Most times when we "sit down" with an artist, it's usually via phone due to hectic tour schedules, differing time zones, etc. But last week prior to their show at Mercury Lounge (review here), I had the opportunity to physically sit down with Martina (Tina) and Dan of Dragonette for a solid go 'round of questions and answers, where we discussed everything from new album news to mixing ginger ale with beer.


SB: First off, I wanted to thank you for taking the time to sit down with me and answer a few questions. I'm ready to go if you are!

Tina: Let's do this!

SB: So Dragonette is in New York City today, which is so exciting for me! Where were you guys at before heading here?

Tina: I came in from Toronto.

Dan: I was in Japan before this.

SB: I can't imagine doing all the traveling you do on top of writing, recording, and trying to sustain a normal life. I have a hard enough time holding down a fulltime job and maintaining this site!

Tina: Well, it's easy to say this, but it's just like any job.

SB: Initial disclosures of the new album, Fixin to Thrill, have noted that this is much more of a "boy" record as opposed to Galore, which was a "girl" album. Can you develop upon that idea?

Dan: That's her fault. [points at Tina]

Tina: [laughs] Oh, I don't know...it's a bit more muscular or something. I think when we were writing Galore, it was like I was exploring this other side of femininity, and now with this new one, I think I went back to my tomboy roots.

SB: From my take, there was defintiely a lot of theatrics involved with Galore, whether it be in terms of the actual musical arrangements or the subsequent videos.

Tina: I think with this record, we focus less on the theatrics, but it's still dramatic. Maybe it's that the songs are less "showy", I don't know. It's hard to have that perspective before it comes out, especially when you've been working so closely inside of it. That's why we have people like you tell us what you think about it!

Dan: Yeah, there aren't songs like True Believer and Black Limousine on the new record. I think it's like we're more of a band in a way...it sounds like a band more so to me on this record, even though it's written a lot in the same way. It's like the band came later. But I think we had such a different attitude with this record. I think we maybe felt like it was the bottom of the 9th and we had to come out swinging with something big, so that's how we approached it.

Tina: My dad would be so proud right now that Dan just made a baseball analogy!


SB: Are there any plans for the next single?

Tina: Maybe? Sort of? It's kind of in the works. I can't say that there's one I'm committed to, but we have like these 4 songs that we just finished recording and we feel really strongly about all of them.

Dan: Yeah there are those 4 that we're kicking around.

SB: Shhh! But I've already been given a sneak listen to Pick Up the Phone, and have to say, it's a great balance between your harder and softer sounds. Just putting it out there...

Tina: Yeah, [laughs], and that actually might be the next one.

SB: Aside from your own albums, you wrote for Cyndi Lauper last year. How did that collaboration come about?

Tina: Well I think that the idea of her album, before it was called...wait, what was it called...?

SB: Bring Ya to the Brink!

Tina: ...yeah, that's it! The album was initially going to be called Jukebox, and the idea was that to have all these different artists bring a different song or feel, much like a jukebox. And somehow we just ended up on her list of people to work with, I think because we're a band but because we're also songwriters...

Dan: ...well we're pretty shitty songwriters.

SB: You're not selling yourselves too well here!

Tina: No it's true! We are shitty songwriters though, because we're not very good at writing songs for other people. People ask us to write songs for them, and I'm like no! I'm good at writing songs for myself because I know what to expect.

Dan: But that experience was cool, because she [Cyndi] was there.

SB: Oh she was in the room with you?!

Tina: Yeah and I was so scared, that the day we were supposed to go meet her, she changed the plans and was going to come to our house and I was begging Dan to call and cancel because I was so nervous. Remember? I was like, we can't do this...this is a bad idea. I don't know why we said yes to writing with Cyndi Lauper!

SB: Well the song [Grab a Hold] turned out fantastic! 2008 also saw you nominated for a Juno Award for Best New Group. You've been around since 2005...how did that happen?

Dan: Evidently, we were NOT the best new group. It's "new to most people". That's what they should call it.

Tina: The "it's new to you" award. The band that actually won has been around for like 25 years! [laughs] No, no, I'm kidding!

Dan: No, I think in Canada, Dragonette is sitting right between like the band that every cool kid thinks they should know about and the soccer moms who hear THAT song on the radio. My mom's friends knew about [us] because they couldn't get away from it on the radio.

Tina: I Get Around is played everywhere you go. I'm so sick of it!

SB: Oh no! Are you ok with having your moms' friends hearing your music, and what does family think about what you do?

Dan: Oh, that's a great question! I think the novelty of having your kids in a rock band makes them pretty proud. I think what's cool about what we do, to our friends and family, is that we had this life built in Canada and then moved to the UK because we believed in it and our families respected that. I think if you do something for long enough, people have to start believing in you too.

SB: That's great to have the support of your friends and family! Do you find that you get different receptions from one country to the next?

Dan: It depends on so many things. I think there are people who don't give a shit about us in every country and in the same breath there are people that go goo-goo for us in the same places, and so I think, wherever we go, we find that if people are coming out to see us, it's because they like the band. I haven't ever met anyone face to face that's come up to me and been like, "Hey you fucking suck!"

SB: That would be something different!

Dan: That might actually be cool to get put on the spot like that!

SB: So do you have set dates for the album's release?

Dan: In America, not yet, but in some countries yes. In Canada, right now, it's fluctuating between the last week of August and the first week of September. And the same goes for Australia. But I mean, it will be on iTunes.

SB: And I assume there will be touring in support of it?

Dan: Well I think we'll be back here in early November.

Tina: Somewhere around the 8th , I think?

Dan: But yes, we'll be all over in Europe, the US and Australia.

SB: Well I can't thank you enough for taking the time to kick it with me. Have a great show and all the best with the tour and the new album!

Dan: Thanks.

Tina: Thank you!

Oh, and about that special drink? If you ever stop by Pink Pony in NYC's Lower East Side, ask for a "Martina", or a "shandy". See what you get!

mp3: Dragonette - Competion (The Whip remix)
mp3: Dragonette - Take it Like a Man (Alan Braxe and Fred Falke remix)