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Re: (TV) MM reference



sorry....


They come highly recommended - but are Dallas Crane as
good as You Am I's frontman claims? Kelsey Munro finds
out.

DALLAS CRANE
Annandale Hotel, 17 Parramatta Road, Annandale
Tomorrow and Tuesday, 8pm
$12
Bookings 9550 1078
More information Supporting are the Cops and 67
Special 

Tim Rogers has repeatedly said that Dallas Crane are
the best band in Australia. As frontman of the mighty
You Am I, he's probably worth listening to.

"How good is he?!" says Dallas Crane's
singer-guitarist Dave Larkin. "We're forever in debt
to him. He has been a great pal to the band. [You Am
I] were our heroes Aussie-wise when we were starting
out. He's great."

Drummer Shan Vanderwert chips in: 

"The 'new rock' thing - You Am I were doing it when no
one was really into rock and they're still around
now."

Just like Dallas Crane. If ever a band was perfectly
placed for the rock revival, it's them. The Melbourne
band are experienced, road-hardened players and true
believers in rock'n'roll. The timing is spot-on for
their self-titled third album: a solid slice of guitar
rock with grit, swagger and depth.

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 Thanks to their rapid rises, Jet and the Vines have
helped bring international attention to Australian
bands. Yet Dallas Crane have slaved in obscurity for
years, developing and honing their sound away from the
spotlight. They aren't bitter about the difference in
career paths.

"There has been a lot of rock fans that have come out
of nowhere, which is great," Larkin says. "Jet are the
first to agree they're not writing the most
cutting-edge original licks there are. 

"I don't think they really care. That's not why they
got into it. Y'know, they just got into it for a bit
of fun and it took off ... which is great for the
little bastards." He chuckles.

Larkin founded the band with friends Vanderwert, Pete
Satchell (guitar) and Chris Brodie (bass, replaced by
Pat Bourke in 2002), with whom he shared a love for
old-school rock'n'roll, back in 1996. 

Fans of Television's seminal Marquee Moon album will
find plenty of reference points on Dallas Crane.
Larkin admits it was an important influence: "It's the
kind of record that codified what we were trying to
do." 

But he insists Dallas Crane's strength is that they've
always been true to their own path: they just got
lucky in that the world finally came round to them.

"We've never chased trends or anything like that,"
Larkin says.

"'Cause we're not very trendy guys at all," Vanderwert
adds.

Larkin: "No, we're not. It's funny, because we've been
doing what we've been doing for years, right, dressing
how we dress, and bands like Jet come along, the
little bastards, and everyone says, 'You look like
Jet.' And it's like, 'Yeah, thanks.'"

Vanderwert: "They're a lot better looking than us,
too."

Larkin: "Yeah. I find it hilarious."

By the way, if it wasn't already obvious, Jet and
Dallas Crane are friends.

Dallas Crane enjoyed having the luxury of a bit more
studio time on this album after two self-funded
efforts for which they scrimped, saved, begged and
borrowed money from family and friends to record. 

The band worked with the prolific Australian producer
Wayne Connolly - jokingly described by Larkin as "not
exactly a Speedy Gonzales" - old-school-style,
recording on tape. They even sourced a particular tape
machine that they wanted for its distinctive sound.

"We did it pretty much all live with minimal overdubs,
which was another reason we chose Wayne, because he
was all for that as well," Vanderwert says.

Larkin: "I still reckon rock'n'roll sounds best on
analogue."

Musical comparisons with AC/DC have been made
following Dallas Crane's record deal with the
legendary Australian music company Albert Productions
in January. 

Albert's, as the company is known, has had a hand in
much of the Australian rock canon, from the Easybeats
and Harry Vanda and George Young's '70s hit machine to
Young's little brothers' band, AC/DC.

Larkin puts his head in his hands.

"I wish they'd lay off that, y'know?" he says. "We're
starting to cop all these comparisons now with AC/DC
and I never thought of it like that. 

"If you look at it that way [that's] some pretty big
shoes to fill."

Dallas Crane may not quite fill those shoes, but they
do a pretty good job filling their own. Crane have
enjoyed popular and critical success at home and the
album is scheduled for release in Britain later in the
year, so Jet-style big-time success might beckon. 

Or maybe they're already there.

"It's good being in Dallas," Larkin says. "We get a
couple of free lunches here and there."

Vanderwert puts his soft-drink can down on his record
company's boardroom table: "We didn't pay for these
Cokes, y'know."




=====
"In order for life to have appeared spontaneously on earth, there first had to be hundreds of millions of protein molecules of the ninth configuration. But given the size of the planet Earth, do you know how long it would have taken for just one of these protein molecules to appear entirely by chance? Roughly ten to the two hundred and forty-third power billions of years. And I find that far, far more fantastic than simply believing in God."




















		
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