DOBBYN MOVES ON

Rip It Up, 15 December 1983, Page 4

DOBBYN MOVES ON

Duncan Campbell

This summer will be your last chance to see the present incarnation of DD Smash, a band which has generally swept the boards, and walked off with a big fistful of music awards as well. It's been fun, says Dave Dobbyn, but the time has come to move on.

"The new songs require a change in arrangements," he says. "A change is as good as a holiday (sic), as they say. The new songs have a lot more percussion, although the arrangements are quite simple. The new material is a helluva long way from Cool Bananas. It's more, dare I say it, mature in a lot of ways, especially rhythm and melody. It makes more interesting listening, and it sure as hell makes more interesting playing." By the time you read this, the last single with the old band should have been released. It's Actor', which has been playing on stage over the past year. Only drummer Peter Warren remains in the fold now. Dobbyn has played several instruments on the new material, and has been using various Australian session men for the rest. It's a time of experiment and learning for him. In this respect, Sydney is a healthy environment.

"It's the first chance in a long while that I've had to use a studio like this, where I can stay overnight with a four-track recorder and a piano, a synth and a guitar at my disposal, so.

I can just write, which is great. It's very difficult to do that when you're touring around, chasing the myth (laughter)." The recording has been done in Sydney's Paradise and Trafalgar Studios, the latter partowned and operated by Charles Fisher, who has been producing. Another cohort has been Bruce Lynch, whom Dobbyn cannot praise highly enough. The weekend prior to this interview, he'd recorded a demo at Lynch's home studio which was good enough, he felt, to release. The

stuff he's produced with Lynch has a slightly jazzy flavour, very different again, and something Dobbyn wants to take further. He even talks of some very low-key gigs here in this vein sometime next year, just to spread the wings a bit. In the more immediate future, he'd like to get Lynch over to Sydney to help with the new album tracks, having great admiration for Lynch's legendary bass technique. "I'm chasing good musicianship now, that's something which has got me hook, line and sinker. I'm actually making an effort to get better in that regard; I'm learning the alto sax and studying basic theory, which I never bothered to do before. It's all important now, because the better you get at the language, the better you can communicate to other musicians who have got it wired. That's always been a handicap for me, and in future, it won't be." Recording is continuing at the moment, with a break during this month for Dave to return home and get married (sorry, girls). By the time he's finished, there'll be between 15 and 20 tracks in the can. About half a dozen of them will be familiar to anyone who has been to a DD Smash concert • this year, but there's a considerable amount of new stuff. Funk appears to be a key mode, with two percussionists working alongside Warren on the rhythm tracks. Expect the album around the end of March.

As for touring, Dobbyn doesn't want to do too much next year. This year has been a solid round of gigs, with too little time for writing and taking stock of things. He has a rough idea of who he wants in the new band, but he's keeping that under wraps for now. The last tour of the present band kicks off on Boxing Day, covering the summer resorts and playing outdoors as much as possible. The accent will be on F.U.N., whatever takes the band's fancy, probably playing a few cover

versions, a general letting-down of hair. By March, Dobbyn will be permanently based in Sydney. But he wants to keep hopping back and forth, to play and record here, and produce other musicians. He's worked hard to gain recognition in Australia, and he now has to consolidate that. "It's been worthwhile because we've made inroads, people know who we are now, which is great. Inbetween the crummy sleazy gigs and the good support gigs and club dates we made a strong impression, the general reaction has been great, more than we deserved in a lot of respects."

Kiwis don't seem especially popular in Aussie these days. How has the reaction been? "There's still a deal of animosity, but it's getting better all the time, I think. I'm continually reminded that Australian music and New Zealand music aren't the same. There probably is a difference. I think New Zealand music is more melodic and Australians recognise that now. I think they're sort of shining to it. "It's very healthy over there now. It's unhealthy if you can't handle the work, but other than that, it's great. We're in a lucky position, in that we can keep coming back here and doing things, which is a great position to be in. "I'm a lot stronger than I thought I was. Making the decisions that we're making now is a real progression, a real step forward." What about the Music Awards?

(Laughter) "I really enjoyed it. The best part was going back to the Town House and having a singalong around the piano with everybody, largely instigated by Tim Finn. Everyone ended up arm-in-arm, singing four-part harmony, with Tim, Bruno Lawrence and Brendan Dugan. It was fun. A lot of fun."

Did anybody record this for posterity?