Dole Manchild Choose Chaos On New EP
By Wil Clifford | April 30th, 2021
YEAR OF THE DOLE! [sic] expands on the group’s rapidly growing discography, taking on a wider array of genres than ever before.
“We were trying to recontextualise songs as a package deal,” said frontman Dan Blitzman. “They're very different [from] the garage rock start.”
The sophomore release comes less than a year into Dole’s existence as a band and seven months after their debut EP DRACONIA! [sic], an exploration of Dan’s frustrations living through Melbourne’s lockdowns.
“I really liked the first EP…it really encapsulated those two years for me in three songs, it didn't need to be longer - there was no filler,” he said. “This [EP] is a bit different…we're getting really ambitious, we're starting to incorporate all sorts of fucking instruments into it and higher recording value.”
Year of The Dole arrived last week, featuring previously released singles as well as a couple favourites from their live show. As the cover suggests, the EP steps further away from the garage rock stylings of their origins, incorporating more synth elements and gabber influences. They're certainly still punk however; opener VACATION! [sic] roars to life, cussing out the past two years of lockdowns, Dan's voice fuelled by the howls of the guitars. SHE DOESN'T LIKE MY FACE! [sic] is the closest Dole will ever get to a 2000s club banger, splicing bits of dance-punk in between riffs that can only be described as raunchy.
"[She Doesn't Like My Face] goes into six or seven different subgenres back to back, ends with a real White Stripes-y vibe, has a house, dub vibe in between as well, it really doesn't give a shit." Dan said.
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Previous singles AUSTRALIA, I'M WATCHING YOU! [sic] and HAPPY COUPLES! [sic] reappear, the latter presenting jaunty basslines and an energetic drum showcase. Dan's performance on this track in particular presents his charm as a vocalist, announcing the structure of the song as it happens (in addition to the lyrics "Happy couples like to bang in front of me!" over and over in the chorus).
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"The last song I wrote was Australia, I'm Watching You, before that it was Green Goddess. Green Goddess isn't on this EP, we made sure to curate the sound to tell the story of how we're getting to where we're getting," said Dan. "As a whole, [the] songs work really well together because they show us experimenting."
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Forming in late August last year as a five-piece, Dole Manchild was a response to the uncertainty surrounding Melbourne’s live music scene in the wake of sudden lockdowns and Covid positives.
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“A lot of people got frustrated when...everything got shut down. We can't play shows, we can't sell merch, we can't tour, there was no way to write new music - there was nothing to write new music for,” Dan said. “[Dole] was founded on the principle of being a live band, that's why we did it. We were surprised when people showed up to shows because they enjoyed the energy so much."
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Comprising of tracks Dan had written alone in his bedroom during 2021, much of the electro-punk Dole Manchild perform today is the combining of his metal band Tall Relatives and solo EDM outfit The Nylex Factory. The result is a mish mash of these two projects with the objective of live performance in mind, all delivered with Dan's trademark snarky humour.
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"When I started making [Dole Manchild] gigging wasn't even an option. I knew I was gonna make a band that would not be able to exist in any other scenario," said Dan. "It's the ideal band for that time - and it still is, it's just a different time now."
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Years of experience within the Melbourne arts scene gave Dan the connections he needed to put the band together, enlisting the help of Van Willis on kit, Tejo D'Cruz on lead guitar, Tony Jenkins on bass and Mayo Everett on rhythm guitar. Since then the roster of talent has grown exponentially, bringing in Harry Armstrong, Campbell Gray, Carmen Alexandra, Brooke Kymberly and Tom Hainsworth. Now a nine-piece, Dole has its own classically trained keys and trumpet on display during their live performances.
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"Depending on who you bring in personality-wise to the band, the project changes a little bit," Dan said. "[Harry's] got that drive and he really cares about the sound. Having people like that in the band helped bring out a different part of me that might not have existed."
Dole Manchild performing at The Gasometer in March (Photography by Liam Van Der Vlist)
"I'm very "go go go, let's pump out content", and you can forget about a few things along the way, but you have different people in the band that keep it in check in their own unique way...Van is like the stepdad - he was telling me yesterday the way he sees the band is that it's my child and he's the stepdad and that's the most accurate representation I can give it. We are selling this as a package sort of deal, this is a thing you can go and see, it's entertainment at the end of the day, but Van is probably one of the hardest working people in the band."
Despite this continously expanding lineup of talented musicians, the choice was less about recreating the music Dan was tinkering with in his bedroom and more about putting on a mind-blowing live show.
