Doing It With Friends

Connected via shared members, shared gigs and deep friendships, Doctopus are entwined in the intricate web of Perth bands whose music has been making global waves over the last few years. Amongst the hype surrounding psych and garage exports from their home city, however, Doctopus are clearly content playing just for the fun of it. The band's debut release is a clear indication of where their interests lie, from the album's name to the cover art featuring close friend Cameron George of Usurper of Modern Medicine and his dog Midge, and recorded by POND's Joe Ryan.

Singer and bassist Stephen Bellair and guitarist Jeremy Holmes seem genuinely surprised at the level of enthusiasm for their music that's seen them play consistently regular gigs and become favourites on the scene. “I thought about it for ages at the start,” Holmes reflects. “I couldn't work out why we were getting so many shows. But I think people just see that we have fun, we don't take it too seriously, that we're genuine.” Bellair adds with a laugh, “We genuinely don't care! On a Saturday night after a long week of work when you go out to the pub, you just want to party and have fun… And so do we. So maybe that's why they like us, 'cause we're in the same boat. We just want to cut loose and have a nice time.”

For the band, the obvious option for recording was with a friend at one of many share houses regularly doubling as temporary studios. POND's Joe Ryan fit perfectly with Holmes, Bellair and drummer John Lekias's attitude to their songs. “Joe makes it feel like it's not recording at all, like it's just jamming with a buddy,” Holmes explains. “For me that's just the best because you don't have to think about it too much, overcomplicate things. It never felt serious so it meant we could have fun and not stress about the little things.”

Bellair shares the enthusiasm for home recording and taking things very lo-key. “These days recording albums is really easy. It's crazy that people want to have heaps of money to record an album, 'cause they don't need it. I mean if you're Justin Timberlake, fair enough, because that's what he's going for, but if you're just a local band, just go get yourself a four-track and do it at your house! We like the crustiness and the D.I.Yness - doing it with a friend.” “D.I.Friend,” Holmes suggests, and Bellair agrees. “Yeah, D.I.F, do it with friends.” 

With Buddies only just released on local label Future Past Records, the band have already recorded a follow up, Wobbegong, again with Ryan and again with friendship and fun preferenced over other considerations.

“We had all the songs we knew so well from playing them for so long, and we knew that we could belt them out real quick,” Holmes tells. “We had more snacks this time, definitely more snacks…” adds Bellair. “And we had another friend, Ben, who was just there the whole time, hanging out, doing rubix cubes… That was nice. It was just really casual. That's why recording with Joe and why recording at home can be really good.”

Doctopus will be playing the following dates:

Saturday 13 April - Mojo's Bar, Fremantle WA