Author: Les Tombeaux (page 1 of 5)

Les Tombeaux is an editor and music writer based in Majorca. His journalism has appeared in Drug Media, Beat Off, Fabulous Tasmanians and Vogel. He is currently working on the authorised biography of Davey Dreamnation.

Camp Davey evacuation: as it didn’t happen

It’s official: the Camp Davey evacuation is now in progress. O-or, was it?

In early April D/DN Tourism Commission (DTC) announced its decision to evacuate Camp Davey, following an escalation of the situation in the island resort’s Quarantine Area.

However, events since then suggest that the evacuation order may have been a ploy designed to coax certain Camp Davey residents out of the compound.

Follow the live developments as if they didn’t happen. This live blog is no longer being updated.

If you have information regarding the current situation which you are willing to share, feel free to contact us via email or Twitter, or use the hashtag #campdavey on your socials.

The Camp Davey evacuation saw a stampede for the exit. Luckily, only Scaramouche was caught up in the scam.

Key events

  • DTC officials confirm evacuation was ‘a hoax’
  • DTC officials ‘walk back’ evacuation claims
  • Evacuation a death blow to Scaramouche’s career
  • Scaramouche ‘evacuated’ from Camp Davey
  • Davey Dreamnation addresses the media
  • Camp Davey: a disaster waiting to happen?
  • Welcome

2020-04-10 12:20:04
Welcome

Welcome to this exclusive D/DN live blog, in which we will be covering the explosive events currently unfolding at Camp Davey, the world’s most untold resort.

While the exact sequence of events remains unclear, D/DN Tourism Commission (DTC) officials have now declared Camp Davey unsafe, and ordered a complete evacuation.

What this means for residents and visitors to the island resort remains to be seen.

There are unconfirmed rumours circulating online regarding a fracas in the resort’s Quarantine Area, which has been the subject of a tense lockdown standoff for over a week.

You can follow the live developments on this page, which is being constantly updated.

If you have information regarding the current situation which you are willing to share, feel free to contact us via email or Twitter, or use the hashtag #campdavey on your socials.


2020-04-10 12:25:13
Introducing our live bloggers

In order to keep track of what is a fast-moving situation, this live blog will employ the services of several commentators, including myself, Les Tombeaux, Davey Dreamnation himself, and D/DN spokeswoman Paige Turner.

At this stage, we have no information on the whereabouts of Scaramouche, Stung or any of the other quasi-celebrities rumoured to be trapped inside the Camp Davey Quarantine Area.


2020-04-10 12:29:37′, ‘2020-04-10 10:29:37’, ‘

Thank you, David, for the introduction, and welcome to our readers on this potentially tragic day.

As we have already reported, D/DN Tourism Commission (DTC) officials have now declared Camp Davey unsafe, and ordered a complete evacuation.

Unfortunately, however, the text of the DTC press release has not yet been made available to journalists.

As a result, here in Majorca at least, major news outlets seem to be reluctant to even begin covering this sensational development.

We hope to bring you the full text of the announcement as soon as it is made available, probably via the DTC MySpace page. ‘

2020-04-10 14:27:58
Camp Davey: a disaster waiting to happen?

An artist’s impression of what Camp Davey could end up looking like if the lockdown proves permanent. Photo by Dustan Woodhouse on Unsplash.

For those who have just joined us, or who are unfamiliar with Camp Davey’s long history, a quick recap is probably necessary.

According to the official Camp Davey website:

Camp Davey is the spiritual and mental homeland of Davey Dreamnation. It was originally located on the banks of the Goulburn River, in central Victoria, right next to Rustle Crough’s mansion. In 2002 Camp Davey was moved, brick by brick, to Tribesco in inner-city Melbourne. In 2008, however, it was evacuated offshore, to a secret island location.

At this point, Camp Davey went ‘dark’, as we say in the industry. In fact, it was not until March 2020, when a DTC report on future options for the troubled entertainment complex was leaked to the media, that its status was changed, to ‘clear’.

An accelerated series of events then followed. On 21 March this year, Camp Davey reopened. Then, three days later, it went into lockdown.

As more details emerged regarding the deterioration of the situation inside the compound, it was revealed that the Camp Davey Quarantine Area housed at least five quasi-celebrities as well as a number of quarantine staff who had themselves been quarantined.

