The Dandy Warhols
Courtney Taylor-Taylor is everything you'd want in an interviewee, even if I had supposedly caught the ever nonchalant lead singer "out of it" and "hung over" as described by the operator that connected us. I just like to call it "being Courtney Taylor-Taylor of The Dandy Warhols" as this warning of sorts was never going to be news. From hilariously being totally unforgiving for the telephone line constantly dropping out ("I'm the one that should be apologising but I'm way too American to be apologising about my fucking phone service.") to having his train of thought drop out mid story, I didn't expect profound substance or any bombshells, just some glimmers of stoner gold. And any one that has ventured past the band's chart hits and advertisement soundtracks will know that this is a reflection of The Dandy Warhols' musical output over the last 16 years; being unforgiving for making the music they love, the kind that glints at listeners to grab an ear and drops out into space in non-committal, warm jams. Their sixth studio record has no working title and is mere weeks away from release. This blas� approach was a running theme as Taylor-Taylor wasn't fazed by potential roadblocks faced by the band. Drummer Brent De Boer's recent Australian residency was not a cause for disrupt; the band coped by sharing recordings over the internet in the journey to completion and original drummer Eric Hedford stepped in to keep the creative processes on track. "Peter (Holmstr�m, guitarist) lived in New York for a while, but that's only a six and a half hour flight, Australia's like twenty-five. So when we're playing around town and stuff we have our original drummer Eric still in town so we get together and play stuff from the first two records. It seems to be kind of nice; it made it so that just Peter and I ended up in the studio together for a long time which we haven't done for years. So (the record) is very guitary and it's really focused." Taylor-Taylor reflects. For fans of one of the most iconic indie bands the late nineties and 2000's has seen, the expectation remains the same as always - what you see is what you get. The loyal ones turn up to gigs regardless of the success of the current record. I suggested though that not once has there been a time where a fan has thrown down one of their records in disgust and claimed that they've changed. "Well, no '(Welcome To The) Monkey House' got a lot of poo-pooing," he asserts, "I don't know if it's the people that are into our records that do the poo-pooing or the wonderful journalists, who are maybe kinda old and kinda old school that got weird about that. It's like 'What? You didn't see that coming?' But you know, Christ, you gotta do what you gotta do. Maybe you're right, the people that are into our music are lifers. "I think it's the music that, emotionally, is pretty clear, it's pretty potent. I think that's mostly what makes you last for a while in music," Taylor-Taylor drawls referring to the longevity his band have been able to enjoy. "I think the people who understand that we actually are very laid back about something, our personal life, I don't know....we hope that everyone that's into our band is like that! That's would be great. That's the goal, I think, for every artist, to turn your art, put it out there in the world for other people that are into the same shit that you are, but they're a different person with different views and angles and different perspectives on the world. You really communicate. That's exactly the kind of subculture we'd like to have....it seems to be working." Their subculture is fundamentally underpinned by the consistency of the music you heard 16 years ago from them and the music you hear today. However Taylor-Taylor goes on to state amongst an airy ramble that The Dandy's are the "future of jam bands" and they're "heading towards the great Om. Getting there in different ways, we're not getting there through playing a lot of scales on our guitars like other jam bands. You can express any feeling you want through the Om, there's a tone and a tempo for all seasons. We're trying to get that without having fourteen tracks of guitars and distortion. We try to do it with three instruments and a drummer." The Dandy Warhols will perform at HQ on Thu 26 May.  |
Issue 520
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