The Dream Machine: ‘I wanted it to sound like Phil Spector producing the Ramones in the 80’s or a twisted take on one of the songs from Fraggle Rock!’

Merseyside psych rock band The Dream Machine will release their second album Small Town Monsters later this year.

The band comprises Zak McDonnell (vocals, acoustic guitar and percussion), Matt Gouldson (backing vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, lap steel, piano), Jack Inchboard (backing vocals, bass) and Isaac Salisbury (drums): ‘Me, Jack and Matt met each other in school, we’ve known each other since we were 13, we met Isaac when we were 19,’ McDonnell said.

They take their name from a William Boroughs invention that recreates hallucinations similar to psychedelics without taking substances. ‘It was the legal way to hallucinate in the 60’s,’ McDonnell joked. ‘My brother had been to London, he told me about it, but actually he didn’t know that we’d already been thinking about it for our name, it felt like it was meant to be.’ They formed in 2021 after meeting at The Mosslands School in Wallasey, and have since been described as ‘a glorious a swirl of Northern psychedelic pop music landing somewhere between New Order, Blossoms and Bruce Springsteen’.

‘I kind of focused on the idea that the word ‘monster’ can be a metaphor for someone’s inner demons, too’

Small Town Monsters references monsters in various forms, both literal and metaphorical, according to McDonnell: ‘My little sister said to me one day: “Do you want to see my book of monsters?” I found it really inspiring, these childlike images of things that scared her,’ he said. ‘It got me thinking that monsters in whatever form don’t necessarily have to be the Hollywood ones – Frankenstein or the Werewolf – although they are a part of the album. But I kind of focused on the idea that the word ‘monster’ can be a metaphor for someone’s inner demons, too. I liked it enough to use as a title. I added something at the beginning, a little nod to the area we live in, how it’s shaped our minds and imaginations.’

Earlier this month, they released the lead track from the album, ‘Frankenstein’, a swirly psych pop song that evokes languid summer days, despite the title, which is not as literal as you first think: ”Frankenstein’ is a confession of love from somebody disfigured by immaturity and misery,’ he said. ‘A helpless tale of hope and anguish. Heart to heart, man to monster, it’s a teenage freak show romance driven by desperation and despair. I wanted it to sound like Phil Spector producing the Ramones in the 80’s or a twisted take on one of the songs from Fraggle Rock! I was just sitting in my front room playing on a little nylon guitar – a kid’s wooden guitar, 3/4 size with plastic strings – when ‘The Crow’ was on the telly,’ McDonnell laughed. ‘I’d read the book ‘Frankenstein’ recently, there are a lot of monsters across the new album, you can’t always see them. There are werewolves and little stories, they’re not always on the nose. There are elements of evil, growing up and relationships. We took the first version of the album to James Skelly (of The Coral), who’s worked with us and he said: “Scrap the album” (laughs) but we kept ‘Frankenstein’ and re-wrote the album.’

As the track kicks off: “So the lightning struck your bolts. Don’t be scared, you’re not at fault. It’s all your pseudonym. When the crow on your TV reaches out and touches me, I say: “I don’t wanna end up like him”…”

Small Town Monsters will consist of 11 tracks, including ‘Frankenstein’ and marks a big departure for them sonically, according to McDonnell: ‘It’s more commercial, we did it in a proper studio,’ he said. ‘James Skelly produced it (in his Kempston Street Studios), I’ve known him through my family since I was a kid. (The Coral has affectionately described them as “demonic choirboys”.) One of my favourite songs on the album is one in the middle, an acoustic one, called ‘Tonight I’ve Got Heaven In My Arms’. It’s the longest title but the shortest song! The tune is recorded on the plastic strings, we added in more guitar, but we kept that in. I’ve been inspired by books I’ve read and films I’ve watched. It’s a full-band song but a bit slower.’

‘We’d go to one specific shelter – the one that wasn’t covered in piss, or had the windows blown out – and take a speaker with us, listen to music, get stoned and think about what kind of music we wanted to make’

As a band, they are positioning themselves as classic outsiders, a group school friends in New Brighton, a faded seaside resort on the banks of the River Mersey. Citing everything from William Burroughs to Texan rock band The 13th Floor Elevators and Fraggle Rock as influences, they’re juiced up on a diet of carnival sugar, cheap horror movies and end-of-the-pier boredom. Even before they had learned to play any instruments, they would sit in a promenade shelter and plot their future together under the neon glare of wonder wheels and disused rollercoasters, according to McDonnell: ‘We’d go to one specific shelter – the one that wasn’t covered in piss, or had the windows blown out – and take a speaker with us, listen to music, get stoned and think about what kind of music we wanted to make,’ he said. ‘Then go in the nearby bowling alleys and fairs and try and soak the atmosphere up. It was a magic time!’

