Premiere: Dictaphone Blues Lets Loose New Single 'Bully'

Auckland artist Dictaphone Blues (aka Edward Castelow) is lifting the lid off his new single 'Bully' today, which we are delighted to premiere here at UTR. The buoyant song sees Castelow take a sonic sidestep from his usual guitar-driven palate to incorporate playful synthesiser and percussion textures, taking inspiration from the likes of Cyndi Lauper and Eurythmics. The track is lifted from Dictaphone Blues' upcoming EP, take a listen and scroll on to read our chat with Castelow below...

Hi Eddie! Have to ask, who is the subject of ‘Bully’, is there one particular bully in mind… or is more general, like online meanies?

Thanks from premiering the song UTR! The kernel of the song came from a friends experience, not mine first hand. We've all experienced some type of bully scenario right? Most likely from both sides of the coin, we've all been kids after all. In this current internet age it's quite apt though isn't it?

There’s a lot of interesting instrumentation happening on the track, especially the percussion and synths! Can you tell us a little bit about the song’s construction and what you were aiming for?

I felt like I had been mining the jangly guitar pop thing for a while and wanted to try something a different. Different tempos, different grooves etc. Around this time I picked up an old Yamaha CS-5 and a Roland Juno-6, I figured that this would be the palette for the new songs and Bully was the first cab off the rank. I still wrote the song on an old nylon string guitar, then took it into the studio to paint over it with the instruments at hand. The groove was screaming out for a solid dose of percussion so I went to town. Other bands that were inspiration were Eurythmics, Cyndi Lauper et al.

We heard there is a video in the works for ‘Bully’, some of your past clips have been pretty cracker... can you give us a little hint on what to expect this time round?

Hmmm, I'd love to give you a heads up on what we have in the pipes but it's still very much at the other end of the pipes. So much so that not even we know what is in store. We've gone for the funnier side of things in the past, so I'd be keen to not lean on that penchant this time over.

Somehow between busy being a recording whizz for other folk, you’ve also managed to write and record your next EP too… what’s it called and when’s it due out??

Again, I'm sorry I can't give you more info on this! I've written and demoed the EP and right now I am re-recording a lot of it again in a more cared fashion. In the demo stages I just whack a mic in front of something and have a hoon until I find a part and a performance that is passable. Now I'm choosing mics more carefully, borrowing amps to get desired sounds and pushing my playing a little more. The whole thing is being mixed by Dave Eringa in the UK and that looks like it's happening at the end of July so fingers crossed it'll be available a couple of months after that. I haven't settled on a name for it yet, it'll probably have EP at the end of it. Lol.

Photo by Emily Lonsdale-Cooper