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Terry Cullen - Dae Kim
Interview - 28 May 2007
DW: Can you give us a bit of background about the band, how you got together – I understand that the line up has changed fairly recently, you lost Dave Grimes but gained three new members, can you talk us through that?
TC: Dae Kim started after i moved back from London. I was at odds after Tenspeedracer broke up. I had sold all my drums and guitars and started working on a building site. After about two years of that I started playing on an old acoustic I had borrowed from my nephew and just tried to start writing songs. And managed to hook up with Dave Grimes. We both had an interest in Sonic Youth and Spacemen 3, we just started playing and ad-libling at shows for fun. nothing too serious really.
DW: Is Dave still involved with the band?
TC: Dave is still involved with the band, but in a producer/recording way. He is busy making music under the moniker LITTLE BEAR.
After we made Matador in 2005, we stopped playing. It was only ever a project for fun. Never to be taken any further. That's why the album sounds like it does. We didn't use any proper gear. Just whatever we could find to make a noise really. He is an extremely talented man. Just trying to get him to play the same thing twice is a nightmare!! ha ha. He taught me a lot about sounds and I can't wait to start the new album with him.
DW: Where is the band name from – The Korean President or the Korean born actor based in America?
TC: The name Dae Kim is after the Korean President. Although I had never heard of the actor. I don't watch TV. The name just sounded nice and exactly the kind of name I wanted to work under.
DW: How did you personally get involved in music, do you come from a musical background?
TC: I don't come from a musical background. I just loved music and wanted to be involved with something that made you feel that good.
I just stuck on Highway To Hell by AC/DC and played it non-stop and learned the drums that way. I have played with some great guitar players over the years and learnt a lot from them. I used to busk in Dublin in the early 90's with Mundy and Paddy (Casey) and the like and learnt some tunes that way. Great fun.
DW: What are your musical influences?
TC: My influences vary really. Vocally it would fall between Jason Pierce from Spiritualized and Robert Smith from The Cure. It's the emotion in the voice and the lyrics that I always think is important. You have to believe in what your singing.
Musically I tend to lean towards the rock end of things. The Cramps, Jesus Lizard, The Dirtbombs, MC5, The Hellicopters, New Bomb Turks, kinda thing.
'Im a big Gene Vincent fan and that whole late 50's rock n roll scene. Artwork is just as important. Nialloviolence does all our covers/posters and designs and that has a big effect on what I do.
DW: Where do you get your inspiration from when writing songs? Is it personal experience, day to day situations, or something more profound?
TC: Writing songs doesn't come easy to me. It's always from personal experience. It's my way of trying to get somethuing out. I'm not a great talker, so writing songs helps me a little.
DW: You are pretty versatile, you drummed with Tenspeedracer but in Dae Kim you play guitar and sing – do you have any other hidden talents that you can tell us about?
TC: I play guitar and sing because I could not find a band to join. No-one wanted to make the kind of music I liked and I was so not gonna go down that route again. I'm handy at mechanics. I quite like engines. cars and motorbikes and the like. Not good at anything else really... I can play polo if thats any use, my Dad trains polo ponys . I was always around horses.
DW: Is it a very different experience during gigs, coming out from behind the drums and taking the spotlight? Does that sit easier with you?
TC: It makes no difference to me. As long as I get to play. I really don't care, it's easy for me to do it. I just wish everything else in life was as easy.
DW: Katie Sullivan is in the process of putting together a solo album - am I right in saying that the rest of the band are involved in that too? If so, is it easy to keep the two projects/bands as separate entities?
TC: Katie is doing her album and I think some of the band are playing on it.. .she is very busy with it at the minute and it should be a great one. She is a very talented songwriter and glad she is finally getting around to doing it. As regards keeping them both seperate? She does it on our down time so it never really gets in the way. Elly, Ian, Tommy are in a band called Grave Arcitecture also and always play with other people.
The only person i would colaborate with is john barrett ex/ Tenspeedracer guitar player.He lives in Perth, Australia so it's very difficult. We will be doing something next year under the name BULLS, but I swore I would never ever play drums in a band again unless he was in it. I just couldn't do it.
DW: You’ve just released the sumptuously sleazy single Sticky Fingers – probably the dirtiest song I have heard in a while – I guess its early days but how is it doing so far?
TC: Sticky fingers came out in Ireland on 25th May through our label Bloodlust/Fifa Records. It is doing ok at the moment, getting a great reaction on radio and online. It's early days yet so we got to keep playing and trying to get to as many people as possible.
DW: You’ve had some fairly high profile support slots, Ash, Babyshambles and The Frames to name a few – touring mainland Europe and the UK – did you pick up many fans through that and have they stayed with you since then?
TC: We picked up a lot of fans while we were away in Europe and got a great response from France, Germany, Belguim and the States... Our music is not at all Irish. The majority of our fans are American. The Irish don't like it at all, which makes it very hard for us to get playlisted over here. We are actually better off saying we are from the States. We would be huge!.
DW: What's the strangest thing that has happened to you on tour?
TC: The strangest thing that has ever happened me on tour? There are quite a few. we had some great times with the Future Kings of Spain in the UK. Great bunch of guys. That Babyshambles crowd are not as hardcore as they like to make out. Our drummer and bass player would drink them under the table. The weirdest I remember anyway was in South Amboy in New Jersey, an old 70's punk club. Lots of people with canes with skull tops. The guy who ran the venue used to go out with Patti Smith and the place was decked out with old 5'0s vampire heads and pentacles and full of very, very, very mad people doing extremly crazy stuff. Great gig but very weird!
DW: What's your best gig experience to date and why?
TC: The best gig Dae Kim have done to date would be at a strip club we played at last year. Place was jammed. Stage diving and all sorts of nonsense. People were really into the show and we kicked ass. It was just a club show and everyone there was there to have fun. Naked women and rock n roll seem to go hand in hand I guess
DW: You have a few gigs coming up in your own right, what are the chances of you playing in the UK in the relatively near future?
TC: We will be coming to the UK late summer.Oour single "Sticky Finger"s gets a release there early September and we will be doing some shows with two other bands on the labe. Iilya K and Fight Like Apes so that should be a good un! Really looking forward to that.
DW: What music are you listening to at the moment?
TC: At the moment I'm listening to Autolux and The Cramps. Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska has been in my car for a month now. Just total genius. Tribuite by Ozzy is never far away either!!!
DW: How healthy is the music scene in Waterford at the moment? What other Irish bands would you recommend we check out?
TC: The music scene here is pretty healthy. The death of the covers band has finally arrived and is making way from some great stuff. Notably: LITTLE BEAR, ILYA K. UGLY MEGAN, LEGOSET and all bands are making it onto radio and getting to do shows around the country and building a fanbase, so it's great to be a part of something that is being noticed at the moment.