DMA'STen years ago, DMA’S were riding high as Australia’s answer to Oasis.
Led by frontman Tommy O’Dell, clad in his Adidas fit and leaning under the microphone like Liam Gallagher, tambourine in hand, the band quickly catapulted to the top line of bills for various Australian festivals.
Even the UK was on board; debut album Hill’s End quickly found an eager audience back in the motherland, who love of Britpop hadn’t left them after Oasis and co.’s famous Knebworth ’96 extravaganza.
Now it’s 2026, Oasis are back, and DMA’S are all grown up.
Members are either all married or adjusting to fatherhood. But still, the magic of the trio – the aforementioned O’Dell, alongside Matt Mason and Johnny Took – isn’t lost on people.
With a new single under their belt – the first since 2023’s How Many Dreams? – the band have just landed back in the country after a victory lap throughout the UK, celebrating the tenth anniversary of their seminal debut.
Don't miss a beat with our FREE daily newsletter
“Every band will always have people that say its first album is the best … I’m guilty of that,” Mason admits. “I was really happy to do that tour for those fans.
“Re-visiting songs and going ‘What the fuck were we thinking there?’ – the confusion of working out what was going through our heads at that point – was actually pretty fun, especially because everything was so nonchalant back then.”
The Hill’s End Anniversary chapter won’t be too long-winded. At the time of speaking to Mason, the band have only one more show scheduled – at The Metro Theatre in Sydney for Friday, March 27th, which sold out within minutes of going on sale.
When asked what their younger selves would make of this achievement, though, Mason is more struck by the fact that they’re still here to do it at all.
“I would have been most shocked at the fact that we were still a band,” he reflects. “Not that I would have thought we would have fallen out, but being five albums and ten years in – that just would have seemed impossible”, he says with a hint of amusement.
“Five albums for having been around for that long – I feel like most bands don’t have that level of output … it’s the only band I’ve been in that’s lasted that long, but also the fact we’re still friends and making music, that’s the crazy part to me.”
With the anniversary shows soon to be in the rear mirror, the band turns its attention to new music.
Eagle-eyed readers will note that Mason mentioned DMA’S being “five albums” into its career; the band’s fifth record, which is yet to be named, will hopefully be arriving sooner rather than later.
Thus far, they’ve only shared one new song, My Baby’s Place, which cruises along with the self-assuredness of a band that is confident in its craft and trajectory.
The band recorded its new material at its own studio, which they purchased off Facebook Marketplace, in the inner-city suburb of Glebe in its native Sydney.
Formerly owned by the late Col Joye & The Joy Boys leader Col Joye, and having hosted sessions by the likes of David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, and the Bee Gees, working there was a chance for DMA’S to connect to some wider music history.
Their new era also marked the band's return to the production chair, alongside co-producer Lachlan Bostock from Sydney indie act Mansionair (Mason credits Lachlan with getting “the wheels moving” on the project).
It meant DMA’S were able to take their time to bring the songs to life; however, it presented some unique challenges of its own.
“We (started working with) a really good team at Wonderlick Entertainment, and they were kind enough not to rush us into making any music – they were very much wanting us to take our time, so we had the luxury of potting around the studio,” Mason says. “It was all very low-pressure, low-stakes, and I think that's reflected in the music.
“(However) it’s very hard to sign off on stuff when you’re doing it yourself. If it’s up to you, when do you say it’s done? We thought this album would be done last October, but we only finished it really recently.”
With their decade of experience, Mason also notes that the band found themselves second-guessing elements of production that in the past would have remained on the recording – potentially enhancing things.
“On How Many Dreams? we tried a bunch of new things, we were having fun with different equipment and experimenting with sounds we hadn’t tried before – and there’s always a time for that.
“(But) this album is less rough around the edges. Even if we wanted to try to replicate what we were doing a decade ago, there’s a part of us that wouldn’t allow that to happen because we’ve learnt new things along the way.
“The things I really like about music is things being a bit out of tune, being mic-ed up badly, singing sometimes being a bit out of key – now there’s part of me that thinks ‘That has to be tuned, this can’t be out of time’ - there’s an OCD element that you think ‘I can’t let that through’”.
Despite the long gap between drinks, Mason is adamant that – like most of their friends in bands – there’s no sense that the members of DMA’S will ever stop creating music.
For this new batch of music, there were dozens of songs each member brought to the table, and each member kept the creative juices flowing despite the added responsibilities of being husbands, dads, and sticking to the “mid-30s health kick”.
Still, this new chapter will soundtrack what Mason describes as a “big gear shift” in his and his bandmates’ lives, with the group returning to Earth after the band “went off on a bit of a tangent” for their last LP.
Despite the band’s nostalgic aesthetic and the huge levels of adoration they experience in the UK, there’s a sense among members of focusing now on the future, while staying grounded.
Part of this included a decision not to relocate to the UK – a move that its former label wanted them to make.
“For starters, the flight’s long”, Mason laughs when asked why the band ultimately chose to stay in Australia, despite its international appeal. “I love the fact we lived here, and we have a separation from the UK – it’s a bit of a luxury,
“All our families are here. The UK’s great and the music scene is incomparable … we have thought about it, but we still do heaps of stuff in Australia.”
“Because we do a lot of work here, I feel like we’d be making the trip just as much - so why not just live here where it’s a bit more relaxed?”
DMA’S are still riding high, but one feels like it’s now taking a breath and enjoying the view before jumping into whatever excitement the next chapter holds.
DMA’S’ new single, My Baby’s Place, is out now.
This piece of content has been assisted by the Australian Government through Music Australia and Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body
