JAMIE & TESSA McDELL of DUNES: Genetics & Music; A Killer Combo
An interview by Sarah Kidd.
Today marks the day that the rather talented McDell sisters who operate under the artist name of Dunes, drop their second single entitled ‘Hard’ complete with new music video (which you can view below).
Tessa McDell may be taking the lead this time around, however it’s the cohesive musical elements that each sister brings to the table that really makes their music stand out above the rest. When I call through to Jamie and Tessa they are relaxing with a good coffee, contemplating their next moves in the music world.
Your debut single entitled ‘Horses’ is quite a wonderful little piece; there are so many different elements through it such as electronica, synths, nice little change ups with the beat and fabulous harmonizing.
Jamie: “Aww thanks – we work really hard at that!”
So tell me, do these elements come from you being sisters, is it in the genes – how did the song come about?
Jamie: “The sort of differences and dynamics you hear is very reflective of our writing process, we actually took a really long time to come up with the sound that we thought represented us both and both of our influences; me coming from a background of playing guitar and that sort of thing and Tess being a little bit more interested in R&B and all sorts of different bangers and pop tunes (both laugh). With this song we had to change up our writing style a little bit because we would often hit walls just writing music with the acoustic guitar and things like that as you do; so I remember this one came beats first and then riffs”
Tessa: “It might have been one of the first songs we tried it on. Learning to play music on the guitar and just picking it up that would help and then we decided to start changing the music up to see how it could start changing the music that came out the other end”
Jamie: “When we did that we got involved with this lovely, amazing producer that we wanted to work with called Tom Healey and he has done such a range of different genres. He’s fantastic in kind of just letting you be as crazy as possible and push the boundaries as much as you like. He is pretty good at trying lots of things to find the right riff or hook of whatever it might be. Writing lyrics comes reasonably naturally if we’re honest with each other [it’s] always different writing for two vocals though, I mean we have to think about what’s gonna make the most of each person’s vocal ability; but these songs they do take a while, they’re not some sort of day job”
Quality is never just a ‘day job’
Jamie: “Yeah … but definitely this one in particular was something we worked at for a long time and didn’t like at one point and then when back to! As you can hear, we kind of changed up that bridge and did something a bit different; really showing the differences in it because there are a lot of different pieces that we came up with”
Tessa: “Before we became happy” (laughs)
What did you feel that Thomas Healy brought to the table and was there anything in particular that you learnt from the experience?
Jamie: “I have actually been working with Tom for a really long time, he’s been in my band since I was sixteen and I must say that the main thing [for] anyone walking into a room trying to make music; what he does is create a really safe creative environment where nothing’s crap” (laughs)
Tessa: “As a musical rookie coming in (laughs) I was the underdog, just because Jamie has been practicing it professionally since she was sixteen so she was well familiar with the whole industry and all the technical terms the jargon for everything! Then little me comes in playing music and all that but not really knowing the ropes, but I’ve come in with someone like Tom who is a musical genius”
Jamie: “I think more to the point of some of the sounds that he’s got for me; personally I used to be a little bit cynical of electronic sounds but it made such a difference to me to see how everything works in that sense and how the melody’s that I would play on the keyboard could translate to a synth or a moog and it would make sense! I think also having both instruments around us was very helpful. It’s such a privilege to work with Tom – so I recommend him to every musician I come across (laughs) but I think once again probably being close friends was a huge one”
I am familiar with your solo work Jamie and have been for quite a while – but is singing something that came naturally for the both of you?
Jamie/Tessa: “Yes!” (laughs)
Jamie: “Like most people that got into music, the house was full with it! Mum and Dad both sang a lot, played the guitar and so we kinda just joined in and it was a big family thing for a while – it was natural. And actually Tessa had done some backing vocals for a few things on my first record and there have definitely been a few gigs where I have had her come along and sing with me. – With sisters there is chemistry in the vocals it’s just something you kind of can’t replace. We have just always had a knack with harmonies”
Tessa, when it came to performing live did you find that it was something that you had to get used to compared to Jaime who was already immersed in live performance?
Tessa: “I’ve fortunately always been reasonably confident with public speaking, even all through school in the talent quests and plays. I was always happy doing the school speech and whatever, so I have always had a bit of confidence in front of a crowd; but coming on to do this sort of stuff with all the added things, like I am learning a whole lot about my stage technology and all the equipment. It’s not just a mic in a school hall anymore (mutual laughter) so I’m nervous in the respect that there is lots to remember now I guess”
Jamie: “Tessa actually was playing a few of her own shows before we even got onto this project, acoustic little things like that but I think you know more about it than you [Tessa] let on” (mutual laughter)
Earlier this year Dunes performed at Music in the Parks – how did you find that experience, as often being a free show you get a mixed bag of punters that turn up?
