Dum Dums With(out) A Bullet

"We were in Belfast recently to appear on a TV show and at the last minute they pulled us because the producer thought our name might offend the viewing public", opens guitarist/vocalist Josh Doyle. "Evidently they thought our name was a reference to bullets, whereas actually we're named after a type of American lollipop…"

The Dum Dums are a three-piece outfit from England who are determined to put pop music back in the pap charts. Guitar driven melodic pop music with early 'Eighties echoes (think Police, Jam and XTC) spliced with a grungy energy reminiscent of Seattle's finest, their new single 'Army Of Two' is a perfect example of why these boys should be huge. So, Josh, how did you become a Dum Dum?

"I grew up on Bon Jovi, Poison and Extreme, which I know isn't terribly cool but at least I'm being honest, and gradually discovered bands like Stone Temple Pilots and Nirvana. By this time I was already making music on my own and decided to take a music composition course at university. That was pretty strange because I thought it would be a songwriters course basically, but it actually involved studying the work of people like Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky, quite heavy stuff.

While I was there I met Stuart (drums and vocals) who was this cool looking long-haired guy in a Pearl Jam T-shirt and we hooked up and started working together. Basically we sort of became outcasts, and we left after a year to form the Dum Dums with Steve Clarke (drums) who was an old friend."

The usual round of pub and club gigs paid off when they attracted the attention of producer Steve Powers, who had previously worked with Robbie Williams, and shortly thereafter the band landed a deal with Wildstar offshoot Good Behaviour. Good Behaviour wasn't always the order of the day though as anyone who saw the bands stage-thrashing appearance on ITV's CD:UK can testify.

"That's just an dynamic thing, and it comes from the music. I'd always loved the energy of bands like Soundgarden, but the music could be a bit dirgey so I wanted to marry that energy with the accessible pop sound of bands like the Police. It's very song driven also, and while 'Army Of Two' is quite a romantic up-beat number a lot of the stuff on the album is dealing with darker issues like divorce and hopelessness and the soul-destroying way that growing up in suburbia can sap your energies. Again if you look at bands like XTC or Elvis Costello, they were writing really biting incisive lyrics and splicing that into absolutely accessible and commercial pop songs. So it's possible to combine the two, though a lot of people don't seem to bother these days, and that's a shame. Also those acts constantly progressed and developed their sound and remained relevant.

"If you look at the state of the pop charts today it's clear that there's something seriously wrong! Obviously I've got no problem with good pop acts, but if you take boybands as an example, Take That were first, then we got Boyzone who weren't as good, then we get Westlife who're even worse, it's a downward spiral Why can't we have a boyband like the Jackson 5? I think we're doing the pop generation a favour by teaching them to rock!"

With a name like Doyle it's fairly safe to assume that there's an Irish connection?

"Yeah, that's right, my dad's Irish and I've got a lot of family in Northern Ireland which is why I was so disappointed that we couldn't gig there recently, but it all hinged on that TV appearance that they wouldn't let us do. I mean, come on! It's not like we're called CS Gas…"

Any chance of seeing the band live in the near future?

"We'll be gigging in Ireland at some stage in the near future, but I don't have a confirmed date at the moment but we'll let you know. I'm looking forward to playing in Belfast 'cos of the family, and Dublin 'cos I've heard the crowds are really up for it. We tend to rock out a bit onstage, it's a bit louder and a bit trashier live then on the album. We're not exactly a shoegazing band."

'Army Of Two' is out now on Good Behaviour. The album It Goes Without Saying is due shortly.