This revelation, which came just six days ago, now appears to have been an under-estimate.

We are now hearing reports that DNRC Recordsentire roster of recording artists has been trapped inside Camp Davey for the past two weeks.

In this context, it was no surprise to hear Paige Turner, the current D/DN spokeswoman, describe the current situation a short time ago as “a disaster waiting to happen.”

According to DTC oficials, a full transcript of that interview will be available in due course.

2020-04-10 14:42:52
Camp Davey evacuation confirmed

Confirmation, in case any was needed, that the Camp Davey evacuation is now in progress, from Davey Dreamnation himself:

It’s official: the Camp Davey evacuation is now in progress campdavey live https://t.co/RyyY8rxYzY— Davey Dreamnation (@daveydream) April 10, 2020

We have now been told that Dreamnation will shortly make a more detailed statement via this live blog.

2020-04-10 15:25:40
Davey Dreamnation addresses the media

In addition to this morning’s tweet confirming that the evacuation of Camp Davey is in progress, Davey Dreamnation has broken his long silence to issue an extraordinary attack on the DTC—the commission founded, staffed and run by himself.

Dreamnation, who now lives in the third person, describes the DTC’s decision to evacuate Camp Davey as “premature, but still too late.”

The full statement reads as follows:

This bizarre decision should have been taken four weeks ago, before Camp Davey was even reopened.

Back then I warned the DTC that revamping the resort after such a long period of inactivity carried massive risks. And it seems that my warning was not only right—it was also completely ignored.

The report I wrote for the DTC, which was unfortunately leaked to the media, outlined a series of mechanical faults in some of the rides in the Camp Davey Entertainment Precinct. The Goulburn River Rampage™ in particular raised a number of red flags.

The decision to open the resort while these faults remained unaddressed was foolhardy in the extreme. But the decision to evacuate is even worse, because it’s premature, but still too late.

Now we’ll never find out whether the Goulburn River Rampage™ is still the most untold ride in the world. And for that the DTC should hang its head in shame.

‘2020-04-11 09:53:29

Ibiza-based newspaper issues stinging critique of DTC

The DTC press release relating to the Camp Davey evacuation that was rumoured to have been issued yesterday via the Davey Dreamnation MySpace page has, so far, not appeared.

“This calls into question the authority of the DTC over the Camp Davey complex,” thundered this morning’s editorial in the Majorca-based Ibiza Dawn Daily, which also asked some awkward questions about the existence of the island resort once described as ‘untold’:

Where exactly is this ‘Camp Davey’, anyway? And why should we care? Despite the activist leanings of a number of Majorca-based journalists, we must come to the hardly surprising conclusion that this entire ‘situation’ is a figment of their peculiar imagination.

As for the so-called Entertainment Precinct, this outlet has it on good authority that the Goulburn River Rampage™ is in actual fact a barely disguised facsimile of the Sant Antoni de Portmany Barftastic Bucket Challenge™.

This is the ride which put Majorca on the fairground map, figuratively speaking. And unlike Camp Davey, of course, Majorca continues to be quite easy to find on that map, even if it is sometimes spelled Mallorca.

We call on the United Nations to enforce the terms of UN Security Council Resolution DDN1, in order to find a way out of this impasse, which is dragging honest, high-quality tourist destinations into a maelstrom of ‘fake news’ and offensive innuendo.

Strong words, indeed, from a newspaper which was only established in late 2019, and which refuses to publish articles by freelance journalists such as myself who seek to expose the Majorca fairground ride scene as a fiction.

Camp Davey: a disaster waiting to happen?

An artist’s impression of what Camp Davey could end up looking like if the lockdown proves permanent. Photo by Dustan Woodhouse on Unsplash.

For those who have just joined us, or who are unfamiliar with Camp Davey’s long history, a quick recap is probably necessary.

According to the official Camp Davey website:

Camp Davey is the spiritual and mental homeland of Davey Dreamnation. It was originally located on the banks of the Goulburn River, in central Victoria, right next to Rustle Crough’s mansion. In 2002 Camp Davey was moved, brick by brick, to Tribesco in inner-city Melbourne. In 2008, however, it was evacuated offshore, to a secret island location.