Jamie: “Oh I think we were just so happy that nothing major went wrong! (laughs) It was our first show with our band and I guess it was a practice run – like real test run to see how everything was going to turn out on stage in a live set up. So that was an awesome opportunity”
Tessa: “Yeah because we spent quite a bit of time learning the ropes of the new technology that’s out there – it’s just incredible – but with that comes quite a bit of stress when putting on a show because if that stuff cuts out or just doesn’t work it can kind of make … well basically ruin the whole thing! So it was such a cool experience and we absolutely love the girls that we’ve got playing with us; I just think that everyone worked really, really hard at that set so just having no big mistakes meant that it was successful for us”
Jamie: “I think we were concentrating too much on stuff to check out the audiences reactions” (mutual laughter)
Obviously avenues such as the Music in the Park series are very beneficial for up and coming new bands – do you think there should be more avenues such as this?
Jamie: “Absolutely! Honestly one of my favourite things and something I wish there could be a whole lot more of! Everything is put on for you in terms of stage set up and venue and things like that. I don’t think people – who I guess aren’t in the music world – get how much work it takes to put on a show; not only setting it up but promoting it. The fact that is all kinda done for you and you are just invited along on the day to play is such an incredible thing and people have more of an opportunity to come along and watch live music! I mean it’s a great way to bring a community together so more of that would be great.
As a young musician coming up in New Zealand it can actually be really hard to just go and see shows and learn that way, you know like just go and watch musicians perform; because it’s actually not that accessible to young people. When I first started out playing live I had no, really no idea what to do because I had never had much opportunity to go and watch other people; unless it was going to cost me an arm and a leg.”
Or you are too young to get in because all the venues are licensed?
Jamie: “Exactly – or for me being an artist who was selling music to sort of teenagers and things like that it was very hard for me personally to find venues or clubs to play. The cool thing specifically about Music in the Park and I am sure that others feel the same way, is that they are really good at seeking out new up and comers as well. It’s not all massive artists that have got a huge catalogue, sometimes it is but there’s always a couple of opening acts that are just having their first go at it and it’s just such an opportunity for them”
Now you guys filmed you own video – because you said you wanted to retain creative control – which is great because it means you are invested in your own work! Can you tell us the thought process behind the Horses video?
Jamie: “With the Horses video it’s something that we have come up with ourselves – oh gosh it just feels like this whole project has definitely been left to us to make plenty of massive decisions with musically and visually; so it just didn’t feel right to have an outside person (laughs) come in and mess it up”
Tessa: “I think it definitely goes with having a bigger workload, knowing that was all your work you know”
Jamie: “The process is much easier being the two of us and we can kinda work together and take some of the workload each; but yeah I mean it’s just we have put so much of ourselves into this music and we wanna do that with every single portion of this project. Also it’s quite a bit of fun, both of us being creative people there’s visual ideas that we’ve got that we feel we can create better than anyone else”
Tessa: “If you want something done right …” (laughs)
Jamie: “It’s also much cheaper” (mutual laughter)
Tessa: “I think also with doing it ourselves there isn’t any time restraint on anything; the problem with involving a large group of people is that you are waiting on someone all the time. I do think that if you have that control it’s really useful. Especially now for example with this Horses track, it’s been gaining a little bit more traction than we had originally thought and we actually hadn’t thought about doing a music video for it! As long as you have got some kind of work ethic you can get it done”
Jamie: “Many people have so much faith in their own artistic creations, they believe in themselves but they are not necessarily getting picked up by the labels or other managers. But they seriously believe in what they are doing so they’re like ‘You know what screw this – I am going to go and master the art of producing myself!’”
Tessa: “The social media platforms have made it easier and harder – I mean like compared to years ago when you would have to jump through hoops to try and get your stuff recognized; now with social media it’s so easy for artistic or creative people to put their content up. But also at the same time, because it’s become so accessible and so easy to use there is so much of it – you have to really stand out to get noticed”
If you had to compare Dunes to other bands – who would those bands be?
Jamie: “At the Music in the Park’s gig we actually got a good comparison that what we liked; we are a mix of Paquin and Haim – which makes sense because Paquin is Tom’s band and quite obviously heavily synthetic but there’s harmonization and guitars – so I mean it is just pop but there are some roots throughout it; a little bit of hearty edgy vibe but with a lot of like delicacy and I think it is real coolness”
So let’s talk debut album…
Jamie: “Well actually we have been in the studio about a year now and we’ve got so much material! We don’t have any specific dates or anything like that in terms of an album release but I can’t see why it wouldn’t be out later in the year. We are very excited to get into playing live [but] we’ve still got to organise things on that end”
Tessa: “We’ve got some practicing to do” (laughs)
Jamie: “Yeah, we are kinda just riding the wave and creating more content as we go and obviously excited to release other tracks – as I said a lot of it we are doing it ourselves so I don’t think there will be a lack of music out there for people!”
Dunes’ new single ‘Hard’ dropped today, and you can listen to it on Spotify, Apple Music and iTunes. You can also watch the accompanying music video near the top of this interview.
