Deap Vally's European tour lands in Dublin and Belfast this week. The Californian duo of Lindsey Troy (guitar, vocals) and Julie Edwards (drums and vocals) are renowned for their cutting lyrics and chainsaw guitar riffs. The duo are currently working on their third album with Flaming Lips honcho Wayne Coyne; a surprising turn of events considering they were once accused of ripping off The Flaming Lips by none other than The Flaming Lips (more on that later).

We caught up with Deap Vally ahead of their Irish dates. On the agenda: new single Get Gone; Guinness; feminism, and a long-distance view on the Umpa Lumpa in the White House.

Are you guys still happily unhappy? 

At the moment, feeling quite good ;)

A lot of your music focuses on themes of female equality. No doubt you faced plenty of sexism in the music industry during your career, nut is rock'n'roll a more-welcoming sphere for female musicians than it was when you were starting out?

That’s hard to quantify. It’s never been perfect but not the worst either. There’s just a few bad eggs that stink it up sometimes, but those are everywhere, right?

America seems like a very toxic place at the moment. Is it nice to be in Europe or does Trump’s America just look uglier from a distance?

Ya know, I think about that, what people think of Americans now. It’s weird that he represents us as a country because I feel no connection to him whatsoever; he certainly  doesn’t represent me. Honestly, I stopped watching the news, probably because of him. Maybe it’s cognitive dissonance or something. He didn’t win the popular vote, so I don’t really feel like he won the election. I guess I’m still kind of in denial. I try to focus on the positive for my own sanity, like how as a reaction to Trump taking office, people are more engaged in politics, and there are more women getting elected to different positions of political office. Women are more engaged because we’re ready to ‘fight the power’...

You guys have smuggled some surf vibes into your latest single Get Gone. Does the track signal a wholesale shift in sound or will your third album still be rooted in the sound that we associate with Deep Vally?

So far, Get Gone is the only ultra-surfy song on the record, but it’s (not) done yet so we’ll see! There’s definitely some blues bangers on there. A couple of songs we refer to as ‘jock jams’.

Once upon a time you guys were accused of ripping off The Flaming Lips but you’ve recently been recording with Wayne, how did that come about? 

Yes, funny how that turned around isn’t it? We love those guys so much. Great people and a fantastic band. We met Wayne Coyne a couple of years back when we were touring with Wolfmother. He loved our show and came up to meet us after. I was sooo excited to meet him. We kinda kept in touch via Instagram after that, and one day he tagged us in a post about working on new music. I interpreted that as him asking us to collaborate, but in retrospect, I think he was just tagging friends. That planted the seed and we asked him to collaborate with us.

We were so elated when it finally happened. It was a dream-come-true to go to Oklahoma City and stay at his super groovy house, to spend the week with them and make music. They’re such great people. I can’t wait to release that stuff!

What are you guys listening to at the moment?

Surfbort, the Entire Universe, the Shaking Hands, Parquet Courts, Amyl and the Sniffers, and a lot of old country stuff my boyfriend has been playing around the house.

 What are you guys looking forwards to doing in Dublin?

Drinking Guinness, duh!

When can we expect to hear more music?

So soon! Keep your ears peeled!

Deap Vally play the Grand Social, Dublin and Belfast's Limelight 2 on the 27th and 28th of June respectively. Tickets on sale now from Ticketmaster.