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Since they formed in 2003, the fantastic Dustin's Bar Mitzvah have won Zane Lowe's ‘Fresh Meat' competition and created a reputation as one of the best bands in London. We caught up with three of the four members of Dustin's (the other had gone out to collect a takeaway) at Norwich Waterfront before their support slot with The Paddingtons. What did we talk about? Er, counties, alcohol, volcanoes and a band called Serpent Death.
How have the dates with The Paddingtons been going?
Baco (guitarist): We've been on dead early.
Dave (guitarist, vocals): Newcastle was wicked, Hull was quality. We played some covers and stuff, we always want to walk on stage and start playing covers but we don't know any.
Baco: We must do.
Dave: No we don't. Not the whole way through. We just know the intro's and stuff.
What are you most looking forward to in the next month?
Toby (drums): Easter.
Dave: Recording.
Baco: Pancake Tuesday.
Dave: That's been, hasn't it?
Baco: Na, it's this Tuesday.
(Band then mumble something about a "mate's mum" and "doughnut Thursday")
So are you ‘laying down' an album at the moment?
Dave: Yeah, we're laying down an album, putting it to bed then kissing it passionately.
Baco: We're hoping to have it finished in two weeks, then another two weeks mixing.
Just two weeks to record an album?
Dave: We're a fucking punk band, we can record an album in two days! We wanna leave releasing it ‘til the last minute, then put it out so it's head-to-head with Chinese Democracy (?!) and hope for the best. Apparently Bucket Head is a big fan.
Baco: Who's Bucket Head?
Dave: I don't even know if he's still in there but he's the guitarist in Guns and Roses and he's got one of those KFC buckets on his head.
Baco: So yeah, just after the festival period.
Dave: By the time autumn comes, it'll be out.
How's the response to your singles (Jimmy White/Lucy and To The Ramones) been?
Baco: Well one only came out last week, we can find out if we put the radio on: "Hello, this is six o'clock on Sunday morning and this is the Top 300...." And it'll just go on for twenty-four hours.
Are you looking forward to tonight?
Baco: Of course, we've got a fridge full of beers, we've normally only been getting six.
Dave: We've got a fridge full of beer, a heart full of emotion, a head full of electricity and we're gonna rock and...where are we again? (Norwich) I thought you said we were in Norfolk. (That's the county, Norwich is the city) What's a county?
(Baco then explains a county and also a borough for good measure)
Dave: So what county do we live in?
Baco: London.
Dave: That's the city.
Baco: Middlesex.
Dave: The Kingdom of Mercia, that's where we live.
Baco: Isn't Londinium the county?
(Baco explains how he is from Middlesborough, in Teeside, in England, and so on)
Baco: And the UK's in Great Britain.
Dave: Na, they're just two different names for the same thing.
Baco: Oh God.
Toby: What's the Milky Way in?
Baco + Dave: Newsagents.
Dave: Keep them coming, I'm enjoying these questions.
(Being the professionals we are, we have no more so decide to improvise by interviewing them with the questions we have for the Five O'Clock Heroes)
You guys fill a lot of niches: half-American, half-English, which is something that is constantly commented on. Does that bother you at all?
Dave (Adopting American comedy gangster accent) So, a couple of us are from New York, a couple of us are from Teeside. So what? Big deal. You wanna fight about it? (The next five minutes is spent watching Dave laughing hysterically to himself)
What's on your rider?
Dave: Pretzels, fuse ball, pizza, bagels, hummus...
Baco: How is that New York?
Dave: ....Frozen yogurt. It's Greek, New York. So what, wanna fight about it?
(The band then decide to return to being Dustin's Bar Mitzvah)
Who's your favourite dictator, dead or alive?
Dave: Dead.
Toby: I like dead. He was a good guy.
Dave: I like Idi Amin (sp.?) He was a happy African. Ahh, that's gonna be the highlight of next month -Afrikaans Day. They all say (adopts African accent) "Happy Afrikaans Day!"
Baco: Do they really?
Dave: No.
(The band all wish Happy Afrikaans to each other for ten minutes, saying phrases like "if you feel like the world is coming against you and the moon is on your head, remember me". This continues until we are interrupted by the fire alarm testing: "ooh, it's the Fire Alarm Heroes. Maybe they're playing a banging track")
Would you say that Britney Spears' ‘Hit Me Baby One More Time' is a timeless classic?
Baco: It's a classic, but not a timeless classic.
Dave: I like Toxic, I think that's good.
Baco: (When we ask him what a timeless classic is) Only Fools and Horses.
Dave: A mountain, really. (Then gets distracted by pointing out the graffiti on the dressing-room wall)
A statue is more of a timeless classic, though.
If a mountain is a timeless classic, surely a volcano is as well?
Baco: No, that's just a dangerous classic.
Dave: I love climbing mountains. (Pause) Converse, they're timeless classics.
Baco: Normal colours, though, not fucking idiot ones. (Begins long story about a pair of camouflage Converse he used to own which his dad took)
Boxers, briefs or nothing?
Dave: Boxers as in the athletes and briefs as in the lawyers?
Baco: Boxers all day long, man, I'd rather be a boxer than a brief. Imagine being a boxer, you'd be a dangerous weapon.
Finally, what's next for The Five O'Clock Heroes?
Dave: We're gonna split up and then form a gay cabaret band.
‘To The Ramones' is released on February 15th on Hungry Kid. Buy it.
Interview with Dustin's by Jo Self at Waterfront Norwich - 26.02.06