Dom Mariani

 

Perth legend Dom Mariani is back with a new LP with his blues rock outfit Datura 4. The bands new LP, Neanderthal Jam, is a mix of 13^th Floor Elevators and 70s Australian rock blues, plus throwing up current day topics we can all relate to. From the Stems to the 4, Dom Mariani always brings something new to every release he does and while the Stems reform for the odd show now and then, he’d prefer look forward releasing new music rather than rest of his brilliant back catalogue.

Munster: I’ve been enjoying the new Datura 4 single Black Speakers, got a real 70s, Roky Erickson sound to it.

Dom: It’s one of those songs that came out of a jam. We put it together, we have a keyboard player, Bob Patient, who brings a lot to the jam, and it was created out of the rehearsal room. Most of the songs on the LP were done that way, hence the title of the album.

Munster: You say it came from a jam, did you bring a riff to the practice room, present it to the band and take it from there?

Dom: There are a few songs like that, all done in the rehearsal room, I have a riff and take it from there, hoping to get a song out of it. Sometimes I’ll write some lyrics and try to get a riff to go with it, but mostly the riff is the first thing that comes a long.

Munster: Do you write the lyrics first, or does it evolve as the music comes together?

Dom: Mostly as song evolves. But I have written songs on public transport when I have stuff all to do. I’ll think of some ideas and jot notes on my phone, usually get something out of that.

Munster: My favourite track off the LP was Worried Man’s Boogie, how did that track come about?

Dom: like the riff itself, as a kid I spent a lot of time jamming in the garage jamming with boogie riffs, I was a big fan of the Aussie boogie rock that came out of the 70s, Carson, Lobby Lloyd and the Coloured Balls and bands like that. The theme of the song is pretty much telling the story of a man trying to cope with the way things are. It was written during the pandemic that one, so hence the Worried Man’s Boogie with the pandemic and all the other crap that was going on in the world the last few years. You just start to feel will we ever get out, and I don’t think we will, get to a point where all these bad things going on in our lives will stop. Just go out have a good time free of all these outside forces we have no control over.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCAdvsE_Kno

Munster: Did you manage to write songs during the pandemic?

Dom: we were touring at the end of 2019 and we just come back from Europe and things were pretty rosy. We has another LP in the bag, which was West Cost cosmic   so we we’re looking forward to that coming out, and also keen to get back and tour again. Then Covid hit and ruined those plans but the LP came out anyway. But we couldn’t tour or do anything like that. So we used that lockdown period to be creative and that’s how this LP came about.

Munster: You mentioned Lobby Lloyd and Billy Thorpe, and there’s a lot of their influence on this record, and its odd how considering how highly regarded those two are no one really plays that kind of rock n roll anymore.

Dom: I grew up with that, was big influence on me as a guitar player, jamming in early garage bands. There was a great scene, Thorpy, Lobby and later day Masters Appearances, Carson, we had a good scene here that was based on that blues rock scene, sort of progressive blues rock. There was a band called the Bakery and Fatty Lumpkin, and there was GTK, and a similar show on 9 called Happening 70s, which would be on Saturday afternoon and go for three hours, and those bands would be on. So GTK, 6:30 these bands would be on for 5 minutes. As a young guitar player I gravitated to those bands. We had Buffalo play at our high school, and I saw Lobby Lloyd play at the Fremantle Oval when I was 15. So I was a big fan of that music and the blues had a big appeal to me, and I’ve been in other bands and different styles of music but that music has always been something that I’ve loved, the heavy rock stuff. It might have gone to the back of the collection when punk rock came along but I still dig that stuff.

Munster: the Stems get together for the odd show/tour now and them, but is Datura 4 your main project these days?

Dom: yeah pretty much. Like you say the Stems come back time to time but in terms out outlet it’s just Datura 4.

Munster: You mentioned all the bands you saw growing up in Perth, and as someone from Melbourne, when people talk about alternative music from Perth, it’s the punk stuff from the 70s, ie the Scientists and the Victims, then the JJJ bands from the mid 90s like Jebediah, the blues scene you talked about in Perth, is that a under that radar scene in time?

Dom: Possibly. It’s a bit sad some of those bands don’t get the recognition they deserve. My generation of musicians, the Scientists and the Victims, they came before my time, but they were an influence, even though they weren’t massive, they had a big impact on bands coming later, but those bands, like your Bakeries, Fatty Lumpkin, Sitting Bull I really liked. Their sort of unknown bands, only known by a handful of people are aware of.

Munster: Have you even lived outside of Perth?

Dom: I spent about four months in Sydney in the mid 80s, but other than that based in Perth my whole life.

Munster: Reading the Kim Salmon book, most of the people interviewed who came from Perth mentioned they couldn’t wait to leave, while you stayed put.

Dom: yeah it seemed to be the obvious thing to do, and the norm back then. There was no internet back then, and the way bands were exposed, and this was before JJJ, was to play anywhere and everywhere. But you had to go east to try and make it, or get somewhere. We did that to a small degree with the Stems, when we went over in 1985 we made an immediate impact with our first single. We did quite well, that four- five months, then we decided to go back to Perth and we were lucky we made that impact so when we went back and toured we had big crowds, we built our following like that. The problem was the cost of air fares back then were expensive so we made no money. We felt like, staying in Perth in one way that we weren’t over exposing ourselves. So it worked for us in that way but the detriment was we had to fork out lots of money for travel.

Munster: you mentioned you toured Europe just before the pandemic, and I’ve asked this many times and keen to get your take on it, what is it about Australian rock n roll that translates so well in Europe?

Dom: I don’t really know, I’ve been asked that question many times and I’ve tried to answer it. I really don’t know. All I know is there very passionate about music, and if they dig something they’ll support it, they come along and see your show. Their attentive, they’ll buy the merch. I don’t know, there’s obviously something to the music that they respond to.

Munster: was reading the Stems played a festival put on by Steven Van Zandt a few years back, what was that like?

Dom: that was 2005, we got invited to this festival Little Steven had put on, it was part of his radio show the Underground Garage, he’s a real music lover and rock n roll guy. He had this idea of this big festival, and looking at the line-up it seemed impossible when you look at it. The bands he had, it was just incredible. It was like you died and went to heaven, it was that kind of line up. The Stooges played, and this was when they just reformed, the New York Dolls, the Dictators, Nancy Sinatra, Bo Diddley, Big Star, then a host of garage bands from the 80s, so the Stems, the Liars, the Cynics, some amazing older garage bands, such as Chocolate Watchband, and Electric Prunes, then the British’s bands like the Pretty Things and the Creation. So I was totally stoked, just incredible. And these people were just walking round backstage so you could say hello and get a photo taken. And he had the Sopranos cast to introduce some of that bands so was pretty cool.

Munster: Davey Lane and Ash Naylor are now members of the Stems, how have they settled into the band and what have they brought to the table?

Dom: Since we reformed we’re a lot better as a unit in terms of musicianship. People like Ash and Davey, who are fans of the band, great players and bring professionalism to the band as well, and slot in perfectly as there really into the music.

Munster: one of my favourite projects you was involved in was the LP Stoneage Hearts with my mate Mickster of Off the Hip, how did that come about?

Dom: Mick and I have been mates for a fairly long time. He asked me to be part of the second LP and I had a few songs and wrote some new ones and he wrote some rippers. Was a fun project

Munster: favourite Fall LP?

Dom: all I got is a single, the Man Who’s Head Expanded. I got that single, never really got into the Fall that much but I like that single.

https://datura4.bandcamp.com/