How ingrateful can you be when you’re signed to a major?
This is a draft essay to be published on Tunebinder.com.au.
“People will always say nasty things. But you don’t stop making music because some people don’t like you,” says Charlie Thorpe, 19, aka Dash. “You don’t Google yourself unless you’re ready to read horrible things about yourself.”
A Dash Of Pop - Nui Te Koha, Page 8, Play supplement, Sunday Herald Sun 30/08/09
WARNING: If you are Dash, Will, or anyone in the Dash & Will camp I would suggest closing your browser right now. You are not going to like what comes next.
When Dash & Will burst onto the scene last year, the people behind them were in full spin mode. “Youthful, multi-talented and vivacious, Dash & Will are the perfect antidotes to all that is plastic,” said their signing press release. People wrote up the comparisons - it’s Tegan & Sara meets The Veronicas! It’s “indie pop rock that will have everyone jumping around, shaking their hair and singing along in no time!”
The duo were added to festival bill after festival bill last year in order to get the punters to ride that hype train. I caught some of their set at the Falls Festival and while it wasn’t offensive stuff to listen to, it didn’t have me shaking my hair and singing along. The comparisons were accurate, except that Dash & Will were closer to The Veronicas then Tegan & Sara. Sure, they played their own instruments and all; but the songs were rudimentary and on-stage action forced. Compelling? Hardly. Not plastic fantastic like Britney or Christina, but the elements almost seemed forced on Josie & Charlie.
“But Mike you dummy, you’re getting stuck into a couple of eighteen year old girls! If they’re crap, why bother?” I don’t think about pop groups that much, so when I came across an interview with the two of them in the Sunday papers, I was a tad stunned at some of the quotes.
“We thought songs got played on the radio automatically. We thought people looked pretty in video clips on their own. We didn’t know the work behind it all.”
A Dash Of Pop - Nui Te Koha, Page 8, Play supplement, Sunday Herald Sun 30/08/09
“It’s so easy to get pissed off about shit when you are so young,” Dash says. “We are poor, we don’t have roadies, we don’t have a sound guy, we look after ourselves. But you can’t afford to use that to stay in a bad mood and do a shit show.”
A Dash Of Pop - Nui Te Koha, Page 8, Play supplement, Sunday Herald Sun 30/08/09
Shit is hard for anyone trying to establish themselves in the music community, whether you’re releasing an EP on your own dime or just trying to get the punters through the door at a dingy little venue away from everything. So to have amazing levels of support behind you only to turn around and cry “oh woe is me, this is hard!” seems a tad ingrateful. These problems being suffered by Dash & Will are hardly unique if you have spoke to any band playing at at your local city, something you put up with now in hope of not having to worry about it if you make it to the big time. Given the quotes, it becomes apparent of how little knowledge the two have on how being a performer is - clearly not all posh hotels and business class flights. If they had any indie cred, it has vanished in a puff of smoke.
Dash & Will are pretty young things - there’s no denying it. They write their own songs, play their own instruments. Good for them. But there’s hundreds of decent acts around this country that do the same. Just like Dash & Will, they are poor, they don’t have a sound guy, and they do things for themselves. Yet the majority don’t have a major label releasing their debut album. They don’t get support gigs with international acts at big venues at the click of a finger. They don’t have a publicist booking interviews with the Sunday papers. They just get on and do what they have to do in order to make a name for themselves.
People say stupid things when they are young. But someone in the Dash & Will camp needs to sit the two down and remind them of the unique situation they are in. It’s a situation that very few are given anywhere in the world, let alone in this country. If Dash & Will are trying to win over the indie crowd over the pop crowd they will want to avoid making such silly statements in the future, because that indie crowd knows how to read between the lines.
