We talk to DC Gore about speeding through the failure roads of Paris, Texas, Essex highway and arriving at nirvana.

After visiting the US, British musician DC Gore couldn’t really make that much sense of it all. Finding himself stuck in an Alan Bennettesque tourist scenario, he has written ‘California’, an art-pop dripping image of a quirky outsider wandering around Venice Beach with no real purpose or spot to go.

After experiencing an Almost Famous-like, life-changing music moment when listening to Pet Shot Boys for the first time, DC knew what he had to do from then on. Inspired by the duo, Talk Talk and Pulp, he created a universe where failure is a commonplace occurrence that we’d welcome in a Jarvis Cocker-meets-J.G. Ballard fashion.

Today, DC Gore shows us the main roads and hidden paths leading to the creation of his sounds and hands a manual so we know how to avoid any obstacles on the way.

Can you tell us who you are, where you’re from and about the music you make? How did it all start?

The first song I wrote was for my Mum’s funeral so that’s a pretty heavy opener but it’s true. I just remember thinking afterwards, oh that's what I do. I’m from a nondescript M25 junction town and I used to be in a band. I grew up around music and I was lucky that my 'wake up' moment was going to visit my friend at Uni and suddenly realizing that I liked words. I think enough people told me that I didn’t write lyrics correctly to make me think that I might be onto something.

If you were to describe your sound to someone who’d never heard you before, what would you say?

If you like Talk Talk, Pet Shop Boys and Pulp it sort of points in the right direction.

Can you walk us through the process of creating your debut single ‘California’?

It was an idea that came up after a trip to the US. I don't think I was prepared for how English and Alan Bennett-esque I felt on Venice Beach or how much of a tourist I became in New York. I didn't get a TV till I was a teen so maybe it still has a magic other people grow out of. I guess going there made me realize how much I am a product of my environment and not a character in an American sitcom. The song has a lot of references to American TV mixed in with things that happened in my life. The "just because I'm reading Rousseau, doesn't mean I can't quote Scrubs" is from a breakup argument I had once.

Songs start from notebooks and then there are piles of demos to be looked at later. What's fun about working in a band is you never know which ones they're going to pick out and start playing around with. I worked with a couple of different people on this one but it never really changed from that demo. In fact, I still wonder if the demo wasn't the best version. I assembled all the pieces during lockdown. I'd wander around the local cemetery when we were allowed out and sing arrangements into my phone.

How was working on the video for it?

The video was a passion project. After lockdown my manager and I started spending our weekends driving round Essex, Sussex and Kent just looking around. We’d make an itinerary for the day, a playlist for the car and then we were out. There’s a blog called ‘Radical Essex’ which gave us some great inspiration. As the song is about a European's view of the US, the Wim Wenders film “Paris, Texas” came to mind. Leaning-in to our shared love of English filmmakers Jonathan Meades and Patrick Kieller, the three of us jumped in the car and we were off. 

The lyrics seem to orbit around the theme of accepting failing before enough committing to try. Can you elaborate on that?

A lot of what I write is about failure. I don’t know if it’s specifically an English thing but when I think about Graham Greene or J.G. Ballard, their books are filled with characters struggling with their own limitations, past their best or relevance. John Grant or Jarvis Cocker touch on this from a more comic perspective and as I get older the more resonant it gets.

How do you find navigating London’s music scene?

I’m very lucky that I’ve met some incredible artists, poets and musicians living here. Sometimes it can be a bit of a distraction but when I was making the record so many friends (old and new) stepped up to help. A lot of this happened over the internet as we were in lockdown, but the experience really helped me understand both what I wanted to do and find the people who could help me do it.

What inspires your music?

Like all artists there’s a stream of films, books and music that I keep coming back to and I guess like most people that’s what keeps me going. When I was a kid I used to pretend that I was a radio DJ so I have a playlist on Spotify called 'DC’s radio hour' which gives me a nice excuse to put the things I’m listening to that week in a pleasing order. In terms of what I write; my work is a sort of autofiction, a combination of my life and the people who inspire me. Like many writers I’m a voyeur and I’ve been keeping journals since I was 12 so there’s a lot of material in there. So watch out.

What advice would you give for anyone trying to achieve a similar sound to your band?

Find the things you love and try and stick them together in the crudest way possible. I think a lot of really interesting work happens in the space where things aren’t being done properly and if that’s one thing that I love about the time we’re in is you can just kind of learn anything if you have a laptop and access to YouTube.

If your music were a film or TV show which would it be?

Have you ever seen that Seinfeld episode "Summer of George?" I mean I'd like to say a Wim Wenders film like Wings of Desire or Until the End of the World but mostly it's just me wandering around pointing at stupid things that have happened to me or which I’ve caused. Jonathan Ames gives me a lot of hope.

Name an album you’re still listening to from when you were younger and why it’s important to you?

Pet Shop Boys discography. That was my Nirvana moment, or like the bit in Almost Famous when he hears The Who. An older boy brought it round to my house once and I’d never heard anything like it. The songwriting, the lyricism, the combination of classical music and electronic music. People think there’s a lot of references in The Fall but I got a lot of mine from "Left to my own devices". My friend and I used to dress up like Chris and Neil in the opportunities video and mime Love comes quickly to our bewildered family and their friends.

What do you hate right now?

The government. I go through phases of trying to stick my head in the sand but this really is the worst cabinet we’ve had in my lifetime and that’s saying something. Novaro media do a good job at making sense of it all for me but at a time when we really need political satire all our best satirists have either retired from our screens or pissed off to the US.

What do you love right now?

Karen Dalton. Sometimes I think my life would be infinitely easier if I just listened to electronic music but I’m a songwriter and a total junkie for a tortured genius and she was every bit that. The documentary is amazing.

What comes next in the DC Gore story?

There’s a lot of songs to come, remixes, reworks and Covid permitting live music. I read the interview Ruby did here and she said collaborations and I think that’s cool. Eno has this thing about ‘Scenius not genius’ and after two years stuck inside I wanna get out there and meet some people.

Is there any new music you’re enjoying from 2021?

Of course, there’s so much wonderful music happening all the time. Ed Dowie’s 'The Obvious I' was my favorite record of the year but that weather station record was something else too. I also love Charlotte Spiral, they make some really beautiful songs and on top of that, Amy, the singer sings with me too.

Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers?

Jonathan Ames's "I love you more than you know" is my favorite book, if you wanna be my friend tell me you liked that book. Thanks to anyone who takes the time to listen or watch my music or come and watch my fumblings on social media, it is appreciated more than you know.