91ZM Interview.
~4:30pm, Dec 1 1998.
The players:
Lana- Ditzy NZ celeb. Ex Miss NZ.
Mark- some crap Jock styled DJ
DD- crazy, crazy man.
Enter DD, babbling about bagels in a New York accent;
Lana; "It's scary when all that talent is all wrapped up in one little person... not that you're a little person."
Mark; "You can't call him a little person".
DD; "I'm sorry I've just been posessed by Uncle Remus & a whole lot of other people too. I do impressions these days, part of the act you know."
Lana; "That's fatherhood, isn't it?"
DD: "Fatherhood. Something like that. There's this kind of nuts period when your kids are really young. Yeah I suppose it could be like that. Just making a general dick of myself".
Lana; "Now what were you doing in New York?"
DD; "I was having a fabulous time touring America with Neil Finn, we were doing an acoustic show. Met all these amazing people, singers, songwriters with Neil. It was a kind of unplugged thing. And it was fantastic, it was a real songwriters night. There were a lot of people there who knew my stuff which surprised me, really well. Neil was performing wonderfully because he was a hundred shows down, he was real slick about everything. Mr Slick "Hey, woah" he's good, he's really sharp."
Lana; "So you do each others music?"
DD; "Yeah, we do each other's music. He comes in. I do a half hour set, and he'd come in on the last two songs. And then we'd pick the ball up and run that way. And it'd be his show, and I'd come on and do a few accompanying parts with him, acoustically & electrically and maybe vocally. Although <ah-hem> I wasn't always there for the cue, but <adopts New York accent> I did a pretty good job, y'know?"
Lana; "Sounds pretty good. Is there going to be a time in the future when there's gonna be an album with the two of you starring in it?"
DD; "That's sort of what we're wanting to happen, but..."
Lana; "You and many, many others in New Zealand I would say"
DD: "Yeah, yeah. Making any kind of record together, you put those things on the shelf and go "Yes, must do" it's the most important thing you want to do, and you can't do it because there's so much other stuff to do, you know, your own stuff <laughs>."
Lana; "Absolutely. Is a bonding thing when the two of you go away?"
DD; "When you're touring like that you just try and be as professional as possible, and be as friendly as possible, but not get in each others way too much. But bonding, yeah <adopts NYC accent> "Believe it, you better believe it" ".
Lana; "And you did a bit of star spotting over there?"
DD; "Star spotting, yeah, we saw Zinny there, Zinzan Brooke in the Bowery Ballroom there, it was fantastic, it was gorgeous." <adopts New York accent> "We're going up da stairs, I'm leavin da place, there's Zinny, sittin there smokin a big fat cuban... cigar, which ya can't find in New York, they're illegal. He's smokin a cuban cigar looking really cool, y'know, da coach and all these people around him, he had some kinda operation goin on there".
Lana; "He's pretty smooth, our Zinny. We need to ask about your new CD, it's fantastic."
DD; "It's going great, I think, I gotta sell a few more before it makes any cents."
Lana; "Pre Christmas, every one's saving up"
DD; <Adopts New York accent>"Come on, ya gonna buy this record or not. It's really good value for money, I need it for Christmas, buy da damn record, The Islander, ya gotta have it ya know, it's like having a map of Noo Zeeland or somethin , y'know, ya gotta have the Islander, ya gotta get the box set y'know, c'mon, c'mon guys, gimme a break here, I gotta feed my family, my kids, I wanna send em to Harvard."
Mark; "You'd better sell some concert tickets too I suppose Dave, when's that on?"
DD; "Ah yes, the Powerstation, Friday night. I sould be a good intimate little affair. Bring along your dancing shoes. I promise it won't be too loud for those who need babysitters"
Lana; "Liar"
DD; "Liar? <NYC accent> C'mon, I got it together, I'm more professional these days, I put on a good show, I got da chicken suit, I got the dancin feet, y'know, chicks in cages, da whole deal. I got da whole show, come on."
Lana; "You're scary. You're scaring me now. You're frightening me"
DD; <NYC accent> "Hey, I'm surfing here, OK? It's a good wave, I'm going, OK?"
Lana; "So, big concert Friday night. It's a great venue, cause you can pack a few people in there, and it must be nice having a bit of atmosphere?"
DD: <adopts Shakespearian actor accent> Well, it's certainly stomping the boards. I've always found it rather theatre like, I think, it's always been up my alley that way. You tend to go into this kind of thespian mode when you're on that stage. It's awfully good. You can project, and you can indulge you see, and people get drunk at your expence, ha ha ha."
Lana; "I'm just going to have a quick chat with the fifteen sides of Mr Dobbyn here and we'll be back in a minute <cracking up>"
DD; "Sybil, Sybil, call me Sybil... Sybil... Sybil..."
[Ad break, followed by Hanging in the Wire]
Mark; "ZM, that's Dave Dobbyn off the Islander, called Hanging in the Wire, and you can see him Friday night at the Powerstation. He's
here frantically tuning in his guitar."
