1. Before heading into the studio to
record your second album, did you take time to reflect upon
the success of your debut album (6twenty) and the impact
your music has had on its audience, if so what are views
in this?
6TWENTY was damn good to us. I am
thankful for that record and the places from whence it
was spawned. It’s amazing
to think something you made can transport you around the
world. I like to think of the first album as a large cruise
liner with a never ending bar tab, and all the peanuts you
can eat. I’m not sure what other people think of it.
2. You have been touring incessantly for the past few years.
Most bands find touring draining, but you are renowned for
the energy and effort you put into your life shows on each
leg of the tour, do you suffer from fatigue or does the party
drive you on?
Fatigue is definitely a factor, especially
on big runs. I think we discovered that around 6 weeks
on the road things
start to get pretty crazy…you end up running a really
short awake cycle. Sleep until soundcheck, sleep until showtime,
hang out for a while then back to bed to get whatever rest
you can. For a while there the 1 hour show was the peak of
my 5 hour days. And the best fun I have ever had.
3. With yourselves and The Datsuns back in the studio bands
such as The Kings Of Leon and The Darkness are being more
hyped up then Muhammad Ali over here. Do you think the
nation is losing it's taste?
You’re asking me to comment
on the tastes of a nation where Mr Blobby once held the
number one spot on the singles
chart?
Hah..well, I think people should get off on whatever takes
their fancy. After all, everybody is someone else’s
weirdo…
4. Describe the mood of the new album. Is it more of the
same frenetic party inducing garage rock numbers? Or is it
more reflective? Are you still Rock N Roll Motherfuckers???
On the second album, while we are still
using chords that everyone will be familiar and comfortable
with, we have
changed around the order in which we play them. There has
been a bit of work on tempo, and of course a whole new
bunch of words about different stuff.
If questioned on the matter, I would still consider the other
guys in the band to be Rock N Roll Motherfuckers, more so
now than ever before. I would like to think they feel the
same way about me.
5. There is seldom an article written about you without a
reference to you being to you being The Datsuns' poor relations,
with Dion selling an Amp to them early on in your career.
Do you find this annoying and do you plan with your next
album to grapple the New Zealand rock crown from Dolf and
his army?
With our next album we plan to grapple
the hearts of all the worlds’ nations and bind them together in an orgy
of love & understanding. We have no current agenda in
regards to the armies of General de Borst but we have heard
that they offer 3 square meals a day, a roof over your head
and all the motherfuckingrocknrolling your sister can handle.
6.Many indie & alternative
bands are hypocritical in their criticism of manufactured
boy
and girl bands, as they
are manufactured themselves with the use of drum machines,
pre-recorded vocals and guitars. However, this cannot be
said of you, so go nuts?
It is not common knowledge but Beaver is in fact manufactured
from old spitfire parts, crushed motorhead cassettes, diesel
oil, cornflower, and wood. So it would be best for us not
to comment.
7. You seem such fun loving guys, do you have a darker side?
Who or what makes you angry?
I have a drunker side. Its not that
much darker but it looks a bit that way because it’s closer to the ground. It
doesn’t get angry much but has a long list of whom
or what makes it horny.
9. What sort of music are listening to
currently?
Really really good stuff. Fucking unbelievable. You should
hear it.
10. You rate your live performances on
a scale of 1-10, but added that if you ever did reach a ten
then there would
be carnage the place would never be the same again. Throughout
the whole of your touring in support of the album 6twenty,
which one show achieved the highest score? Where was it
and what happened?
Hard to say, as the top three shows
all crossed the 8.5 mark which as you know can involve
seizures and long term
memory loss. So while we know they were fucking incredible
nights we can’t remember where they were. Or who was
there. Or why Jimmy woke up underneath the bus in a leather
apron and a welder’s helmet. These nights, like many
before them, are lost to us now. However there may be pictures.
11. What do you want people to take out
of your gigs and how do you want to leave them feeling?
If someone comes to a D4 show and
over the course of the night has as much fun as we do then
it’s a good chance
that they would be left feeling exactly the way we planned.
The formula is simple and the symptoms worth the entry fee
on their own.
12. There seems to be a split in personalities in the band.
With Jimmy and Dion be livelier than a stallion with a jet
powered engine stuck up its backside, with Beaver and Vaughan
appearing sombre and reflective at gigs. Does this cause
conflict or do you all rub along together nicely???
Strangely enough, behind the scenes Vaughan is the most
extroverted of the group and Beaver is a complete maniac.
When Dion is not on stage he can be found at the helm of
his 1:72 scale model railway with a piping hot cup of chamomile
tea, while Jimmy will most likely be asleep or working on
his Dungeons and Dragons character sheets.
So it goes to show you never can tell, but some unexplained
reason the combination of dangerous energy and complete inertia
fuses together perfectly to create the fire in the rock and
rock reactor that is the D4.
David Adair
|
