| | | |  | What did Andy Warhol's mid '60s lair on East 47th Street have in common with the Rolling Stones' classic Beggars Banquet album of '68? To any moderate pop culture obsessive, the answer would be something to do with Factory Girls. In Warhol's entourage,...
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| Interview | Access All Areas.net.au: So what’s it like being in the ‘hardest working band in Australia’?
Pat (Dallas Crane): Yeah, uh… it’s hard work! [Laughs] We just think that, you know, we should always be doing something. Obviously every now and then you need a break, but we’re at it all the time. If we’re not touring then we’re doing something behind the scenes, there’s always something going on.
Access All Areas.net.au: You’ve just come home from a successful stint overseas, including the South by Southwest Festival in Texas…
Pat (Dallas Crane): Yeah, we went to LA; Austin for SXSW; went across to New York for about week and did some shows there, then up to Boston to do a show. Then we did a sold out show in London and on the way home we went through Osaka and Tokyo and played some shows there
Access All Areas.net.au: I heard you made some pretty good mates there in The Bawdies?
Pat (Dallas Crane): Yeah they supported us over there and they’re touring here in June and I think we’ve managed to put them on a couple of our shows for the God Damn Pride tour. We hung out with them a bit in Japan, particularly the singer [Ryo Watanabe] – we hung out with him for a few days and he was showing us around. So we ended up making good friends with a few people over there and it was great.
Access All Areas.net.au: How different is the rock scene in Japan compared to in Australia?
Pat (Dallas Crane): It’s hard to say - it’s different. The audiences are a little more polite… and less drunk [laughs]. We’re used to playing to a room full of dancing women and rowdy men - so it was just different. But they love their rock and roll so they really get into it which is cool.
Did you learn anything over there that you could bring into the local shows?
Pat (Dallas Crane): One thing that I found they like in Japan is a bit of ‘danger’ - a bit of rock and roll danger, so maybe the shows will get a bit more dangerous.
Access All Areas.net.au: What exactly do you mean by dangerous?
Pat (Dallas Crane): Oh you know, unpredictable and yeah, just a bit more crazy. I mean, there’s an element of that in our show - that kind of really powerful rock and roll show. We were only there for four days and it’s really quite hard to understand their character - it’s a different world. It’s hard to know but yeah, they do like that sort of dangerous element of rock and roll.
Access All Areas.net.au: Do you think you’ll be heading back overseas in the near future?
Pat (Dallas Crane): Well, we’re currently negotiating to go back to Japan to put out our record there, so that’s looking good. Hopefully we’ll be back there before the end of the year, back to Japan and the UK, so yeah, that’d be great. I’m a huge fan of Japan, it’s one of the most amazing places I’ve ever been and I’d be happy to keep playing rock and roll so I can keep going back to Japan, that’d be great.
Access All Areas.net.au: What were some of the highlights from abroad?
Pat (Dallas Crane): All of the shows were great; we played at some famous places like the Troubadour. You stand on the stage and you think, you know, everyone’s played here - Motorhead have played on this stage. That’s kind of amazing. Same with the Bowery Ballroom in New York, you get on that stage and get in that room and… they’re just amazing venues with so much history in them – that was kind of highlight for me.
Access All Areas.net.au: You’re just about to hit the road for the God Damn Pride Tour, should the punters expect anything different this time around?
Pat (Dallas Crane): Yeah, well we’ll be doing a new set I would say. We’ll probably give some of the other songs off Factory Girls a run, some that maybe didn’t get a run on the last tour - mix it up a bit. It’s always unexpected - you don’t know what could happen… [laughs] anything could happen. We could start playing really old songs, you never know.
Access All Areas.net.au: Have you written any new material since Factory Girls?
Pat (Dallas Crane): Yeah, that’s always happening. There are plans to start recording later in the year.
Access All Areas.net.au: Can we expect to hear any of this new stuff on this tour?
Pat (Dallas Crane): I don’t know, not at this stage. I don’t think so, but you know there might be some stuff that hardly ever gets played like some b-sides. You never know, we could be doing a Motorhead cover, so who knows [laughs] things just happen.
