“That’s the gift that keeps on giving. The reason we named it that was when we told management and our label what we wanted to call it they said that is the shittest name we have ever heard.”
Danny Beus
Who would have thought an album dedicated to Migloo the White Whale would be the catalyst for a chain of events that has seen Melbourne rock/punk outfit Dune Rats sweep all before them in 2022?
Since releasing their latest album, the impossibly difficult-to-say-out-loud Real Rare Whale earlier this year Dune Rats have toured relentlessly, suddenly and unforgivably becoming the darlings of Australian music.
They have recorded a classic song by The Angels – with both Rick and John Brewster appearing, played to thousands of punters in one night, won the Bangalow Billy Cart Derby and been nominated for Best Hard Rock/Metal album at this year’s ARIA Awards.
Not bad for a bunch of self-confessed larrikins who don’t even take spelling their own name seriously.
This weeks release of album single Space Cadet, and it’s hilariously poignant film clip have ushered in the next chapter of Dune Rats quest for world domination, which early next year sees the battle lines drawn on a 45 date run encompassing the U.S.A, Canada, U.K and Europe.
HEAVY tracked down frontman Danny Beus for a chat earlier this week before his shining star becomes so bright that he no longer needs to bore himself with the trivialities of media promotion.
We start by asking him about the latest single Space Cadet.
“It’s one of those ones where it started off – like any one of our songs – the idea in general started off like when you’re a kid and you wanna do a million things, but you either don’t have the talent to do those things or really process what it takes to do them,” he recounted. “Then the crushing realisation of your Mum and Dad telling you to go wash the fucken dishes up kind of brings you back down to reality (laughs). It started off as this joke between us when we were writing that someone has to go and do the dishes, and it would be like ‘go away, I’m trying to write a rock song here’ but you’ve gotta do the dishes first mate, and it all tied into that. That’s where the genesis of the song started, and then like any of them we fleshed it out and did some good nah nah’s and gave it a few ooh’s and then, bang, it was a finished song. It was one of those ones where our producer liked the overall vibe of the song as well.”
In the full interview, Danny talks about the film clip to Space Cadet and sheds some truth on the cash bonanza the band received from winning, the reception to Real Rare Whale, the downright nasty reasons behind naming the album as such, being nominated for the ARIA’s, how their acceptance speech might go should they win, the cover of Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again for Triple J, having the Brewster brothers play on the track, the Dune Rats upcoming shows to round out the year, next years massive overseas tour, keeping it fun on the road and more.
