The Shops x Dave Rogers
Dave Rogers, in his band Klinger, became one of the illustrious "indie darlings" solidifying himself as a Melbourne identity -albeit an introverted one, then after years of international interest and touring the world with Ben Lee, he has found time to finally release this absolute gem.
I talk to The Shops frontman about his infectious new album What's The Damage and to see what international attention and time does to a pop-genius.
In a 5 word sentence, including 1 colour, please describe What's The Damage for us
Broken car radio; green Datsun.
Some of these pop gems are really earworm-y, so why are they all so short? Did they evolve from longer versions? Were you tempted to increase the length with solos and double choruses?
When I was writing the record, I had the idea that I wanted to create this collection of short-form songs so the majority of them were written this way. It really helped focus what I was putting into the songs and what I eventually left out. I've always been fascinated by the short-song form; I think it started with the medley from the B-side of Abbey Road and continued on with bands like Guided By Voices, They Might Be Giants and even NOFX. I was around punk growing up and there's that tradition there. In my previous releases (under the artist name D. Rogers), I've always included a short song or two but this time I wanted to go for it, to see how a whole album like this hangs together. I was playing the record to friends as I was making it and the reaction was the same - why don't you flesh these songs out, make them longer? But I was determined to see it through.
I hear distinct Australiana and artists like The Go-Betweens, Darren Hanlon, The Lucksmiths and the Finn Brothers, how far off the mark am I as far as influences?
I use a lot of imagery of the suburbs of Melbourne and I'm interested in moments of everyday life living out of the city. I grew up loving Candle Records, which put out The Lucksmiths, Darren Hanlon and The Mabels and all of those bands had it - they wrote about the smaller moments of Melbourne life (inner suburban Melbourne at that point - artists could afford to live there). So absolutely those kinds of acts were big influences.
Being that you're a multi-instrumentalist and no shirker in the studio, how much of this album did you play, and who else is involved?
I made the record in the spare bedroom and was lucky enough to have some amazing musicians play on the record. Dave Kleynjans on drums, Tim Reid on bass and Amy Bennett on keys. I've worked with all of these people before and am lucky that they have opinions on the music and help me make the songs better. We did the drums in a proper studio but the rest was recorded and mixed at home. I love not being on the clock and it gave me the luxury to work on the record when I felt like it.
The track Next Year Can't Come Fast Enough is clearly about 2020, is this a "lockdown" project?
I wouldn't call it a lockdown project but the project was definitely influenced by it. We actually recorded the drums in the months before the pandemic and while I usually can finish projects quickly, but as 2020 did its thing, I shelved the record. I just didn't feel like putting time into it - there was enough going on. So it wasn't until this year that I actually picked the project up again and finished it. It does feel a bit optimistic to think that 2021 was going to be the other end of the tunnel but given the way things are going, this song will probably apply no matter what the year.
Would you argue a case for a global pandemic being great fodder for artists?
I don't know. While it's given artists time away from performing and forced time at home, it comes with a whole lot of anxiety and uncertainty that aren't really conducive to being productive. But like anything, you adapt and learn to work in the environment you're in.
When the world is once again free to see live music, will you make your presence felt?
That's the plan. The record is 16 songs, sequenced so that there's barely any breathing room between tracks and I'd love to recreate that live. No time for applause, tuning or talking to the crowd - just song after song! It'll be 27 minutes of wall-to-wall music - probably an exhausting experience for everyone involved but I'd love to see if we could pull it off.
The Shops debut album What's The Damage is available for purchase on 6 August!
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