Since 1993, Melbourne band TDM have been on a journey of constant evolution and the search for pure unadulterated expression.
Beginning primarily as an acoustic-based group, the band soon developed and began experimenting with electronica and performance art. In the past, the band's main catalyst Peter Haren was a man obsessed with providing audiences with performances that enthralled, provoked and even disgusted, but recently that focus has shifted to engaging and connecting with the crowd.
Haren explains "In the past, the way I used to perform, I would deliberately work myself into trance-like states, so the audience wasn't important at all. In those states I could exhibit any weird quality in myself or impulses and thoughts that may be occurring. These days I am much more interested in having a connection with the audience. A lot of the time I will sing directly at people and stare at them in the eye to try feel that whole interaction between the two of us and I don't get as self-involved."
Haren's songs describe the humour and absurdity of modern society in general. The motivation for this comes from finding the unspoken funny. Haren explains: "It's like a psychological analysis of people, of myself and of my environment in a blunt and humorous fashion. A lot of it is quite dark and demented so I find it funny to expose the unspoken, those hidden traits behind peoples eyes."
The band's name  which, when said in a rush, sounds like "tedium" - even suggests Haren's opinions. "Calling the band TDM is very satirical, I like the fact that the name reminds me of what I am doing in the sense that what I am trying to do is not be tedious. I see so much of what is done around me in the world, is so tedious, it's like everyone is asleep, mechanically going about their everyday routines. When we break through that routine, we can achieve a more heightened sense of reality which is not tedious. So calling the band TDM is reminding me what I am rebelling against, or what I am using as motivation to achieve something better."
The line-up of the band has gone through a number of changes and has included a number of guest performers, Haren's main partner in crime, however, is Audra Cornish, who also runs TDS clothing, another part of the TDM empire. Fashion and music are such an influence on each other, perhaps the reason why male rock stars often have models for girlfriends -  so it makes sense that the band have in a way incorporated the two. "It's all about outward expression" says Haren. "In a sense it's a thing of trying to connect with people and you're doing it either through music, or through visual appearance, so they are very connected, the two work really well together."
With two albums already released, Love Songs For The Mediocre At Heart and 1997's Simple Life, the band have just completed their third, Always Better There, and are awaiting its release. Haren says, "I was going to release it at the end of this year but I decided to hold it off till the beginning of next year, that way we can release the album and start doing lots of gigs to support it. It's more of a rock and roll format, guitar, bass and drums and we play along with sequenced tracks as well.
I'm moving more away from the experimental thing because I've already done that. It is no longer challenging for me to be weird or interesting, it is more of a challenge to sing a song, sing it really well and have some emotional contact with the audience. I'm just moving on, trying to find whatever I am into at the moment, without dogmatically having to reject other genres to reinforce my own belief. I'm trying to get closer to the reason why I started making music in the first place. For the last five years I have been able to create the music that I love."
"I don't think there is any great mystique to great songwriters or people that have achieved amazing things like the Beatles or Bowie, I think they were just getting in touch with what they really liked, they conveyed it well, writing lyrics that were honest to themselves."

GEORGE HATZIGEORGIOU