[lead]Following their performance on Live With David Letterman, Jesse Keeler of Canadian dance-rock duo Death From Above 1979 chats to Robbie Byrne about making new music after a decade.[/lead][hr gap="2"]Back in 2004 Death From Above 1979 were hurtling towards the peak of their powers. Their volatile debut, You’re A Woman, I’m A Machine became the essential dance-rock album of the early noughties, spurning a host of imitators from the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s to the Klaxons as the musicsphere delved into New Rave mania. The Toronto duo were in the perfect position to become one of the greatest bands of their generation as a cult-like fanbase followed them across the globe as they toured alongside rock behemoths such as Queens of the Stone Age and Nine Inch Nails.But then it fell apart.As a duo about to break into the pop consciousness, Death From Above were inherently adverse to fame and its trappings. An endless touring schedule due to the once impoverished Canadians inability to say no saw the once inseparable duo tear in two. While Jesse F. Keeler and Sebastien Grainger blew up infront of the world’s press, they isolated themselves from not only those around them, but each other.Two years after the release of their debut, the band called it quits. Burying the pain of breakup, both decided to concentrate on their own solo material- bassist, Jesse, exercised his pop muscles with the Daft-Punk aping MSTRKRFT and drummer/ vocalist, Sebastien performed under his own synth-pop moniker.
“Even though Coachella was awesome, it never felt like the band was really back together until we began to make these music babies the following year.”
Despite the relative success of both projects, neither rekindled the passion or fame that Death From Above created, but as the one-time friends continued to live in relative proximity at opposite ends of Toronto, an offer came through to reunite on the mainstage of Coachella Festival 2011 for one last time.“Sebastien contacted me when he heard about the potential offer,” Keeler begins. “It was the first contact we had had in about five years, we met up soon after where he apologised for what happened. We agreed that DFA shouldn’t have ended like it did. We knew we had some unfinished business.”That April, in what was the surprise comeback of the year, the band played a crazed televised performance to a near capacity mania on the mainstage of America’s biggest music festival. Despite the success, Keeler didn’t feel that DFA were complete following their ‘one-off’ comeback: “Even though Coachella was awesome, it never felt like the band was really back together until we began to make these music babies the following year.”
After their victorious performance, dozens of offers came in from promoters across the world; “The offers kept coming in to play more festivals, but it was to play just the old songs and that didn’t interest us,” Keeler says, “so we decided to stop accepting tour offers after Coachella. We couldn’t just play that same old stuff, that would make us a bare bones covers band.”Still, the desire was still there to make this new music – a want to make Death From Above the creative powerhouse was a decade earlier.“We just had to start playing again, but only if we could use just the creative part of our brain.”Spurned by the need to write and release new material, the band signed an identical deal with the same record company, Last Gang/ Warner Bros, as they did a decade earlier.As a rock duo, Death From Above shouldn’t work. One part bass, one part percussion and one third vocals, their music should sound barren and unnourishing; an exercise in self-indulgence rather than musical integrity. And that is before you discover that the drummer is also the lead vocalist.“The decision to go with this odd combination was not a conscious one,” Keeler confirms. “We didn’t even think about it; in the early 2000s it was just Seb and I living together in a Toronto townhouse and because there was nobody else living there, we would just jam together.“Our original intention was for me to play guitar and get other members to play bass and vocals but, as we were trying out these early tracks, our sound was so raw and full there seemed little room for anything or anyone else.”
“It took us years to prove that the drum and bass combination was a valid musical format."
That raw, chaotic sonic landscape that the pair create is not simply a bi-product of their physical arrangement, but courtesy of the unique gritty clarity of Keeler’s seemingly endless bass riffage, “Many don’t believe me on this one, but I didn’t know how to play bass until I moved in with Seb;” and it is this late adaption to the instrument which is largely responsible for his unique sound: “One neat trick is how I mute. My thumb is always placed on the fret board to mute the open strings, it’s an awkward habit, but a neat trick that gives our band its sound.”While it had been almost a decade since Jesse and Sebastien have got together to write new material, their method remained the same from their early days: “I start writing a song by toying with different riffs at home. I close my eyes and imagine playing in front of a lot of people and envision them listening to it. If I think they are enjoying it I make a rough demo with some programmed drumbeats and send it to Sebastien who then layers his drumming over my riffs.”
It’s a seemingly awkward system, but fitting of a band so perverse it is one that works beautifully: “We then meet up for rehearsal where we’ll practise the instrumentals. If we’re happy, the vocal melody will come into play before finally adding the lyrics- the last piece of the jigsaw of a telepathic process.”The end product of this writing process, The Physical World, is a surreal return to form. An exaggeration of their pop and rock leanings in equal parts, the LP sees the duo’s knack for a pop hook revealed in the lead single, ‘Trainwreck 1979’, and their willingness to get downright invasive in the grinding brilliance of the opening track, ‘Cheap Talk’.“It’s difficult for me to pick out a clear favourite. Every song has our soul living and breathing inside it. We are so proud of each track, otherwise it wouldn’t be on the album, but of all them… ‘White is Red’ and ‘Government Trash’ are the ones I love to play live most,” Keeler asserts with some hesitancy, bringing his almost maternal instinct of the album to the fore.Hotly tipped as one of the albums of 2014, the album has already received a perfect score from NME and Kerrang, while the much-revered publication that is UCC’s Motley awarded it 4 stars. Still, positive media reception, though welcome, is not of paramount importance to Keeler: “While it’s great that people are digging the album, the most important thing today is that we are a normal fucking band. It’s nice, it’s the feeling we had when we first got together.”Though wholly coincidental, the release of The Physical World has coincided with the release of Royal Blood’s widely acclaimed debut LP; the newest, and perhaps only, other drum and bass rock duo in existence today. Rather than a potential rivalry, Keeler sees the Brighton duo as a welcome boost to their own fortunes.“That band’s existence makes me very happy,” adding, “it took us years to prove that the drum and bass combination was a valid musical format. With Royal Blood questions aren’t even been asked. And for them to use what we use and create such a different sound proves that there’s diversity to it. Yeah, that’s awesome.”While the release of the Death From Above’s second album has almost passed, the band now have to contend with the premiere of their documentary, Life After Death From Above 1979, which traces the band’s tumultuous past to its amicable present.“Yeah, the documentary was odd for us at first. About three years ago, when we announced Coachella, a group of independent producers who were also fans approached to ask if we’d like them to create a feature on our story; the rise to fame, break-up and reunion, etc. It was a huge investment for the guys, they put their heart and soul into it,” he says before concluding, “I’ve just seen the complete version for the first time with friends and family and I can tell you that it’s fucking awesome.”Keeler’s enthusiasm for the soon to be released documentary underscores the extent to which the group have refashioned for their second incarnation. A group that once fought the media circle embrace it, while preserving the same spirit of their earliest recordings. It’s a colossal turn around, a feat, but only one expected of a band who say they can read each other’s minds.Death From Above 1979’s second album, The Physical World, is now available in all formats, while Life After Death From Above is also available to purchase or rent in digital formats from Vimeo.com.
