The DSM IV

THE DSM IV crystallise both the ultra real and the otherworldly, bringing a focused hyperrealism to the party. The trio’s convention-defying, no frills live performances toy with audience expectations and question the narratives being sold to us as news—or entertainment—all to the beat of the drum machinist.
 
As if pontificating from a lectern, Guy McKnight sings and gesticulates like his life depends on it, his lyrics enticing or lacerating - living in the moment. In an age of perversion of reality, THE DSM IV poetically reflect on our world’s hypocrisies and dilemmas, with danceability, intelligence, indignation, grace & style—refreshing purity for these polluted times.
 
“We’re inspired by a lot of stuff as well as music, like books, certain artists and painters,” says McKnight of the band’s world, “but for me personally, especially by film. Directors of photography, film scores. Different aspects. I think it’s always healthy to wrestle with suffering through music. In order to transcend it. Human beliefs, social norms, stigma, taboos, and blind spots in our understanding of our own natures. Particularly now, in this overstimulated age of bombardement of our psyches”.
 
Growing up in the '90s on the notorious Grizedale Estate in Liverpool, THE DSM IV’s inspired guitarist, Jade O, has experienced a lifetime’s worth of stories to draw on. With their debut album cover featuring a photograph of a bar of soap which one of her cousins carved whilst in jail, their origins and lived experiences are real. Incidentally, the back cover is a footprint in concrete from a beloved “110” (Nike Air 95s) which are synonymous with the city.
 
When drummer Pav Cummins, on the hunt for denims, walked into the clothes emporium where Jade and McKnight work, McKnight instantly knew that this rake-thin, medieval-looking percussionist was the answer to his prayers; a handsome doppelgänger of ‘Naked’-era actor David Thewlis. Perfect! Drum machines were invested in, no persuasion necessary.
 
McKnight’s brooding takes us through tales of relatable vulnerability, to the joy of carefree abandon, to shameful human depravity. Characters appear from the same lyrical story books that Jarvis Cocker, Mark E Smith, Brett Anderson, ODB, and CASISDEAD, to name a few, seem to inhabit. 
 
After a gestational period giving rise to a string of stand-alone singles, the band released their formidable, uncompromising debut album, NEW AGE PARANOIA—recorded at The Libertines’ HQ at The Albion Rooms, Margate—in 2023, following tours with Sleaford Mods, The Libertines, and Dream Wife.