DZ DEATHRAYS // Take Over Hysteria Radio, Martian Style

Representing his incredible party thrash band, DZ Deathrays, Shane Parsons prepares for his Hysteria Radio Takeover. He’s bringing to us a number of his favourite tracks from recent years, a few that are near and dear to the duo, and even some tunes he picked up last week.

DZ Deathrays have just released their new album Bloody Lovely, which comes ahead of their Australia and New Zealand tour beginning in April. “It’s our third record,” says Parsons, “It’s a nice feeling that the ball is at a spin now–it’s fun, it’s good to have something you’ve spent a lot of time making to finally unleash it to the world, get everyone listening to it.” Parsons’ choice of tracks for his Hysteria Takeover, we may just find, tie in and influence the band’s new album more than we first realise.

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DREAM WIFE // Fire

“I only heard this about a week ago,” Parsons begins, “My cousin sent me their album stream and I had a listen – he said I was going to love it, he was pretty right! I had a listen and it was actually awesome, it reminded me of that mid-2000’s indie rock scene.

“They’ve got that sound down. Fire, it was the one that stood out for me first listen. It was just like, I love songs that kind of step up, step up, step up, and I feel like this song really does that.”

ECCA VANDAL // Your Orbit

“I felt like Your Orbit was the song on the [self-titled] album that really shifted gears,” says Parsons. “Her album is amazing, especially for a debut. It was that moment when I was listening to it, that it went from a really cool record to something interesting. It shifter from punk rock into… I felt like there were moments of hip-hop, it changed the whole thing for me.” Ecca Vandal, some may say, is Australia’s answer to the Beastie Boys. “We did Bigsound in Brisbane and jumped up and did a Beastie Boys track. Every show we did with her, she’d get up and do all the vocals, really fun to sit back and have someone at the front, screaming into the mic!”

HOT SNAKES // Six Wave Hold Down

“This is the latest song from Hot Snakes – they’ve been around since the early 2000’s. I got into them a few years ago, a friend’s band we were touring with loved them and I was like, ‘Oh man, this is like my perfect band!’ Really urgent punk rock but they don’t use too much distortion. Vocally amazing as well.

“They did three records then they came to Australia a few years ago – this year they’ve dropped their new single off a new record [Jericho Sirens]. It’s true to their sound

“I started on an album called Automatic Midnight, which has more of a pop element to it.”

THESE NEW SOUTH WHALES // Cholesterol Heart

“We just announced our tour and These New South Whales are going to be coming along. Cholesterol Heart is a funny, great track. They have this ability to put together great little ideas in a simple two-minute song. This is one of my favourites, it’s a popular one and I think people will get into it.

“They’re really great actors [too],” Parsons says laughing, “They’ve got it all down pat.”

DILLY DALLY // Next Gold

“Dilly Dally are a band, I believe, out of Toronto,” says Parsons. “Last year I was shown one of their songs – I was like, ‘Yeah, they’re cool.’ Then I went and listened to one of their records, Sore, and I just loved it. It’s like slow grunge – sweet but has a gnarly edge to it. Once again, another of my favourite records last year. In Australia they haven’t had too much radio play, and I don’t know if they’ve been here on tour.

“I’m not sure what it’s about… but I feel like it’s about smoking a blunt!”

LOS SAICOS // Demolicion

Parsons is good enough to do the pronunciations for us on this one. “This band is from a really long time ago,” he says, “They’re actually from Peru.”

“When we were in South America December last year, people told us to check this out. They were the first punk band that ever existed but being from Peru, no one really listened to them. I fell in love with them, it’s like The Beatles after 400 cigarettes! It’s really interesting to find these bands – they were probably very big in South America but there’s not that much money there, it’s really hard to get out of there.

“Punk didn’t start in the UK, punk didn’t start in America, punk started in Peru!”

IN CORP SANCTIS // Que No Digan Nada

Another band from South America. “So, we did a couple of shows with this band, one in Chile, one in Argentina, and they’re just total sweethearts, really lovely people. They’re super excited about playing music, and you found that over there. It wasn’t a burden to get to a show, they were genuinely excited to play music. These guys are more on the psychedelic side – it’s interesting, there’s a big movement in psychedelia over there.

“This is their latest single, maybe some people in Australia will get into some Argentinian psychedelia!”

RINGO DEATHSTARR // Heavy Metal Suicide

“This is a band I found last year,” says Parsons, “Only because we were playing a festival in China – I was looking at the line-up and I just decided to check them out based on their name – it’s great. This song is one of the heavier songs on their record, a cool change to what I’d been listening to at that time.

It’s interesting in China, the main music indie kids listen to is pop, K-pop, then there’s metal, and there’s shoegaze. These guys fall into shoegaze and I think we did too while we were playing China.

“Just from having that opportunity to play that festival, you meet other bands and seeing bands on the bill you’d [otherwise] never know about. I mean, they’d come out of America, but they were there, a bit confused the same way we were.”

Catch all these tracks and more as DZ Deathrays take over Hysteria Radio from ???