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Dananananaykroyd
Words by Damien Gabet
Glaswegian co-ed sextet noise-machine Danananaykroyd have rather a charming name. Decasyllabic and tongue-twistingly unpronouncable, this all too often misspelt titling owes it provenance to…’a funny joke’. Guitarist Duncan Robertson allows himself a pause. There is a click. Then, in a Robocop-esque deadpan Scottish lilt, he solemnly states: “We took our name from the actor Dan Aykroyd, from such films as Ghostbusters, Coneheads and Dragnet. It is a funny joke based on his name”.
Click again. The voice had come from a Dictaphone that he uses on all of his interviews. Touché. “Next question please Mr. Disappear…”
Regrettably, they are yet to meet their inspiration. “We haven’t met Dan, but unbe-fucking-lieveably we saw Bill Murray on a plane back from one of the tours. We spent hours filming the back of his head before I plucked up the courage to say hello. We asked him what he thought of our band name”. In true Murray form came the poker-faced riposte, “That’s pretty funny, kids”.
But these rowdy Glaswegians are about oh so much more than just their moderately amusing name. With a spate of exciting new bands emerging from an ever-growing scene north of the border, Dananan are more than happy to ride in the wake of their compatriots. “There’s some good stuff going on in Glasgow at the moment. Glasvegas have really helped open the door up and we want to be right behind them”.
Their current tour as primary support to Indie untouchables Kaiser Chiefs suggests they really aren’t that far behind. That said, the very near future may not be looking quite so peachy. “We’re on our way to Italy and our bus has broken down on an industrial estate in France. This place is fucking baron”, moans Duncan. “I haven’t eaten anything other than Haribo in fourteen hours, I might have to eat our drummer.”
Let’s hope, for the sake of eager-to-party Italian rockers, that they find a way of getting their sugar fix, because their live shows are getting quite a name. In their three short years on the circuit they have built themselves a reputation as one of the best live acts around. “We are all about the live show; every time we play we kick the shite out of the stage”, Duncan explains.
This goes some way to explaining their self-ascribed self-created sub-genre of ‘Fight Pop’. What, then, defines ‘Fight Pop’? “There are six of us so we’ve got all sorts of influences but mainly we mix the Pavement sound with some of the better bits of Nu Metal, stick that all together and you’ve got Fight Pop”. We’ll casually ignore the worrying ‘Nu Metal’ tag, as the end result of Dananan’s varying influences is truly one of visceral rocking pleasure. Mr Aykroyd would be very proud indeed.
http://www.myspace.com/dananananaykroyd
Posted Fri, March 27, 2009