Perfect timing is something Dappled Cities have become well versed in.
With a career spanning over a decade, the Sydneysiders have continually outdone themselves with each release, both in terms of following and critical acclaim. Tim Derricourt laughs as he explains his thoughts on why the band has stuck together for so long when so many others fall apart in half that time.
“It’s probably a healthy amount of self-delusion. I think Australia is a place where when a band reaches a certain point, a certain age or when you’re not playing the same kind of stuff that’s on radio, then you quit. You say, ‘Well, obviously we’re not relevant anymore, let’s not make music,’ and I think we’ve always taken cues from bands like Wilco and those long-lasting American acts who keep putting out records and push themselves regardless of whether it would be commercially viable for them to keep going. I think the reason we stick together is because of a certain amount of self-delusion, thinking that so long as we’re happy we can keep making music.”
But where some bands burn brightly and fade swiftly, Dappled Cities have been as steady and consistent as daylight. From their early beginnings and release of their debut album A Smile, Dappled Cities have maintained a steady pace and grown with each new venture in the music world.
“That’s probably one of the benefits of starting out very small – you’ve at least got somewhere to go,” says Derricourt. “If it’s not an absolute world-banger, you can only go up. So we’ve been lucky in that way, in that we can go, ‘Oh wow, people like what we’re doing, and if they followed us there, let’s see if they’ll follow us to this next stop.’”
In 2012, the next stop for the band was Lake Air, winning a host of awards and national praise. Almost four years on and Dappled Cities are preparing to release their fifth studio album in the middle of this year, once again seeing them depart from one sound on which they gambled and succeeded to try their hand at another. In the meantime, they’ll preview the material at a one-off showcase this week.
“It is nerve-wracking, to tell you the truth,” Derricourt says. “To be honest, there isn’t a single song on this next record that sounds similar to anything on Lake Air. I think that often is quite hard for a fan, but on the other hand, your fans demand of you new and fresh sounds, I think particularly for a band like us.”
The time between Lake Air and the band’s next release was used wisely, both in personal and creative ways. “After Lake Air, there was a baby born in the band, and Dave [Rennick, co-frontman] and I went off and did our own solo adventures. The songs we were wanting to write meant we needed to take a break from where Dappled was heading from the past couple of albums. We needed to find new ways to write. And for us, that involved basically going away from each other for a little bit or having new collaborations and that sort of thing. So it was a mix of having some personal time, but also using that time to try and find a new way to make an album that meant something to us.”
While the band members explored music in their own new ways, the heart and soul of Dappled Cities remained true, never striving to force a particular sound but instead opening things up to what came organically.
“When I write a song, I don’t really have a choice in what it’s going to sound like,” says Derricourt. “The melody emerges and the sound and the rhythm and everything just gushes out. So the song, stylistically, is kind of tied down to whatever first emerges. But then when we get together as a band, that’s kind of when you have influences, like, ‘Oh, we’ve been listening to this awesome Doobie Brothers record and the chorus harmonies are sounding really good on it, maybe we can expand the song with something like that.’ That does enter into it a little bit in the rehearsal stage, but we certainly don’t set out seeking a sound – everything emerges as we begin to work on it together.”
With patience, creativity and openness, Dappled Cities grew from a bunch of high school friends playing instruments in their bedrooms into a band beloved by Sydney and beyond. And still Dappled Cities grow upwards and outwards, their past successes and failures fuelling their new projects and ideas. Derricourt volunteers the one thing that has changed the most for him.
“I would arrogantly say that I am saying more important things now than when I was young. I feel that the emotional realms that I’m singing about are being expressed better than when I was younger – some might feel differently, but I feel I’m a better songwriter now. I’m saying things how I want to say them. In some sense, I do feel like there’s a greater depth to what we’re saying on this record. But I guess that comes with experience and age in some way.
“We had an amazing ten years of touring the world and putting out records and seeing amazing things, from which you can write about, whereas when we were young and left high school we could only write about what we know, like, ‘Oh, I’m sad about living at home, I want to move out of my parents’ place.’ That’s not really the lyrical content of those records, I should point out, but you get the picture.”
Dappled Cities play Newtown Social Club on Friday February 5, along with Hedge Fund and Phantastic Ferniture.
