Q On listening to your self-titled debut album, it is clear The DFenders like music from the 1980s. What is it about that decade that appeals musically?
A (from keyboard player and producer Adon Moskal): The '80s definitely appear to be the most fun of past musical eras; the '60s and '70s were rife with political and social activism, and a lot more "serious" songwriting seems to have been prevalent.
As production techniques evolved from analogue to digital in the late '70s and synthesizers became more commonplace in studios, it allowed for a lot more experimentation with sounds in recordings.
Of course, in a lot of cases this wasn't always such a good thing. The "synthesization" of music also led to a lot of banal songs being produced (of which I'm sure we could easily be criticised too).
Q Who are your favourite acts from the 1980s?
A (from entire band, Moskal, singer and bass player Luke Herlihy, drummer Matt "Sus" Taine and guitarist Mike Carter): Huey Lewis & The News, The Cars, The Knack, Genesis, The Police, Talking Heads, Van Halen, Cheap Trick, David Bowie, Robert Palmer, Bon Jovi, Icehouse, Meatloaf.
Q You also capture the tones used at that time, from lead synthesizer lines, distorted guitar "chug-chugging" and those massive snare sounds. Is attention to detail a key part of your thinking? Do you spend hours at home working out that perfect vocoder sound?
A (Moskal): As producer, I definitely spent a lot of time in the studio playing with different sounds, trying to capture those classic '80s sounds. And in a lot of cases, I simply wasn't able to - there were a lot of restrictions in terms of available gear, recording space and my own skills behind the mixing desk.
Upon relistening, I'm always making comparisons between The DFenders and my favourite '80s albums, and although I think it was a pretty good first effort from the band, we can definitely improve on our sound.
Q Girls, the search for them and conquest of them, seems to provides no end of lyrical inspiration. Is that a reflection of real obsession or merely a mimicking of the material of acts such as The Cars or, perhaps, The Knack?
A (Moskal): A little of both. We're obviously all strapping young lads in the prime of our lives, so, yeah, bring on the girls. But, of course, a lot of it had to do with our influences.
Songs like My Sharona (The Knack), Just What I Needed (The Cars) and Paradise By The Dashboard Light (Meat Loaf) were very significant influences on the content of our songs.
As the band's primary lyricist, I would say Paradise By The Dashboard Light would be the song I drew most heavily from. I absolutely love Jim Steinman's lyric-writing; he is a genius at clever word-play and sarcastic humour.
Q A ballad such as She's Never Gonna Be The One, with its overblown production - right down to a saxophone break and electronic drum fill - has to be tongue-in-cheek, doesn't it? Is humour a key component to The DFenders?
A (Herlihy): We take our music light-heartedly and have fun with it, but we walk a fine line between being a little tongue-in-cheek, and being dead serious in what we do. There's no enjoyment in being too serious about anything.
Q Do you encourage audience members to indulge in classic group rituals such as waving lighters during slower numbers or clapping with hands above the head?
A (Carter): Definitely. The handclaps are, of course, an essential part of the music. No DFenders gig would be complete without them.
While lighters are no longer as common as they once were, cellphones have quickly taken their place.
Q For the benefit of those unfamiliar with the band, how have you evolved?
A (Moskal): Luke and I started the band in 2005 with other members from our university music performance paper. And we decided at the end of the year that we had a good body of original songs and we should try to keep the band going.
We lost a few members but kept writing and recording demos and eventually The DFenders was reborn with its current line-up in 2007.
I think for those two years we didn't evolve very much at all, as we kept trying out replacement musicians and we had to spend most of our time bringing them up to speed on existing songs rather than writing new songs or playing with the arrangements.
We are currently working on new material at the moment and we're definitely moving in a few new (but still '80s) directions. Mike came up with this very dark riff that we have developed into our heaviest song to date, so we're definitely evolving.
