“It might sound boring but it’s become a lot of what I’d hoped it would be – a lively bunch of fellas I enjoy hanging out with who are also great players.”
Tenderhooks launch their self-titled album on Saturday, May 23, at Jimmy’s Den with help from The Community Chest, The Coalminers Sect, Tracksuit and Matthew De La Hunty. BOB GORDON catches up with vocalist, Dan Durack.
When Dan Durack returned to his native Perth after nearly a decade spent in England, the former Three Orange Whips vocalist wanted nothing more than to get a band rolling once again and to do it with good friends.
Tenderhooks is the result and they have just released a self-titled debut album, showcasing their fine wares.
“At the start there was just a big bunch of songs I’d been storing up overseas,” Durack says of the band’s beginning in 2013. “Songs that were unsuitable for the garage punk band I was playing with. I always wanted Stu Loasby (The Burton Cool Suit, Majestic Kelp, 6s & 7s, Datura) to be a part of it. We’d been blathering about getting something happening for years. It might sound boring but it’s become a lot of what I’d hoped it would be – a lively bunch of fellas I enjoy hanging out with who are also great players.”
During his time away Durack played with a band called Thee Savage Kicks, which served to remind and confirm for him his strengths as a writer and a performer.
“When I moved to England I stopped playing for a while but never stopped writing,” he says. “I hid behind a guitar once I started gigging in London so I didn’t have to maintain the ridiculous lead singer antics, but I’ve realised I’ll never be able to put 100 per cent into both playing a guitar and singing at the same time so I’ve scaled it back to the odd Elvis-style acoustic strum. Which works well because we now have Aidan Gordon on board who’s incredibly talented at both. So what are you writing about these days?
“The usual,” Durack responds. “Relationshit, reminiscences and other flim-flam.”
Rounding out the flim-flam deliveries are Nigel Harford (Stray Tapes, German Humour, White Cross) on bass and Malcolm Clark (Sleepy Jackson, The Basement Birds, Jeff Martin 777, The Weapon Is Sound), who recently took over on drums from Dayvid Clark.
With an album now released, Durack’s future plans for the band are simply a case of keep on keepin’ on.
“I couldn’t be happier with the album,” he says, “which features such sterling folks from the players to production to mastering and I’d like to think that even though I’m getting a bit ancient the tunes will kind of float out there and get in people’s ears.
“After the launch I want to keep this line-up of the band together, record another album and keep playing at places where they serve booze and welcome people who like to have a listen and a lark.”
