The
DM3
(This article was originally written for Foster
Child fanzine in the winter of 1998)
Their name may sound
like a brand of pharmaceutical for the treatment of acne, but the melodies played by
Perth’s DM3 actually cure much bigger teenage maladies. In these days when being on
the cutting edge generally means that a band is fronted by a drooling sub-Neanderthal
psychopath, the DM3 can take you back to those days of innocence when you’d hear a
song on the radio that captured EXACTLY the way your heart leaped when you caught a
glimpse of that special girl that was the focus of this week’s crush. Or the
devastating pain you felt when you saw her with someone else.
Imagine for example
that you were listening to music around in 1972. On the radio there would be Led Zeppelin
(constantly), Seals and Crofts, Loggins and Messina, Yes, America…OK, that’s
enough, you’ve got the picture, and it ain’t pretty. Now imagine that a record
by one of these bands comes to a merciful conclusion, and the next thing that happens is
these humongous power chords come bursting out of the speaker and pretty soon there’s
Eric Carmen of the Raspberries going Please go all the way!. Well, flash forward
to 1994. Forget hearing anything like that on the radio…it just ain’t gonna
happen. But in my PO box, there’s a packet with a Freemantle, WA postmark on it, and
inside is this little 3 song CD single…the debut by the DM3. I put it on with great
expectations…I’d been a huge fan of Dom Mariani’s since I first heard his
earlier band, the Stems, in 1986. And slam-bang! The thing starts with a fanfare of power
chords and drum rolls that exceeds the most knockout head swirling intro the Raspberries
ever put together…sort of like getting the best of "Go All The Way" and
"I Wanna Be With You" at the same time. And in the next three minutes, the DM3
summarize the highs and lows of teen adolescence in words and music about as succinctly as
it’s ever been done.
A face so white
Like someone who’d died of fright
Is the state you’re in
Every time that she walks in
And you lie down
Like a puppy now you’re a clown
With your foolish grin
She casts a line and reels you in
You can’t get used to it
She once belonged to you
And how you soon forget
And you light her cigarette
But all the time she’s looking around
For some other face that she knows in the crowd
And you tell her
That everything is going so well for you now
But it’s a lie
Cause since she left you, you’ve been going through hell
Just a phase she’s goin’ thru
Soon everything will be all right
But that’s only wishful thinking
Cause you know she won’t be home tonight
There’s nothing you can do
When she don’t love you
One single and I knew
that this was going to be Dom’s best band yet…better than the Someloves, a
studio collaboration between Dom and Darryl Mather that made a really nice power pop CD
called Something Or Other around 1990, and better even than the now legendary
Stems, who began as a garage band and then quickly veered towards power pop themselves.
And now that the DM3 have been around enough to have two full length CDs (not counting the
Garage Sale compilation of single B sides and other tracks or the Bomp release Dig
It The Most which combines the best tracks of the two official CDs) I can not only
say that my initial judgment was right on the mark, but that this band can now seriously
claim to be the best power pop band of all time.
Dom’s musical
career began with a heavy dose of AM radio as a kid…Beatles, Credence Clearwater
Revival, Stones, Who, Kinks, Byrds, Big Star, Hendrix…these are the bands he credits
with setting his musical values. By 1981 he had his first band, the Nitwits, who were
shortly followed by the Go-Starts before Dom and Richard Lane teamed up in 1983 to form
his first breakthrough band, the Stems. I’ve written extensively about the Stems in a
past feature, so only a quick summary is needed here…the Stems had two of the first
ten or so singles on Australia’s fabulous Citadel record label, singles that are
still regarded as classic pieces of Australian garage psych. They then released a more
jangly 4 song mini-lp before hitting with a full length album that was more power pop than
garage, but still fabulous. The Stems were a great band, but they were also young and
success affected them badly. As a band with two strong contributors in Mariani and Richard
Lane (subsequently of the Chevelles), it was maybe inevitable that they would split down
the middle between these two, which happened around 1988.
