• 2012-

  Tommy O'DellLead vocals2012-

  Matthew MasonLead guitar2012-

  Johnny TookAcoustic guitar, rhythm guitar2012-
• DMA's are a Sydney rock trio whose mix of shoegaze guitars, Madchester swagger, and massive, stadium-sized choruses turned them into unexpected UK festival favorites in the 2010s. Fronted by Tommy O'Dell's distinct, soaring voice, the group built a reputation for turning raw bedroom demos into massive singalongs.
• The band originally called themselves "Dirty Ma's" and shortened it to DMA's because radio presenters kept mishearing the old name as "Mars," like the planet.
• The group formed almost by accident. O'Dell and guitarist Johnny Took originally played as the rhythm section - drummer and bassist - in a psych band called Underlights. When they started writing together on acoustic guitars at Took's house, the new project took shape. Guitarist Matthew Mason joined after the pair had already written about 10 songs.
• In the beginning, DMA's worked purely as a recording unit. Took recorded and engineered everything from his bedroom, with O'Dell on drums and vocals and Mason on guitar and keys. Once the tracks started gaining traction online, they had to recruit touring musicians so they could actually play the songs live.
• The title of their debut album, Hills End, came from a local landmark. It's named after Hill End, a former gold-mining town in New South Wales they drove past while on tour. It also shares a title with Ivan Southall's Australian children's novel about kids trapped in a cave, a coincidence their manager pointed out after the title was already locked in.
• The band's acoustic version of Cher's "Believe," recorded for Triple J's Like A Version in October 2016, voted in at #6 on that year's Hottest 100 countdown, the first Like A Version cover ever to break into the Top 10. In 2023, when Triple J ran a special Hottest 100 of Like A Version celebrating the segment's 20-year history, listeners voted DMA's' "Believe" into the #1 spot.
• DMA's share a long history with Liam Gallagher. Their early single "Delete" caught the former Oasis frontman's attention before their debut album was even out, leading Gallagher to invite them as special guests on his 2019 UK and Irish arena tour.
• While Oasis comparisons have followed the band from day one, Manchester guitar music wasn't Mason's main influence. Growing up on punk and bluegrass, he cites American alt-rock acts like Pavement and Sonic Youth as his major touchstones, explaining the Britpop connection comes largely from O'Dell's vocal tone rather than the guitar riffs. "When I write the songs I sing in an American accent and you wouldn't compare that to here," Mason told UK's Indie Is Not A Genre. "But as soon as Tommy sings it sounds like it's from this part of the world."

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