For the past decade, DMA’S have lived the dream. The Australian alternative rock band has amassed an enviable fanbase in the United Kingdom, their spiritual home. They’ve landed spots on the biggest stages. Awards have come their way, including an ARIA for best group in 2023.
One thing, however, is strangely missing. A No. 1.
The trio has got ever-so-close, on multiple occasions. Their most recent album, 2023’s How Many Dreams, opened and peaked at No. 2 on the ARIA Chart, and No. 3 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart. Its predecessor, 2020’s The Glow, also peaked at No. 2 in Australia, and No. 4 in the United Kingdom.
With their self-titled fifth album, a fresh start. DMA’S arrived Friday, Aug. 21, the product of recording sessions at the band’s own studio, and released through Wonderlick and Sony Music, their first through a major label machine.
Bandmates Johnny Took (acoustic guitar, backing vocals), Matt Mason (lead guitar) and Tommy O’Dell (lead vocals) recorded the collection in their studio in Sydney’s Glebe, a space that was established by rock’n’roll legend Col Joye, and hosted sessions with David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen and the Bee Gees. The DMA’S found the studio on Facebook Marketplace, buying it from Australian Music Prize winners Hermitude.
The LP was largely self-produced, with contributions from Lach Bostock of Mansionair, Norwegian duo Jimi Somewhere and two-times Grammy Award nominee Styalz Fuego.
“We did try with a producer overseas and it didn’t work out,” Mason tells Billboard over a Zoom. “We tried a few things out. It didn’t work. It solidified what were thinking, should we do it ourselves? F— it, let’s just go home. We’ve got our own studio now. We produce music for other bands. It’s album five. We know what we want, you know? Let’s just do it ourselves.”
DMA’S is the sound of a band that knows what they want. It’s an album with big songs, style and swagger, born from Britpop, raised in Australia. The trio boast an impressive following in both countries, but no Britpop frontman had the lungs of O’Dell, who shows off his natural talents on the singles “My Baby’s Place,” “Heatin Park” and “Killing Time,” and across the new album’s 11 tracks.
The sessions were “basically free because it’s our studio,” Mason says. “You’re the one creating the deadlines, you can go on forever. It did take a long time because it’s just up to you. At least we can say that we love it. It’s my favorite album that we’ve done.”
Recording the album took roughly a year to complete. “It did take quite a bit longer than usual. Just because we had the luxury of just spending as long as we can,” Mason admits. “You have this unlimited sort of potential to just experiment as long as you can and to have that luxury was like something that we haven’t done before. Some records I can look back on and say, f—, I wish I could’ve switched in an extra day or two for that. Yeah. But this album was completely happy with every single segment of it.”
Some of the songs geminated at the beginning of their career. “My Baby’s Place” and “One & Only” borrow from recordings which the band members retrieved from a rusty old PC.
Since the release of Hill’s End, which this year celebrates its 10th anniversary, DMA’S have amassed over 535 million streams. Breakthroughs, they can come from the least-expected avenues. In Australia, it was the band’s 2016 cover of Cher’s ‘90s dance hit “Believe” that got the ball rolling. Their version came out on top of triple j’s inaugural Hottest 100 “Live A Version” countdown in 2023.
In the U.K., a 2016 appearance on the now-defunct Sky Sports show Soccer AM, where they performed “Delete,” was an early goal. Mason remembers the experience for several reasons. “People liked the song. But the comments on YouTube, people were like, ‘why are their shoes so dirty?’” It was the first of several appearances. The bandmates are soccer tragics, a love affair that has spawned a merch collaboration with Sydney FC, featuring a jersey, jacket, scarf and wall flag.
Conversation shifts to that elusive No. 1. “I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t a part of it,” Mason tells Billboard, referring to their new major label route. Each of the band’s previous studio albums were released through I Oh You, part of the Mushroom Group. All crashed the ARIA top 10.
When the band’s contract came up, “we were kind of looking around, you know, what’s going to be our next move? I was thinking, I don’t know if we’re going to be able to find another family or another team that feels like that. Sometimes you just think like that would be impossible to find. A group of people who would be so accommodating and, you know, we’ve found it,” he says. “We’ve just made the right decision.”
The U.K. beckons, where the band has already made five return trips this year. There, DMA’S played 10 Hills End anniversary shows in February, with multiple dates sold out, including two at the O2 Brixton Academy. From September, DMA’S will play regional parts of Australia, performing sets at triple j’s One Night Stand in Griffith, Yours and Owls Festival in Wollongong the following month, and will end the year at Spilt Milk in Canberra, the Gold Coast, Geelong and Perth.
“I feel like this has been a busy year for us,” Mason considers. “There are a few places we really want to go back to. Italy, we have a decent fan base there and we just love it. Japan would be great. The United States, yep. I’d love to. Maybe next year.” Regular, long-haul travel “is f—ed,” he says with a laugh, “but there’s a beauty to be able to travel to the other side of the world and have that appreciation.”
