Issue 90 / July 2018

enaissance! There’s a kid in another Liverpool band who’s since
got theirs chopped. I’m not surprised I’ve influenced them, just
shocked at how shamelessly they’re trying to stake their claim
that it’s ‘their thing’ by mentioning it ad nauseum on socials.
Stop plagiarising my mullet! They’ll probably ditch live drums
and invest in drum machines and synths soon, to find ‘their
sound’!” His tongue is in his cheek, but McKnight is keen to get
this bugbear into print, insisting it’s a matter of principle: “It ain’t
cool for people to behave so unscrupulously.”
In the Bold Street vintage shop, McKnight was determined he
would meet the member who would complete the band’s line-up.
He was right. “I was impressed by how skinny his legs were.”
McKnight says of discovering DSM IV drummer Pav. “I asked if
he’d be up for coming for a jam with me and JJ and he was just
brilliant and one of the best drummers I’ve ever worked with.”
With the administrative necessity of the ‘how we met’
part of the story out of the way, McKnight looks to get onto
weightier topics. Fastidiously clean and sober for eight years,
there is a drive and determination about the singer that is
inspiring. McKnight has a lot to say about society, issues of
mental health and the relationship between the two. The band
takes its name from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders Volume Four, the publication used by medical
health professionals in the States to classify and treat psychiatric
conditions. Through researching his own mental health, McKnight
has seen the manual come up repeatedly and is interested in
the intersection between mental health, pharmaceuticals and
commerce. “I am sure it has helped some people,” McKnight
says of the book, again choosing his words with the excessive
care. “[But] it’s a way to pigeonhole people and dehumanise and
tell everyone there’s something wrong with them and therefore
prescribing drugs and making money. Therefore it’s a kind of
ironic name.”
It’s a subject the singer is keen to talk about. As with
everyone, mental health issues have had a huge effect on his life
and those of the people around him. “Suicide in young men is on
the rise and music has definitely saved my life too many times
for me to remember,” McKnight tells me, the morning Americano
kicking in. “We live in a confused, sick society that values money,
success and a narcissistic, materialistic status driven culture,
celebrity worship culture [it all] makes people really unhappy and
ill.”
For someone who has already achieved a level of success
and fame, it is interesting to hear McKnight’s thoughts on how
people with a platform can go about affecting change without
being subsumed into a culture he sees as so poisonous. “It
can feel confusing, counter-intuitive to want to be in a band.
Sometimes there’s a misunderstanding between wanting to
create music and wanting fame for fame’s sake. I think social
media, Instagram culture, is making people ill but what do you
do? Turn your back on society, or do you just throw stones at
the wall, demand that it change? Or do you change yourself? I
think that maintaining your integrity in life and still exist[ing] as
a musician in this shallow animalistic music industry… you can
affect positive change by standing up for what you believe in
and, if your dreams and aspirations are connected to altruistic
aspiration, you can be free and live as you please and not be
egocentric.”
He turns to me and smiles, satisfied that he has got to the
crux of a core belief. While McKnight is obviously troubled by
the subjects discussed, there is a contentment about him. We
turn to the subject of inspirations and influences on his current
project. Rather than namechecking the usual pantheon of rock
and electro greats, McKnight cites Russian absurdist writer
Daniil Kharms, a fascinating author who wrote the briefest of
what now may be called flash fiction about old ladies smashing
to pieces upon falling from windows and bizarre conversations
between off-the-wall characters. Arrested on charges of
spreading “libellous and defeatist mood” having feigned insanity
in 1930s Russia, the now-celebrated writer wound up starving
to death in a Soviet gulag. “He didn’t share the same ideologies
as the state,” explains McKnight. “I’ve always been encouraged,
fascinated by the surrealists.” This is another theme the singer is
clearly passionate about, the intersection of official outlooks and
outsiders’ perceptions of life, “I like the idea [of] transcending
what’s expected. I think that transcendence is just liberating
oneself from one’s own lesser self. It’s refreshing and I think that’s
what art and music is for; it’s for reminding us that all is not as it
seems and that there’s always hope.” !
Words: Sam Turner / @Samturner1984
Photography: Kevin Barrett / @kev_barrett
The DSM IV play the Bido Lito! Social on 19th July at DROP The
Dumbulls.
FEATURE
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