Recently signed to Dangerbird Records after great success in their homeland of Australia, Dappled Cities come to the US after recording Granddance, their second album.
Where did the name Dappled Cities come from?
Aw man...... (laughs)
Sorry, I read that you guys dislike this question, but the name is intriguing.
Truth is, when we were young pups and we started this band, we sort of reveled in the fact that being weird is kind of....being cool. So we just tried to pick a name that was weird for the sake of being weird, and that's what we came up with. And we've been regretting it ever since.... it has no alliteration, no assonance, and is impossible to remember.
Who or what were the early influences?
We were teenagers of the 90s, so it was bands like Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins; they had a large effect on our desire to be rock stars.
You have been described as an "unashamedly romantic band." Is that a self-appointed label, or more of a listener opinion? What does it signify for you guys and in terms of your music?
I think one of us actually came up with it, so it's from our point of view. Remember how bands like the Cure were called "new romantic?" Well we're just bloody romantic. Do you think it works?
I do. I was reading your press kit, and that's where I first saw it; and it sparked my interest. There are a lot of indie bands that I'd say are romantic, but "unashamedly romantic" seemed like it might be new territory, so I wanted to explore it a little more.
(laughs) Yeah, the "unashamedly" bit.... we enjoy screaming on stage, putting it all out there, and I don't think we have any need to sort of... recognize masculinity anymore. I think that's the unashamed part.
You recently came to the States for a few dates in March, including SXSW. How does the US audience compare to the fans you've accumulated back in Australia, and what do you anticipate for your return in July?
That's a tough one, because we don't actually have any fans in the States yet. Mostly people from record labels and suits coming to see us - which is fine - but they're not exactly up front going crazy. I'm not sure, I'll have to get back to you when we do actually accumulate a group of fans.
For Granddance, you worked with Jim Fairchild (Grandaddy), Peter Walker, and Jacquire King (Modest Mouse, Tom Waits, Kings of Leon). What was that experience like?
It was great... it was all sort of a method of work that we hadn't experience before. With Peter and Jim, both musicians we have a great deal of respect for, we went in and discovered that that respect was reciprocated from them. And then having a really great engineer on the album really brought out the sound. The mixing process was a bit stranger... he would be mixing in Nashville while we were back in Sydney, and every morning we'd have to get up at 7am Sydney time and receive a mix via email from Jacquire, leave comments, and then go back to bed. Then wake up at 11am when he'd done another mix.
Between the first and second albums you added a keyboardist, who does a lot to crystallize the overall sound on Granddance. Do you see your music moving in a particular direction, or do you sort of approach it on more of a song-to-song basis?
With Granddance, we learned a lot. Our first album was more a collection of earlier songs. Granddance is really an effort to write an album, so there was a year of really pensive songwriting. And because the songs are written so close together, we made a point of having them all kind of have a "family" sound.... it is meant to be a cohesive album.
I read that you are all moving to the Big Apple soon.
Yes, we are!
Thoughts on it?
I think it'll be great... sorry I'm a bit distracted - there's this massive storm here in Sydney at the moment, and everyone's going bloody crazy. We're in the middle of a drought, and this is the most rain we've had in 18 years. Everyone's running around the streets going crazy.
But yeah......New York, we can't bloody wait. We've been there a few times, and every time we've had an absolute ball. Every time we go to New York it seems like they all band together and cause mischief.
How was the tour with Silverchair? Any words of wisdom from them about the US?
(laughs) They're really not the type of people to give advice. They're more the type of people who would come off stage and just have a party. I don't think I uttered a serious sentence to any of those guys. It was all fun and games for two weeks, and then a really big comedown.
Any closing remarks you'd like to make?
uhhhhhh.......no? (laughs)
--Bill Braun
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Dappled Cities' Granddance is out now on Dangerbird Records.
http://www.dappledcitiesfly.com
http://www.myspace.com/dappledcitiesfly