Access All Areas.net.au: So the God Damn Pride single comes out tomorrow…
Pat (Dallas Crane): Yeah, just like a limited edition collector’s kind of thing with a couple of little bonus things on it.
Access All Areas.net.au: How do expect that will go, given the declining trend of singles sales?
Pat (Dallas Crane): Yeah well it’s very limited. The actual physical product is mostly just for fans, collectors and the like. It will be kind of a downloading thing, I don’t think record stores even stock singles anymore, so what can you do? It’s a dying breed.
Access All Areas.net.au: Is this something you feel a bit disappointed about? I know I much prefer holding actual CDs in my hands as opposed to simply data on the computer.
Pat (Dallas Crane): Yeah, it’s a constantly changing landscape in the music industry. You can’t really fight these things, you have to try and make them work for you. We’ll just have to see what happens.
Access All Areas.net.au: How would you describe your genre or style? I’ve heard the phrase ‘down and dirty pub rock’ thrown around a few times.
Pat (Dallas Crane): Well, I dunno. I prefer to say ‘stadium’ rock [laughs]. It’s pretty down and dirty… It’s definitely rock and roll, I mean there’s no doubt about that. But I think it’s got a bit of a pop element to it, we work on our harmonies and a lot of that kind of stuff, but yeah it’s rock and roll - we’re a rock and roll band. Two guitars, drums and a bass, that’s pretty much all there is to it really.
Access All Areas.net.au: Do you prefer playing the smaller pub shows or the bigger venues?
Pat (Dallas Crane): I like playing in any size venue if it sounds good and the crowd is into it. If it’s a good gig then it’s a good gig. I’ve played in front of 55,000 people and I’ve played in front of a room of 100 in tiny little rooms. But they can all have their all charms and be great, if it’s a good crowd and we’re having a good gig and it sounds good, then it doesn’t matter… But you know, there’s nothing like the roar of 10,000 people, it’s a pretty good feeling!
Access All Areas.net.au: Are there any particular places you are really looking forward to playing on this tour?
Pat (Dallas Crane): Well we’re doing two nights in a row at the Annandale Hotel in Sydney, that’s kind of an old favourite of ours. We haven’t played there for a while; we’ve got the stage where maybe it’s a little too small so we decided to do two nights. I’m always excited about playing there, it’s a great sounding room and we always do really well there. And I’m always excited about going to WA, we love playing there.
Access All Areas.net.au: You guys have been around the Australian music scene for a long time, what do you think about the current state of things?
Pat (Dallas Crane): Ah, well look, I think there are some great rock and roll bands in Australia. Unfortunately, I don’t think that all of the great ones are getting the recognition they should. And I think that the state of radio support for contemporary Australian music in Australia is abysmal. Particular in commercial radio stations - so it’s really hard.
Access All Areas.net.au: What about a government funded station like Triple J?
Pat (Dallas Crane): Oh, you know… they’re alright [laughs]. They haven’t been playing our record…
Access All Areas.net.au: How has Factory Girls been received by radio stations in general?
Pat (Dallas Crane): Well, luckily we’re a live band, mostly, and that’s always going to be there. But it’s always nice to get radio play. It helps, you know, it just helps everything. The more of it you get, the better - and when you get hardly any, you know, that hurts.
Access All Areas.net.au: Fortunately you have someone like Tim Rogers from You Am I talking you guys up – from a bit of name dropping in song lyrics to declaring “Dallas Crane are the best band in the country.” How much has Tim’s support helped you along the way?
Pat (Dallas Crane): Yeah Tim is an advocate for the band and he talked it up in the press, and I’m sure it didn’t do us any harm! We’re really grateful for the fact that he took us on tour and got us involved in stuff - whenever he can put in a good word for the band he does. He’s a friend of ours and we really appreciate it.
Access All Areas.net.au: Can we hope to see You Am I and Dallas Crane touring together again anytime soon?
