RBY: Ok, I'm sitting at a slightly bust laptop in that I keep having to cut and paste the letter ’t' and as the interview progresses more and more letters on my keyboard start to fail. This makes for a long drawn out process were I’m cutting and pasting in and THE DSM IV’s Guy McKnight is waiting patiently. Guy is a verbally fluid, expressive person, he knows how to get ideas across and is a passionate communicator I discover during the course of the interview, I on the other hand am painfully composing questions almost character at a time.
RBY: Ok Guy, THE DSM IV then, where / when did it start?
Guy: THE DSM IV was born in Liverpool, where Jade, our guitarist & my partner, is from; where we live together. We met Pav, our trusted writing partner & friend, in the shop where me & Jade we were working in. He came in for a pair of jeans & I could see there was something about him
RBY: Had you an idea what you wanted to do at the time (this keyboard thing is now getting painful).
Guy: Musically? Yes. I’d wanted to experiment writing music with drum machines for a long time. For my part, as a lyricist, I’m always interested in songs that marry dark content and themes with upbeat rhythms. It’s good to dance away the darkness. I’m lucky that Jade and Pav appreciate my contribution. I feel fortunate to be in this band with them, as I really dig what they write. We each take charge of our own instrument and parts, whilst trying to remain open to suggestion! We write all the songs together. Our debut album, yet to be released, is intense, dark and light, and very danceable. It’s gonna be good to rock out to. It’s about prejudice, the pursuit of happiness, and some of the destructive forces at work in the depths of a human psyche, that we grapple with in our human society, and a lot of the time fail. Ha ha!
RBY: Killing Your time (THE DSM IVs recent single) seemed pretty dark and seemed intense to me but musically soared. One of the things I noticed about THE DSM IV was the ferocity lyrically was synched to this almost upbeat electronica. So is it a band of equals then?
Guy: Yes it’s a band of equals. There’s a vision which we share. I kinda tend to organise most things but no one works for me, I work for them ha ha...for free! I think to make a band work, you have to have a desire to pull together and share a dream. If you can’t overcome your own egotism and refuse get along with others, it ain’t gonna work. You have to be willing to work for the common good. But we live in a me, me, me society. Small self. Lesser self. You have to work on yourself to become we, we, we...it’s Our-ism, not Me-ism. But there’s a trend of emphasis on individualism in our society that’s gone too far. Social media gives a platform to the voiceless, for better or worse. I try to stop judging others, and myself, on a daily basis. The thing is, when you’re in a band, as performer, people project their own outlook onto you. I’ve heard people muttering in my direction, “...show off...” etc. But their missing the point - being that music and performance is a contribution. It’s an offering. It’s creation. And if you like it, and you get something from it, great, it means the musicians efforts have been worthwhile. And if you don’t like it, don’t worry about it, just write something that you’d like to hear.
RBY: Yeah, I like that to be honest, a lot of bands seem to be the vehicle for one person. Since you started this project, all together, you've been gigging around the UK, Europe, playing with the likes of the Sleaford Mods. Is there any group/genre of bands you'd place yourselves in or do you consider yourselves unique (I do by the way)?
Guy: We’re creating our own strain of dance & Rock n Roll cross over. New Order, Suicide and Primal Scream, to name but a few, have all mixed live instrumentation with programmed beats. I think we’ve ripped it up and started again. It’s a reconstituted hybrid with lashings of hundreds & thousands from parallel dimensions.
RBY: Haha
RBY: I saw you first in the Craft taproom, I really didn't know what to expect. People behind me were saying 'there's no drummer' others shussing them saying 'you'll see' and once it got going all bets seemed off. Each person could hear stuff - I was hearing Kraftwerk and Neu! at moments.
Guy: People these days are into DMT. It’s just the latest LSD as far as I’m concerned. People think it’s enlightenment and I beg to differ. If it helps some people then great. But most people I know just use it to escape from the harsh reality and act with an air of superiority about having taken it. Sometimes the Clockwork Elves communicate with me, but that’s normally on a Tuesday morning when I’m getting a sausage roll from Greggs. No drugs needed. They just communicate through a nice lady called Tracy who makes me coffee.
RBY: The review I wrote at the time had a lot of traditional rock n roll drug narrative I'm embarrassed to say now, its pointed out to me that couldn't be wider off the mark?
Guy: A gig, to me, is a very special thing. It’s a mystic ceremony. It’s where we cast off our identities, as in what do we do in the day, and journey into other realms, together. That’s the purpose of music and song and dance. We have a good time, together. No band, no gig. No audience, no gig. It’s a communal exchange and shared experience. Y’know Konstantin Stanislavski used to run drama groups in prisons with serious violent offenders? By the end of each class, people who were characteristically volatile, became at ease with each other. This is the power of “playing”. This is the power of make believe. This is the function of culture. It humanises us. So the stage is a magical place where we can transcend ourselves, our worries, and transmit otherwise unspoken things to each other, as performer and audience member / participant. It’s where our hearts can come alive. I don’t blame you for assuming that THE DSM IV was drug fuelled. I go for it! I used to take drugs, habitually. But really the places they take you are all Just states of mind within you anyway. We’re just all looking for a deeper connection with ourselves and each other. I’ve definitely felt so much freer onstage (and off) since quitting drugs. Do you think Jack Nicholson or Samuel L Jackson need drugs to be free and become the part they’re playing? I don’t think so.
RBY: Thanks for the interview Guy.
Guy: Cool, thanks for your time man, all the best fella.
Words RBY, Photos RBY and Tracey Howarth
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