Australian dance-punk trio DZ Deathrays performed in Bunbury and Margaret River for first time in a decade

Australian dance-punk band DZ Deathrays took to the stage in Bunbury and Margaret River last week, hitting the South West for the first time in a decade. The band’s co-founder and drummer Simon Ridley said regional-town ticket sales could sometimes be a “gamble” but was impressed with the South West crowd. “With capital cities, ticket sales usually go a lot quicker,” he said. “With regional, sometimes it’s like ‘oh my God, is anyone actually going to come to the show tonight?’ Luckily they do, but it’s always just a bit of a gamble. “Since COVID, because of all the cancellations that happened, people got in to the habit of buying tickets pretty much the week before. “When we’re investing tens of thousands of dollars into shows and then the tickets just sit there until the week before, we don’t know if we’re going to break even so it’s pretty tough.” While Ridley said marketing in regional towns was harder than in bigger cities, he said country crowds were full of interesting people. “By the time you get through a few songs, everyone seems to kick into gear and always end up having a really fun night,” he said. “Especially at the Bunbury show at the Prince of Wales, after the show we just sat and drank beers with everyone so it was pretty chill. “There’s more characters in the crowd. One show we did at Geraldton was the funniest. This guy in the front row in between songs kept yelling for a photo. He just wanted us to take a photo of him in the front row. “People are more willing to come up and talk to you and get involved. You don’t know what’s going to happen which is really fun.” It costs more to perform in region areas, but Ridley said that wouldn’t stop them. “I think they (costs) just all (have) gone up,” he said. “The insurance, the back line hire, car hire, flights, other band fees, everything has just gone up. “It’s harder to get there (regional towns) so it costs more. “But places like the Prince of Wales in Bunbury we love going to because it’s one of those venues in Australia where you get to play and they look after you really well. That’s what makes it — gems around Australia, when you can play those places and it’s just a fun night at the pub with your mates.”