Dananananaykroyd

Fri 17th Jul, 2009 in Features

I’m talking to Calum Gunn a couple of hours after Dananananaykroyd support Eagles Of Death Metal at Brixton Academy, a gig he reckons (in the nicest possible way) was “pretty good, yeah. I think it was just [that the crowd] were there for the headliner, you know.”

For a young band that have been touted as the – œbest new band in Britain’ by Rocksound and – œthe best fucking live band on the face of the fucking planet’ by Clash, the EODM gig might have been disappointing. But Calum is certainly not down in the dumps about their – œweird’ reception. He says later of Dananananaykroyd’s own headline tour in the preceding months, “You never really expect a great crowd every night, so it’s always nice when good things happen.”

Calum – who started his Dananananaykroyd life behind the drums before taking on vocal duties (“I canna lie,” he admits, “I do miss playing the drums a little bit”) – responds to my dismissal of the – œovernight sensation/next big thing’ rap that bands sometimes garner after slogging away, unknown, for ten years.

“Well, yeah. We’ve been a band now for three and a half, four years, so it’s not really been a slow crawl to where we are now, by any means,” he says. But now things are starting to happen for them. “It’s really nice. It makes us feel like…it means we’re doing okay.”

Okay is right. These folk have been putting a shitload of notches in their gig belt, recently returning from their “first European tour, full stop” with the Kaiser Chiefs. Says Calum, “It was a privilege to be able to play with those guys and see crazy parts of the world that I never thought I- œd be able to visit and do these fabulous gigs with them. It was a total eye opener.”

Especially in Portugal: “We still talk about Portugal as being one of the craziest shows we’ve ever done. The kids there were just insane and all of them going absolutely mental and really enjoying themselves. So it was a crazy, positive, lovely experience. We played two shows there but we still get MySpace messages from Portuguese people asking us to come back.”

I’d wager Dananananaykroyd actually responded to each MySpace message individually. A browse over their blog shows a group who love to interact with fans and friends a la cyber. Regular readers are constantly kept in the loop with video diaries, humorous MP3s (notably, John Baillie, the band’s drummer/vocalist, being interviewed on the radio by Nick and Ricky from the Kaiser Chiefs), random amusing pictures and personal notes.

“We try to have an internet presence cause that’s how we communicate with people who live two doors down from us,” laughs Calum. “We like to keep things sort of personal cause that’s how we think it should be.”

They had as concrete an idea of what their debut record should sound like too. Having purportedly coined the genre – œfight pop’ (think about that cracker Young Knives song She’s Attracted To and you might be on the right track, though comparisons to Fugazi and Sonic Youth have been forthcoming from NME ) their first foray into a real life studio was about trying to bottle their frenetic, crazy on-stage antics. “We tried to make it as live and as energetic as possible rather than having every note being as perfect as we could, which I think got more of the feeling across.”

He’s right. Hey Everyone! is a tremendous mess of screaming, singing (two vocalists), thrashy, smashing (two drummers) pop fun that sounds as though it’s been scooped off stage into a jewel-case. They were sent to New York to work with Machine ( Lamb of God producer) and managed to get a – œgood bit’ of the material recorded – œlive’, as opposed to individual instrumental tracking.

The songwriting process usually begins with guitarist David Roy before working its way to Calum and John for their lyrical embellishment. Beyond that, it’s a total free-for-all, with all members contributing their ideas. Calum admits sheepishly, “We do spend a lot of time trying to sound more like us than we should, really,” before gushing, “It was an insane experience being over there.”

He reckons the next marker on the excitement horizon is us. That is, Australia. I’ll bet he says that to all the interviewers. “No!” he wails, “Absolutely not! We’re all super-psyched!”

I mention that Dananananaykroyd have pulled a lunchtime slot at Splendour and wonder aloud if that’s a good time or not. He’s dismissive. As chirpy as a bird: “Oh, it doesn’t really matter. We’ll play any time of day. We’re just looking forward to coming over and making a big noise.”

Hey Everyone is out now through Dew Process. Dananananaykroyd plays Splendour In The Grass, two sideshows and the pre-Splendour party.

Friday 24 July – The Great Northern Hotel, Byron Bay
Saturday 25 & Sunday 26 July – Splendour In The Grass, Byron Bay
Wednesday 29 July – The Annandale Hotel, Sydney
Thursday 30 July – East Brunswick Club, Melbourne