‘Wild One’, which they released as a single in 2022, reels you in from the jangly intro and also has something of a fairground or carnival feel; it could be a Rolling Stones song if they got stuck in at the seaside. ‘We’d recorded at my house for ages during lockdown but afterwards, The Coral let us use their rehearsal space,’ McDonnell said. ‘I’m their guitar tech, I tuned their guitars, One day, I picked up James’ old Martin guitar, I’d never played one like that before, and I wrote ‘Wild One’. We don’t always do it live, it’s got three-part harmonies, we won’t do it if the sound’s not right on the night. I can’t remember who it’s about but I was listening to a lot of Waylan Jennings and Hank Williams, it’s a bit of a bar room romance (laughs). I wanted it to feel a bit like Waylan Jennings’ ‘The Wurlizer Prize’ about a guy waiting in a bar for a girl to come back.’

Over the past couple of years, they’ve spent time on the road, absorbing music to throw in the melting pot of new material, including the wild energy of Fontaines DC, Big Star, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Blossoms and The War On Drugs. Their collective energy and spirit give them an edge: the sound of five friends playing as one, the us-against the-world gang mentality, ramped up by a defiant hesitancy to do anything by the book, which is reflected in the genre-hopping tumult of their early singles. From ‘Children, My England’ to the wistful heartbreak of ‘Lola, In The Morning’, or the teenage psych-out of ‘TV Baby/ Satan’s Child’, they appear comfortable walking the tightrope between budding pop stars and psych-punks. 

‘I was listening to Springsteen at the time, I like how he blurs reality and fiction in his lyrics’

On Small Town Monsters, however, that wild energy is leashed, packed neatly into tight three-minute blasts of emotion. There’s a new, refined literacy to McDonnell’s lyrics as he observes small-town weirdness and B-movie imagery, as he catalogues despair, family turmoil, coming-of-age confusion, unrequited love and teenage doom, all filtered through his psychedelic lens: ‘I can do our really weird stuff on my own, in our rehearsal room, and I realised how much of that side of us I have to do my way,’ he said. ‘I feel like I want to control it but for this album, I liked the challenge of creating something more commercial, and with that I had to put my trust in someone else who has knowledge in that area. It suited us to collaborate’.

Elsewhere on the album, the tragicomedy of ‘Cindy’s Eyes’ mashes up sun-drenched melodies with surf guitar and the kind of chorus that deserves to have a big crowd singing along. ‘That song is kind of a true story,’ McDonnell laughed. ‘We’d all go to this coffee shop before rehearsal and wait for this one server to make our drink. Mattie, our guitarist, said she’d written her name and phone number on his cup with a sharpie pen. Later, we found the receipt for the sharpie in his pocket. It was hilarious! I added the bits about her living next door as if it was an actual small-town relationship. I was listening to Springsteen at the time, I like how he blurs reality and fiction in his lyrics. Also, Big Star and Squeeze – those seventies songs with rough edges but really beautiful choruses.’

Springsteen has influenced him massively over the years: ‘His ballads are as good as his anthems,’ he said enthusiastically. ‘My main ones are The Beatles and The Coral, this album has got touches of Blossoms. The Ramones, we wanted ‘Frankenstein’ to sound like them, we got obsessed with The Ramones museum when we went to Berlin. We just came back but it’s gone now. It was crazy, it had all the boots and clothes! Kottbusser Tor there, that’s where all the punks are, and it’s so cheap! We got beer for a euro!’

‘I like that the piano is out of tune like in the practice room, it’s got rough edges’

Earlier songs, such as last year’s ‘This Time Around’ have a timeless, wistful feel: ‘It’s probably one of my faves but we’ve never played it live,’ McDonnell said. ‘I like that the piano is out of tune like in the practice room, it’s got rough edges. It was recorded on Christmas Eve, it’s got bells in the background (laughs). I probably wouldn’t bother with it in the summer! It’s one of the most similar ones to those on ‘Small Town Monsters’, the one that would fit on it well.’

He initially started off playing drums, before moving onto the guitar and has picked up some invaluable advice along the way: ‘I got into songwriting when I was 17-18, I worked in Parr Studios,’ he said. ‘I used to go and make the tea, for free, like, they didn’t pay me (laughs). I watched The Coral and Blossoms record music, that’s how I learned the blueprints for songwriting. I’d start writing songs going to the shops (laughs), I’d get something in my head, that’s how it started.’

If he could play any venue in the world, McDonnell picks a small one: ‘I feel that we go down best with the smallest ones we do, if we have all the fans there,’ he said. ‘Like Rod Stewart on the beach in Rio de Janeiro! We done a tour where we were the first support for The Lathums, and another one where we were the second. And I play percussion sometimes with The Coral. They’re well sound, I get on with them loads.’

Picking someone to have a drink with turns out to be a challenge: ‘It’s hard, innit? Will it ruin it if I pick one of my heroes? I don’t know if I want to meet Bob Dylan, he definitely wouldn’t wanna meet me! Paul McCartney, you know he’d be nice, I’d just grill him for hours (laughs). When I was about three, I used to watch ‘Help!’ on TV over and over, so maybe it has to be him?!’