The Dt's - Cocked and ready to win hearts and piss them off!


I recently saw The Dt's in Madrid, where they totally blew me away with their soul-influenced rock, thanks in great part to flamboyant guitarist Dave Crider and powerful singer Diana Young-Blanchard. I tried to get hold of them while they were still in Spain to do an interview, but there wasn't time enough, and thus this interview was conducted via email, apparently allowing some misunderstandings on both parts to slip through. Oh well. Enjoy the band anyway, even if they do try to make me look like an asshole here (or enjoy them for that sake alone, if that be your fancy).

By Jon A


LowCut: You just toured Spain following the Spanish release of your debut album "Hard Fixed", how did that go, and how has the album done?

Diana: The Spain tour was fucking awesome! The GP crew did a great job under some difficult circumstances, i.e., bad weather/road conditions, working a virtually unknown band in the Spanish market, etc. As far as CD sales, it really just came out there, so can't say at this point how it's doing. I do know that we sold out of everything we had while on tour. The LP will be out next month, and we're looking forward to seeing that.


LowCut: Where did you guys come from? I know as much as that there's a background in Mono Men and Watts, plus you run the Estrus label.

Dave: I was in both Mono Men and Watts and Diana was Madame X. Di is one of my best friends and we have known each other since high school, in fact we were in a few bands together back then. We had been talking about getting something like the Dt's together where we could mix up our shared love for sweaty soul and raw hard rock for almost 10 years but there just never seemed to be enough time to make that happen until Diana moved up here to Bellingham a few years ago.


LowCut: Bands seem to be coming out of Seattle again, Zeke among others: Is there a good scene, or is it to do with the weather, that you can't go outdoors and have to stay in and make noise?

Diana: We are not actually based in Seattle, but in Bellingham, which is about 80 miles north of Seattle. As far as I can tell there isn't a whole hell-of-a-lot of interesting music coming out of Seattle right now. If I'm not mistaken, Zeke are from Tacoma, and they've been around for years. But to be honest, I'm not really "in the scene" much. There are a lot of bands in Bellingham - this might be in part because it's a small town, and there isn't a whole lot to do, so people turn inward to their creative sides, which is a good thing. We go outdoors plenty though.


LowCut: You label yourself "hard soul punk", even if I'm hard pressed to find any traces of punk in the music. Did you wish to avoid the connotations of mullets and jeanswests that adher to the "Hardrock" tag? - I know I for one wouldn't have been likely to go to a show with a band unknown to me listed as "hardrock", but I nevertheless dug your show immensely.

Diana: Actually, we never labeled ourselves "hard soul punk" - that came from somebody else. We have labeled ourselves "Hard Soul," and that comes from a combination of the style and the feeling of the music that most inspires us to do what we do. We never tried to avoid or discourage any kind of person or people from enjoying our music - that would just be stupid. We don't really think in terms of labels. If people dig the Dt's, then they dig the Dt's; if people are worried about their image, or whether or not it's "cool" to like what they like, then they are chicken shits, and they should just stay home waiting for the Pied Piper to call.


LowCut: Is the (re-)injection of soul into r'n'r a way of revitalizing the genre in a time when a lot of it seems to depend more on attitude and moped haircuts than having anything on your heart?

Diana: Interesting question. I think you may be giving us more credit than we deserve, however. I'm not sure what you mean by "re-injection," but we weren't looking to kick-start a so-called waning genre of music, as you suggest, although I do understand your sentiment. We just thought it would be a lot of fucking fun to combine the influences of music we love and see what happened. It was all very selfish.


LowCut: The Dt's is for delirium tremens, I suppose: Is that how you view yourselves, or is r'n'r in general a result of raving alcoholism?

Diana: Actually, DT's is for "Doom Town," a song by Northwest band, the Wipers. People only assume delirium tremens. We do drink our fair share though.

LowCut: What lies beyond the partying?

Diana: Many, many things. Please don't assume that we haven't anything else going on. If people ever asked deeper questions without preconceptions, I think they would be surprised and amazed. Yes, we like to party, but we are smart enough to know not to let it get in the way of our goals.

LowCut: On your album, the song "Proud Man" is illustrated with a cock in a t-shirt branded with the stars and stripes beating his chest. Your music too is very American in its essence, at least to European ears; but is it hard to be a proud American these days?

Diana: Well, first of all I can tell you for certain that "Proud Man" has nothing to do with America or being an American, although the fact that I am an American is nothing I am ashamed of. (I don't happen to agree with current American politics, nor am I in favor of our current administration, but this doesn't make me ashamed of who I am or where I come from). The song "Proud Man" is simply one woman's response to all these cats who are always claiming to be "back door men." Blues by tradition, and songs and artists I love, this "back door man" thing is purely from a man's point of view. My reaction to this is, "I'm not interested in a "back door man," but in a man who is secure enough to come, in broad daylight, right up to my front door, a "Proud Man," one who knows who he is and what he wants. The illustration is Jim Blanchard's interpretation of the song title. He never asked me what it meant, but I think his take on it is pretty humorous; you said it yourself, a "cock" with it's chest puffed out as a representation of a "cocky" kind of a guy. The stars-n-stripes t-shirt adds to the humor, 'cause after all, it's a CARTOON! It's supposed to be amusing, not serious.

LowCut: It seems to me that just about every American band I see these days feel they have to apologize for Bush and the war, while most European bands wouldn't feel it necessary to distance themselves from their government, as it's sort of a token in Europe that if you're an artist, you're leftist.

Diana: I don't really know what you want for a response to this. I don't feel I need to apologize for something I have no personal responsibility for. Bush is a fucking idiot in my opinion, but I don't distance myself from my government because of the current regime. If anything, I become more involved in hopes that I can, in some small way, be instrumental in effecting change of the things I do not like. I say, "Don't be sorry, be active."

Pues, hombre. Anyway, "Hard Fixed" is out now on Estrus in USA and GP in Europe.
For more, see album and live reviews in the respective sections of this issue.

http://www.estrus.com/bands/dts