“Once you think about it too much, then it becomes a science instead of an art. I like to keep it real. If that means the lyrics are simpler sometimes, then that’s totally fine.”

Living in America by DOM

It’s been a whirlwind year for party-minded, Massachusetts-based pop-rock band DOM (yep, all uppercase), a group that has gone from a bedroom electronics duo to an award-winning, stadium-rocking quartet in a little under two years. Front man Dominic Paisley (who puts the Dom in DOM) was producing beats for rappers around Worcester to make some extra cash a few years ago when he met current bandmate Bobby K through mutual friends. “I was working nights at a sushi restaurant for five bucks an hour under the table. I hated my life. And I could pretty much sell a beat for the same five bucks, so I was just playing around on Fruity Loops and ACID Pro – all those free little Internet demo things,” says Dom (the person). “That was what I was having the most fun with, making rap beats and stuff,” he continues. He and Bobby connected over their shared interest in electronic music, and decided they wanted to make something of it.

The two spent the winter of 2009 putting together some early songs before adding a third member, Erik, into the mix. Dom and Erik (Editor’s note: the band isn’t fond of last names, and we’re guessing “Paisley” is bogus, anyway) had crossed paths before, when Erik was working on the staff of the foster care program in which Dom was enrolled. “It was pretty funny,” Dom remarks on the unusual history of their relationship. As a trio, the group began playing in DIY spaces and basement shows not far from home in the Northeast, eventually branching out to include a growing number of shows in Brooklyn. “That’s where most of our hype was generated. We were mostly like a party band. The weird thing is that we didn’t even start playing out until early [last] March, so it all happened pretty fast,” says Dom.

The band released its first single, “Jesus,” and the song rapidly gained attention from various music blogs, including Pitchfork. “I don’t really hang out too much on the Internet, so I didn’t really know what Pitchfork Media was – just another blog, or whatever. We did an interview, a lot of people saw it, and [the site] gave us an awesome review for the record. So it just kind of caught on,” says Dom. While the band has enjoyed the increased publicity, its members are eager to avoid the convenient references to other contemporary bands, such as Passion Pit, that have peppered coverage of their early music. “We’re not a synth-pop band, though we have some synth songs. On the first record, we were just trying to figure out what kind of a band we actually were, so being profiled was the worst thing,” he says.

Continuing to come into their own with a busy summer of shows and rising online recognition, DOM joined RATATAT on their fall tour, having been invited personally by the band. “I never really got to travel like that,” says Dom, whose travel experience while growing up in foster care programs was generally restricted to group trips to local bowling alleys and arcades. “We all learned the basics of touring the hard way, but we were spoiled on that tour, too. It’s pretty sick playing for sold-out rooms of 3,000 every night.”

Even having been launched into the large-scale performance setting, DOM prefers the atmosphere of a smaller house party, full of “300 bros and brosephinas,” like the show the band recently played at a fraternity house in Amherst. “It was the awesomest thing ever, just getting gnarly in a room full of people just throwing beers here and there and having a fun time,” he says. His favorite song to play live is “Rude as Jude,” which features a “fun little surf-y lick” and tight harmonies.

The band’s debut EP, Sun Bronzed Greek Gods, was recently re-released on Astralwerks/Burning Mill, but DOM’s attention has quickly turned to recording a second EP. “We wanted to record it a lot earlier, but [the label] didn’t think it was a good idea – that it might devalue the last EP. They have to make the decision of just stretching stuff out for as long as possible, and that’s not my same vision. I like writing songs; I like pushing it out so that people have something to listen to and don’t get bored. I’m kind of impatient that way. Plus, I’ve got tons of other ones on the way,” says Dom. There is a good chance the production of the band’s next EP will involve James Ford of British electronic duo Simian Mobile Disco. DOM is excited about the possibility of hosting him in their brand new studio for a few weeks to work on the project this winter.

For its headquarters, DOM recently swapped “punk Mecca” Worcester, MA for a house in the thickly settled college town Hadley, MA. Joined by a fourth addition to the band, Cosmo from Brooklyn, the group has found an ideal situation in a house partially zoned for office use. The boys “live, cook, and party” in half of the building, meanwhile using the commercial half, a space originally serving as a law office, for their studio. They are in the process of filling out the new space with random gear: organs, “crappy keyboards,” auxiliary stuff, a didgeridoo, guitars, a mixer with “shitty” presets, Cosmo’s accordion, various peddles and a new computer. Dom says, “Most of the stuff that I use is pretty cheap and pretty weird. And I’ll use it not for its originally intended purpose.”

Dom says his approach to songwriting is “constantly changing,” although he generally aims to write a song in one sitting. “If I had a certain formula for creating songs, I probably wouldn’t want to do it anymore,” he says. “If I’m inspired, then I write a song. If not, then I don’t even try. Once you think about it too much, then it becomes a science instead of an art. I like to keep it real. If that means the lyrics are simpler sometimes, then that’s totally fine.” The band’s upbeat fall single “Living in America,” winner of Song of the Year at this year’s Boston Music Awards, provides a perfect example of this kind of streamlined song craft, weaving honest reflections on the simple pleasures of being an American through catchy guitar hooks and bright, quirk synths. With “It’s so sexy to be living in America” as the chorus’s resounding line, one might easily interpret the song as tongue-in-cheek, but Dom describes the song as “pretty literal.” He says, “I think America is a pretty f-ing awesome place to live. I’ve been living off the system since I was eight, and I’ve always had a place to stay and tons of resources, growing up on food stamps and public housing for cheap. I’d be pretty f-ing lost if I didn’t have any of that.” The single was recently re-released to independent retailers as a limited edition 7-inch on white vinyl.

With their new space intact, the band prefers to do their recording at home (even if their label would have otherwise). “Now we have a fun area for people to be creative whenever,” says Dom. “I don’t see the sense in going to a real studio, unless they have amazing mics or interesting-sounding rooms. I don’t see the point in paying an engineer to do all the stuff we are quite capable of doing ourselves. When you’re at the studio, you’re just racking up a bill the whole time you’re there, and none of us have the patience to sit through a studio session. It just makes more sense to do it ourselves. We have more people. We have more fun.”

http://www.myspace.com/dom