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Much like their name, Glasgow's Dancer knows how to make use of space. Their minimal, spoken-word post-punk lets the irreverent waves of their sound breathe, thrashing and grooving in perfect equilibrium. Today, the group shared with us the stellar music video for "Paging Planet Earth," the third track from their from split album with Portland's Whisper Hiss. We recently caught up with Gemma Fleet, (vocals) Chris Taylor, (guitar) and Andrew Doig (bass) to learn more about the release and how they achieved an accelerated level of production.
How did the majority of you meet and start making music as Order of the Toad? And then how did that evolve into Dancer?
Chris Taylor: Order of the Toad started with the three of us meeting when Gemma and Andrew moved into the flat I was living in. They were looking to move to Glasgow and my friend who owned our flat was moving away for a while to study. Gemma and Andrew rented the room, were looking for a drummer, and owned a drum kit. Everything was such a good fit, and it only got easier with Dancer as we all just play the one instrument we each feel we're best at. In Order of the Toad, we were all singing and playing stuff at the same time. Dancer feels much freer and easier.
Andrew Doig: The transition to Dancer and the appointment of Gavin as our drummer (who is now no longer our drummer alas) happened when he and I were working on some songs just bass and drums in a more post-punky style. For me, the two people who I imagined playing guitar and singing on these were Chris and Gemma and so I approached them both about it. It seemed refreshing that we were swapping roles from what we did in Order of the Toad to a large extent. I don't think the idea was for Order of the Toad to come to an end but I guess Dancer just kind of started to snowball and we went with it, ultimately.
Gemma Fleet: We swapped round instruments for Dancer. For me, it's freeing to just sing and perform in this band. I love playing the bass but it's nice to not have to carry anything around, apart from the merch, I have to carry that now.
Between an album, touring, and multiple splits, your 2024 has been incredibly productive. What is it about your creative process that leads to fruitful output?
AD: Yeah it's been a crazy year for releases. 2023 was basically all writing and recording, quite methodically and with intent. We don't seem to struggle coming up with stuff. We can write individually or together so there are various ways we collaborate. There's a cool energy between us. I think being a bit older creates some assurance and confidence maybe and helps us be more organized. Youth was nice but it lacked focus for me a bit [laughs]. Trying to make up for that now.
GF: We just get in a room and come up with stuff, there's another 15 songs we are recording in January too! I don't think it's excessive, we practice once a week for a couple of hours and it really only takes about 15 minutes or so to work out a song.
Earlier in the year, you released your first proper full-length album, 10 Songs I Hate About You. What insight can you share about how it came together and when and where it was recorded?
GF: We recorded it at Green Door recording studios live to tape, I was set on recording vocals in the room and (engineer) Ronan Fay really made it work, I have always preferred live but this was a first for me doing live vocals, other recording engineers have been, "Oh no no no, you can't do it like that", it's like they wanna record it dead and add the atmosphere on after? Doing the vocals this way gets a bit more out of the performance I think, there will always be spills on the mic but I think that helps it sit better. You just have to get a good take.
Which song that you've released means the most to you (and why)?
GF: I like "Bluetooth Hell" from the album, it really soars at the end and I love playing it live and timing a little jump for when it kicks in.
AD: "Didn't Mean To" from the recent split maybe. It's simple in a way, but Chris's guitar part and Gemma's vocal really excite me. We jammed that one out together, it just came from nowhere and wrote itself practically. It sums up what I love about our music: it's propulsive and energetic but controlled and emotive all at once.
CT: I think it's "Didn't Mean To" for me as well, just for how good it feels to play live. How it just kind of birthed itself is my favorite way for us to write too. "The Split" from our first tape came about the same way, and us writing that in about the same amount of time it takes to listen to it was when I first realized this band was special.
What led to you and Whisper Hiss to release a split together and in what ways was the process collaborative?
AD: Mike from the label HHBTM in Athens, GA, reached out to us over social media late last year and we then spoke to him over Zoom. He hit on the idea of doing a split LP with Whisper Hiss who he was already planning to work with. It was pretty funny as we had a fairly tight deadline and we basically wrote and recorded our six songs over just a couple of months. I was proud we did that as it seemed challenging, but we came up with some cool stuff.
What inspired the songwriting to "Priority Girl"?
GF: This one came out from jamming together, it felt quite sparky. The title is a clothing shop in Naples. Since seeing the shop I was intrigued to know who this priority girl was.
CT: This was another one that came together very quickly and naturally. I think Gemma had the vocal hook and we just went with it until the song came out. It's one of my favorites too.
What can you tell us about "Paging Planet Earth" and its new music video?
GF: Again this one was jammed out together, the theme of the song is about the sort of contradiction around "eco-friendly" efforts, like "I'm eating a burger but it's okay because it’s in a recycled box."
How would you describe working on the songs for the new split compared to the material from the previous album?
AD: The songs for the split album were written in record-breaking time and recorded not long after. They were definitely tailored for that release specifically and we had almost none of it written before Mike asked.
CT: I guess this was different from everything else we've done because it's the only time we had a record to put out before having the songs. It was exciting to work with HHBTM and Whisper Hiss. Getting songs together was never going to be a problem. If we do have a problem with writing it's that we write too many songs!
You also have a new split 7" coming out this month with Ray Aggs (R.aggs). How did that collaboration come about?
GF: Stevie and Dep from the label Second City Static asked us, it's a limited run and focused around a live gig. You pay to get into the gig and get the limited 7"—it's mostly Glasgow musicians so far and a really nice idea and there aren't many 7" singles these days.
AD: Dep who is partly involved in the release is one of the main owners of the legendary Glasgow record store Monorail, who have been super supportive of us this year, so it feels like an extension of that. Stevie who has been our main contact around the release also runs Errol's Hot Wax which is a very neat local label putting out some cool stuff aside from this split series. Ray of course is an actual legend who we have had the good fortune of knowing from various music scenes for years now, so it's an exciting prospect.
What were some of the highlights of touring with Dry Cleaning? I saw that there was some food poisoning and bus mishaps, but overall a good time?
AD: I got food poisoning the night before we played the shows with them. It was a reduced-price sandwich that got me. I thought we'd have to cancel, which was a nightmare. I made it through though. Played through the pain and nausea. Dry Cleaning are lovely people with impeccable music taste and they rocked.
GF: It was a great few gigs, it was nice as the audiences were obviously not there for us and a lot of people didn't know us but we had a great reception! Did our job as a proper "warm-up!"
CT: Yeah it was really fun. Certainly, bigger audiences than were used to, and Dry Cleaning are good people to spend some time touring with.
What are some future plans for Dancer?
AD: LP2 is coming together.
GF: We have a tour at the end of February and are recording album number two in the first half of the year too.
CT: I'm really excited for the next record. I love the songs so I'm looking forward to start getting them out at shows, which I'm sure we'll start doing when we tour next year.
Split is out now on HHBTM Records.