Does It Offend You, Yeah?

Remember Does It Offend You, Yeah? the Reading quintet who struck like a screaming thunderbolt back in 2007 with weird synths and buzzing basslines that ranged from banging electro drops with punky choruses to what sounded like a B-movie soundtrack.

Well, they’re back and frontman James Rushent thinks the follow up to their debut ‘You Have No Idea What You Are Getting Yourself Into’ is a retort to anyone who branded them under the Nu-Rave fad: “The new album ‘Don’t Say We Didn’t Warn You’ means a lot. It’s kind of a fuck you. We warned you and now we’re fucking dropping it.”

And when they do drop it, they seriously drop it. Every song punctures the crowd like an adrenaline injection, hurtling through the mosh-pits with fans frantically bouncing in the air to every beat. Even the throbbing strobes rarely let up, making it hard to see your own hand in front of your face or someone else’s elbow flying into it.

DIOYY are as intense as ever when they play live, which is astounding considering they are reaching the final dregs of a seven month tour. “Hull was really good, it was one of the smallest venues we’ve done for a while, but it was chock-a-block, dirtily full. Those gigs are really good, it was a small place but still rammed and everyone just sort of went off, people started ripping shit off the ceiling. Those gigs can be better than playing for ten thousand people.”

Aside from the tour, the band has been putting together their new album. However, it was postponed when their label, Virgin, said they were unhappy with it. “They were really good and stayed away from us when we were doing the album, but then we freaked them out and they wanted us to redo a load of stuff because it’s harder than the last one and a bit more full on.”

The band fell out with Virgin when they asked for a more commercial sound. “They wanted us to make pop songs basically, we’re not a pop band. All the majors are going that way now, because it’s the only thing that sells. It’s not that everything else is unpopular, it’s just the market Jedward fucking appeal to is 14-year-old girls and mums, and they’re the only ones that still buy records. We’re not going to start writing Jedward tunes. We didn’t part ways horribly and we managed to walk straight into another deal.”

Perhaps Virgin had more control over DIOYY then the band would have liked. In 2009 ‘We Are Rockstars’ was used in the trailer for the Fast and Furious reboot. The band weren’t even asked for their permission. “The label said ‘we knew you would say no, so we just did it anyway.’ Those movies suck. They did a sly one there, but it worked out great and loads of people saw it. We got a load more fans out of it, even though the films were shit.”

James will soon go to New York to remix the new album, although there is still no confirmed release date. He said his personal highlights are ‘The Wrestler’, ‘The Monkeys Are Coming’ and another track called ‘Broken Arms’ which James described as a departure from their usual style. “I’ve played the album to friends of mine who weren’t necessarily into the first record, and they said it’s ten times better. When we first put all the tracks together, people were like fucking hell, this is really good.”

Fans are obviously very important to DIOYY, they have been giving out a phone number on which they can leave voicemail messages during the tour. “We’ve had some crazy ones. This lad left one saying, ‘Hey I’m Will, you better shout me out tonight or I’m gonna shit on your wall.’ Then there was this really well spoken guy, he sounded quite old. He said ‘I’m coming to see you in Brighton, look out for me, I’ll be the one dressed as Braveheart.”

The band also gave fans the chance to feature on their new album, by sending in recordings of themselves shouting ‘yeah.’ Unfortunately NME reported the wrong email address, which spread to thousands of blogs. “It’s really annoying, the one NME put out was already registered too. But we still got a couple, although the track won’t be on the album now, it’ll probably be a b-side.”

But not all messages the group receive are quite so friendly. “I fucking love our name, Does It Offend You, Yeah? We’ve had hate email from people, saying they’ve never heard our music, but they’re not even going to listen to it, because they think the name sucks. They’re getting annoyed at the name Does It Offend You, Yeah? Don’t they see the funny side of that? They’re sat there, really pissed off, sending us emails. They need to move out of their mum’s house and get a shag.”

DIOYY will be finishing their tour at this Summer’s massive Milton Keynes Bowl gig, alongside The Prodigy. James even helped co-produce ‘Omen’ and ‘Invaders Must Die.’ “When their album came out it caught fire and Liam offered us a couple of support slots. We had just come off tour with them in Australia when they gave us the Milton Keynes gig.”

Even though the second album isn’t out yet, James has decided to end DIOYY on their third album. “Three is the magic number. I don’t think bands should go on forever, I think it’s far more romantic when they’re there and then they’re gone. There is just a certain charm about it; like with Nirvana. I don’t know where I’ll go after that, I’ll probably work in Asda.”

Undoubtedly fans will be devastated to hear about the end of the DIOYY saga. It’s understandable though as James has a two-year-old daughter he rarely gets to see. “I have to reconnect with her every time I go home because she is so young. She doesn’t quite get it. She will be about seven when I finish, so then I can be a proper dad.”

Does It Offend You, Yeah? are poised to deliver an astounding record and they’ve avoided selling out just to score commercial success. Imagine the best of their debut but harder and, dare I say it, faster and more furious than ever. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

Words and images by Laurence Mozafari