Your single “Long way”, which as become quite popular, is included on the EP. Is it a good indication of what listeners can expect from the EP?
Adrian: Yes and no. Yes because our sound has developed a lot over the past year and “Long way” sort of marked the beginning of that. So in that sense it’s an indication of how the band is sounding at the moment and that ties through the whole EP. No because we do not really define our sound by any genre, we write songs that differ a lot. One of the songs on the EP, “Beauty through the devil’s door”, starts off in a soulful, electronic way and by the end it sounds more like indie-rock than anything else. Then [there’s] “Mind’s eye”, which is straight up rock ‘n’ roll and “Miami”, which leans more toward alternative pop. But the overall sound of the EP is very groove-orientated and that’s pretty consistent.
Last year, you performed at most of the top music festivals and venues. Are there any that stood out?
Adrian: Well, our favourite festival this past year was probably one of the smaller festivals that we played at, Smoking Dragon. It’s in the middle of the Drakensburg, in a beautiful setting, [and] it was super relaxing and the perfect way to end off our year and celebrate the new year. The show was also really good. Everyone was on such a high for New Year’s Eve and the energy was great!
Chantel Van T recently released her own solo album, We’re still running. What was the response to the release like?
Chantel: It’s been really good! I worked with Adrian on the album and we’re really happy with how things sound. The response has been great, we just recently held an album launch in Cape Town with Sean Koch, who also released his EP, and it sold out, so I guess that’s cool. It’s just really nice to have some of my work out there and know that people are engaging with it. I’m excited to add this EP to that!
What are the group’s favourite songs on the EP?
Ted: I think we all agree on this one: “Beauty through the devil’s door”. It’s a song that really builds and builds and builds, and the climax at the end of the song, where Adrian takes a guitar solo, is super fun. Then I’d say we all really love “Mind’s eye”, because it’s so much fun to play. It’s a real let-it-all-go song that makes you want to move!
Diamond Thug will be at Arcade Empire on 24 March for their official EP launch in Pretoria.
Image: Seth Zworestine
