DO IT YOURSELF – Interview W/ Proxy Diver

& ON THE GROUND AT THEIR DIY FEST WITH FRIENDS

Proxy Diver are a shoegaze, grunge, metal band from Wollongong. I got to chat with the three-piece – wait four??? – at Dicey’s a few weeks back and thought it’d be rude not to check out the DIY gig, which they had organised on Saturday 17th of May.

Proxy Diver are:

• Beau, 23, guitar and vocals

• Bill, 21, drums

• Adam, 21, bass

• Will, 20, drum machine, synth and sampler

Late 2023 

It started with a Facebook post… 

Beau: I put a message out on Facebook for musicians in Wollongong. I originally met Bill, and then later on, Bill introduced Adam into the band, and then we clicked. Then three gigs ago, I brought Will in.

Bill and Adam knew each other from Campus East and they used to jam together, so it seemed right, to Bill, to get Adam on board.

Will, on the other hand, is Beau’s little brother but Will never imagined tagging along with Beau to do music. 

Will: I was like, I don’t want to be in his band, that’s my brother. 

But after buying a drum machine, Will was inspired to join the Proxy Diver boys.

A recent Dicey’s gig, saw Will play the drum machine in the intermissions and the crowd loved it.

Bill: People danced more to Will’s drum sounds than the music.

Will is keen to keep playing with the boys at live gigs and to get involved with future Proxy Diver releases. 

Musical Influences 

Will: The Prodigy The Fat of the Lamb, that album is my inspiration. I've literally got a song that is the same drum beat and the same sounds from it and I've taken it as my own and sampled it. 

Beau: When we wrote our first EP, I drew a lot of inspiration from bands like Narrow Head, Bleed. 

A lot of lyrics I drew from Gang of Youths. The lead vocalist has a really good way with words, it’s very poetic.

Bill: When I joined the band, I was listening to a lot of TOOL. That was very influential in the way I play, even picking larger sticks and some of the rhythms that I choose for songs. I think it's been clear to everyone from the start that I wasn't gonna just play basic beats.

Adam: I grew up listening to a lot of prog metal and then I got really into hip hop, Rhythmically, hip hop is insanely influential to me. 

Also, historically, there's such a big crossover between jazz, hip hop, contemporary jazz that I absolutely love. There was a period where Bill and I were exclusively listening to What Kinda Music by Tom Misch and Yussef Dayes - insane album. The drumming on that is absolutely gorgeous, and there's just some insane musicianship on that.

The thing I really like about this band is that if you listen to the music, it's very cohesive but if you home in on what everyone is playing, there's a lot of intention. We like expressing the technicality of playing harder stuff.

Musical Beginnings: Pop Quiz!!

Adam started out as a guitarist after having had lessons for a while until COVID. In lockdown, Adam would spend hours a day playing, learning and improvising guitar. In uni, Bill and him would jam together and even did a couple open mics at the Unibar but when he was asked to play bass for Proxy Diver, it was new territory. 

Nearly 3 years on, he’s come a long way. 

Bill recalls a jam session with Beau, Adam and himself:

Beau and I were locked in with the guitar and drums, and then I just heard Adam come in with bass, a bass line for the first time. 

Adam: I remember the exact moment you're talking about. I clocked the look when I came in with that second note. I think was accidental too. I was just making it up on the spot. 

Years of improvisation proved to be a fertile ground for improvement for Adam’s journey from guitar to bass.

On stage: shoegaze but not shoegazing

Proxy Diver have always had a goofy side, the boys say.

Beau: We do take it seriously, but we like to have fun.

Will: The funnest show I've ever played with these boys is a house party we played a couple weeks back. I was playing one of my beats and Beau literally got out his phone, checked his notification. It was Clash of Clans and he said, “guys, my gold mine is upgraded to level two” and everyone was just like, ‘YESSS!’

Beau: Everyone that comes and sees us, and talks to me, says we have a big stage presence. Even before Will joined us. 

A lot of people take themselves very seriously on stage and I understand that. I think you should take the music seriously, and that we do take up music very seriously. It's just that I think taking it seriously doesn't mean having to be insanely earnest on stage.

I just stopped giving a fuck about what people see me as. It more became, for me at least, about my friends. 

There's a beautiful simplicity, and I think like that, that you just go to a gig and you hang out with your friends. I think that's what I really like about the Wollongong scene, you’ll probably run into a mate, especially if you play music. I run into people that I used to work with. You wouldn't expect to see them but they’re there supporting. 

T-Minus 4 days from the event: Dicey’s chats on DIY

Bill: I had a shit go in the last month, and I was just feeling really angry, and I felt like I needed a way to sublimate that. So, I pulled our friends aside who have been begging us to hold a DIY show at their house for months. And I was like, ‘Yo, it's happening. Can we have it next week?’ 

It’s just about getting cool bands playing for free in a backyard. This DIY show is the second one that we've put on as well.

Adam: DIYs are such an important part of the local scene and the fact that they're still thriving is huge.

Bill: I think in the last six to 12 months, there have been a lot more DIY gigs. There's been a lot more hardcore activity. It's so refreshing. 

And it makes me really happy to think that even though we're not necessarily hardcore, hardcore bands kind of see us as part of that wave.

I think we have inspired some people to get along to gigs. That means more than anything

Adam: That’s the goal.

Will: Not to mention, you know, in high school, you listen to heavier bands and you’re considered an outcast. Now, of all times, it's starting to push its way through the scene.

Beau: Thank you, Speed. 

Adam: I have a lot of respect for Speed because I grew up in Western Sydney. I moved down here for uni but seeing Speed – famously they're people of colour for the most part - and seeing them play at Coachella is just insane. That’s someone who walks the same streets as me.

Will: I've literally shook that cunt’s hand.

Adam: And the fact that they're so still involved locally that they played a show here not that long ago. They play random shows in Penrith.

Being involved with the DIY scene means a lot to Proxy Diver.

Bill: Makes you feel like this music thing is actually going somewhere and that maybe we're building something in Wollongong, rather than just coasting along waiting to get an offer. I think that's what it's about, taking back some agency. Feel feeling empowered and empowering music community.

Beau: DIY shows actually bring people together. You can go out to a venue and you have to follow all these rules, you can't dance around, you can't crowd surf, you can't do this, you can't do that. DIY shows include everyone, any age.

Bill: I want to someday to be able to recollect that we were playing these house shows, where the funniest and stupidest shit happens.

It’d be cool to think people will one day be thinking about seeing us at our shows like, ‘Yeah, I saw Proxy Diver at a house.’

Adam: Proxy Diver is nothing without the people behind us, the bands behind us, the bands that ask us to jump on shows and that say yes when we organise a show.

T-Minus 0 – Lights off at Lysaght?

Proxy Diver arranged a DIY gig at their mates' house at Wollongong’s Lysaght street. You can follow the fan page for the house here.

The bill was as follows: Pitt (@pitt.syd), Fever Pitch (@whoisfeverpitch), Proxy Diver and Airline (@airline.airline).

After a bit of a hectic night, a Proxy member had to briefly leave to attend to an emergency. Proxy Diver were then moved to the final act of the night, instead of Airline. 

All seemed well as the Proxy Boys swept the crowd, huddled outside the shed/impromptu stage, into a frenetic crush of moving bodies.

But wait — the cops make an appearance. Noise complaints.

No worries, Beau promises us two more songs…

But the mics cut out — is this the end?

Goodbye to DIY at Lysaght?

Get fucked.

Proxy Diver keep on keeping on.