Interview: Dan Coop of Does It Offend You, Yeah?

BY GREG CARUSO AND PAULA GONZALEZ

Reading, U.K. electro-rock band Does It Offend You, Yeah? has had an eventful year thus far. After performing at this year’s Coachella, receiving heavy airplay on such local radio stations as Indie 103.1 and joining Bloc Party and Nine Inch Nails for their upcoming U.S. tours, these busy Brits have been hard to track down. But synths player Dan Coop took some time from his busy schedule to type The Scenestar a hello and answer a few of our burning questions.

SS: According to the band’s bio, the phrase ‘does it offend you, yeah?’ is from an episode of the British TV series The Office. Is that true?
DC: Well, the name does come from The Office, but it wasn’t a conscious choice to use a quote from The Office. We just switched on the TV when we needed a name to put on our MySpace profile, and that’s what we first heard.

SS: In 2007, Does It Offend You, Yeah? won Worst Band Name by The Guardian. Do you think the band should have been nominated for Best Album Title? Because we think You Have No Idea What You’re Getting Yourself Into is brilliant.
DC: It’s quite filmic, so that’s why we like it. We’re all really into movies. There’s lots of cinematic references in our music.

SS: On the DIOYY MySpace page, fans have been sending in videos of robots playing DIOYY songs. How did that come about?
DC: No idea. People just started sending them to us on YouTube, so we made a blog about them, and there was kind of a chain reaction. We really love them all, and love it when people send us artistic stuff.

SS: And obviously, there’s the video for “Epic Last Song.” What are DIOYY’s childhood memories of toys?
DC: We’re all children of the ’80s, so I’m sure we all had Transformers and He-Man toys. I personally really liked my Simple Simon and Eagle Eye action man.

SS: The band is known for its on-stage energy and persona. And DIOYY’s sound is immense, almost bigger than life. Where does all that come from?
DC: We kinda have to reach down a bit and pump ourselves up before we go on stage. We have a little ritual before we go on, which involves alcohol.

SS: What are some memorable moments from DIOYY’s Coachella performance?
DC: Wow. We met so many people. Hanging out with Portishead was really cool. Geoff is a really nice guy. We also saw loads of people [whom] we’ve only seen on TV, like David Hasselhoff.

SS: The debut album is entitled, ‘You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into.’ So, what am I getting myself into here?
DC: A lot of different sides to our band’s musical tastes. We’ve kinda got an electro theme running through the album, but the surprise is probably some of our more band-driven tracks.

SS: This might be too much information, but when I first heard the album, I was dancing to it in my undies. Great feeling! How should a person who is about to hear your music for the first time enjoy your album?
DC: Hey, that’s great! Send over some photos! Hah! I think you’ve probably got the best way of listening to our album nailed.

SS: Is there anything else you would like to inform our Scenestar readers?
DC: Don’t forget that there’s life outside of any scene! Invite someone you wouldn’t normally invite to your next party! I can guarantee you will have more fun :)

Does It Offend You, Yeah? has several upcoming show in Los Angeles in July. They will perform a headlining show with the Black Ghosts at the Echo on July 26, then open for Bloc Party at the Glass House on July 28 and the Mayan on July 29. Tickets are available now.

Comments

[mychelle]

dancing in undies! woo hoo!