Dead Poet Society on early days, Monarch, and following their gut

Since the early 2010s, Dead Poet Society have built a career by listening to their gut. Whether that means standing their ground on a song that doesn’t immediately translate from demo to studio or taking creative risks to find the right sound, the Boston rock group have never been afraid to trust their instincts. As Dead Poet Society continue their North American tour with Honey Revenge and prepare to head overseas to open for Muse in Europe, frontman Jack Underkofler caught up with Alternative Press’ Nick Gray to talk about their early breakthrough in Mexico, staying open, and how their latest album, Monarch, became the purest version of the band yet.

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My name’s Nick with Alternative Press. I’m here with Jack from Dead Poet Society. Let’s get into it — you guys just got off a tour with Highly Suspect.

It was great. It’s our fourth or third time touring with them.

I was reading online that they said you are one of the favorite openers that they’ve had. How does that feel?

I mean, they’re one of our favorite bands to open for, so it’s a lot of fun.

Your breakout record was In Too Deep. Why was that the first one that got momentum?

That was the initial one that got momentum in the U.S. and Europe. Our first song that got any momentum was actually a really old song of ours called “Sound and Silence.” That was back in 2013, 2014. A YouTuber named Joe from Mexico shot it, and he was huge [there]. That was the beginning of us having a fanbase. Ended up touring Mexico nine times.

Where’d you post it on originally? SoundCloud?

No, just YouTube. We had 300 bucks to spend on ads, and so we were just like, “Put it all in Mexico.” And then it worked out.

I want to talk about the song “Lost.” What was the creation process like? What are the themes behind it?

Well, I don’t like to talk about the actual meanings of our songs because once you put it out there, it’s not for you to really say.

What resonates with you about that song that it’s one of your favorites?

It’s just deeply personal to me, and I had to vibe with the sound be the way it is on the record.

In what way?

Well, originally I had the track, and I created the top line over it in the lyrics. Then when we brought it to the studio, it immediately started getting changed and picked apart.

What were people changing?

The beat, the feel of it, the arrangement. I had to call Paul actually, and I was like, “I know the demo sounds like shit. I know it’s not coming through the way I feel it in my head, but just please just ride with me on this.” And we did, and I ended up loving it, and everybody else came on board eventually. We just tweaked the things that were really bothering people, but I had to stand my ground with that one, which I’m pretty happy that there are several songs people stood their ground on, and that’s not usually how it goes with this band. So I think that helped the record.

That’s the balance between demo-itis and keeping the integrity of the original idea.

I mean, it’s a battle that’s impossible to figure out. You just have to go with your gut.

Let’s touch on your new album, Monarch, that just came out. What’s the vibe with this one? Is it kind of the same sound you have been doing, or are you trying some new stuff?

It is, I think, the purest [version] of what we feel we should sound like. This record was really about trying to push ourselves as much as possible into the realm of, “This is Dead Poet Society.” It’s not like, “Can you sound like this? Oh, this reminded me of…” and just be like, “Let’s swing for the fences. Let’s take as many risks as possible. Let’s just make this sound like something that we can look back on and be proud of.”

Going back to the whole demo philosophy, when you make a demo and you’re creating something, you don’t realize how much shit you’re still filling out in your head. And so when you get used to the demo, you also get used to, automatically, your brain just filling in the blank space.

Hearing what other people are hearing.

Yeah, you’re hearing what other people don’t realize I’m doing. I mean, having a good producer is amazing. I think that really tracks. But at the same time, as painful as it is, you have to be open to the possibility that something you love could be better. And sometimes somebody says some shit that might piss you off, but then you put it in, and you listen to it, and you go, “Oh, that’s better.” You have to be open.

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