Lana; "Is it me do you think, do I bring out this side in men where they start bringing out multiple personalities?"
Mark; "I don't know Lana, we'll have to ask Dave about that."
DD; "It's just a little game I have, going to all these characters, you get used to it with your kids."
Lana; "It's good, it's good. Man of many faces"
Mark; "Tell us about the support band, Stellar"
DD; "I've heard their single, a while ago now. But I think they're great. They're a label mate of mine, as in SONY records. Boh Runga's
great, she's got an amazing voice. It's a very talented family that Runga family."
Lana; "They are, they just keep pumping them out. And, nice guitar there."
DD; "<NYC Accent> I'm glad you like it, I've still got the set-list here from New York. I never do these songs, I just put it there, in case I have to do them."
Lana; "Now is there a favourite song off the album, for you?"
DD; "No I haven't really got a favourite, I love them all."
Lana; "Now Mark has a thing about the Bee Gees, he's hoping you might sing a bit of Tradgedy for us."
DD; "<New York Accent> Now you're lookin at me and you're thinkin maybe that guy could do a song called Tragedy, is that what you're
sayin? Are callin me a tragedy?"
<Dave & Mark sing awful rendition of chorus & melody of Tragedy>
DD; "I saw that show the other night, I thought it was quite good, really interesting to see guys like that who have been through everything and they're still coming out the end with a smile on their face. I don't know how they do it."
Mark; "As a singer, Dave, how does that guy get his voice so high?"
DD; <in "professor" type voice> "I think he's had an operation of some type. They've done some technical thing..."
Lana; "Either that or some insertion of some kind"
DD; " Fiddled a bit with rather private parts, I'm a little suspicious of that. I did notice the hair had a slightly manufactured look about it. I thought it was a bit... hairy, it didn't look to be real. I thought it might have been a bit of a weave. Like one of those rice fields you see sometimes... yeah a punch'n'grow head. <NYC Accent> What a crazy thing to do, just shave it off and live with it already. Get some wigs!"
Lana; "Here's you with your lovely long locks. Not everyone is as gifted as you are."
DD; <NYC Accent> "Hey, this forehead is getting bigger every day. I'm so vain, y'know, I'm losin my hair, whad'm'I gonna do. I'd rather not be half bald, whaddareya gonna do? Go *bald*. If you're going bald... go bald! Totally bald."
Lana; "You ever shaved it all off?"
DD; <NYC accent> "Don't bother with hair. No. I've never done that. Don't wanna scare the children. I don't wanna scare the kids, sorry."
Dave then asks the DJ's what song the want to hear;
DD; "Do you want a ballad or something?"
Mark; "A rocky one, can we have a rocky one?"
DD: <NYC accent> "Ooh a rocky one. I gotta rocky one. You tell me what song to play. C'mon, you tell me."
Mark; "Well the boss really wanted the Hallelujah Song, cause he's pretty much into that."
DD; "Nah, I'll do a little ditty. Mobile Home, will that do ya? <NYC accent> I been travellin around for a loong time in my mobile home, takin my family, roun' n' roun' the Unite' State' o 'Merica, and I don't know where to settle man, so I'll jus' stay in this mobile home, OK? Nyah, you got some gas or somethin' maybe a few food scraps you can throw in here for the family, come on, look at these kids, they're beautiful, go on, empty your pockets...
[Dave finally sings a verse of Mobile Home. DD; "Ooh that's a bad tuning , isn't it, eh, listen to that!"]
Lana; "Does that ever happen on stage?"
DD; "That string there, it's terrible!"
Lana; "Does that ever happen on stage?"
DD; "Yeah it did on the Neil Finn tour, I was chased around by all these mistakes. I didn't make them, it was something swooping through me."
Lana; "Is that better?"
Dave; "It's beautiful"
[Dave tries again, and this time nails it, with just a couple of fluffed lines, but hits the highs beautifully!]
Lana; "Sounds pretty good to me."
DD: "Oh it was a bit shaky, I thought my backswing was a little shaky, I really gotta work on that."
Mark; "Your record company has put out a press release calling you a national treasure, how does that make you feel?."
DD: <Posh old man voice> "Very scared, I might be stolen you know. Last time I saw somebody called a national treasure, somebody stole him, there they were. Stolen. National treasure. You could be broken too you see, a big pile of dust on the floor, or tucked away in a closet, shut up, to never come out again."
Lana; "God Forbid!"
DD: "I've got to stop talking."
Lana; "Listen, you're in concert on Friday. People can get tickets from...?"
DD; "I'm in concert now... Ticketek and all usual outlets."
Lana; "You can win some tickets and CD's off us now."
DD; "It sounds like somethings leaking- all the usual outlets."
Mark; "Why don't you ask a question, Dave?"
DD; "A question. Something profound. <professor voice> What is the square root of pi? No, no... what pi can be square rooted. No it's not that at all is it? You've put me on the spot. Where do most of the banana's come from in New Zealand? The imported ones? Every banana's got it written on it, and serial numbers, you must know, and a bar code.
[end of interview!]
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