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by jon bosworth
jaxvillain@yahoo.com
WHO: Dang!
WHERE: Jacksoonville Fair - Battle of the Bands
WHEN: Friday, November 3rd
Music is full of itself. Every artist thinks they have something special and no one wants to admit that they just want people to get down when they hear them. Never mind way-out avant-garde rock that is more like a social experiment than a good time, Dang! is here to deliver straightforward rock and roll that makes you get in and rev the gas.
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“I would say there is an element of schtick to it. I’ve been a fan of the powerhouse music for a long time. When we started, it didn’t seem like there was a lot of straight-to-the-point rock. It was all emo and screamo.”
When I first heard them opening for Brass Castle at Yesterdays, they seemed like the perfect band for the stage. Their music is like a dusty bar fight between the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and Reverend Horton Heat in some Green Cove tavern. It’s mean, but we let it go on because there is something fun and harmless about it.
EU: How did you come to the name Dang!?
D!: I had a conversation with a friend of mine and we were talking about band names and that one came up. Billy was in the coast guard and was home for a week, so we grabbed Jeremy and came up with the name as a joke and it stuck. Roger Miller has a song called Dang Me, and that’s how it first came up.
EU: How’d you get into the whole Battle for Planetfest thing?
D!: We got a call from Tim and he invited us to do it. We’ve been playing with bands that just draw the same crowd as us. I figured all these people that come for the other bands will hear our music. That is the way we approached it, to get more people to hear us and looking for an opportunity to branch out. When we found out we were number one, we were really surprised. I don’t think of us a hard rock band, we’re more on the fringe, but ever since we hit the top two we’ve gotten 10 to 12 adds a day on Myspace. It’s been good publicity for us as a band.
EU: What is your rock star fantasy?
D!: Dang would like to be able to play music for the rest of our lives and afford it. As long as the band keeps going we’re going to stick with it. We want to play rock and roll and music for the rest of our lives and be able to support ourselves.
EU: Are your songs inspired more by ideas and lyrics or music?
D!: A combination of both. Pot Band Trans Am started as a bass riff that Jeremy really liked but I couldn’t find a melody for it. Then I saw this Trans Am and did some research on that hot-looking car, and we made this Jan & Dean sort of muscle car song. Sometimes I have a lyrical idea and write the music around it, sometimes the music comes and we make the lyrics work into the melody. I don’t have a formula.
EU: What musical groups do you all like?
D!: Dang! Is the only thing we all have in common. Each of us can find something with one another, but we have a wide range of ages. Jeremy and I like soul, Billy Jo is more into hardcore and punk, and Kirk is more 80s, Motley Crue. And I like that stuff too. We all come from very different musical backgrounds.
EU: What rock star stunts do you hope to be a part of? Trashing hotel rooms? Backstage hookers?
D!: I’ve always liked when David Lee Roth coined the phrase “loft the room.” He wrote this autobiography called Crazy for the Heat about all of his backstage antics. Some of the band members like women and booze, so they might do that , but I’ll hang out on the bus and drink scotch.
EU: When will you have a record out?
D!: Hopefully by the end of the year. Depending on how much money we can raise. That will determine the quality of the recording. We have a recording studio in our home, but we’re still learning to use it all.
EU: Thundercats or He Man?
D!: Thundercats.
Catch Dang! At the Fair on Friday November 3rd at 9 pm. That performance will be the final selection for the Planetfest mainstage, so come out and support the band to help them play for hundreds of soon-to-be fans or check them out on dangrock.com.
“Were gonna play a short set and then go eat some funnel cake.”
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