They have half a million monthly listeners and four full-length studio LPs. They are DIIV, the indie rock shoegazers of the 2020s.
DIIV is a band that is made complete by Cole (also known as Zachary Cole Smith) on vocals, Colin Caulfield on bass, keyboards, and guitar, Ben Newman on drums, and Andrew Bailey on guitar, are hitting their stride right now. The band is on an artistic high with their new album, Frog In Boiling Water. DIIV is riding the wave of indie shoegaze rock at the moment, and they are gladly taking in all the positive press that they are receiving. “We appreciate it. It’s important to us. It’s hard not to pay attention to. Fortunately, it’s generally been positive,” says Newman. Caulfield adds, “I think it’s tempting to gauge how an album is doing well – whether it be sales, streams, or press. When we made our last album, Deceiver, it was a real slow earn with people. Over time, though, the public got really connected to it. We didn’t get that feeling the first few months of it being out. Now, I am just thankful and excited people are connecting to the music but not to evaluate it in terms of it being successful.”
In terms of studio time and creating new music, the critics may be a distraction at times. “When it comes to the press, each article is one person’s opinion. While that is valid, that is not necessarily reflective of good or bad. It’s nice to get feedback; I feel feedback could be a slippery slope where you are making things, though. It’s the expectations in mind for what people take from it and it usually doesn’t work and could complicate the process when creating new music. Anybody could say anything, really,” says Cole.
Some external pressure did seep in between sessions of making the new album, but it is important to note that the band took five years in between records, so it was a delicate process. “I think the four of us just focused so hard on making this album and it felt less indebted to music outside of the band compared to albums in the past. It felt relatively easy to maintain some sort of tunnel vision focus and ignore external pressures. I think the album wanted to sound a certain way. We wanted to respond to that tendency. There were moments though that we wanted to write a fast hit song, and it wouldn’t match. There were enough attempts to do something that was maybe slightly out of step with how the album was shaping up, then that felt natural. We let the record determine the process,” admits Caulfield.
They brought in producer/engineer Chris Coady to help them release some of the pressure the band was feeling. “I think that was the goal to alleviate some of the pressure on us. I don’t know if it really worked because that brought in a whole new set of tastes, expectations, and opinions. It created one more person to have to bounce ideas off of, but it wasn’t a magic bullet as far as taking pressure off us,” explains Newman.
Cole found himself becoming a parent for the first time, as well, but he wanted to get the album finished before anything else. “The original goal was to finish the album before the baby was born. I had a lot of anxieties and existential questions around being a father that worked its way into the subject matter of the lyrics. For example, what the world we live in is like and how to find meaning in it. These were some of the questions brought to the front of my mind,” he shares. “The subject matter of the record is the stuff we are interested in. Once we found a pathway to discuss it, that was the most natural thing. As the songs started to feel cohesive with each other, the lyrics did, as well.”
Frog In Boiling Water is a relationship-based album. It’s not so much individual against the world, but the feelings we all have in this modern day and age of living in it. “I think it’s about having a relationship with the world and how the world can make you feel alienated,” says Newman.
Reflecting on the last half of the decade and their last album, the band has experienced growing pains, relocated (three of the four members have since moved to California), and matured. “I think that – lyrically – Deceiver was a stepping stone because there were a few songs on there that were more political. It opened the door for us to navigate to make a political album. There was a lot of pitfalls to protest music that were trying to consciously shy away from when making Frog In Boiling Water. Five years is a long time and as a band Deceiver was such a big pivot for us in how the band functioned stylistically speaking, and with the emphasis we placed crafting the live show and even taking our instruments more seriously. That gave us confidence to continue to pursue that dynamic of the band going into making this new album. It’s trusting ourselves to be a proper rock band, since it’s intimidating this kind of music these days since it’s not the most popular thing,” Caulfield says.
Since most of the band decided to moved out west, they didn’t just leave an imprint on New York City, they left a cultural mark. Caulfield jumps in again and says, “I still think we have a strong connection to the idea of being a New York band or just New York in general. I noticed that when I meet someone who lived there around the same time, even if they moved away for a while there’s a lot of shorthand communication that you have and shared understanding. That time was very instrumental in the band and forever be a part of it.”
“That scene in New York in the early 2010s where the band came from is what we will always be tied to. It was a beautiful time for making and DIY music and an ethos that I really look fondly on,” adds Cole.
The band is about to begin a world tour in support of the new record. “We don’t think of it as a long tour, but it’s mostly like small tours next to each other. We are gearing up for the global bricks, so to speak, and touring is hard and taxing on mental health,” acknowledges Bailey.
Smith emphasizes that they work hard throughout, though. “Another part of it is that we are perfectionists when it comes to everything we do. When we do a tour there are small things you learn, like the guitar volume, or something bigger, like the flow of the set. When we go home in between tours, we do some optimizing and try to apply.”
DIIV IS GOING TO TAKE THE STAGE IN PHILADELPHIA, TOMORROW, 8/6, & IN BROOKLYN ON WEDNESDAY, 8/7. FOR TICKETS & MORE, CLICK HERE!
