Dummy: "We Were Just Pulling From Completely Disparate Reference Points and Throwing It All Together"

Spanning a few years, a few labels, and the humble confines of shared apartments and a cracked iPhone, Dummy's early EPs captured the band in a primitive, exploratory mode that paved the way for their more refined and expansive later work. Those first couple EPs are now being reissued in a new collection from K Records and Perennial Death Records labeled the Dumb EPs, which also includes three previously unreleased ambient-leaning tracks from the EP2 sessions. The new expanded collection is a snapshot of the LA psych pop alchemists before they locked into the kosmische-pop precision of 2024's LP Free Energy, when anything could happen and often did.

Photo by Vincent Arbelet

Hot Sounds: This collection Dumb EPs gathers material across several years, labels, and living spaces. How does it feel to see these early tracks compiled together in one place, especially with the added context of the bonus tracks from the EP2 sessions?

Joe Trainor: I feel a lot of pride for our early material, and we were lucky enough to have "Pop Wig" and "Born Yesterday" be down to release our first two EP's. The three bonus tracks were recorded during the EP2 era, during the pandemic. All the ambient tracks were captured in moments of inspiration, all very off the cuff. Nathan would be messing around with Kalimba like on "Second Contact" and I'd be like "that sounds cool" and we'd set the iPhone in front of his amp, and record it. The bonus tracks were left off because we wanted to make the EP have brevity, so we took 'em off.

HS: How exactly did this reissue with K / Perennial Records occur in the first place?

JT: Well I do press for K/Perennial, and have become friends with Hayes, and I basically just asked if he'd/they would be down to reissue it on cassette. Nepo Dummy. But obviously to be a part of both of these labels' history is an honor. There's no arguing with their contributions to independent music.

HS: With your newer releases being more refined sonically, what do you hear differently now when revisiting the lo-fi textures and home-recorded experimentation of the Dumb EPs material?

Alex Ewell: I like how experimental a lot of the tracks ended up — really varied as one listen. We had a different sense of creative freedom back then, before we really got good at synthesizing ideas. We were just pulling from completely disparate reference points and throwing it all together. 

HS: You shared with us today the collection's bonus cut "Oceanographer." What can you tell us about this one and how it came together?

AE: This track was one that Nathan recorded for EP2. Joe ended up adding guitar. The original mix had this faint but very annoying clicking sound hiding in the mix, but we couldn't figure out a solution at the time, so we decided to pull it. For the reissue, we managed to reign it in to where it's not really noticeable. 

Photo by Beatriz Pequeno

HS: Similar to "Oceanographer," "Gentle Decoder" presents different approaches to ambient noise and minimalism. Was there a guiding aesthetic or intention behind these bonus tracks, or did they emerge more intuitively in the moment?

AE: We had mixed both of these tracks for EP2, and had them mastered, but ended up deciding to pull the two of them last minute. "Gentle Decoder" felt like it threw off the balance once we decided to remove "Oceanographer." For "Decoder," I was experimenting with slowly shifting the drawbars on the Yamaha reface YC, going through delay. Then just riffing on top. Heavily inspired by Ariel Kalma, I would say.

HS: "Ethereal Security Guard" marks your first (and only) lead vocal, Joe. What made this the moment to step forward vocally, and what about Harald Grosskopf's Synthesist inspired the approach to this song?

JT: I don't really remember, but I do remember wanting someone else to sing the lead, but they all forced (convinced) me to just let the demo vocals stay in place. At the time I remember listening to Harald Grosskopf quite a bit, and just really taken by how euphoric it was, while still having that motorik pulse. It wasn't rock music, but it sounded like a rock band made it. I still feel like ambient pop hasn't been fully explored as a genre, and we continue to explore it.

HS: What else is on the horizon for Dummy aside from touring? Are you working on a follow up to last year's LP Free Energy or that ambient cassette you mentioned last year?

JT: We are currently making demo's for what will be LP3 which I’m really excited about the direction things are going. We are pushing further into the electronic-dance elements that we were just starting to tap into Free Energy. It's fun exploring how to make electronic music but with a rock band set up. The ambient cassette will happen one day, for now, people have EP2 with the bonus tracks to hold 'em over.

Dumb EPs is out August 29th on K Records and Perennial Death Records.