The Diggs are an impressive alterna-rock trio who cram so much emotion into every track that it leaks down the front of any stereo in which it’s played. They start each song with nothing, and carefully proceed to build their wall of sound brick by brick. By the interlude, buzzing guitars and wrecking ball drums swoop in to smash the song to pieces. Their LP, Commute, is a must for fans of bands such as Death Cab for Cutie and Built to Spill. Below, singer/guitarist Tim Lannen chats with The Deli.

Are The Diggs “emo”, “so emo”, or “not emo at all”?

To me Sunny Day Real Estate and Shudder To Think are Emo. If you ask kids today, kids who buy Taking Back Sunday or Dashboard Confessional records, about those bands, more than half have probably never heard of them. The genre has no real definition. I really don’t think we’re “Emo,” at least by today’s standards.

I hear a healthy mix of bands like Death Cab for Cutie, Jimmy Eat World, Built to Spill, etc. in the sound of The Diggs. Am I off base? If so, whose sound has influenced yours?

Built to Spill is really great. I like how there’s this guitar hero in the middle of that mess who sings like Neil Young and writes beautiful songs.
I guess one could derive influence from anywhere either consciously or subconsciously so maybe those bands could have played a part in our development. Although, Sonic Youth’s album Daydream Nation had a profound effect on the way that I write guitar parts. I fucking love that record.

When you record, do you go into the studio with fairly polished songs, or do you build a rough idea and experiment in the studio to see what happens?

We are very well rehearsed before we head into the studio, although we did finish writing one of the songs from Commute in the studio (“Sibling”).

The sounds on Commute come in waves, slow and calm one minute, violently crashing over head the next. How do you try to structure your songs to convey tension or emotion?

We like to prove our point in every song. Something big always has to happen. We start small and get big; we start big and get bigger. We want the audience to be a little bit more exhausted after every track. Commute is about being pissed off with being sad all of the time. It’s about being frustrated.

You lay heavily on the repetition of key lyrics. Do you try to stress a certain message within the context of the words?

I’m not much of a storyteller. Some words just sound really good in certain contexts. I try to keep in mind what touches me about my favorite lyrics from other songwriters. It has always been how they make certain words sound, not necessarily the meaning behind them. I like to keep it minimal as often as possible. I like the idea of my lyrics being abstract and totally identifiable at the same time.

I repeat the key lyrics over and over because they are key lyrics.

Who are the best bands currently operating in NYC?

I like Soft’s recordings a lot. I think Slowlands are really good. I really like the couple of songs of I’ve heard from Cassettes Won’t Listen. Unlove is great. We play with them a lot. And if you haven’t seen Aloke live yet, you should.

In a bizarre series of events, the next Diggs concert rocks so hard that a fan’s head explodes. The band is found guilty of homicide and sentenced to death. Instead of a last meal, you all must agree on a last song to hear just before they flip the switch. What do you choose?

“Teenage Riot” by Sonic Youth, although that’s my personal choice. The three of us would never agree on something like that.

What’s next for The Diggs?

Our record came out in Japan in January and has been pretty well received so we’re discussing doing a brief tour there for summer. We’re really excited about playing the FRICTION party with Amusement Parks on Fire in late March at Rothko. We’re doing a show in Washington, D.C. at DC Nine in April. And we’re recording an in studio performance for KEXP at Gigantic Studios when they come to NYC in May.