Interview: DICE
Photo by Annabel Friedman
Interview by Callan Harris
I had the pleasure of sitting down with DICE, the indie-rock quartet from Perth, Australia, who are in the thick of their first proper headlining tour across the United States. If their 2024 debut album, Midnight Zoo, was about getting a foot in the door in the U.S., then this 26-date run, following their new EP, Wings, is them walking right through it.
Formed in 2020, the band consists of Ben Hodge on vocals and guitar, Tom King on lead guitar, Regan Beazley on bass, and Sam Barrett-Lennard on drums. I had the chance to chat with King and Barrett-Lennard, who told me all about their hopes for this second run.
Tom King (TK): It’s a bit windy, apparently, crossing some massive bridge.
Callan Sweeny Harris (CSH): I know exactly where you are, actually. So you guys are in Boston already!
Sam Barrett-Lennard (SBL): Yeah.
CSH: Are you excited to be here? You haven’t played Boston yet, have you?
SBL: No, this is the first time for us.
CSH: Are you liking it so far?
SBL: We don’t know too much about Boston. Tom’s currently doing a little tourist day, as he should. But, no, we’re really excited to play tonight. It’s gonna be a lot of fun.
CSH: When’s your next tour day after this? Do you have to get out of here quick, or…?
SBL: Yeah, we’re actually playing in Brooklyn.
CSH: Alright. So you’re really squeezing in your tourist time.
SBL: Yeah. Tom just tried to sign up for a baseball thing? I think there was a baseball field tour or something.
CSH: Oh, yeah.
SBL: And he just missed out because it’s at 3 o’clock.
CSH: Oh, no way. Well, he’s doing the next best thing and walking by the Charles River!
SBL: So, your debut album and subsequent world tour in 2024 felt like your proper introduction to America, with sold-out shows in New York and Chicago. Now you’re coming back for a round two. What do you think this return signifies to you? Are you happy to be back?
SBL: Well, this time we’re doing the whole of the U.S., starting from L.A. and finishing up in Dallas. It’s a proper tour. I think it’s 26 shows over the course of about six weeks. The last time, we were kind of just getting our foot in the door; we really wanted to come over here and just play any type of show. This one is a real tour.
CSH: Had you been to America before the last tour?
SBL: Me, Ben and Regan had never been to the United States. We had never played in America until we came for the first time late last year.
CSH: So, now that the newness is wearing off – the first-time jitters and all – what differences are you noticing? More confidence on stage, or maybe a different energy from the crowd?
SBL: Yeah, honestly, all the shows we played previously, like Chicago, L.A. and Toronto, have been the highlights of the tour. It’s really cool to see the crowds double each time, pretty much.
TK: And people have been saying, “Oh, we were at the last show!” They’re so excited. Another DICE show is super exciting. And on the flip side of that, to go to all these really new places that we thought we’d never go to, like Boise and Portland, it’s such a euphoric feeling getting on stage and being like, ‘I have no idea where I am on the map,’ but people are loving what we’re doing.
SBL: Going off that, it is very surreal being on the other side of the world in a place like Boise and having people who know the lyrics to our music. It’s wild to us to realize that it’s resonating with people over in America.
CSH: And people are following you around. You have super fans now.
SBL: We had one fan drive 14 hours, I think it was to the Phoenix show?
TK: Yeah, from Calgary.
SBL: And we’ve had quite a few fans that have been traveling a lot. We were trying to avoid that a little bit by doing pretty much every main city, or as many as we could, to avoid fans having to travel. We remember from the first time we came over, heaps of people were traveling around. But yeah, still, people are traveling left, right and center to come to the show, which is really, really nice to see, and we appreciate it so much.
CSH: Yeah. Well, that leads me into my next question. Now that your catalog spans many EPs, crafting a set list must be a completely new ballgame. You’re not only catering to new international fans but also super fans. So, are you trying to make this set list more like a ‘greatest hits,’ or are you treating it like a narrative arc, using the older songs to highlight the newer ones?
SBL: That’s a great question, actually.
TK: Yeah. I think it’s a combination of both. It’s a bit of a “best of” for sure; it’s probably got maybe three songs from each era. But then we’re playing the whole brand new EP in full because we really want to showcase the current sound of DICE. There’s been a really great response from the crowd when we’re playing “Oblivion” and “Champagne” and stuff. So really stoked on seeing that. But, definitely a lot of arguments always go into forming a set list. It’s felt pretty good so far, so we’re pretty stoked.
CSH: I was also really curious about disputes you might have had, so I’m glad you mentioned this. I saw that you’re working with Sam Ford again for this EP. Were there any big creative disputes over the actual making of the album, too?
SBL: I think when we go into a project like an EP or an album, there’s always going to be disputes. You can’t avoid it ever with four, or five, actually, including Sam, of us going around. Everyone has their own view of what they want the song to sound like – they all have a vision. We’re trying to execute that, but in a way, you have to compromise and work together as a band instead of like a solo artist. Try and get the best of what the band should sound like, instead of just attaching your vision to what you think the song should sound like.
CSH: Keeping it known that this is a collection of voices making one voice.
SBL: Yeah, exactly.
TK: That’s what makes the DICE sound. It is the four of us, and our different music tastes, and our different experiences.
CSH: It’s sort of what makes DICE what it is.
TK: Yeah, take away one of the four of us, you’re taking away 25 percent of the input on the creative sort of thing, and all of a sudden you don’t have DICE anymore. So, as much as we do disagree and argue and stuff, everyone knows that we’ve all got the band’s best interest at heart.
