Emerging from the sleepy suburbs of Portland, Oregon, The Dandy Warhols brought something new to a generation always hunting for the next cool band. Their music, (much like their San Francisco counterparts The Brian Jonestown Massacre), borrowed all the essential sounds from the past, and combined them with everything that was cool about the music of the period. It was raw, it was fun, and it was real rock n’ roll.
Capitol Records were able to pick up on this, and handpicked them to join their roster, leading them up (and down) a forever-winding road, which would later become infamous in the movie DiG!. Having come a long way since then, The Dandy’s sound has morphed and changed over the years since their debut album Dandys Rule OK, but if there’s one thing that’s for certain, it’s that they definitely still know how to write a damn good record.
Enigmatic front man Courtney Taylor-Taylor is no doubt a poster boy for the ultimate cool 90’s artsy rockstar, and talking to him can be somewhat intimidating; Tone Deaf’s Ella Jackson was up for the difficult job though, and had a chat to him in the lead up to The Dandy Warhols’ Australian tour, talking their upcoming record, his side project, and his relationship with Anton Newcombe.
Having been dropping hints about the new LP on their website for quite some time now, the first and most obvious question one might ask Courtney, is “when the hell can we hear this new album!?”, and “what might it sound like?”. Courtney remains aloof about the subject, not giving too much away as to when it will be released, though he puts to rest the self-started rumours that it would be a spaghetti western themed record. It will, however, be a very guitar-based album, putting a hold on their previously synth-heavy sound.
“Suddenly I just got really tired every time I heard synthesizers—they made my feet hurt … so I just kind of wanted to hear all guitars again, or almost all guitars.”
Zia will be getting her usual synth track though, he assures us.
“We always have the synth piece that Zia plays … there’ll always be something with that almost non-organic kind of tone and structure in everything we do.”
Australian fans won’t have to wait too long to hear some of these tracks too, apparently. They’re hoping to get a few of them perfected for their live shows, and we may just be lucky enough to see some of them here. It’s hardly surprising that Australia may be one of the first countries to see this new material, as (alongside with Greece), it’s Courtney’s most favourite country to visit, as well as drummer Brent DeBoer’s new home.
Surprisingly, Courtney doesn’t see a huge difference at all between his Australian audiences and his American ones, which is something that a lot of touring musicians tend to point out.
“Our fans are very similar all over the world. I mean we’ve got these kind of fans that are like, they have a really cool haircut, but they don’t have very cool shoes… or they have really cool shoes, but they don’t have a very cool haircut. I mean we don’t really get these all the way posers… we just get these really smart, neat kids that have cool taste, and are just a little more put together than your average neurotic hipster, you know? A little more average, and a little higher IQ.”
People in general in Australia are a lot more laid back, he asserts, though it’s not something he really takes notice of when he’s playing.
“We’ve got a job to do, and every day is just such a completely fucking different experience. And it’s all we can do… just get it on, every show, every night. If we do it… us and the crowd… we all connect and it just goes off, you know? And it’s rare that we don’t get it to happen anymore, I mean our worst show nowadays is great.”
Gone are the wild days of their tours; now they have somewhat of a tame routine (at least, more tame than the days of DiG!). Courtney goes over the routine with us carefully, before stating, “No one gets too fucked up to play, you know.”
Joining them on this tour be Los Huevos and The New Pollution. While Los Huevos are relatively new to him, Courtney has been a fan of The New Pollution for a while. Courtney’s not a huge fan of generic sounding voices, which are all either “indie guys, little indie guys, whiney guys, super sensitive and a little more grown up guys, or old country guys”, as he puts it. So the lead singer of The New Pollution is something that he can really dig.
“He just doesn’t sound like anyone else, which is a huge deal for me … I just like to hear a weirdo. I want to hear somebody who doesn’t sound like they’re doing anything; they’re just doing some weird thing that they do.”
Courtney will in fact even be laying down some drum tracks for a song or two for The New Pollution he says with a stroke of pride in his voice. Courtney isn’t above helping out young bands that he thinks have potential, as he’s also doing some work for Portland based group 1776, who have been attracting attention from Warner Brothers Music most recently. Courtney’s aspirations for them are high, claiming “They’re probably the greatest guitar rock band in the world right now… those kids are fucking brilliant.”
