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LIONS AT YOUR DOOR :::::: |
THE BASICS Name : Dirk Jonker Band : Lions At Your Door Job In Band : Guitar Website Address : www.myspace.com/lionsatyourdoor HOME Hometown : Sydney Hometown is best known for : The infamous and tragic fire at Luna Park in 1979 Best thing about the music scene in your hometown : Loads of cool bands, and rad nights and venues to play at. Most influential band to yourself that’s come out of your home town : Probably You Am I. Best up and coming band from your home town would be : There’s too many to mention! Don’t wanna leave anybody out so the safe bet is our band Lions at your door – nothing like a bit of self-promotion. THE BAND What’s the story behind the band name? We came up with it during a goon binge at Cookie’s (Marihuzka – vocals) house one night – our bass player (Mikey) just came out with it and we all thought it suited our sound. When did the band begin and how did it come about? 4 of us were in another band and when we were finished with that we recruited Cookie and wrote a whole bunch of songs that just worked. How would you describe your sound to the average Joe on the street? Punk rock that anyone can dance to!! What image do you think / hope your music conveys? We hope people dance to our songs, but also sing along to them and love them like we do. In five years time the band will be… Hopefully still touring internationally and releasing records. OFF THE STAGE What was your first introduction to music that made you think seriously about playing it? I personally loved Nirvana and they got me playing guitar, I loved and still love basic, easy to play punk rock that is more about passion and feeling than anything else. What was your first band name and what style did you play? My first band was called Twinset and we played grunge covers way back in the day. Tell us three albums you couldn’t live without in your collection – The Beatles - Revolver, Weezer – Pinkerton and The Strokes – Is This It Best piece of musical advice you’ve been given Dave, our keyboardist/singer is always giving me advice – he knows his shiz! Two groups/artists you’d love to take out on the road Young + Restless and Tokyo Police Club Favourite song of your group? Do you mean the band’s own favourite track, if so this would be Glass Bottles The thing you most look forward to just before a tour is playing our songs to new people who will hopefully like us! The thing you least look forward to before a tour is there isn’t much of a downside to playing shows except maybe carting gear around… When your not doing band related stuff, what are you usually found doing? Collecting sneakers and playing videogames. ON THE STAGE / ROAD What gear do you use? We have guitar, bass, drums, keys and 2 vocals. I use a Fender Twin Reverb amp and a Gibson SG guitar. Favourite place (city/town/country) you’ve toured… and why? We’re only new so we haven’t been out of Sydney yet, but we are looking forward go overseasr. Tokyo will be amazing! The best show you’ve ever played was… and why? The show we did at Candy’s Apartment last July. We just went for it and got totally crazy – it was good fun. Who hogs the stereo in the van the most? Mike likes playing emo in the car, but I must admit, I ain’t complaining! After a week in the van/bus on tour which band member will have the messiest section, and what would we most likely find stashed there? Probably me, as I am pretty gross – you’d probably find my secret stash of fast food wrappers… Who in your group has the worst “bad habit” on tour, and what is it? Dave, Kirsten and I – we like to get a little too trashed and messy. Most embarrassing moment on tour? Haven’t really had one yet, but I’ll probably fall off the stage or something and have it end up all over Youtube Give us a good quick ‘on the road’ story, funny, embarrassing, memorable, whatever… probably meeting a few celebs at our shows – that’s been pretty memorable! Your manager calls and says the venue you are about to play really wants to keep you happy, what’s the first thing you chuck on the rider? I’d say a nice dinner for the 5 of us! RIGHT NOW What’s getting the most spins in your stereo right now? The new Interpol, new Arcade Fire, Patrick Wolf and Tokyo Police Club’s EP Tell us a band or artist everyone should check out and why… Tokyo Police Club are great – check em out when they tour here! If you could change one thing about the music industry today, what would it be? Bands having to rely less on record labels, this seems to be happening with Myspace. Much easier for bands to get a fanbase without having to spend an insane amount of cash and get themselves in debt. As soon as I’ve finished answering these questions I’m about to… go back to sleep in the house we all share, like The Beatles in the Help movie! |