Dom had released a
couple singles during the Stems years in a side project called the Someloves. These songs
were more poppy than the earlier Stems, although comparable to the lp period material in
many ways. Dom’s next effort was in making the Someloves a bigger project. He teamed
up with Darryl Mather (ex Lime Spiders) for songwriting, and together they recorded the Something
Or Other lp. The multi-track tapes of this were shipped off to Georgia power pop icon
Mitch Easter (of Let’s Active fame) for mixing, forming a creative relationship that
Dom makes use of to this day.
But the Someloves
weren’t a real band; Darryl lived in Sydney and Dom in the Perth suburb of Freemantle
on the other side of the continent. To provide a live outlet for his songs, Dom formed a
Perth-based band called Orange. "Orange lasted 12 months or so and was formed around
the Someloves thing, if that makes any sense", says Dom. "The Someloves was a
loose studio idea but we weren't all that sure about how it was going to evolve. I was
hanging out to play live again but Darryl wasn't into it. I then came up with the bright
or maybe not so bright idea of putting together a Someloves line-up with some of the
musicians that played on the album, but Darryl didn't like it. By this stage the record
company were also putting the pressure on us to go on the road. They got pissed off in the
end and dropped us. The album had been well received, so it was a real shame we couldn't
go on with it. So it became Orange, and that eventually mutated into DM3. The whole idea
of Orange was to play some of the Someloves tunes and a lot of new material that would
finally show up on the first DM3 album. Orange did record a one and only song titled
"Christmasonic" for the Rocking Bethlehem 2 album. The line-up was Martin Moon
(drums), Toni Italiano (bass/vocals) and Velo Zupanovich (guitar/vocals). There was talk
of another Someloves album, but I'd had a gutfull of the politics by then. It all got too
hard."
I had the luck to once
sit in on an Orange rehearsal in Freemantle in 1991, and my main memory of it was how
sharp and snappy the band played. Velo Zupanovich had played guitar with Dom in the
Go-Starts, and he fit in perfectly. I was especially impressed with Martin Moon’s
crackling drum work, but DM3’s Pascal Partolone is every bit as good. Pascal came
from the Summer Suns, another Perth power pop project that’s headed by Kim Williams,
who runs the record label House Of Wax and the Perth record shop of the same name. Dom
himself has teamed up with the Summer Suns on several occasions, both for gigs and
recording, and the style is very similar, although Williams tends to have a softer and
less rocking vocal style.
"Rehearsals for
DM3 started about 6 months after Orange ended", says Dom. "Orange was always
going to be a temporary band and only lasted while the Someloves thing was still burning.
It took almost a full year to get a release from Mushroom Records and I didn't do any live
shows during this period. It wasn't until February of 1993 that I was able to release
"Foolish". Everything was in place so it wasn't too hard to launch a new band.
Toni from Orange was on bass and Pascal of the Summer Suns on the kit."
With the first DM3 CD,
Dom found himself back on the now legendary Citadel label, where his first records with
the Stems were released. It’s called One Time Two Times Three Red Light and it has
more than one tune that can claim to be an all time power pop classic. In addition to
"Foolish", there’s "One Time Two Times Devastated", which
features a driving rhythm track covered with all sorts of guitar bits…jangly parts,
big power chords, and slashing Chuck Berry styled leads. There’s plenty of other
rocking songs with lots of big guitar sounds, like "Blue Thing" or "Like
This", then there are some lighter and more jangly pop tunes like "Up In The
Air" or "180 Degrees", and a couple of soft ballads. Like the Someloves lp,
it was mixed by Mitch Easter, but in general it feels a lot more rocking than the
Someloves
Says Dom: "There's
never been any conscious effort to rock out with DM3. It's the natural feel for the band.
We took a different approach from the Someloves album where we were going for this pure
pop thing. There's something special about it. Mitch Easter’s production is
great."
Unlike most albums, One
Time Two Times Three Red Light wasn’t recorded in one session, but actually was
done in bits and pieces over an 8 month span. I asked Dom to describe the recording and
his impression of the result. And what about shipping the tapes to the US and having to
worry about them getting lost somewhere a long the line?
