23/9/03.

Ox : Since we last talked things have just gone from strength to strength for you guys. Did the US go better than you expected?

Dion : Oh no it (the album) hasn't really gone better than I thought. It's done pretty much what I thought it would do. I mean it's our first record so it hasn't like sold hundreds of fucking thousands or whatever.

Ox : Has it done 29,000 odd or something? Is that right?

Dion : Laughs. As you can see on Murray's reports. He is pretty accurate on most things. Not all things. It's pretty much what I thought we'd do though. It's good.

Ox : That's a few units no doubt about it. That is pretty much a whole suburb of D4 fans!

Dion : That's not bad is it?

Ox : While we're still on the states . I know you were over there touring but how did you hook up that gig on the Letterman show?

Dion : Right well the first time we went to the states we did it all ourselves and we hooked up with people whose music we dug and they helped us out. Then when we picked up some management in the UK they . . .

Ox : They is Alan McGhee?

Dion : Yep . . . then when we thought we needed to get our record released over there (the US) so he had a shop around some labels and things like that. We had lots of interest from heaps of different labels but we chose the label that were gonna offer us the best deal. Not just financially but like you know the one that was actually gonna put some work into our record. That's why we chose Hollywood. They're not the coolest, hippest label around but we don't care about that. They've got good money and they're gonna help us out. They're gonna treat us as a priority. Where as if you go with a huge major they've got like 15 platinum acts ahead of you, you know? Where as Hollywood don't really specialise in rock & roll. They do a lot of compilations and things like that so we were the first kind of rock & roll act they've signed. That's kind of why we chose them, so we are a priority.

Ox : How many concerts have you played in the US now?

Dion : Oh we've done like over the last 18 months we've probably done about 60 shows.

Ox : 60? That's not that many is it. Pretty good shows to CD sales ratio though.

Dion : You could tour the states for 6 months if you wanted to.

Ox : What videos did you release there?

Dion : Oh 'get loose' was the main video there.

Ox : What sort of MTV reaction did you get?

Dion : Well it's hard, for things to work in the states you need MTV to back you and you need radio to back you. We got pretty good okay play you know.

Ox : What about the College station?

Dion : We got upto about number 25 on their singles charts. But you get to a lot more people through MTV and radio (mainstream).

Ox : Well how then did the gig on the Letterman show come about?

Dion : We played a show in New York the night before and it was a real cool show and there was a bit of a buzz about it and the Letterman lady rang up the next day and said 'look B B King has just pulled out, do you want to do Letterman?' We said 'yeah sure' and that didn't turn out happening 'cause it wasn't really ideal for us because our record hadn't come out there yet. So we talked to them and said 'look can we do it another time?' and they were like 'yeah sure' and we just organised another time to do it.

Ox : We've talked about your sell-through at retail but what were CD sales like at your gigs?

Dion : We didn't actually sell CD's at gigs. Oh we had 'label people' selling cd's at gigs over there but we mainly concentrated on selling our own merch like tee-shirts and English 7 inches and things like that.

Ox : That would all go pretty good wouldn't it?

Dion : It goes pretty good. I mean merch is a great way to . . .

Ox : Well your actually getting some margin, there is some value in it for ya.

Dion : Yeah there is good value in it. You can actually make money personally which is great. You can off-set tours and you can build and build upon your merch. Every gig you just make a bit of money and put it back into it.

Ox : Does 29,000 look okay when you sit down with the bean counters? I mean your music doesn't cost mega bucks to produce but when you bust out the bottom line and they will have worked it all out, are they happy?

Dion : Yeah pretty much. When we started overseas no one knew who the fuck we were so it wasn't like we were gonna make mega money but it's just growing and growing.

Ox : What about Japan? How is that going?

Dion : Well all our shows there have been sold out so far.

Ox : What about sales.

Dion : Of CD's? I'm not too sure actually. I haven't checked for awhile but it only came out about three months ago but it's going pretty good there. It's going really good there. It took off way before we even went there. We went there back in 2000 but the record came out before we even went back and it took off and maybe it was just word of mouth or people reading the papers from other territories and shit.

Ox : And did you play in gigs with those dudes?

Dion : Guitarwolf?

Ox : No. In the states. Last time you were telling me about those little 'GG Allin' dudes. The Candy Snatchers!

Dion : No we haven't been down that way for awhile. Last time we toured with 'the Electric 6'. They came and toured with us and another band called 'the 45's' who I think have just signed to Flying Nun actually. They might come down here around about our album release time to tour with us. They're from Atlanta Georgia. They're really fucking awesome.

Ox : So what is on the agenda now? This little tour and . . .

