“DAOBOYS! DAOBOYS! DAOBOYS!”
The gang at ArcTanGent Competition within the southwest of England is making noise earlier than the Callous Daoboys do. The tent they’re taking part in on a Saturday afternoon is stuffed filled with our bodies, a number of of whom sail over the obstacles earlier than their opening quantity “Star Child” has an opportunity to transition from frenetic math rock to a sudden jazz pop break in its again half. The Atlantans deliver a whirlwind of chaos to the stage, they usually get chaos again, however who might count on something much less from a band who pleasure themselves on creating music that “appears like two songs combating,” and who use wildly disparate songs from “Candy Caroline” (a pure match for an English crowd, because it’s related to soccer chants) to Zedd’s “Readability” as transitions?
Then, there’s the small matter of frontman Carson Tempo’s mosh calls, wryly nodding to the nation’s state-funded well being service when he implores the contingent, “Present me simply how free your healthcare is!” They’ve made a house slightly below 4,500 miles from the state they hail from.
Learn extra: 15 up to date mathcore bands bringing the style into the long run
Their ArcTanGent present is the final in a three-week run of dates throughout the U.Okay. and Europe — a few of them headline exhibits, a few of them pageant exhibits, a few of them assist slots for Holy Fawn and Hippotraktor. These have been their first exhibits outdoors of the U.S., and for Tempo, it’s his first time ever leaving the nation. “I believed there can be extra of a distinction, however it seems in every single place has grass and bushes and buildings and stuff,” he jokes, sitting with guitarist Dan Hodson at a picnic desk backstage on the pageant. “No, it’s been nice. I adore it right here. In truth, I feel the U.Okay. and Budapest are my two favourite locations. I like Germany, too. It’s loopy I get to come back right here in any respect, not to mention play exhibits to lots of people right here, and we’re taking part in a few of our greatest units right here.”
It’s been a “borderline DIY” operation, with Hodson successfully stepping as much as tour handle in addition to carry out. “I’ve discovered that we are able to deal with much more than we predict we are able to, and that it’s fairly simple to determine what you’re value,” they mirror. “To not toot my very own horn, however me and Maddie [Caffrey, guitarist] did loads to get this factor arrange and pull it collectively. We’ve been studying loads about what every of us is able to — it’s fascinating to see and really rewarding to see how everybody capabilities prefer it’s simply one other day on the job. It actually cemented that that is what we’re meant to be doing.”
The sextet — accomplished by violinist Amber Christman, bassist Jackie Buckalew, and drummer Marty Hague — have had extra eyes on them than ever following the discharge of their critically adored second album, Movie star Therapist, final 12 months. Though all the things may be developing Daoboys now, it hasn’t all the time been that manner, and this flush of success they’re experiencing hasn’t precisely fallen out of the sky. It’s the product of grinding away since 2016 whereas additionally going by means of quite a few lineup modifications (Hodson, for one, solely joined the band final 12 months) and all the everyday rising band highway bumps. “For a short time, we had been touring on this bus that was only a piece of shit. It had no AC. It broke down each seven exhibits. We needed to substitute the tires on it so many occasions,” Tempo remembers. However, when life determined to take a break from following Murphy’s regulation, they’d flip to one another, and, with out fail, one among them would say, “God smiles upon the Callous Daoboys.”
That in-joke ended up changing into the title of the band’s forthcoming three-track EP, a figuring out, humorous wink towards their very own success, in addition to their enjoyment of being self-referential. Look additional into its lyrics, nevertheless, and the extent to which God actually has smiled on these eccentric noisemakers may be referred to as into query. Positive, they’re nearer, in Tempo’s thoughts to “changing into the band that I see in my head,” however it’s not with out its downsides — “substance abuse, breakups, [and] probably not with the ability to be house when different issues in your life are taking place.”
To confront these topics, Tempo challenged himself to be blunter and extra direct along with his lyrics as a substitute of placing a wall up with complicated metaphors. “I feel that the largest grievance about my lyrics is that they don’t make sense,” he considers. “They imply one thing to me, however this time round, I feel you possibly can most likely get what I’m speaking about, which is the primary time I’ve been happy with that. I feel beforehand, being sincere was actually arduous for me, being bare in entrance of our viewers was very troublesome for me, whereas this time, I really feel like I’m being as sincere as I presumably can.”
Did he assume, then, that he was utilizing metaphor as a method to cover? “Positively,” Tempo confirms. “There have been [times] the place [I’d use] a metaphor that was an extrapolation of a metaphor that’s a reference to this factor that solely I learn about. I definitely don’t remorse these lyrics in any respect. [But] the place I need to be in now could be simply saying all the things that’s in my coronary heart, as corny as that sounds.”
Tempo and Hodson are eager to emphasize that the three songs that make up God Smiles Upon The Callous Daoboys aren’t Movie star Therapist B-sides. “It has nothing to do with that report — they had been written thus far aside, however it’s a little bit epilogue that closes the guide, if you’ll,” Tempo clarifies. On prime of that, these new songs would be the band’s first to characteristic the musical fingerprints of their present lineup, marking Hodson and Hague’s first contributions to their sound.
Then once more, it’s simple sufficient to discern that Movie star Therapist and God Smiles Upon The Callous Daoboys had been written at totally different occasions, by totally different individuals, simply from the sound of those new songs. They’re markedly totally different from Movie star Therapist, regardless that they haven’t uprooted their mathcore nous and nonetheless shift kinds like they’ve picked them from a seize bag. The Callous Daoboys in 2023 are simply as heavy, however they’re additionally catchier, groovier, extra rapid, and extra them.
“The place I need to head going ahead is having a sound that’s solely our personal,” Tempo elaborates. “In a league the place we’re not being in comparison with this band or that band. You understand, I admire the Dillinger Escape Plan comparisons — that’s a band I noticed so many occasions, and I like them to demise. However I’m prepared for it to be like, ‘What does the brand new Callous Daoboys music sound like? It sounds just like the Callous Daoboys.’ That being stated, I need to do extra wild shit.” He even sees the band taking part in round with electronics extra, having used to make it.
One of the fascinating elements of this EP, in the meantime, is the band’s flirtation with nü metallic. It’s pushed to the fore most on its standout closing observe, “Designer Shroud of Turin,” the place their wrecking ball riffs have an indelible groove, to not point out a cackle-rousing shoutalong of “NOSTALGIA FOR THE 2000s!” and their most muscular refrain thus far. Each Tempo and Hodson have their very own shut ties to the style — one of many first bands they ever bonded over was Korn, whereas Tempo cites Limp Bizkit as the explanation he wished to play guitar. “I feel that [influence] simply occurred naturally with us,” he continues. “I feel, earlier than, I used to be making an attempt to withstand the nü-metal parts, and now I’ve opened the floodgates. Now, I simply don’t give a fuck.”
“[My gateway into] extra excessive music was Korn, Limp Bizkit, Slipknot, System Of A Down,” Hodson provides. “I most likely wouldn’t have the sense of groove and rhythm that I do if it weren’t for these bands. That’s such an necessary a part of nü metallic; it takes a lot affect from hip-hop, and it makes you progress. Our drummer Marty will all the time say, “I play drums to make individuals dance.’”
Put merely, this band’s quest, at this second in time, is to be daring, even a little bit loopy, however most significantly, to be gloriously particular person. “I feel we’re simply making an attempt to write down what we discover fascinating,” Tempo concludes. “That is the band that I need to hear, the band I needed existed [when I was younger]. I really feel like whenever you do this, you’ve stumbled throughout one thing actually particular.”