"The sessions were
mainly on weekends which was as frustrating as it was an advantage at times", he
replied. "I think it was a good starting point for DM3. The high points for me are
"Foolish", "Far from Here" and Mitch's guitar work on "Take it
All". My first DM3 song, "Foolish", was one of those songs that came
together real fast and we didn't spend a lot of time thinking about it. Sometimes you get
the best results that way. "One Time, Two Times Devastated" was originally
written for the Someloves but we decided it wasn't suitable, so I recorded it with DM3. It
has a very jammy feel which is cool but if I were to record it again I would condense it
down to three to three and a half minutes. The whole album has a very jammy feel whereas Road
to Rome is a little more refined. I think it did OK. We got some airplay. The album
was mixed at Mitch's studio in Winston Salem with the tapes being hand delivered by
Pascal. We always make a safety copy in the case of disaster."
After the first album,
it became clear to Dom that DM3 were going to end up being more than just a short term
replacement for the outlet he had previously had with the Someloves. The next album, Road
To Rome, seems to have been approached with a greater sense of purpose. Although it
might not hit the peaks of the first CD, it’s more consistent, going from strength to
strength. Although he doesn’t explicitly say so, it seems like Dom feels like this
one hit the mark he was aiming for.
"Road to Rome
was recorded during the first half of '95 in Perth in pretty much the same way as the One
Time Two Times album with Mitch mixing at his new studio in Kernersville, North
Carolina", he says. "This time round Toni delivered the tapes. I spent a lot
more time on arranging and producing for this album. Every song was treated as a single
and has produced some of our most satisfying work to date. High points would have to be
Pascal’s drumming on "Speed Freak", Bob Patient’s organ and Mitch's
bass on "Something Heavy", and no low points. It did well in parts of Europe but
very little in Australia. I haven't been back to the US since I did the Someloves album
which was in '89. I hope to make the trip this year to mix some tracks for the new album.
Mitch has the magic powers!"
Road To Rome
is more consistently uptempo than the first CD. For me the high points are
"Can’t Get What You Want", which equals "Foolish" for pop
perfection and features a rip-roaring musical backing as Dom tells his girlfriend that
even though she’d rather be with someone else, he’s happy to be second best, and
then right after this song, "Please Don’t Lie"…sort of a classic
heartbreaking lyric to a punchy, rocking tune, and "Dead Stars", with its great
guitar licks and organ backing, and the words:
You might think
that it’s wonderful
But I think it’s unkind
Why someone that you do not know
Would write a book about your life
Oh it just ain’t right
What they say about you
‘Cos when you’re not around
There’s nothing you can do
Yeah they’ll talk, talk, talk
And they’ll paint you black
Yeah they’ll put you down
Stab you in the back
Could this be about the
Stems book Let Your Head Rest by George Matzov, which tells the Stems story based
almost exclusively on interviews with Richard Lane? Says Dom: " "Dead
Stars" is not about anyone in particular, but some of its inspiration came from
having read the Albert Goldman book on John Lennon. There maybe a little bit of personal
venom on the Stems experience that helped me to write that song."
The DM3 profile has
been rising internationally. Dom has a fortunate job situation in that he works as a
contract architectural draftsman. The nature of the work allows him to block out periods
where he doesn’t work and he can then go off on a tour.
"We've been to
Europe 3 times now and each time it gets a little better", he says. "We've
played shows in Sweden, Denmark, Germany, France, Spain and Italy. Our most successful
tour was in 1996 to promote Road to Rome. Spain is probably our strongest market and
definitely one of the most fun places to play. Valencia, Madrid, Bilbao (Spain), Lyon,
Orleans (France), Roskilde Festival (Denmark), Gothenburg, and Klippan (Sweden) are some
great places that come to mind. Le Jimmy in Bordeaux was a bummer of a show. My first show
in Madrid was also a nightmare I lost my voice and had to cancel the following
night."
Last September they
played in Gothenburg, Sweden with the excellent Swedish power pop band Psychotic Youth,
and the Norwegian band the Bittersweets came down from Oslo to see them. They gave Dom a
copy of their CD (reviewed in the last issue of Foster Child), which he enjoyed a lot. Dom
is still a big fan of other bands, and he has encouraged me to check out bands like
Aussies Even or You Am I, and he also goes out to see bands as diverse as Kim Salmon or
Jon Spencer’s Blues Explosion. He’s also a big fan of Teenage Fanclub and Wilco.