CSH: When I was doing my research, I was reading other interviews and hearing you talk about this exactly – that you have such diverse tastes as individuals, but as a group, too, and that’s what makes your sound. I’m wondering, how do you think this accumulation of sounds and interests has formed differently in this EP in comparison to others in the past?
TK: Good question. I think with the writing process for this one, we gave Ben a lot more time to come up with the bones and the structures of the song, the lyrics and melody, so that he could hand over the reins to us and say, “Hey, this is how I feel, how the song makes me feel,” whether it’s “Chasing Hearts,” about falling in love at a festival. And then the three of us go, “Okay, how do we encapsulate that sound and also that feeling through sound?” So we got to be really experimental with this EP, more than we probably ever had before, which was super exciting.
SBL: Yeah, going off that, there were moments where Ben would be like, “Okay, you guys have a vision of the song.” For example, “Oblivion.” Us three had a vision for the song, and we really wanted to execute it. Ben wasn’t quite seeing it for that one, and he kind of just gave us the reins on it and trusted the process. He came up with the initial song idea, all the lyrics, and just handed it over for us to finish the song. So, it’s got a blend of what Ben started with and what we used with that. It’s showing all of our voices in those songs.
CSH: When I was listening to your music, I noticed more than anything almost like a U2 vibe.
SBL: Oh, that’s sick. I love that.
TK: That’s a massive compliment. Thank you.
CSH: Of course. The way that you describe how you’re doing this kind of makes sense with the U2 method in that Bono does his thing, but then, you know, the guy I should totally know…
TK: The Edge.
CSH: Yes. The Edge comes in and makes it what it really is, gives it the melody, gives the lyrics the punch that they needed. Do you think that’s kind of similar to what you guys do?
TK: I think, just because I play guitar doesn’t mean that I have to write the guitar part. Obviously, 85 percent of the main guitar ideas come from my brain, but just because I’m a guitarist doesn’t mean that I can’t have input and say on what makes the riff the final product, if that makes sense.
SBL: None of us are limited to our instruments, which is such a refreshing thing. Me, personally, I don’t want to be just a drummer. I want to be a part of every part of the writing process, because it is a collective thing. There are moments where Ben will write the guitar parts, then Tom will write them. I’ve been in there with Tom writing a solo just to be a helping hand, to get my input. We’re collaborating and trying to get that result without just being like, “Yeah, you’re the guitarist, we’ll leave you to it.” We want to make it as collaborative as possible.
CSH: That’s what makes it what it is, really.
SBL: Yeah, exactly.
CSH: I love that. Alright, I’m gonna switch gears a little bit and go into your live performances. I know you guys are known for your energy on stage. Do you think your physical language on stage has changed along with your musicality or lyricism?
TK: I don’t think so. From the very start of the band, one of the biggest compliments we get – which has been pretty consistent from when we were playing to five people to when we’re playing to 200 tonight in Boston, or 1,000 back home – is that people can tell that it’s four best mates on stage. The energy of the whole set, we’re just up there having fun. Whether there’s two people in the crowd or 50,000 people in the crowd, we’re just having a good time. It’s four best friends. I think that’s what captures the DICE sound live. We’re not trying to be mysterious or anything on stage. We’re just doing what feels right.
SBL: Sorry if it’s a little bit noisy. We just started rolling the van. We’re heading to the venue now.
CSH: Oh, lovely.
TK: Yeah, I’ll start walking.
CSH: Alright, well, I only have a few more questions for you, then we can wrap this up.
TK: Go for it.
CSH: Today, the genre of rock has accumulated a lot of baggage over time; it’s changed completely. It is, in my opinion, the most expansive genre. You guys are classified as indie rock?
TK: Yeah, I think we say indie-alt-rock.
SBL: Yeah.
TK: Is that noise coming from me?
SBL: It’s you, brother.
TK: Oh, really?
SBL: Yeah, just mute yourself.
CSH: I guess I’m just curious which area within rock you guys identify most with.
TK: Yeah, it’s so expansive, you’re so right. I don’t know, you can put anyone under indie rock, really. I think we’re about to start the next big project, and that’ll help us really find what our genre or sound is. But it’s genre-fluid as well. We’ve got some songs that are more rocky, but then some that are way more pop-y, but at the same time it’s still a pop-rock song. So I think genre is a hard one, especially with so much music out in 2025. Everyone’s expanding the boundaries.
CSH: I love it. Alright, I have one last, kind of fun question. If we were to replace each member of DICE with an iconic rock band member, who would play each of you? Like, who would play Tom, who’d be on drums for you, Sam?
SBL: Really good one.
TK: Well, since you’ve gone with the U2 thing, I feel like The Edge probably fits in with me. I don’t know if Lenny [Sam] has a different opinion?
SBL: I don’t know. That’s a hard one, actually. I think Regan would be Ozzy Osbourne.
TK: I reckon you’d be like Tommy Lee, but not a dickhead. Just the drumming part.
CSH: I’m down with that.
TK: I reckon Hodge [Ben] would be like Adele or something. He loves Adele. I reckon that actually suits him well because he’s a good singer.
CSH: I like those answers!
TK: We’ve created the new super group.
CSH: Yeah, we really have. We can just add them to the band. How about that?
SBL: Yeah, that’s easy.
CSH: All right. Well, it was really great to get to know you guys. I wish you luck in your Boston show.
TK: You coming down to the show?
CSH: I’m not, unfortunately. I have a flight to catch. I really wanted to, but someone else from WTBU will go instead of me.
TK: Sick. Have a safe flight.
CSH: It was great to meet you guys. Break a leg.
TK: Thanks for the chat!
SBL: Yeah, we appreciate it.
This interview was edited for clarity.