Pat (Dallas Crane): Oh, I dunno. We always love to go on tour with each other. We did some shows in the States with them which was great, it was good to hook up with those guys and do some shows. Look I’ll never rule it out. We’ve done one with Tim and the Temperance Union as well, which is his other band - his solo sort of stuff - and that’s always fun too. I’ll go on the road with those guys any day, any day of the week.
Interview by Jarrad Seng
Access All Areas.net.au: Congrats on the new single and album, must be pretty excited to be back in the spotlight with new music?
Dallas Crane - Pat: Yeah we're really excited about it and we're really proud of the record and yeah we’re looking forward to getting back out on the road!
Access All Areas.net.au: Can you tell us what fans can expect of the new album?
Dallas Crane - Pat: Well... you know... there's still two guitars, bass and drums and it's still very much a rock n roll record just that maybe the songs are better than the last record.
Dallas Crane - Pat: The process of putting the album together was actually longer than it was meant to take because we did tours in between a lot of the time. Pete and Dave put a lot of hours in to it at their houses writing songs and that kind of thing and I think the time we spent in the studio was about six weeks.
Access All Areas.net.au: This is your third album, how does this album differ to your previous couple?
Dallas Crane - Pat: Hopefully its better... it's definitely more concise, I think maybe a little bit more fun, more singing... yeah it's kind of like the record we've been trying to make.
Access All Areas.net.au: 'Curiosity' is the first single from the album, why was that one the first choice for the single?
Dallas Crane - Pat: I don't know... I'm not sure why, I don’t think it's the stand out song on the record but that was the one that got chosen at the time.
Access All Areas.net.au: The video for 'Curiosity' seems reminiscent of that of a freak show kind of scenario, where’d the concept for the video come from?
Dallas Crane - Pat: We received a hand full of treatments and decided that that one at the time suited the song and the lyrics the most and to be honest it didn't really turn out much like the synopsis [laughs] but we had a bit of fun with the whole idea and hopefully it comes across that way.
Access All Areas.net.au: You're touring the album over the next month; you must be excited to be going back on the road.
Dallas Crane - Pat: Yeah we're really excited to get back on the road and we're really excited to play the new songs. We like touring and we like playing live and we looking forward to playing a set of this new stuff but also to have a lot of our back catalogue to draw on.
Access All Areas.net.au: When a fan goes to a Dallas Crane show, what can they expect?
Dallas Crane - Pat: When a fan goes to a Dallas Crane show they can expect to have a good night of fun and if you're not having fun then f**k off [laughs]. We're there to have a good time and that’s the whole point of it. To have fun and listen to some rock n roll!
Access All Areas.net.au: I know there's the saying what goes on the road stays on the road but c’mon are there any tour stories that stick in your mind that you can tell us about?
Dallas Crane - Pat: You know what... there's a lot of stuff that happens but... yeah no I can’t disclose!!
Access All Areas.net.au: So what's next for Dallas Crane?
Dallas Crane - Pat: Probably a lot more touring. Our last record is getting released overseas or it's been released actually so I am assuming that we're going over to the UK and do some show to support the release and then there will be another big tour in Australia and so I'm predicting that we'll be on the road for a while.
Access All Areas.net.au: And another album?
Dallas Crane - Pat: Yeah for sure! Never in doubt... |
| Biography | What did Andy Warhol's mid '60s lair on East 47th Street have in common with the Rolling Stones' classic Beggars Banquet album of '68?
To any moderate pop culture obsessive, the answer would be something to do with Factory Girls. In Warhol's entourage, they were glamorous wannabe superstars caught in a whirlwind of sex, drugs and high society. On the Stones album, she was a salt-of-the-earth wench on her way to the pub, a stray cat with fat knees and a headscarf sketched in gritty acoustic blues.
These Factory Girls, the ones comprising Dallas Crane's second album for Albert Productions, seem to come from somewhere in between. There's no specific debt to Keef or Andy, but you'd have to be deaf not to hear a timeless echo of pop art and low life, style and danger, sleaze and power, filth and beauty, lovers and sinners.
