Dappled Cities

Recently contributor Rob Ryles had a chance to speak to Tim Derricourt, Vocalist and Guitarist for the five piece Australian Indie Rock band Dappled Cities.

The band, a mix of experimental pop and rock, known for it’s unique falsetto vocals and complex and melodic guitar work, is currently on tour in Australia in support of their latest album “Zounds”, but Tim found the time to answer a few questions about touring, his musical roots and the state of music in Australia.

It was an absolutely gorgeous Melbourne day and I was recovering from a rather epic night out, when Mr. Tim Derricourt from Sydney band Dappled Cities, brightened my day with his call. Sitting in my sunlit backyard I began to converse with the husky voiced vocalist/guitarist. I wasn’t sure who or what I would get at the other end of the phone. To my surprise what I got was a very cool and down to earth human being.

“Oh mate I just saw the weirdest thing, this truck driver just tried to this poor guy in a car, completely insane this guy was” Tim casually said as I began the questions.

As a fellow musician, I’m always interested in other peoples childhood influences, not surprisingly Tim and I shared a common interest.

“Around the house it was always my parent’s music until I discovered my own thing in Jimi Hendrix. Man, I owned everything that guy ever did. It was so appealing, the hair and the 60s. Then Jimi Hendrix leads to Van Morrison and Van Morrison leads to The Beatles”.

Having toured the States and Europe, I asked Tim how those faraway places compared to the touring scene in Australia.

“Its completely different in Australia compared to those places. You can’t really play a show every night here, plus with all the venues being closed down in Sydney it’s just getting harder and harder”, said Tim, with a sort of sorrow in his voice. “Bass player Alex once said that Australia is far from an indie paradise.  And it’s only gotten worse in the past few years, the scene here has dropped dramatically”

With bands disappearing faster than the venues they play in these days. With the rapid increase of those devils toys “The Pokies”, it’s hard for any band to see where they’ll be in five years.

“We’ve been playing as a band since we were 14, that’s all we ever wanted to do and we’re going to keep on doing it. In five years we’ll be on our 8th album and still touring”.

Having discussed Tim’s musical influences, it dawned on me that every muso has a gig they wish they could go back in time and see. I wish I could travel back to the early days of the hardcore scene myself, and see all those great bands, Black Flag & Minor Threat mainly, in the angry young flesh and Tim agreed.

“Yeah I’ve been watching the Woodstock documentary lately, and I know it sounds cliché but I’d love to go back and see Jimi’s performance, but I’ve got it all figured out right. I don’t want to go back as myself and be like ‘oh so this was Woodstock’. I want to go back as someone from that time, someone who doesn’t know what the future holds, ya know, just to be in that total dream state”.

For more information on Dappled Cities check out their website and make sure you pick up a copy of  their new album “Zounds” available now iTunes  in Australia through Speak ‘n Spell Records and in North America through Dangerbird Records.

Rob Ryles, Contributor

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