Rabbit Interview With Peter From The Dandy Warhols

10/10/2016

Now you released 'Distortland' at the start of the year which made a lot of fans happy, how's it been touring and sharing that album with the world thus far?

This record seemed to have gotten a really reaction at the start, it's been relatively easy, we don't get the blank stares when we play new songs we get cheers, so yeah it's been good.

Distortland, being the 9th studio album from you guys, is well impressive, is there an element or difference in sound in this album that is indicative of your progression as a band and individuals ?

yeah it's hard to describe exactly what that would be, every record I'm always have a new toy or two or catching onto a different style of music so I try and incorporate whatever that might be, theres a bit of old 50'a rock and roll feel on some of the songs, completely ripped off an eddie crocker feel on some of the songs.

All in all, whats the most memorable album for you do you think?

It really is Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia, for one it was the end of the innocent age for us, after that as much as we didn't want to try and write a hit or a hit record it's always in the back of your mind and also the was the last record we recorded without going using pro tools. the part of the recording process did involve pro tools but it wasn't the main part and ever since then it changes the way you record and gives you more options and then ever since then you don't really go back, so in that case we had to learn the song, then record them and then add stuff on top of it, so we all had to be in the same room. But now we don't even have to be the same country.

Now you're returning to Australia, which is mighty exciting, after you being here last year for splendour in the grass, how are you feeling about coming back to the land of Aus?

I can't wait, it's going to be great it's always been good since the first time we came, we're incredibly lucky that we get to come almost once a year it seems,

What can we expect from this aussie tour?

Well, we're playing about half the new record as well as old songs that we dug out too, to keep the old fans happy and we gotta keep ourselves entertained too

How many times have you toured Australia now? do you have any fond memories or fucked tour stories?

I couldn't tell you, endless amounts. The first time we came out was in 1998, and almost every year since then. There's plenty of tour stories that aren't really appropriate.

So you guys started back in 1994, when I was actually born funnily enough. hows the dynamic of the band now, have things changed much over the years ?

it seems like everyones got a bit more of a say now, in the beginning it more of a follow Courtney around and he had most of the ideas and we were just super into them now everyone just puts their two sense worth it. Now everyone has ideas with endless amounts of chain emails, it drives me crazy but at least there's less nasty surprises.

How does it feel when bands say they're influenced by you guys? I can most definitely say one of the bands supporting you on your tour, Morning Harvey takes loads of inspiration from you guys.

That's probably one of the best things that you ever get to hear, for me with some of the bands I grew up listening to or were super important to me, I got to tell them that and make them feel uncomfortable, it's super cool to have that effect. on music, the bands or anything.

Sadly this year we've lost a lot musical heroes, such a David Bowie who was a fan of your work, can you share any fond memories that you may of had with him or others?

We were on tour with 'David Bowie in 2003 and we were in Berlin for my birthday and he wished me happy birthday on stage and dedicated Fantastic Voage and came to my birthday party afterwards, I'll never forget that and I mean we were on the road with them for 2 months so I've got a handful of memories and getting to watch him perform every night had a huge effect on me as a guitar player, and I kind of started to take it really seriously during that tour.

Did you ever play or hang out at CBGB's? What can you tell me about that magical place.

We played there right near the end of it, it was super fun and it was a pretty good sounding room despite there being a pretty old P.A system but the sound still sounded pretty good, it was sold out in that little room, it was really fun to finally do it. I actually lived in New York for years and never went, I supposed to go a couple of nights to see friends bands but something would come through. One of the founders of Punk magazine the illustrator his name is John Holmstrom, no relation but when I found out that we were doing the CBGB's show I got in touch with them to do a poster for us that was another cool thing to meet the people from back then.

So I'm gonna ask you some questions about the 90's to wrap up.....

Favourite piece of clothing?

Well we used to go to thrift stores all the time, because thats all we could afford and we didn't like any of clothing made in the 90's, we got these Levi trousers, thin denim material, a little dressier than jeans we all had one pair each for like 4 years

Favourite band?

Probably My Bloody Valentine, their records from the 90's blew my mind

Favourite film?

Pulp Fiction

And lastly what was the worst thing about the 90's?

Well it's gotta be Limp Bizkit right, I really don't think there is anything worse. We did a radio show in Virginia there was essentially 3 or 4 tours pulled together and quite a few of the bands didn't match up and for some reason Limp Biscuit who was nobody back then I think they played right before us or after us and it was just so bad, the sound, the audience and what we were about and what they were about.