Featured Photo Credit: Eric Weaver
Indie-rock band, The Dumes have returned with their sophomore and second 2020 release, “Liquor and High.”
After exploring other projects, lead vocalist, Elodie Tomlinson searched for a more authentic direction for her creativity. She found it while high on Santa Monica’s Point Dume. The result was The Dumes.
Self proclaimed “tantrum rockers”: Tomlinson, Kyle Biane, Chris Dunn, Liam McCormack, and Peter Recine are capturing the raw and intense highs and lows of life.
We chatted with the band about these emotion fueled tracks, working with Grammy-winning producer Joe Chiccarelli (The Strokes, Cherry Glazerr, The Killers) at the iconic Sunset Studios and more.
How did The Dumes come to be?
The Dumes: Elodie and Chris have been friends and collaborators for a while. When Elodie was ready to start a new project, Chris helped assemble the band from his group of friends in the indie rock session/live musician scene in LA. From there, we all became fast friends and we’ve been having a great time making music together.
How would you describe your sound?
The Dumes: Restless rock. 2020 anxiety.
What was the inspiration for your latest single, “Liquor & High”?
Elodie: For the first time, I was in a place where I was ready to be selfish with my time and the people around me weren’t handling it well.
What was the writing process like?
Elodie: This song started as a sad song on piano, but when I brought it into the room with the band, it turned into a totally different feeling. I started owning being a selfish bitch.
You don’t use vocal tuning and use very little editing. Why is it important to you to maintain that authentic sound?
The Dumes: These choices were really made by our producer, Joe Chiccarelli. We didn’t go into the studio with an anti editing ethos, we just left the sessions with really solid takes and performances. It wasn’t until later, in the overdub sessions, that we realized how little editing Joe was doing to the tracks. We did some guitar doubling and added a few overdub keyboard parts, but the core tracks are full passes of the band, live off of the studio floor. In terms of vocal tuning, Elodie’s voice is so powerful and she has so much control, it wasn’t at all difficult to get solid and in tune takes.
You recorded at Sunset Sound Studios in Hollywood, CA. What was it like to record in a studio space that has seen the likes of the Beach Boys, Van Halen, Led Zeppelin, and Sheryl Crow?
The Dumes: Super magical and vibey. Walking through the front office and the studio spaces, the rooms make you feel like you’re still in the 60s. Lots of fun gold and platinum records on the walls to look at too. We spent most of our breaks playing H-O-R-S-E on Prince’s basketball hoop in the courtyard.
If you could set fans up in the perfect environment to listen to “Liquor & High,” what do you imagine it looking like?
The Dumes: Make yourself a Dumes cocktail: A tequila-soda with a slice of jalapeno and a lime wedge. Cannabis cross pollination (CCP) encouraged.
You recently performed a virtual show that was streamed via the Headliner platform. What was it like to play live again?
The Dumes: Hot and sweaty. The studio we were streaming from had these rad moving lights and cameras, but every time the AC kicked on, it blew the fuse because of all of the extra power for the lights etc. It reminded us of all the basement and hall shows we played coming up in our hometown DIY scenes.
What can fans look forward to next?
The Dumes: We are going to continue to roll out singles from the “Everything is Horrible” EP, we’ll be playing more livestreams, making music videos, writing and recording new music, and hopefully playing music in front of a real live (and safe!) audience sometime soon.
What is one quote that you have heard or that you go by that you want to ECHO out to the world?
The Dumes: “DUMES VIBES”