(((o))): So, first and foremost, who are Dune and what are your musical backgrounds?
Dune is a 4 piece from Edinburgh with two guitarists - Dan Barter and Victor Vicart, Simon Anger on the bass and Dudley Tait on the drums. The vocals are shared by Dan, Victor and Simon. As a band we've got a really wide range of influences with each member bringing something of their own. For example, whilst we are all listening to varying levels of Sludge, Hardcore or Doom, some of us are also into blues, hip-hop, death metal, or grindcore. Although were definitely a band rooted in ‘metal’, we really try to not to stick to one musical genre, something which can sometimes kill the creativity.
(((o))): How did the band come together?
It all started as a big blind date between Simon and Victor, both of them had just moved to Edinburgh and were looking at starting a sludge band, and Gumtree gave them the opportunity to meet up and start jamming together. After trying out different people Dudley came onboard and we started as a 3 piece. Jan Gardner, Atragon's singer joined for a little while but his vocal style didn’t really work out. The band kept on playing as an instrumental 3 piece but that wasn't what we were looking for. That's when Dan joined after seeing us play in Edinburgh and he immediately fitted the band perfectly.
(((o))): Please describe your sound in poetic form. (Haiku, rhyming couplets, acrostic, etc - take your pick)
A Dune Haiku:
Galactic fuzz tone
Tribal Beats and space effects
Soaring riffs, then shout
(((o))): How has your local scene impacted you as a band?
There are a lot of good bands in the Scottish scene but some of them have definitely impacted on us more than others such as - Zillah, Lords of Bastards, Bacchus Baracus & Atragon. The thing is we have all been playing in other bands in Edinburgh so obviously you get influence from them, like Lords of Bastards are crazy rhythmically. Simon plays in Zillah which is a very technical band so it has pushed him to constantly challenge himself on bass and make the basslines in Dune more interesting. Also, there are quite a lot of Doom bands in Edinburgh and our guitarist Victor used to play in Atragon. That definitely orientated Dune’s sound into more volume and bigger tone and riffs. Dan has also been playing and gigging with Roll on Three, which after years of playing in grindcore bands, certainly got him more used to playing ‘slower’ music. The other important point is that without all going to local gigs we probably have never all met.
(((o))): You’ve just recorded your EP. What can you tell us about this?
Well it was a lot of fun as we were recording in our mate’s studio (Iain from Bacchus Baracus), and got to use an insane amount of different amps, cabinets, speakers and other cool instruments. We had been working on the songs for a while (most of the EP was written before Dan even joined) so we wanted to record the basic tracks live and overdub only guitar lead sections, vocals and other instruments/effects. We had the opportunity to use all these awesome toys, like a Hammond organ plugged into a crazy amount of pedals ran through a Sunn amp, it was great fun just to have the opportunity to work with someone who didn’t mind us ‘playing about’.
(((o))): How do you see the band’s sound developing going into future releases?
We’ve got already new tracks getting written for (hopefully!) a full-length album, which is planned for next year, so we kind of have an idea of what we want to do. Want I can say is that we’ve got more complex rhythmic structures with still keeping riffs crushing and fun to play. But we are going to keep what we do already: tone, volume, riffs and spacey effects.
(((o))): What do you think is the most difficult challenge facing new bands starting out in the music industry today?
We don’t really feel like we are part of the ‘music industry’ but more of the underground scene. Maybe it’s a pessimistic (but we’d like to say realistic) outlook, but we’re not thinking about making a living out of our music, but are more about just having fun playing together, touring, and recording. To ‘stand out’ these days (if that’s what you want to do!) you either have to be doing something really different, or amazingly well, and even then, as a UK band, that probably still isn’t going to ‘make you’.
(((o))): Every band has different aims. What would have to happen for Dune to make you feel that you’d “made it”, so to speak?
Recording the album, touring more, playing cool festivals and keep on having fun. Dune is really just some friends playing tunes they like. If other people like what we do and we get put on gigs because of that, sell a few shirts, and can afford to buy a few post-gig beers, then all the better!
(((o))): What’s the deeper meaning (if any) behind the name ‘Dune’? Or are you just huge fans of the Sci-Fi novels?
There is no deeper meaning to the name Dune but the reference to the Frank Herbert Sci-Fi books. We all really like spacey and crazy stories of monsters, astral projection, black holes and time travelling. Dan joined after the name was already chosen, but he reads a load of Sci-Fi and is a total geek so it ended up fitting him well too. It is also a really good way to focus our lyrics on a theme, and we are trying to go further in writing better story-driven Sci-Fi narrative for future material.
(((o))): We have another column called Echoes of the Past in which we get people to write about albums that have particularly influenced them. What would you choose to write about in that column?
We all have different one so I guess we’ll give you 4 of them!
Simon: Sleep – Holy Mountain. That album made me change my whole view on music. It's heavy, its catchy, bass wise it's unreal. You can almost constantly hear that album coming from my flat.
Victor: High on Fire – Death is this Communion. A perfect and unique album; heavy riffs and huge tone with great instrumentals that bring everything together.
Dudley: Meshuggah – Chaosphere - this album for me captures one of the best phases of Meshuggah's growth into the fantastic band that they are. Technical, sporadic bass lines, awesome lyrics and drums that blow your mind. This album showed me that bands can play what some bands would never have dreamed of trying if suited properly and all members are on the same page.
Dan: Discordance Axis – The Inalienable Dreamless – Properly good grindcore that I’ve ripped off more times than I can remember, fast, harsh, but also throws in some odd ideas and more melodic guitar parts which you wouldn’t think would work but fully do.
(((o))): You’re given the opportunity to create your own festival. What would be the first five bands on your list?
High on Fire
Converge
Sleep
Death Grips
Rompeprop
(((o))): This is ostensibly a column for introducing new bands. Any suggestions as to who we ought to include in the near future?
Bacchus Baracus is an easy one. They're a Glasgow based band that are heavier than a woolly mammoth and catchy as the common cold! Also, Easy Bake Oven who are a great young band from Glasgow as well. Isak are a bunch of young guys from up in Dundee, dead nice lads who seem to travel all over the place for gigs and play some nice Kyuss type riffage. They seem to be getting some deserved recognition down this way. And finally there is an awesome band from Ireland call Harvester. They released an EP last year which is a total killer.
(((o))): What are the band’s plans for the near future?
Once we've released our EP, we are looking to tour Ireland and record our first album. The general idea is just to keep going with the momentum we’ve built up over the past few months, and get some new material down.