Dallas Crane have spent a decade honing these and other mysterious elements down to the raw essentials you hear on this record. In a very real sense, the 12 songs on Factory Girls have been simmering over a slow heat, till every drop of fat has fallen from their bones.
Or, in singer/ guitarist Dave Larkin's more economical turn of phrase, "What you hear on the record, we want to be able to play live."
"We've sort of gone the opposite way to most bands," says the band's other singer/ guitarist, Pete Satchell. "A lot of bands start off very minimal and get more complex. We started off really complex and we've gradually stripped it all right back.
"When we sat down to write again, we really tried to boil it down: What are the elements that make a classic song a classic song?" Pete counts off three fingers with curiously familiar names: "Melody, groove and harmony."
Bassist Pat Bourke: "We've also started to really understand how less is more: the bass, guitars and drums have got to work together, bounce off each other, but stay out of each other's way. That's the big challenge."
Hence the deceptively demanding rules of engagement on Dallas Crane's finest 38 minutes to date. There's barely a song that strays past 3½ minutes, not a single chorus that fails to instantly transform your blood chemistry, not one superfluous beat or riff that doesn't know its precise place and purpose.
For starters, "Marsanne" is pure, electric rock'n'roll compressed to the kind of fundamentals that could make Lou Reed crack a smile: a pair of variously distorted guitars, a bass-line that entwines them like bondage trousers, a drum sound to make your spine crack, a chorus big enough to sing the first time around and a solo that kicks in like all your Friday nights at once.
And the party?s just begun. "Tonight (There's A Party Goin' Down)" is a rush of gleefully malevolent intent, a burst of sheer, irresponsible hedonism that strikes at the heart of Dallas Crane's unwritten manifesto. The explosive sonic hurricane of "Curiosity" ? the track that gives Factory Girls its title ? delves deep into the forbidden fruits of desire, bloodstained stilletos and all that surrounds it.
The sleazy metallic edges of "Lovers & Sinners" and "Two Can Play At This Game" contrast with the sky-bound pop harmonies of "Black Angels"; "Teenage Superpot" and "Matter of Time" twist rock ?n? roll and Motown beats to their own sinister ends; "Muddy Water" dips into some of that classic Haight Ashbury jangle.
"Kiss It All Goodbye" blends a straight Bo Diddley-style stomp with a lone, demented guitar meandering round the right channel like it's in the throes of indecision; "God Damn Pride" is a song of comfort that extends a branch to a drowning man, then offers to break his jaw. "Keep Your Head High Bella Mae" ends on a Faces meets The Band high, complete with a wall of Beach Boys harmony.
In short, Factory Girls finds Dallas Crane at the top of their game, which is hardly surprising considering how they got this far: with little more than self belief and an incurable passion for the sticky carpet of a live stage.
For those who came in late?
Dave, Pete and drummer Shan Vanderwert made their first album, Lent, eight years ago. They hit the road hard, famously bonding with You Am I en route to a second self-determined album, Twenty Four Seven, in late 2000, which entitled them to, well, play a whole lot more gigs.
In '02 the band signed a rare deal with Albert Productions, the legendary Australian label that?s handled AC/DC?s world-conquering catalogue for 30-odd years. Their self-titled album was the first to properly reflect Dallas Crane's official status, as bestowed by the Australian Live Music Awards, as the country's Best Live Band. At the 2004 ARIA Awards it was nominated for three awards, including Best Rock Album.
Factory Girls began to take shape late last year with producers Jonathan Burnside (Sleepy Jackson, Eskimo Joe) and Wayne Connolly (The Vines, You Am I) at Eastern Bloc Studios in Melbourne. Connolly joined them for additional sessions at Alberts in 2006 before Jonathan and the band reconvened to mix in Melbourne.
The result is an album that brings long-held perceptions of Dallas Crane in line with reality at last, and yet again raises the stakes for Australia's most consistent and committed rock'n'roll band.
As Pat Bourke puts it, "We haven't taken a backward step, ever. We've always progressed, every step of the way, and we?re still climbing." |
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