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    Diamond Thug on The Cure, cosmic wolfs and convos of the universe

    Dreamy indie pop band Diamond Thug will be adding their unique celestial electronica/psychedelic-rock to the upcoming Rock On The Lawns lineup, alongside headliner English pop rock icons The Cure. We chat to lead singer Chantel Van T to find out more.
    Diamond Thug on The Cure, cosmic wolfs and convos of the universe

    What’s your favourite The Cure song and why?

    “Friday I’m in Love”. We covered it as a band ‘cause we loved it so much. It’s just one of those songs that makes you feel good, whether you’re in love with a person or not while listening to it you feel like you are. It gives that in-love-movie kinda feeling where nothing feels impossible.

    If you had to describe the band as an animal what would it be and why?

    A cosmic wolf as we all have a little bit of goofy/clumsiness like the pup qualities of a wolf – sass and determination of the wiser wolf and we’re pack creatures. Through all the tours and time together it’s made us a family that get to dream and create together. Cosmic because have you listened to our last album?

    If you had to describe the band as a feeling what would it be and why?

    Flying because you can feel feathery and light but you can also dive and risk your flight. You can be high and you can be low. You are exposed to all the weather conditions whether you’re in full sunlight or in ice and snow. But you can also feel like you are dreaming and you can see from above.

    How have things shifted for the band since the release of your debut album Apastron?

    Yeah, I think releasing a body of work like Apastron gave us a stand in the world that was big enough to showcase a proper piece of ourselves and our souls as a band. It’s a proper craftmanship that meant a lot to all of us and to have been lucky enough to have received wonderful feedback from fans and friends has given great value to the album in allowing us to move faster to get another one on the go and in making plans to get to more places to play to fans that aren’t from around here.  Our global growing fanbase has been really exciting to watch and we can’t wait to start playing more cross-continental shows.

    How do you see your sound evolving over the years?

    Our sound has continued to develop since we started playing together as a band and I am sure it will bend and curve, but we have found a space that seems to feel like ‘our sound’. It’s hard to explain but I think the best way to put it is as a combination between exploring electronic synth and sample sounds/loops with the live and organic instruments and vocals. The last album definitely has a sound and the new music we are creating has elements of that, but I think we will always be a band that could write in what a first could seem like a rock, blues, indie, folklore style or any other you can think of genre but once we get deeper in we have seemed to manage to find ways of bending genres to make them more feel like ‘our sound’ within these sub-brackets. It comes from someone playing something at practice or writing it alone and unless someone’s really not feeling it, we always give it a go and an exploration. I’d call some of these news songs 'echo grooves’. It feels like the best way to describe all the reverbs and delays that are bringing forth different meanings to our sounds.

    Your musical career highlights?

    A few must be: SXSW 2017, playing in Chamonix in the Alps, recording in Boston, playing at all the festivals across our beautiful country and of course getting booked for The Cure lineup J J hehe.

    Your favourite emojis?

    The thumbs up emoji is used in our band chats. We’re not all the best communicators but a good old thumbs up was the deal we made to know that at least everyone has read the message. Apart from that, of course, some band favourites: doggy with the tongue out and the classics are the stars, moon, galactic emojis.

    Guilty pleasures?

    As a band, haha, well I guess some clean greens, for a few caffeine, for me cacao. We’re a big concoction as a band but together we can geek out on lots of convos of the universe, make very strange accents and laugh ourselves silly and make a lot of noise at band practice. I think if we lived together as we did on tour once or twice we’d swing between the Cosmos and Brooklyn 99 if that gives you an idea. Individually each of us can geek out on other things while being in the same room too hence the concoction.

    Who are the local artists you think deserve more acknowledgement?

    BCUC, Urban Village, The World of Birds, Bye Beneco, Hyroine.

    What’s the grand plan for the band?

    The grand plan? Well the grandness of a grand plan is that it includes everything so that means being able to live solely off of our music, touring around the globe, continuing to make the music we love and are excited about, having a team that is ready to do anything to get our music outright and work hard because they also love the music as much and I think living somewhere abroad because the music has taken us there even if it’s just for a while. For now, that seems like a pretty grand idea.

    Rock On The Lawns will take place in Johannesburg on 16 March 2019 at Festival Lawns, Carnival City and in Cape Town on 21 March 2019 at the Kenilworth Racecourse.

    Tickets prices start from R495 and are available via computicket.com.

    www.diamondthug.com

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