+ Colin Bailey, Drums of Death

Thursday, Peaches and Drums of Death will be playing a sold out show at Emo's here in Austin. Whether or not you are familiar with Colin Bailey, also known as Drums of Death, I am sure he will blow your mind. Hailing from Scotland, Bailey has been dabbling a variety of music genres, from rock bands to DJing dance music.

I met Bailey at the Greco-Roman after-party during Austin City Limits weekend last year, where he was DJing with Hot Chip. Since then, Drums of Death has been producing all sorts of original tracks, which you can find on his Myspace page, remixing Peaches and touring Europe and North America. He was nice enough to allow me to conduct a little interview with him for the blog.

I am sure you get that you look like Heath Ledger's Joker a lot, but what did you really draw inspiration from for your look?
Drums of Death: The look comes from growing up with comic books, reading about Haitian voodoo and Mexican Day Of The Dead and the desire to have some presence which captures people's attention and which they themselves project a meaning on to.

TD: Besides the look, I notice that you have a very three-dimensional artist persona, what is it exactly you are going for?
DOD: Drums Of Death is an extension of Colin. It's just a hyper-real, super version of Colin. So the songs talk about the little things, the personal and emotional but on a larger scale.

TD: What are you working on these days besides tearing it up with Peaches?
DOD: I'm finishing my debut album, due to drop in September this year. Joe from Hot Chip's on a track and I have worked with a lot of other friends on some things. Most of these won't be out till after the album is done. The album is my first ever and very personal. It sounds big though, and I'm building a live band to take the bass to your face directly.

TD: Do you already have band members in mind or will you be holding auditions? What instruments will be included?
DOD: I have band sorted. When I get back to UK after this tour, we will be hitting rehearsals hard.

TD: What is your relationship like with Peaches? What do you guys do in your spare time on the road?
DOD: Talk about musicals, haha. We kind of do. Talk about Betty Davis and weird disco, punk rock and techno. Lots and lots of rock n' roll. The tour in Europe was great but every show ended with us playing mad rock tunes on this lavish tour bus till all hours. The gigs were just the warm ups for the parties on the bus. As I write this, we're in the US and now there's less time for hanging out. She's doing interviews, as am I, and I have to finish my album. So we're all busy, but it's great.

TD: What are your and Peaches' favorite musical(s)?
DOD: Jesus Christ Superstar, the original recording with Ian Gillan from Deep Purple as Jesus. It's proper scuzzy rock n' roll.

TD: What is the best thing about the states? How does it compare to London?
DOD: You Americans like putting cheese on those corn chips. I've also never seen so many sugary drinks in my life. The food here's okay. I'm trying to cut down on wheats and cheeses and those are the two big American food groups, haha. London's no better, don't get me wrong. I spent two weeks in Europe before here, and the food in France, Belgium and Germany's great. We played in a club called AB in Brussels, Belgium, and it has the best food I'd ever eaten on tour. The chef is well-known and has even written a book containing recipes certain famous bands like the most.

TD: How many times have you been in Austin or Texas? What do you look forward to in coming back here?
DOD: Austin, once with Hot Chip last year for a party with Mr. Ian Orth. It was totally awesome, if a little short-lived, due to intervention by Austin's finest ;)

Video interview by Tim Noakes for Dazed Digital