INTERVIEWS
Dan Sartain tells Ross McGibbon why UK kids need an asswhuppin!
He’s a quiet-spoken, tight lipped fella, full of thoughts that occur, sometimes at a confusing tangent. He’s at a happy place in his life and it shows in his demeanour. How’s your tour going? Good good. It’s the fourth one and we’re finding our niche. The first one we turned up, plugged in and turned up too loud for our own good – we were excited to be there. It was personally pleasing but not as good as we can be. Plate Six didn’t play on the album did they? No, but they’re local guys and we’ve played a lot together before. Their band was about to break up. I used to go and see them when I was fourteen. My Dad used to drop me off a block away so I could walk in the punk club on my own! When I heard their album it sounded very different. We get along really well in Birmingham. There’s a lot of music and no two bands sound alike. So no-one sounds like Lynard Skynard? Oh no, I can’t think of one band that sounds like that ‘cept cover bands. There’s too little of us for the Goth kids to discriminate against the rock and roll kids and whatever….. Five bands on the bill tonight! I dunno, the drummer has to do three jobs for three bands! He must be knackered! Is this your first time over here? Oh no! I spend more time over here than at home. I spent six months here last year. I spend a lot of time in London, man. That’s where that record label is (One Little Indian). They don’t take no for an answer….. Is it different playing here? Not while we’re playing. But after the shows! The street life, all the Chavs and what-not on the streets. They don’t mind their own business, man. That’s the thing over here; chances are the other guy doesn’t have a gun. You don’t go up to someone and chat shit at home, he might have a mof*cking gun! It’s been the same in Oxford and Liverpool, there’s guys talking shit to you and God bless you if you’ve got a pretty girl with you – God knows what they’re going to say to you. Little kids seem a little more rowdy too. But then they don’t grow up to be violent criminals like back home so maybe you should just let them be smart asses when they’re 11 and 12. Get it out of their system and grow up to be respectable adults. Do you prefer playing live? No, I love making records, you get to spend so little time in the studio that’s it’s a real privilege. I think I shine more there. I think Bowie was the same. Who else are you a fan of? I went through a big Jonathan Richman phase. I’m really jealous of him, he’s too goddamn happy; what have you got to be so happy about?! We talk about J R bootlegs – one being a tape he diod to impress a girl that got into circulation. I hear it’s pretty hard for Chris Isaak to get girls. Probably because he’s prettier than most of the girls! I like Ween. I don’t get them, it seems like two guys arsing around. You’ve just got to be stoned to understand the silliness…. How about your style? People get stuck in a niche. I was fortunate to have a lot of friends with different tastes. We talk about the career route where some bands come over to ‘crack England’ before they head home with the laurels of success. Over there I really worked – I get twenty people here, a hundred at a gig there. I’ve earned it. But over here I feel like I’ve been handed it. You’re on your second album. Something must have gone right. I think they just believed in it. I’ve found out that critical success is not the same as financial success….. especially with everyone stealing music these days. I can understand it and I feel like after an artist has earned X amount of money his music should be free or cheap or something like that. CDs f*cking blow. They scratch too godammn easy. I’ve got LPs I’ve had for years but CDs scratch if you rub them on the sleeve of your jacket. I wanted to know about your ambitions. This year is the first time I’ve put a roof over my head that I’m responsible for. I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my life but my parents have been real good at helping me see this thing through – being there as a safety net. They never gave me thousands of dollars but over the years of nickel and diming…… I just want to keep things how they are. I got married this year, I’ve got two cats, I’ve got somewhere to put all my stuff and it’s in my home town and I get to travel. I think the record company would like more success for me ‘cos I don’t think I make enough money for them but I want to keep it how it is – playing consistently to two hundred people. More than a thousand people I’m always going to be too scared to play. I’ve been opening for people and they’re not my crowd. That shit band The Kooks, you know them? That Gogol Bordello’s crowd was great. We could tell The Kooks’ fans weren’t really people who listen to music, you know what I mean? What impression do you want to create? I dunno. You get people thinking we’re a rockabilly band and they’re going to be disappointed. We talk about corporations and ‘selling out’ for ads. You may hate the corporations and cutting down the rainforest and sweatshops but they still have to hire people for the ads. I’ll sell out as soon as I can. Give me some money man. I can still do my art and know what it means. It just matters how it looks to you. We talk about the history of his label One Little Indian and it’s roots in Flux Of Pink Indians and the bands around Crass. The guy who runs that he’s completely honest and that doesn’t always benefit you personally. It’s like a job – I have arguments with them all the time and it’s just because things are happening and then twenty minutes later we’ll be on the phone making up. They have clout and they have money. The guys in the States don’t have the ney to throw around. I mean I love Swami. The label in the States is all cool points but over here it’s more clout and more money for sure. I’m completely content with it. You don’t want to be a rich mega star? I’ll take the rich but I want to keep doing club dates! They more you sell the more you’ve got to spend on the production. I mention how little the tickets cost tonight and how little money it must make the band. At least they come out to hear rock music over here. We get to talking about MTV and rock programming on the radio. Dan’s telling me about how, regardless of the quality the DJ aims for, kids still call up asking for Fall Out Boy. Oh, I saw them last summer and they were SO boring. I had to leave half way through. It was very stylish but boring. Their spins are all choreographed….. It’s not my world. Thank’s Dan, for your stand against a uniform world. See our live review, linked off our home page.
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