Dallas Frasca: Got Soul?
» Dallas Frasca - Peninsula Lounge, The, Vic - Sat, February 28
» Deep Roots Festival - Esplanade Hotel, The, Vic - May 23, 2008
» Point Nepean Music Festival - Point Nepean Quarantine Station, VIC - April 7, 2007
It’s a brilliant feeling to interview someone you truly admire. Dallas Frasca is one of Australia’s greatest and most obscure singers. Known mainly on the rural circuit, Dallas and her Gentleman (Jeff Curran) the band have yet to fully penetrate the mainstream. But is this a bad thing? I would rather see Dallas’s soulful tunes in a tiny pub in Chinkapook than on the cover of Smash Hits magazine. Anyway, I spoke to Dallas on their recent national tour about the road, stage nudity and “Bondi cigars”.
“Life on the road is inspiring and I am having the best time of my life. Australia is an amazing place filled with wonderful people. I finally learnt what the great Australian term "BONDI CIGER" really means, I lived in a tree house for a week, I could now direct vegetarian food lovers to any of the best restaurants around Australia. There are just some toilets you shouldn't visit.” This is Dallas’s abstraction of her latest tour around the great big brown land known as Oz. Never one to fear getting her hands dirty, Dallas puts this down to her raucous upbringing; “I was brought up going to motorbike rallies and doing burnouts... I got my addiction for grunt and excitement in life from that. I started jamming with some housemates when I lived with on the Sapphire Coast, Merimbula when I was 19 years old and that put me on the path to delve into more and more music. I need constant visual stimulation and fresh things happening to make me happy so that's where the touring came into the mix.... Come on, life is here to be enjoyed and experienced!”. Her enthusiasm is infectious and charming as she talks about the effects music had- and has- on her life: “I truly believe things happen to you in life for a reason and you have to follow the lead. Music came into my life and I've just flown with it. I have had experiences with music that don't compare to many and I think those are the moments that define for me that I'm doing the right thing”.
For a band that mainly plays festivals, I asked Dallas whether the festival and rural scene was more idea for their particular breed of blues-roots rock; “I love festivals and we base our touring around them. I did my first stage dive last weekend at Narooma Blues and Rockabilly fest. Every festival you go to has a different vibe, we played the Wave Rock Weekender in W.A last week [4 1/2 hrs inland from Perth] and found ourselves floating in a salt water lake you can't sink because of the high salt content in the water. You get to broaden your audiences at these shows, which is great, but we love our own shows around the country. No rules: I vaguely recall four naked men on stage with us at our last shows in Sydney. You wouldn't get away with that at a festival.”.
Many punters dismiss the blues and roots genre as “hippie music”, usually accompanied by a plea to vote Greens or a Save The Whales sticker. Dismissing the stereotype, I wondered if Dallas felt the kind of self-afflicted obligation that many artists such as John Butler have to Make A Difference in the world today; “I understand how important our role is on an influential level (which is why I try not to have naked people every show (laughs). I'm not politically minded although I do have a strong sense of positive morals and values and try to put that across at our shows”.
From her song writing (“I just don't like to force it, I like to flow”) to enjoying downtime on the tour “we spend our time laying on the beach, going on adventures, visiting special places in OZ and enjoying the company of friends and family”, talking to Dallas is like chatting to an old friend. I am disappointed to have to end the interview, but c’est la vie- what’s next for Dallas Frasca and Her Gentleman then?
“There's plans in the pipe works for European festival circuit next year…can’t wait. We've just finished recording our single in Sydney produced by Tony Cohen [Cruel Sea, Nick Cave] and Rob Hirst [Midnight Oil] on drums for the album [due for release next year] and preparing for the festival season ahead during the summer time here in Australia...and, oh yeah, enjoying life because, yes, it is brilliant!”.
