Interview with La Dharma: ‘Our next single is based on when everyone around you seems to be in love but you’re not’

West Midlands-based indie band with an 80’s twang, La Dharma, will release their next single ‘I’m Not In Love (Now)’ towards the end of November, with an EP slated for next year.

The band – their name was inspired by Jack Kerouac’s novel, The Dharma Bums – comprises frontman Chris Leedham, Daniel ‘Jonah’ Morris (guitar), James Morris (drums) and Christian Booth (bass). Leedham and Morris are friends from around the area (near Birmingham). Booth is an old school friend of Leedham’s and they found Morris via mutual friends.

The upcoming single is about something that will resonate with everyone, according to Leedham: ‘It’s based on when everyone around you seems to be in love but you’re not but you wonder why you’re not. Everyone’s been there at some point.’

As the chorus goes: ‘I’m not in love now, I should’ve swayed the vision of the fiction somehow. It isn’t my fault, well, why are we here? Now I’ve conceded she ain’t ever gonna be here…’

This song marks the start of what will become their upcoming EP, which will include four tracks, including ‘I’m Not In Love (Now)’.

In September, they brought out a remix with The Nu of last year’s single ‘I Don’t Believe That I’m Ready’, which is barely recognizable as the same song. ‘I have a friend in that band (The Nu), we played with them three weeks ago,’ Leedham said. ‘He self produces and said it was his favourite song of ours and could he mix it? He comes back with this version, he’s turned it into a completely new song, we’re really happy with it. The original song is my interpretation of going into dating life in the modern world. The chorus kind of got stuck in our heads and we wrote it from there.’

‘It’s about that devil on your shoulder that tells you to do things you shouldn’t do’

Other tracks, such as ‘Devils’, which came out in March, are deliberately more ambiguous, according to Leedham: ‘It started with Jonah’s intro riff, it’s an anthemic intro. I tried to make it have a dual meaning, it’s about that devil on your shoulder that tells you to do things you shouldn’t do.’ That is clearly reflected by the chorus: ‘Devil in a white dress, drive me crazy, you don’t need to say if we’re just messing around, how’s it over, I barely know ya, tell me when you go or if I’m letting you down.’

Leedham admits that he found lockdown tough: ‘A lot of musicians were very productive but I struggled a bit,’ he said. ‘I felt bad that I couldn’t write songs. It’s the fact that you’ve got all this time in front of you to fill.’ I tell him that many musicians I’ve spoken to have said the same thing and he seems relieved: ‘Really? I’m glad it’s not just me. After a while, you just get on with it but at the beginning, it was hard.’

Between them, they have very diverse musical influences, according to Leedham: ‘More recently, I’ve been into The 1975, they have such a unique style, there are no limits to what they can do musically. From ‘Chocolate’ to ‘People’, what they did is so different. Also, Sam Fender, lyrically, is brilliant and so relatable. Jonah is a big fan of The Cure and The Smiths, you hear that in our sound as well. We like the juxtaposition of happier music with sad lyrics because you can listen to the music and take it in but not feel too sad, so that’s what we try to do.’

If he could tour with anyone, he goes with Paolo Nutini: ‘He’s completely different to us sonically but he’s got a strong, unique voice. ‘Iron Sky’ (from Nutini’s Caustic Love album, 2014) is one of my favourite songs of all time. His second album was very different to his first. That’s what I like. It’s important to keep people guessing a bit.’

(Photo from left to right: James, Jonah, Chris and Christian)