There’s no doubt that Courtney has an eye for good music, jumping on the Jonestown bandwagon long before they became infamous around the world for their wild stage shows and lead man Anton Newcombe’s hauntingly well-written jams (and hot temper). It was their two bands’ relationship that the movie DiG! was based on, and was of course a topic that came up in conversation. There’s no doubt that Newcombe had a profound effect on the path that Courtney decided to take both with the sound and the business aspects of his career. Would The Dandys sound the same today if it weren’t for Anton’s dizzying involvement in their early development? Courtney thinks that they would, but that …Come Down and Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia almost certainly wouldn’t have.
“I remember thinking that they had a huge influence on me. Anton was just always so cool, and he really produced such great work. So it’s hard to be around that and not be completely influenced by it and kind of overwhelmed by it as well. I mean, I remember thinking back in those days, ‘God, this guy will always be ahead of me!’ He’d always be finding newer, more obscure shit to dig up and incorporate into his thing and he was… well he still is on fire.”
Courtney goes on to talk a bit about the music Anton is making at the moment explaining
“He just sent me a new track from their new record that he’s making right now. He also said that he’s making like three records or five records right now, which is… he does that kind of thing a lot. He just goes mental and cranks out tonnes of music. It was a really amazing sounding, shimmery blur of guitars and it was really cool … He still cranks out really cool shit.”
Courtney does miss the days of playing alongside Jonestown, but sadly touring with them these days wouldn’t be financially worthwhile for either of the bands.
“But if in the future there’s a time when we’re both really flush and we don’t need the dough, I’d LOVE to, you know. I mean those guys are so fun to hang out with.
The Brian Jonestown Massacre is only one of Courtney’s influences though, and it might surprise you to hear that Courtney wasn’t always into that style of music. Up until he was about 14, Courtney was a metal kid, listening to the likes of Iron Maiden, The Scorpions and AC/DC, before he made a quick transition to art school rock.
“But, you know, I was 14 in like 1980,” Courtney says with a laugh, “I was playing in punk rock clubs when I was 15.”
These days, Courtney enjoys listening to The Black Keys and Jack White (and all the musical sons and daughters of Jack White), straying not too far from what you may expect him to listen to. Another band he has gotten right back into recently is Echo & The Bunnymen, being a huge fan of Will Sergeant’s guitar sounds, particularly on Crocodiles.
With Brent, Pete and Zia all having side projects, one might wonder whether Courtney would ever consider having one. Well, he does, he tells us, though it might be a while before we’ll ever be able to see them play. For those of you unaware, Courtney has had a graphic novel published in America called One Model Nation, based on a fictional German art-noise band of the same name that disappeared without a trace in 1978. Currently, Courtney is just in the midst of finding a record label to put out the soundtrack of this book, which he has created with a new band.
“It’s kind of fun ‘cause I don’t have to go and work with this band. We can just hang out and make up stories together and make up music together. We’ll probably play some shows some time, but I’ll wait until we get a movie done about the band… and then the band will go play… and you’ll know about it.”
While we may not hear the record, or see the movie, or see them play for a while to come, Australians will be able to buy the book soon, he asserts, “We’re dealing with the contract for that right now.”
With an international tour, records coming out for The Dandy Warhols, One Model Nation, and a number of bands that he’s helping out, and well as flirtations with a sequel to his first graphic novel, there’s no questioning that Courtney is a busy man and someone you would want to catch while you can. So you’d be wise to check out The Dandy Warhols while you’ve got the chance.
TUESDAY 24 MAY PERTH, METROPOLIS FREMANTLE – 18+
www.moshtix.com.au 1300 GET TIX & Moshtix outlets
THURSDAY 26 MAY ADELAIDE, HQ – 18+
www.ticketek.com.au 132 849
FRIDAY 27 MAY MELBOURNE, THE PALACE – 18+
www.ticketek.com.au 132 849
SUNDAY 29 MAY SYDNEY, THE ENMORE – Lic A/A
www.ticketek.com.au 132 849
TUESDAY 31 MAY BRISBANE, THE TIVOLI – 18+
www.ticketek.com.au 132 849
