“All the themes are pretty dark, even if the songs are happy.”
Niam Hegarty
After dropping two EP’s in quick succession towards the end of the last decade, Melbourne indie-punk outfit Dental Plan decided to take their time with their next release, putting into effect not only their music interests and pedigrees, but also their growing knowledge of their craft.
2021 saw Dental Plan return with the brutal single Hole In Me, which emphatically announced their re-emergence as a more polished unit. Landslide followed, and anticipation turned into expectation as Dental Plan announced their debut album Raw Nerve was incoming.
That album landed on July 19, affirming Dental Plan’s growing status, opening the band up for a new range of opportunities that are finally coming to fruition.
HEAVY sat down with vocals/guitarist Niam Hegarty to find out more.
“It’s been really good,” he enthused of the reception Raw Nerve has received so far. “We’ve kind of got more streams than I expected and people seem to have been digging it. It’s done what it needed to do, which I think is get the word about the band out there. We’ve been a band for a while, and this is our first record. A long time coming, but I’m looking forward to getting out to play some shows to support it.”
In the full interview Niam discussed Raw Nerve more in terms of musical direction, how it represents Dental Plan‘s trajectory to date, what sorts of things are discussed going into a debut album, finding their sound and the balance between genres, how Raw Nerve differs to their self-titled EP, finding your musical identity, future plans and more.
