DMA'S are: Tommy O'Dell (vocals), Johnny Took (guitars), Matt Mason (guitarist and backing vocalist)

It's said that Australians are some of the most laid-back people around, always cool, calm and collected. For the most part, DMA'S fit that bill. The Sydney trio have gone from writing and recording in their bedrooms to living their dream of spending most of the last 12 months Almost permanently on the other side of the world, playing packed out gigs to rabid fans, but their attitude is much the same as you imagine it would have been back when they formed in 2012 - taking whatever comes their way with a satisfied shrug.
That's not to say joint songwriters Johnny Took, Matt Mason (guitarists) and Tommy O'Dell (singer) aren't as exciting as hell. On record, O'Dell's vocals surge with power and rousing, raw emotion, while the group's live shows feel like one big, anthemic high. The latter is especially impressive given the trio didn't really intend to play live. "We were just hanging out and writing songs," Took explains matter-of-factly of their origins. O'Dell agrees: "We never really thought we were going to be much of a live band, to be honest. It was more of a recording project, but we got signed with our Australian label [I Oh You] and they said we should play."

DMA'S was far from the three's first experience of playing in a band. They'd each grown up playing instruments from a young age and had played in various groups together before, including a bluegrass band that Mason and Took were once part of. But, for O'Dell, this was an opportunity to try something new - singing. Previously a drummer, he had never heard his own voice recorded before. In keeping with DMA'S easy-going approach, it all happened completely organically - the soon-to-be-frontman was hanging out in Took's room, where a mic was set up ready to record a song. O'Dell decided to give it a try himself, stepped up and sang. The rest, as they say, is history.

"It seemed pretty seamless," Took reflects now, "He knew he could sing in tune, but he'd never heard his voice like that." "I was surprised," agrees O'Dell, the shyer member of the band. "It did take a few gigs to get used to [being the main focus], but I actually find singing easier than drumming now. I just see singing as just a job that needs doing like every other instrument. I don't really see it as a special role."

With O'Dell now front and centre, and no bassist or drummer in their line-up, the group had to find more members to help them recreate their bedroom compositions on stage. "We got some mates in to play some bass and drums and extra guitars just to hear what [the songs] sounded like," remembers Took, adding with a laugh, "that was pretty weird at the time as well!"

Soon, a record arrived in the bedroom recording of 'Delete' in Australia, the stripped-back acoustic-led ballad that first made people even in the UK, from NME to BBC Radio 1, sit up and pay attention. Then came record deals across the world including a UK contract with the influential Infectious, the label behind alt-J, Drenge, fellow Aussies The Temper Trap and more. May 2015 saw something a little more fleshed-out arrive on British shores in the form of a self-titled EP that fizzed with searing, noisy guitars and softer, more tender moments. It was a thrilling taste of what a full-length record could hold bolstered by incendiary sets at festivals like The Great Escape, Latitude, Splendour in the Grass and Reading & Leeds wit packed crowds in sweaty tents! Their first UK headline show was a sold out 100 Club in London and two UK tours have followed since bringing new fans won over by their exciting live sets.

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