Wizard dreams and spontaneity – groove-laden psychedelic rockers DACTYL TERRA are ONES TO WATCH

Playing a lively, groove-laden brand of psychedelic rock, the thrilling live shows of Dactyl Terra have turned them into a key act on south Wales’ post-lockdown live music scene. The four-piece are gearing up for their debut EP’s Fri 1 Apr release on their own Wasabi Overload Records label. We caught up with George to find out about the band’s origins and their plans for the future. 

Hi guys, what are your names and what do each of you play? 

Hi, thanks for asking us to do this! I’m George, I play guitar and sing. Luke plays drums. Erin plays bass and sings and Joe plays guitar, synth and tambourine. 

When and how did Dactyl Terra form?

In 2018 I think… we had all actually known each other for a few years before that. So it was just a matter of time until we would form a band. 

Your name is brilliant, what’s the story behind it? 

Ha, thanks. Actually a wizard told one of us in a dream that’s what we were called so we stuck with that.

Collectively, who are some of your key influences? 

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Your music is linear, groovy and very energetic; can you explain a little of your writing process?

Thanks! It’s different for every song I guess. Some start from song ideas, some from jams. We like to jam more than anything, so we just meet up and play and each of us throws in ideas that we might have. It’s good when a song spontaneously forms from a jam.

You have an EP coming out this month – who did you record it with and how’s it being released?

We recorded it ourselves with a few mics plugged straight into a laptop, and then Ed Boogie mastered it. We recorded it in a space we used to put on live music nights in Blackwood. We didn’t really know what we were doing; we just knew we wanted to make a record ourselves because if we started doing it that way we would be able to make lots of future records whenever we wanted. So we got it pressed on vinyl and are releasing it on a label we started, Wasabi Overload. We want to help get more bands’ music recorded and pressed on vinyl in the future.

Your live shows are consistently great, what’s been some of your favourites?

We all loved playing the Moon in Cardiff after not being able to play shows for over a year, or however long it was during the pandemic. Halloween was also fun last year, with Bandicoot and Sweatbox at the Fork & Tune in Cwmcarn. Everyone was dressed up funny and it was just a good laugh. We’ve loved playing all of the shows really.

Any plans for the future beyond the EP release?

Yeah! We have a bunch of new songs written and we play some of them live but haven’t recorded anything properly yet. I think we’re going to start recording them soon. 

Dactyl Terra play Cwrw, Carmarthen on Sat 9 Apr (supporting Adwaith). Info: dactylterra.com

words TOM MORGAN