Half Dizzy is a Melodic Punk Rock band hailing from Long Island New York. They blend hard fast rhythms with technical melodies and harmonies to make a unique and aggressive punk sound. The band is made up of Dizzy Doll on vocals, Dan on guitar and vocals, Mitchell on guitar, Nick on drums, and Brett on bass. Dizzy has a unique and aggressive voice that compliments the band to create a one-of-a-kind melodic sound.
We had the chance to ask Half Dizzy some questions as part of The Refrain Interview Series. Check it out below.
Refrain Music Blog: Thanks for taking the time to do this interview. You have a new album out now. What’s it called?
Half Dizzy: Yea so we’re putting out a 5 track EP, in conjunction with our previous single and 2 acoustic versions of our songs. So its and 8 track album titled, “Courtacy Flush”. The name was a combination of Dizzy and Nicks idea. I’m pretty sure they were half joking about the name when they said it, but we stuck with it because it’s funny and we like to pretend we’re funny people haha.
RMB: How many songs on the album?
Half Dizzy: So technically, on the physical CDs their will be 8 tracks, but 5 of them are brand new. 2 are acoustic versions, and it will also include our first single, “surrogate”. But 8 tracks altogether, simply because we have to charge for physical CDs, and we want to give as much as we possibly can if we’re going to ask for any money. If it were up to us, we’d give everything away we possibly could, but unfortunately we have to actually buy the products and pay for gas and food and w.e other expenses. But yea 8 tracks haha
RMB: Is this your first album? If not tell us about your previous work and how this differs from your previous work.
Half Dizzy: This is the first album we are putting out as a band, but its just the beginning. We all have a lot of fun writing and playing together, I’ve known everyone in this band for a very long time, so we’re not going anywhere any time soon. But this is the first of our adventures together yea.
RMB: What’s the story on how it was recorded?
Half Dizzy: Well, the album as a whole was recorded in a few different places actually. So, the 5 new songs were tracked by our friend Matt Murphy. We recorded drums at Sabella studios in Roslyn, NY, the guitars and vocals were done at Matt’s house, and everything was mix/mastered at Sabella. He did an insane job and really worked with us and gave us exactly what we wanted and made us sound better than we are, which is what you want in a good engineer, so we couldn’t be more happy with it. Our first single, which is part if the album. Was recorded at Kingdom Recordings, by our friends Aaron and Chris, who also did a stellar job. And the 2 acoustic tracks were done in my basement with my equipment, mixed/mastered by my good friend Justin Borgia, very DIY punk rock style. So it was really done all over Long Island, NY. But yea were hyped about all of it. The team we’ve put together to work on our music is seriously crushing it honestly. We couldn’t have done this without them.
RMB: Do you have a favorite song on the album? Tell us about it?
Half Dizzy: We all have favorite songs on the album actually, which I think is really cool. We all like different songs for different reasons. My personal favorite is the first song on the album, Propaganda. It’s got everything I like in a punk song. It’s fast, it’s melodic, it has harmonies and singalongs. I’m not gonna say it’s the best song ever, because their are much better song writers out there than me, but damn that is seriously a good song. I know Dizzy really likes the song “Petty Things”, because the lyrics really help her get her anger out. Mitchel likes Broken Down, because it’s fast, quick and aggressive. Nick likes Conspiracy because of the yelly chorus. Brett kind of just likes all the songs haha
RMB: Are there any overarching themes on the album?
Half Dizzy: Actually, yea. Most of our songs so far are about healing from emotional trauma and knowing your worth. It wasn’t meant to be that way, but thinking about what we’ve written, 4 of the 6 originals on the album are all about realizing your worth, and using your past to grow into someone better. I guess that’s kind if our “brand” at the moment. I know at least me and Dizzy, this band has really helped us get through some hurts and things from our past, Dizzy especially. A lot of the lyrics were taken from situations in Dizzy’s past or current life. So actually being able to verbalize how she feels really helps her. And hopefully we can help others with these songs as well.
RMB: Who are some of your biggest musical influences?
Half Dizzy: Wow, we listen to such a wide array of music. But I’d have to say as a band, Rancid is a huge influence. As the guitarist, I try my hardest to be as good a showman as Tim is on stage. We also love a lot of Fat wreck bands like, A wilhelm scream. Nofx of course, badcop badcop, The Last Gang, the bombpops. The female fronted bands on fat are actually all huge influences on us especially when we first started writing our first songs, we would watch music videos all the time and just be inspired by the girls doing it and being awesome.
RMB: What’s the one thing you are most proud of in your career so far?
Half Dizzy: We all put a lot of time and effort into getting soo much stuff done before even talking about releasing music and luckily that paid off. We approached Punkerton Records about releasing the album with us, and he loved the music and was all for it. You know, being on a punk record label is like every punk kid in a bands dream, and we got there and it’s really awesome. We are super appreciative of Brandon from Punkerton Records.
RMB: If you had to pitch your music to a potential fan in less than 10 seconds, what would you say?
Half Dizzy: Do you like Tony Hawk pro skater sound track? Then you’ll love us. Lol. We’re a classic 90s style melodic punk band but better because we have a hot singer. I’m allowed to say that because she’s my wife haha.
RMB: What’s one piece of advice you’ve gotten that you think everyone needs to hear or that has meant the most to you?
Half Dizzy: Be open to listening to every style of music. If you only listen to one style then you’ll be limiting yourself.
RMB: If you could go back in time, what’s a piece of advice you would give to a younger you?
Dan- First off all, I’d tell myself to get my real estate license asap and stop being a piece of crap lazy loser…then I’d tell myself to pay more attention to music. Doesn’t matter what about music, just pay more attention to it. I’d be so much better than I am now haha.
RMB: What’s coming up next for your musical project?
Half Dizzy: well October 22nd, we have a great show in Riverhead, NY, called the Punk Rock BBQ, where we’ll be celebrating our album release. And we’ll be writing more and playing more shows. We want to play as much out of state shows as possible. So if you’re reading this and your from any state surrounding NY. Please contact us and book us for a show! We want to come to you!
RMB: Anyone you want to shout out before we wrap up?
Half Dizzy: Matt Murphy the sound engineer on the ep, Sean from @Internal.vision who shot all of our band photos, as well as the Courtacy Flush album art and our first music video. Justin Borgia who engineered 2 of the 8 tracks on the album. Aaron and chris who engineered our first single. Lance from Heart Riot for his PR work. Brandon from Punkerton Records for his support. Were just lucky to be here and have awesome people around us. Thanks so much for the interview!
Refrain Music 