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"I've always wanted to have a big band. I like the idea of ridiculous, massive shows where you go in and there's more people on stage than there is in the audience, I think it's fascinating," Dan said. "When you have 8, 9, even 10 people on stage that's a very different type of setup, it is a band that takes itself a lot more seriously in terms of it's image. Suddenly you don't have to necessarily listen to it, you can just see that something's happening on stage."
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The care put into the live show pays off; much of the attention Dole Manchild has gotten has been to do with the raucous performances they put on in modest Melbourne venues. Dan's energy on stage is electrifying, his years fronting Tall Relatives has given him the ability to engage with a crowd that's entirely unique. Van is planted behind the kit but his presence is constantly felt through his thunderous playing. Campbell plays it cool at his synth station until he has a spare moment, wherein he throws himself into the audience ("Most of the time he's actually shirtless in the crowd, it's a party!").
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"I've always wanted a symphonic rock band. Is it logistically possible? Yes. does it always work? Fuck no!...When I made the band I made a band that was supposed to be logical," he said. "I'm not the be all end all, I can only do so much. I think that's where the solo project stops and the band begins, it's to the limit of my capacity because I write all the instruments still for every track. It's changing."
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In the short timespan Dole has been around they've already managed to produce three music videos, demonstrating the tongue-in-cheek humour of the band through paper-mache politician heads and hot chocolate fiends. Their animated music video for Happy Couples raised funds through GoFundMe, giving top patrons the ability to be animated and feature in the video. Both that video as well as their clip for the song Hot Chocolate have been broadcast on the national television program Rage, a significant achievement for any band.
"[It's] weird, if you think about any band that you've ever enjoyed from the past, [music videos] are their image and I come from that line of thinking," Dan said. "For me music videos are the shit. They can amplify a song's value tenfold. You don't remember the song that much but you remember the fucking video, the music video legitimises the song."
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The rapid development of Dole has a bittersweet taste however; Dan went into the lockdowns as "Dan from Tall Relatives" and has now emerged a different person. That process of growth takes a toll.
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"If you're gonna have a midlife crisis you might as well just do it now and get it over with," said the 26-year-old. "Going into Covid I was younger and I felt like Tall Relatives was on a more straight-forward trajectory, soon we would have our videos, soon we'd have our cool well-produced songs...but it didn't happen."
"In that wake I realised that I'm not gonna be making another music project after this. I do art, I'm an all-around creative. I'm not directly tied in to doing anything musically beyond what you're seeing right now, it could change at any time. There's something about music itself that draws me [in], but I don't have to be playing in a band to do that. This is my last musical attempt, that was [Dole's] driving force."
YEAR OF THE DOLE! released on the 25th of April
At the core of Dole Manchild is a mentality of creative defiance applied to every level of the artistic process. The DIY mindset is pushed to the extreme, demonstrated through the band's continuous flow of material, published and marketed sometimes within weeks of their last release. Happy Couples closes out Year of The Dole, however was uploaded as a single only a month after their debut EP. Since then the band released four other singles, as well as two of their three music videos. The content that Dole produce is never held onto by the band, being shared practically the moment they're completed. This, in tandem with their performance ideals and lyrical content, makes Dole less of a confined group of musicians and more of a public movement.
"I said to myself 'I'm gonna make the band I always wanted to make, I'm not gonna wait any longer...I'm gonna write the instrumentals myself, I'm not depending on a guitarist, I'm not depending on a bassist or a drummer and whoever's with me can come with me and we can make some music.', and that was it," Dan said. "This band was made out of a necessity to explore something on my own terms. I was tired of waiting for the fucking prime minister to tell me when I can fucking go outside and live my life. I was done with that."
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Dole's future looks bright, as would any band that's been able to amass a notable following in such a small amount of time. For Dan, the next steps are further exploring the energy and sounds that make Dole's live shows so monumental, with the goal of bringing them to a broader audience.
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"I want to do a Dole album and I want the album to be the way I envision an album being, I want the album to be a live album. Whether it's older songs reimagined with trumpet and better keys because we now have access to that, that would be amazing," he said. "I'm already getting excited. I don't know if it's actually gonna happen or not...so you're more than likely just gonna get singles from us, but these singles are fucking good, good singles. Hopefully if they put us on the map a little bit more then we can do an album."
No matter what the group do between now and the end of the year, their productivity up until now make it pretty clear that 2022 is, in fact, the undisputed year of the Dole.
Listen to Year of The Dole on Spotify.