|
|
 |
|
De Ja Groove
 Melbourne's De Ja Groove class their genre as "Renegade reggae," according to drummer Lach Hall. "[It's] a rougher-edged sound that's uniquely ours. It's a crossover of styles with funk, rock, roots, hip-hop, with a foundation of reggae."
One surprising inspiration for the six-piece group with a background in jazz improvisation is classical music, Hall reveals: "Most of the band are big fans of Bach!" Their eclectic influences include "Classic rock, heavy metal, AC/DC right through to Bob Marley and all sorts of world music."
Hall first played the drums aged ten. "But before then I was always bashing pots and pans around the house. I just loved percussion in general, making rhythms. Since I was ten, I've always been in a band. Bit by bit, I made enough money to piece together a drum kit, while using pots and pans as cymbals!"
Their lucky break came thanks to the St Kilda Festival. "We'd just finished recording our first CD, so we'd never really shown our music to anyone. We sent it in and they ended up using it for their marketing campaign - we had our song aired on Channel Ten three times a day!"
Since then, life has been hectic: De Jah Groove have released two EPs and are currently working on their first full-length album. "We've been playing for two years straight, after the first year which we spent writing and rehearsing, so we decided to have a bit of time off before we hit the road again at the end of March. The two main songwriters went to South America to learn from some of the great guitar players over there about South American music - which may come through with the next recordings." Hall took the opportunity to explore the music scene in Thailand. "Pretty much the only place that was affordable on a musician's salary! They love their reggae over there, especially in the island areas. Their standard Top 40 stuff is boy-band-ish ballads, so it wasn't really my thing - but there was a pretty dominant subculture of heavy metal."
Saxophonist Paul Carter left the band after playing the Woodford Folk Festival, to focus on developing his jazz skills. "That's what he wants to do and we're happy for him," Hall explains understandingly. "We were always touring, not having much time to study or learn." Hall describes replacement sax player Gus Rigby as bringing "Fresh views and new motivations! He actually seems to be creating a little fan group of his own at shows - he does have a lot of stage presence!"
Hall describes the experience of De Jah Groove's live show enthusiastically, "It's a hundred percent energy! I love to transfer energy from the stage to the crowd, then back. We just give it our absolute best. Our shows are all about entertaining, working for the audience to make their night the most fun they can have. It's not uncommon for us to need a break afterwards and be wringing out our shirts with sweat!"
The band's music made a profound effect on one particular festival audience. "We started in a tent, where we were very skeptical that people would come in because it was all closed off. It looked like a big top. There would have been maybe a hundred people in there at the start. Halfway through our set, there would have been a thousand! And they all loved it. That was a real buzz for us.
"Right now, the big step for us is international shows. Last year we got the opportunity to play in London - that was an awesome experience. It was a world Battle Of The Bands and we were playing for Australia against 27 other countries. The problem was, after our show we got such an amazing crowd response all the journalists came up and were saying 'It's between you and America, who's gonna win?' so it was really built up, then we came sixth - it was quite heartbreaking, as we'd been inflated so much!"
Hall is looking forward to performing at this year's Fringe Festival. "We're really excited to see how our music goes down." And the beat goes on: "We don't stop! We've set up lots of residencies. We're all still in Melbourne studying at university, so we can't be on the road 24/7 - but we're interstate every weekend, constantly playing shows around Australia."
De Ja Groove play at SoCo Cargo as part of the Fringe Festival from Mon 26 - Sat 31 March
|
|
The latest issue
available now!
|
