DIIV - Nu-gaze addictions

DIIV are a band formed in 2011 in Brooklyn (USA). On the initiative of Zachary Cole Smith, who had already played in Beach Fossils and Soft Black, Andrew Bailey (guitar), Devin Ruben Perez (bass) and Colby Hewitt (drums) were recruited.

My first question is about your musical influences, from your early days in Beach Fossils and Soft Black to DIIV…

All these bands were part of the New York underground scene, there were so many artists doing this do it yourself thing, really easy to reproduce in a basement, really fast to write. I was also listening to a lot of minimal music, the early Cure albums, kraut-rock, those were the influences at the time. Beach Fossils were truly DIY!

With DIIV were you inspired by Sub Pop artists, underground bands like Vaselines?

Yes, definitely, they were really cool, that scene was cool. The late 80s, definitely a source of inspiration.

How would you describe the natural progression from your early work to your latest, "Frog"? I also noticed a different approach to the lyrics.

Yeah, on every record you're a different person, you grow, you listen to different music, you always have to try to stand out, figure out what you're doing, that's also a fun part of the process, bringing in different sounds. While making the second album, we were listening to a lot of really chaotic stuff, Royal Trux, later a lot of metal and drone too, and lately we've been trying to synthesize these influences, bringing in ambient and electronic music too, stuff like that.

What kind of electronic music are you referring to? The 90s?

See, we didn't actually grow up on electronic music, we were more of a rock band, but then we immersed ourselves in these artists, quite different from each other too, drum'n'bass, trip-hop…

Which writers do you like?

Each album has different literary sources, for instance the first one was very zen, I had read this book "The Enlightened Heart", an anthology of sacred poetry that I loved. Later I discovered modern authors, and for the latest album, non-fiction.

What's your take on AI?

I think it's an abomination! It's part of this whole process happening today, platforms, streaming, selling our data. AI to me is a really sinister thing, it's like a friendly face hiding an evil product, and the people behind it are pure evil.

Something I'm curious about: a while back I saw photos of Anthony Kiedis wearing your t-shirt, and at the concert Red Hot Chili Peppers played in Egypt he was wearing a DIIV long-sleeve and cap. Do you know each other?

I met Anthony a couple of times at a "recovery community", he likes our music, and through a mutual friend he got the t-shirts and then wore them. Really cool!

(August 17, 2025)

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