Time Off Interview - April 24, 2001
Timeoff.com
Tales From The Tour Trail
By Matt Connors

As The Dandy Warhols return to Australia for the second time in six months, it comes as no surprise to learn that it’s one of the band’s favourite places.

Drummer Brent DeBoer says the band can’t believe they’re getting to tour Australia again, given the dire state of our dollar and so soon after their visit for Livid last year. Indeed, Oz is one of the Dandy’s favourite places to play live.

"I think so, yeah," Brent DeBoer agrees. "And we have fun everywhere. If the gig is on, then it’s on no matter where we are in the world. Australia’s been really good to us and we’ve always really enjoyed it. We should probably move there [laughs]. Australia would be a fun place to live."

Did you enjoy Livid last year?

"I went and saw The Cure right after we played," DeBoer recalls. "I was kind of bummed by how I personally played. I think we all kind of thought we played mediocre at that festival. I really wanted it to be a lot better than it was. I was a little bit bummed, but I cruised over and watched The Cure and they were amazing. I had never seen them before and I stood right at the side of the stage with the drummer from No Doubt and the drummer from Green Day and the three of us stood there and cheered them on. They were so amazing – it was just perfect. That was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen."

The Dandy Warhols have spent almost all their time on the road since releasing Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia. DeBoer believes they avoid ‘tour rage’ by surrounding themselves with the right people.

"We have an entire crew of really smart and intelligent, kind and considerate people. We work with really unselfish people, from guitar tech to bus driver to monitor engineer to sound… Our whole gang is just a pack of artists that are really supportive and we’re a real team. We have a really good time: we all eat dinner together. Every other night all 13 of us are sitting around a table in some restaurant having dinner and chatting.

"We don’t have any hardcore roadies: mullet-wearin’ weirdos [laughs]. We go to different venues and you see some seriously hardcore, burnt-out, messed-up characters and I’m just reminded of how blessed we are to have a bunch of incredibly sophisticated and lovely intelligent people on the road."

With so many dates in so many different cities under their collective belt, you’d imagine it to be one big blur. DeBoer says like Livid, most shows are memorable for particular reasons.

"Our last gig in Amsterdam was amazing. It felt different than any other gig I’ve played with The Dandy Warhols. It was really something else. It could have been anywhere, really, we just played better than we normally do and that’s just all there is to it. Each song all the way through felt right and that’s what you want as a band – for your songs to feel the way they’re supposed to be.

"Maybe some of it was the whole Amsterdam thing. We were also playing in a big old church, there, which was really nice with beautiful stained glass – that added a vibe.

"We played a festival in Athens about a year ago and that was quiet an experience. The audience were amazing and they new every word to every one of our songs and we felt really good about that gig."

After a year of constant touring, do you have a favourite song?

"That can be different every night, but consistently I really look forward to playing ‘Mohammed’ and I really like playing ‘Bohemian…’, I love ‘Good Morning’ and ‘Be-In’ from Come Down… both of those are very cool. I don’t play on ‘Green’, I just sit back and listen because there’s no drums on ‘Green’, but that one comes off really, really well. It’s a thrill to sit back and listen for a little while during that song."

Surprisingly, given its impact on Thirteen Tales…, the band has never performed ‘Nietzsche’ live.

"Never, not even once. We’ve played it in soundcheck a few times and I really thought it came off really well, but for some reason we haven’t tried it. I’d seriously be up for playing any of them, but I’d definitely want to run through them a few times beforehand.

"The last few months of touring we’ve been pulling some songs out of the hat that we’ve never played before. At that Amsterdam show, we played ‘Best Friend’ first, and I think that might’ve been the second time I played ‘Best Friend’. I had no clue Courtney was going to do that – I don’t know if everybody else talked about it. I just walked out, sat down and he started playing that riff. We just went for it and it turned out pretty well. Hopefully, we’ll try that kind of thing again."

At the end of the Australian tour, The Dandy Warhols fly back to the US to start working on their next album.

"Yeah, we won’t really take a break," DeBoer confirms. "We’ll come home and maybe rest for four days, but then it’s into the studio to start recording."

The Dandy Warhols play Arena Wednesday May 2. Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia (with bonus tour disc, Seven Tales For Urban Australia) is out on Capitol/EMI.

MATT CONNORS