more artists
![]() |
Ween Dean Ween about “La Cucaracha”: &qu...
|
![]() |
Flogging Molly What makes a band truly remarkable? ... |
![]() |
Walter Schreifels As founding member and main songwritter ... |
Login
Dragonette
Livedates
Bandinfo
From the very start, the concept was, in stark contrast to the rest of
the Canadian scene during that ‘Nickelback moment‘, unashamedly and
unapologetically POP. Dan explains, “I’d like to write songs that at
least I can remember. And I’m very bad at remembering melodies and the
lyrics, so it needs to be memorable!
”
Through a few strokes of
fortune, their first public appearances were baptisms of fire in the
deep end of concert-dom. Their second-ever show was supporting New
Order at NYC’s Hammerstein Ballroom, followed by a US tour supporting
Duran Duran. All after recording just 2 songs in their basement.
Dragonette eventually signed a record deal, and, like fellow
Canadians Peaches (who they know) and Gonzales (with whom Dan went to
school), headed for Europe. The band decamped to London with Joel and
hooked up with guitarist Will (the British quarter of Dragonette),
where they honed their small but perfectly-formed, all-killer-no-filler
repertoire. Ruthless perfectionists, they explain that “We don’t have
any spare songs. We write songs till they’re finished, then we kill off
other ones. It’s not like we picked 10 out of a possible 20 for the
album.”
The results are a dirty, hook-heavy, electropop album called
Galore with monsters like “I Get Around” and “Competition”, depicting a
world of guilt-free pleasure mixed with an 80s party prowess. Martina
isn’t interested in writing, she says, “songs to get depressed to.” As
Dan puts it, “It’s hard enough working on songs that are *fun*. I can’t
even imagine what it‘s like working on miserable material…” The record
has received praise from such diverse sources as the NME. UK dailies
the Observer, Times and Guardian, online pop bible popjustice, and has
garnered multiple mentions from Perez Hilton (whose showcase the band
performed at during last year’s SXSW).
While they were recording
Galore, Martina also accidentally became a pop star.when she wrote and
sang lead vocals on the Basement Jaxx track, “Take Me Back To Your
House”, and fronted the Dougal Wilson-directed video, cossack-dancing
in front of a tank driven by Stalin.
After finishing the record they
got down to the business of becoming a touring band, playing clubs
large and small across the planet, with stops at the legendary
Glastonbury Festival, London’s historic Trafalgar Square, Spain’s
Summercase, V Festival and Australia’s traveling Parklife shindig
along the way. They’ve headlined in Paris, Barcelona, London, Buenos
Aries, Sao Paolo and beyond, and are a strong draw across their native
Canada, selling out clubs and small theaters from Coast-to-coast.
By
putting a great deal of thought into their visual presentation,
Dragonette contravened with the any-colour-so-long-as-it‘s-black cliché
of alternative rock. “It’s so easy to wear the skinny jeans halfway
down your ass, and disappear into your fanbase. The real challenge is
to look the way we do onstage, and be that person offstage as well.
That’s kinda fun. It’s also terrifying. But we wanna give a great show,
and that’s part of it.
”
Now, it’s Dragonette’s turn to take on
America. Their debut single, “I Get Around,” hit the Top 20 in Canada,
stayed on the airplay charts there for over 9 months, and was a major
factor in them being nominated as Best New Band at the Juno Awards
(Canada’s answer to the Grammys). It still pops up on a few trendy
blogs every day across the world, after being out for over a year.
Their album track “Get Lucky” has been synched over 15 times, from
major movies to major advertising campaigns, from the USA (where it has
soundtracked campaigns for JC Penney and Dell) to Croatia. Their music
has also appeared on TV shows for Fox and NBC, and has a prominent
placement in the new Julia Roberts film (due in January).
Oh, the
name? Nothing to do with puns on retro cop shows. “Martina called her
iPod that,” says Dan. “I saw it plugged in on her computer, and I
thought ‘Wow, that word looks fucking cool.’ Then we post-rationalised
it and said it was about this female-fronted male power band. It’s a
fire-breathing dragon, but it’s a chick!”
Martina beams. “A dragon in
stilettos.”