The band is working on
new recordings as I write this, but since Road To Rome there have been two other
CDs. One of them is the band’s first US release, and it’s called Dig It The
Most. It’s comprised of 20 tracks including 10 out of the 12 on Road To Rome, 7
out of the 12 on One Time Two Times Three Red Light, and the other three from
various b-sides. It’s pretty much a greatest hits of DM3, and if you can’t find
or can’t afford their Aussie imports, there’s no excuse not to own this one.
The other CD is called Garage
Sale and was released in Australia on Citadel. It collects up a mass of b-sides,
alternate mixes, and songs recorded for a variety of compilations.
"I really enjoyed
putting Garage Sale together", says Dom. "It's a real mixed bag. I was
never into recording covers and "Making Time" was the first. We recorded
"Sweet Hitch-hiker" for a John Fogerty tribute album, which was very cool for me
personally. Credence have always been my all time favorite band, ahead of the Beatles and
the Stones. I played a lot of Credence in my high school band. I'd been doing ''Zero
Hour" in the set since the early eighties so I thought we'd better record it or else
I might be playing it for another 15 years. It's finally been put out to pasture. (We
recently did a cover of ''Caroline No'' for a Beach Boys tribute.) I like the spontaneous
guitar solo on ''High Rotations''. The instrumentals are cool. We were going to include
some live stuff but decided to hold off and include them on one of the next
releases."
The Bomp CD came as a
bit of a surprise to Dom. They’d been looking for a US deal for some time, but had
pretty much given up hope, since the few offers they’d had didn’t seem worth
pursuing. The "Mitch Easter Mix" version of "One Time Two Times
Devastated" had appeared on the Bomp compilation Pop On Top, and apparently it had
caught Bomp label kingpin Greg Shaw’s ear more than Dom realized. So the Bomp offer
came somewhat out of the blue. And while it’s absolutely great to have a US release
of DM3 material, the package does seem a little hastily put together…there’s
only a single sheet card instead of a booklet, and this CD seems to deserve a full set of
liner notes explaining just exactly what the listener is getting.
On other fronts, Dom
still keeps up with Darryl Mather, who he says has recorded a new album that includes Ken
Stringfellow of the Posies on lead vocals. Mitch Easter mixes once again, and Dom says the
songs are great. But Darryl spends most of his time as a manager for Australian rugby
league players!
There’s also been
some live Stems things coming out from time to time. Most recently there’s an
official release on House Of Wax called Weed Out, and then a couple years back there was
an Italian lp called Can’t Turn The Clock Back that got released with two
different sleeves. And there was a bootleg lp that came out in Spain. Dom has seen the
bootleg, but says he doesn’t know much about it. "Weed Out on the other
hand was put together just prior to our reunion last February", he says, referring to
a one-off gig the band did in February of 1997. "The songs were taken from 4 track
live recording someone did in '86. We were fortunate to locate the tapes."
I expressed surprise at
the reunion idea, since everything that was said about the original bust up of the Stems
indicated that there were some pretty hard feelings to be worked out. In an interview in
the German fanzine Hartbeat! before the reunion, Dom sounded like they had mended
all this. In Hartbeat! he was quoted saying: "We all seem to be getting on
pretty well these days. It’s almost ten years since we split." But now his
assessment is a little more measured. "The reunion was great", he says.
"The band really rocked. We recently played some festival gigs here in Perth that
weren't quite as good. The first show was a bit shaky, the second was better. There's been
some very tempting offers for the band to do a national tour but it's difficult to
assemble everyone for such a thing. So we've decided to cool it for now. I can't say we're
best of buddies but things are definitely better."
But plans for DM3
continue to move forward. There’s plans for a new album for this year and with
recording already well underway the band are looking for record deals in Australia and
Europe. The recording process is happening in a spread-out fashion much like the first two
CDs. Toni Italiano has left the band and ex-Stems bass player Julian Matthews has replaced
him. "Things will be up in the air for a while until we get the new album out",
says Dom. The world can’t wait.
