It’s amazing what a simple namecheck can do for a band. Though Dallas Crane formed in 1996, Dave Larkin (vocals), Pete Satchell (guitar), Shan Vanderwert (drums) and Chris Brodie (bass) had released two albums (1998’s Lent and 2000’s Twenty Four Seven) and played hundreds of shows around their hometown of Melbourne by the time the nation started to take notice.

But with Twenty Four Seven, Dallas Crane has began to impress the right people. Triple J’s Richard Kingsmill has been a fan since the band’s early days, but it’s the band’s relationship with You Am I that really gave them a leg-up. In Who Put the Devil in You?, on 2002 You Am I album Deliverance, Tim Rogers dropped the band’s name into a line right next to that of Motley Crue. To top that off, the two bands played together on numerous occasions, giving Dallas Crane the chance to make themselves known.

But the namecheck was nothing but a shot in the arm, providing some much-needed publicity for a band that always had the goods. After Brodie made way for new bassist Pat Bourke, the band geared up for their assault on the Aussie music scene. In 2004 they penned a deal with Albert Productions, before heading into the studio to work on their self-titled third album. On the strength of singles Ladybird, No Through Road and Cheated Hearts, Dallas Crane was one of the top Australian records for 2004 and gave the four-piece the recognition they deserved.

The follow-up to Dallas Crane came in 2006, when the band released Factory Girls exclusively through iTunes. The album was produced by Wayne Connolly and Jonathan Burnside and received positive reviews, consolidating the reputation Dallas Crane had built over the past decade.