- by Gareth Rees
- Thursday, November 03, 2005
- filed in:
“We’re not fucking Bloc Party!” That was the drunken battle cry that ripped through the Camden night the first time Gigwise got drunk with The Dash. “And we’re not the fucking Libertines either,” adds Dash drummer Ben Harris reiterating his point. This time sitting slightly less drunk in a Mexican bar in Old Street, London.
The fact that The Dash sounds like an historical event or a great plague is appropriate for this band. Sitting hunched over a table, beneath a stairs in this small smoky bar: a smiling Cornishman, a quiet bassist cigarette hanging from his lips and a front man that looks like he means business, could be a gorilla band plotting a world-changing coup.
They certainly talk like a revolutionary force: passionate and idealistic. The band has a firm idea of who they are and what they’re not. They are “original”, they are “different from any other band” and they have the talent to succeed. And, insists front man Marc Hayward, it’s how they do things that differentiates them from other acts. “It’s the ethos of the band, what we actually believe and how we’re carrying it out, that’s how we’re different,” he says. “We’re doing things the way we want to do things. We’re playing what and how we want to play, producing the music we want to produce.”
The Dash don’t deny that they have influences. “I listen to a lot of 70s post-punk stuff,” says Marc. “The bands that came out of New York and CBGBs. A lot of Television, New York Dolls, The Clash and Iggy Pop.” “Especially Iggy,” adds bassist Tom Austin, lighting one of many cigarettes, seemingly finding Iggy very important. But it’s Iggy’s energy that the band most admires and The Dash are full of energy. They clearly love being on stage and playing music, later they will play a violently electric set much to big for the small crowd, and manage to light up the dank basement of the 333 club.
But The Dash don’t care where they are, it’s the performance, how it makes them feel and how it affects the crowd that matters. “When your playing you don’t think about all the things that weigh you down during the day.” Says Marc. “You don’t think about anything else but being on stage and that effects the crowd. We want people to remember the beginning of the gig and the end but in the middle we don’t want them to know what the fucks going on. Just to be completely immersed in the show, like we are.”
The show is all-important and the bands attitude means they produce something new every time they play. “Our set’s varied but it’s always loud and energetic. We try and mix it up so that no two shows are the same,” says Tom. “You’re trying to get people’s attention,” explains Marc. “Someone, maybe Neil Young, said that the main thing is to get a reaction. Whether it’s 10’000 people cheering you or 10’000 people throwing bottles at you and booing. If you’ve actually stirred something in them that will help them remember that gig then you’ve succeeded.”
“I think it was Brian Molko actually…who said that,” offers Ben. The Dash are certainly getting peoples attention and their fan base is growing by the day. “People keep pitching up at every gig,” says Ben. “Then they tell there friends and next time there’ll be a few more. People just keep coming back and it snowballs,” he adds putting huge emphasis on “snowballs” as if he really enjoys saying it.
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