 10th anniversary this year. “Heatin Park”, for instance, began life as little more than a riff and pre-chorus before being developed. “We were doing a writing session in LA, and we decided to work on that. It was one of those things where we could imagine this going off at Heaton Park, and then we thought it was funny to spell it Heatin.” The reference is to Manchester’s Heaton Park, where the Stone Roses and Oasis have both played, carrying with it now a sense of music history. DMA’S melodic song deliberately carries the altered spelling “Heatin Park”.
There is something fitting about the location as DMA’S have always had a strong relationship with northern English guitar music, despite coming from the other side of the world. Took first encountered much of it as a teenager. “I was really naive at 14 or 15 listening to the Verve, Happy Mondays, and Oasis,” he says. “I didn’t realise how massive those bands actually were. It felt like our secret little niche thing at school.” That distance helped make the music seem even more mysterious and outside of his own culture.
“It was exciting,” he says of discovering those records. While Took and Tommy O’Dell were drawn towards music from the UK, Matt Mason grew up listening to American indie bands including Dinosaur Jr, Pavement and Sonic Youth.
The band has already built a substantial following in Scotland, where their 2020 album The Glow reached number one. “We have always had great shows there,” he tells me over Zoom. “We played Usher Hall a few years ago, and it was honestly one of my favourite gigs of the entire tour. I actually lived in Edinburgh for a year myself.” It is a connection that goes deeper than the usual touring relationship between a band and another territory. Took arrived in Scotland in 2018, staying until the following summer. His wife’s father is Scottish and, through touring, he had already developed an affection for the country.
“Every time I toured there, I thought it was super beautiful and fell in love with the Scottish people,” he says. The couple decided to try living there for a year and settled in Leith. “I used to just walk around the streets every day listening to a lot of dance music at the time, specifically artists like the Chemical Brothers and Underworld.”
The experience altered his musical thinking. Took had grown up primarily around guitar, country, folk and rock music, but the time spent in Edinburgh allowed him the opportunity to explore synthesisers, drum machines and electronic production. “At the time, we were incorporating more dance elements on our third and fourth records,” he explains. “Having that seclusion in Leith really helped me focus and wrap my head around those elements.”
The band’s affection for Scotland is also reflected in the venues they have come to know. Took singles out Glasgow’s Barrowland Ballroom, where DMA’S will play the night after their Edinburgh appearance, and the O2 Academy Glasgow. A friend even gave him a drawing of the Barrowlands which he has framed at home. Australia, he points out, does not have the same tradition of grand old theatre venues. “Playing grander places like Alexandra Palace and Brixton Academy is always highly thrilling and special.”
For their new album, the band have deliberately returned to guitars and earlier influences such as Oasis. They have also previously enjoyed support slots with Liam Gallagher. He describes Gallagher as “such a nice bloke” and a genuine supporter of music. “It was an amazing experience being able to watch those iconic Oasis songs night after night.”
DMA’S play the Usher Hall on February 17, 2027, before travelling to Glasgow’s Barrowland Ballroom the following evening.
