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Molek FMDune Rats: Just F*cking About
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Clearly just a bunch of guys that give no f*cks about what they say, do or sing about, speaking to the boys of Dune Rats was probably one of the more memorable experiences JUICE had over the past few years. Upon meeting them face to face, you can clearly see that sobriety is not a state these boys are familiar with. But then again, who’s to say that’s a bad thing, half the time we aren’t sober either (just look at this interview). Naturally, Danny Beusa (guitar/vocals), BC Michaels (drums/vocals), and Brett Jansh (bass/vocals) seemed unusually happy and cheerful most of the time. Fresh off releasing their latest self-titled album, we managed to catch a few minutes with the Oz slackers before their show at The Bee, Publika in May, which started off bizarrely with a discussion on leather and other random topics…
(Dune Rats notice our writer’s wallet)
Danny Beusa Leather comes from a cow or a horse.
BC Michaels Leather is good for knives, woven materials, Hercules boots, Kevin Sorbo, Xena the Warrior Princess.
D And Game of Thrones!
Um… alright. So, Dune Rats, huh?
D We started the band with me and BC meeting in a pub. I thought, “Oh, he’s sexy I want to have sex with him,” but then he said, “Nah man, I don’t swing that way.” So I thought let’s just start a band and I’ll eventually sleep with him, which I did last year. We met Brett a year after we formed.
Brett Jansh We’re actually supposed to just have a threesome but then he said maybe if [the band] were more convincing (as in with more people in it) and bam! The baby was born.
D And another baby that was born was our first self-titled album. It’s great, it’s packed with 12 killer songs that are available on iTunes and our first single is called ‘Funny Guy’. My mother works pathology, Brett’s mom is a nurse, and BC’s mom is an overall Swedish lord. She used to be a policewoman, and she can kick the f*ck out of anyone.
Very nice. Will you guys be singing about all this in the next album?
D Aw yeah, definitely! The title track will be called ‘BC’s Mom Will Kick the F*ck Out of You’.
Malaysia’s pretty alright, huh?
D We’ve played in f*ck load of places; China, Europe, the UK, America, Bali, and Malaysia (this time being the second). Although we haven’t done South America and the Middle East, we did once go to Abu Dhabi then took a cab to Dubai because we had a layover. We saw BC’s brother and drank heaps. I actually had sex with a male prostitute in Dubai.
That’s gotta be a memorable experience… favourite place you played though?
D We really like Australia, we also like Europe. Also, Bali, Jakarta, and Malaysia, we like it too, they’re all different for different reasons. We like the heat, the itch, we like hot food, we like Asian food.
B I think it’s worldwide regardless, everywhere we go might differ a little bit but people are just f*cking people, always, and you just make friends out of that.
What about specifically Malaysia though?
D F*cking great, really good, and awesome. We went to Penang the last time and that was really good. We had char kway teow.
(Without asking any questions, Danny goes on to list their favourite bands and some unique experience as a band)
D The bands that we love are Last Dinosaurs, DZ Deathrays, Violent Soho, Millions, Gung Ho, The Cairos, WAD, Cloud Nothing, Drunk Mums, Natural Child, Moss, and the Firstborn… and world music. At one time we were the ambassadors of Australia for World Music Day at SXSW Festival and we only played for 10 minutes and said the word cunt 10 times. And we got kicked off the stage. Also, if I don’t masturbate for several days, I cum really easily. It’s at the worst of times and the best of time.
Alright, wow, that was… never mind. With that attitude and approach, how do you deal with all the negative bullshit people throw at you all the time for having that, well, attitude and approach?
D Well that’s the most negative thing anyone’s said to us! (Sobs)
B We actually get really depressed and go on anti-depressants.
D And drinking a lot which helps our depression.
B We’ve actually heard some pretty bad stuff about you (stares blankly). How do you deal with that?
Part of our job here at JUICE is to drink our life away. How does your who-gives-two-sh!ts approach to life translate into Dune Rats’ stage performances?
D We just jump around like idiots most of the times, get really sweaty, and shoot ourselves with vomit on the second last song.
You guys are pretty tight with the guys from Last Dinosaurs, they seem so sterile compared to you guys, are you guys from the same neighbourhood or something?
D Yeah, BC went to school with one of them. That’s how tight we are. Everyone knows each other in Brisbane. It’s not that big of a town. Australia in general is pretty cool. All the musicians hang out. Perth’s great, not many bands though, but I think it’s because they spike the water with anti-creativity juice. Drink beer if you’re there. Actually it’s pretty universal. A lot of people we hang out with are just like us. We’re pretty lucky like that and I guess it’s because we love to talk sh!t most of the time, we hang out with a lot of sh!t-talkers.
Dune Rats played at The Bee, Publika for the Upfront series on Tuesday 20 May ‘14.
