Dallas Crane

After nine years away from the Australian music scene Dallas Crane have released their fifth studio album, Scoundrels. Combining elements of all their previous releases, straight off the bat it is easy enough to say this is the best thing they have ever done. Forming as a band in the mid ’90s, it was their collaboration on the track ‘Sit On My Knee’ with the legendary Jimmy Barnes that really put them on the map. Talking to lead singer Dave Larkin about the illusive return of the band given so many years away, Larkin speaks full of confidence about Scoundrels and the 2016 tour.
“It feels good to be back mate. There is no ridiculous timeline that we have to produce music by or expectations on our music anymore and that’s a really great thing I think. It’s been a really enjoyable experience piecing this album together. We spent so much time on the road previously, which allowed for less time to create new music and put out albums,” he says.
“That meant that we felt we really needed to up the ante with every release and to stamp our place in the music scene. Having complete control over everything has been fantastic and definitely something we want looking into the future.”
Kicking off the album is the song ‘The Sunnyside’ in which Larkin heavily channels influence from the one, the only, Bon Scott. Sounding very much like AC/DC is good to see that Aussie rock is in good hands in 2015 in a world of electro beats and 1D wannabes. There have been many changes to the Australian music scene over the past 10 years and this time around with Scoundrels, Dallas Crane has utilised a lot more social media techniques than ever before.
“For this record, we turned our hand to crowd funding and we found out in 2015, it is really a non existant record industr,” Larkin explains.
“The whole Roman Empire of the record label seems to have dissipated in our absence. Artists are so DIY these days and you have to be. I think that the insecurity of not knowing whether the album was going to happen or not because we put it up to our fans was definitely an interesting thing. We wanted to reach as many people on social media as we could and we hit the target in nine days. We had reached 35% in just one day and from that point on we knew we were in good hands.”
If you have heard the record, you will definitely agree that it is sounding as ballsy and free as their other releases and Dallas Crane has hit the mark with Scoundrels. The guitar and drums combined with the vocals of Larkin give you a great feeling inside that Australian rock ‘n’ roll is still alive and kicking in 2015. Over the next few months and into 2016, the Crane is headed out to all parts of the country to play. With a gig at the Ballarat Beerfest in January 16 and the Barwon Club in Geelong on Boxing Day, it’ll be awesome to be moshing out to their rockin sound once again.
“Ballarat is gonna be a great show. We are playing alongside You Am I, who have just released a great record, so it’ll be awesome to catch up with them and everyone should come down and hear the new tunes for themselves. Rock On Forte!”
Written by Tex Miller
When & Where: Ballarat Beer Festival, City Oval Ballarat – January 16