Dion : Well after this little tour I think me and Jimmy are going to shoot over to Bangkok actually! We just thought 'oh we've never been there' and we wanna just . . . we're in the process of writing an album so yeah we thought 'let's go to Bangkok!' Laughs. Then we can come back here and write some more songs and then we do another tour of Japan and then we've got a New Years eve show here and the Big Day Out. Next year we'll release the album in the first quarter and then start all over again.

Ox : How much touring do you want to be doing? Are you still loving it? Dion : I love it yeah! I mean we haven't been touring so heavily this year because we've been concentrating on getting this second album together. That is cool because by the end of it I was kind of, not sick of it but just wanting to get out of that mode and into the recording mode. We are just into writing new songs at the moment and as soon as the second record comes out we'll tour for a good 18 months or 2 years if it takes it 'cause touring is the best!

Ox : You still see yourself as being based in Auckland then?

Dion : Yeah I reckon cause I mean I love Auckland it's my home town. It's got my friends. It's got my girlfriend. It's got my family and the same with the other band members. It's cheap to live here too. I can see us touring for the next 18 months so I'm gonna want to come back here so yeah it's cool to be based in Auckland.

Ox : Now I have heard lots of great things about your new material from my sources in Auckland and can't wait to hear it. With the forthcoming album have you veered away from producing a second party themed record?

Dion : That record was never supposed to be like a concept album but it sort of ended up being it a little bit. A bit of a party album. This next one is definitely a move away from that. We've got different subject matter and we're trying to write the songs in a different way. It's inevitably going to be different. I mean were going to hang onto the core of what we are but I mean I'd be a really boring person if we just recorded a second album that's just like the first.

Ox : You had a reasonable amount of coverage in the media here before you went overseas but they were hardly championing you. In fact you (as manager) worked bloody hard for it. You have always struck me as focused on cracking the big time but realistic in knowing the amount of work it takes.

Dion : Oh yeah I've been playing in a band for like 12 or 13 years. I've worked hard and I've worked with . . . I've had help along the way you know. It's probably a little bit easier living in Auckland because you've got a lot of 'industry type' people up here or whatever. You've got to use them to your advantage. I'm not saying I'm using them and they're total cunts but you can use them to help you out you know? It helps them out too. It's a 2 way thing.

Ox : Did you learn a lot (about management) from the 'Nothing at All' days?

Dion : I did learn a bit yeah. We signed with a label later on when we recorded our record. So we had dealt with a label and we had done many tours and got that side of it sorted. We had a manager, John, so we knew what a manager kind of was. That was sort of really the low level basics that I learned there but over this past 2 years I've learnt so much with the D4 you know? Of how things work on an international bigger scale. I mean there is a lot more to learn obviously but . . .

Ox : So you're obviously still right in there on the management side of things?

Dion : We don't put it in their hands and go 'Here you are do what you want!'

Ox : You were doing everything before weren't you?

Dion : We were doing totally everything until we hooked up with them, with a little bit of help from the label. So we weren't keen to let go of it 100% I don't want anyone to shape my band into what they think it is you know? It's important to let go but you've got to keep a hold of it too you know?

Ox : I guess you want someone you can trust who understands what you want to do and isn't trying to put their stamp on it.

Dion : I think listening to advice from people is really important. People might be able to put things in perspective for you but deep down in your heart you know what is kind of your deal and you've gotta stand strong on a few points I reckon.

Ox : How is the UK going for you then?

Dion : The UK is good. It's pretty much where the whole international thing started. The UK's been great.

Ox : The media's little rock & roll infatuation has been going on for awhile now, can you see it tapering off? I mean sadly I can see a lot of fashion cues heading into disco.

Dion : Well yeah it's a fashion thing you know? It's just the same as at any time. The media picks up on fashions or whatever and a few great groups like the White Stripes and stuff give it some credibility and the industry picks up on it and produces it. It'll move on you know? This little interest in rock & roll has been going for a little while now probably coming on 3 years. All these things recycle you know? You had grunge in the early '90's. Now we've got a 'garage rock' thing which isn't really what I'd consider it.

Ox : That's why the Palace of Wisdom is a 'gangster rock' band!

Dion : Laughs. Gangster rock. I've never really considered us a garage rock band or anything. To me I'd call the D4 a punk rock band.

Ox : Yep I'd agree with that but you are the punk end of a genre that the Datsuns are the metal end of.

Dion : Yeah totally.

Ox : I want a better word. You can say unwashed, lo-fi, dirty rock & roll is what I like pretty much.

Dion : When people ask what kind of band I'm in I just say a rock & roll band cause that just leaves a whole wide open field. Rather than putting myself into a little niche.

Ox : Thanks Dion. That's about all I can be fucked transcribing we'll have to catch up for a couple of email interview when your overseas touring.

Dion : Sure no problem I'll see you in Christchurch on the 16th? Yeah the 16th.

The End.

Photos from The Civic, Chch, 16.10.03