At this point, Camp Davey went ‘dark’, as we say in the industry. In fact, it was not until March 2020, when a DTC report on future options for the troubled entertainment complex was leaked to the media, that its status was changed, to ‘clear’.

An accelerated series of events then followed. On 21 March this year, Camp Davey reopened. Then, three days later, it went into lockdown.

As more details emerged regarding the deterioration of the situation inside the compound, it was revealed that the Camp Davey Quarantine Area housed at least five quasi-celebrities as well as a number of quarantine staff who had themselves been quarantined.

This revelation, which came just six days ago, now appears to have been an under-estimate.

We are now hearing reports that DNRC Recordsentire roster of recording artists has been trapped inside Camp Davey for the past two weeks.

In this context, it was no surprise to hear Paige Turner, the current D/DN spokeswoman, describe the current situation a short time ago as “a disaster waiting to happen.”

According to DTC oficials, a full transcript of that interview will be available in due course. ‘, 0, ‘liveblog’, ”, ‘liveblog’, 0, 10);
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Scaramouche ‘evacuated’ from Camp Davey

Photo by Jp Valery on Unsplash.

In the first sign that the DTC’s threat to evacuate Camp Davey may actually have been genuine, we are receiving reports that Scaramouche—the carnivorous llama who has recently reinvented himself as the host of the Camp Davey Pool Bar—has been removed from his position and placed in ‘protective custody’.

At this stage it remains unclear exactly who is being protected from whom.

One theory is that Scaramouche is being held back from the crowds of journalists who have gathered outside the Camp Davey perimeter.

The other is that the journalists themselves are being shielded, out of range of the llama’s legendary spitting.

In any case, Scaramouche’s removal from the resort will be seen by his fans as a blow to his chances of taking over Camp Davey—if and when Davey Dreamnation drops off this mortal coil, that is.


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Evacuation a death blow to Scaramouche’s career

As the news of Scaramouche’s removal from Camp Davey sinks in, it’s probably time to take a quick look back at his chequered career, which now appears to be over.

Scaramouche first came to prominence as a stunt double in various films, including Around the World In Eighty Llamas; Stop, Look And Listen: a Moving Tale of Three Homeless Llamas; and, of course, Clint Bo Dean In Wigs and Pictures.

After landing a major role in Scaramouche: My Story, he never looked even slightly ruffled. When the biopic tanked, however, Scaramouche turned to music. The listening public certainly sat up when he released his first DNRC Records release, ‘Scaramouche’s Theme’.

Unfortunately, the musical world’s apparent interest in the llama’s clumsy keyboard work was merely a prelude to its unanimous dismissal of his diabolical second single, ‘Quiche Lorraine’.

Indeed, if it were not for the UN treaty requiring Davey Dreamnation to delete each DNRC Records release immediately after its issue, we might be stuck with this appalling piece of ‘music’ as the llama’s ‘swansong’.

As it is, Scaramouche will instead be remembered as the llama responsible for the poisoning of the tasting menu at Scaramouche’s Bar and Grill.

And perhaps that’s not such a bad thing after all. ‘, 0, ‘liveblog’, ”, ‘liveblog’, 0, 6);
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DTC officials ‘walk back’ evacuation claims

In a stunning turnaround, the D/DN Tourism Commission (DTC) has intimated that the evacuation of Camp Davey—which has been ongoing since late last week—may not now be necessary.

Sources close to DTC officials working around the clock to coordinate what would be the largest peacetime evacuation in Camp Davey history have suggested that the abrupt about-face could be due to the fact that Scaramouche—the purported ringleader of a rebellion inside the compound—has been ‘pacified’.

While no official DTC statement confirming the decision has been made public, this does not necessarily mean that the cancellation of the evacuation process has not been sanctioned.

“Look, to put it in a more straightforward way, once we got that llama out, things began to calm down. I mean, a lot,” said one source, who denied their own name.

A week-long investigation by journalists freelancing for the Ibiza Dawn Daily has revealed that a long-term feud, or rivalry, between Scaramouche and another of DNRC Records’ recording artists apparently triggered a mini-revolt inside the resort, leading to the events that unfolded in quarantine.

Flight tracking data has also revealed zero activity in the skies above the compound, suggesting either that the evacuation has been abandoned, or that Camp Davey officials have mastered a cloaking device that would render the resort’s fleet of chinook helicopters invisible.

“Whichever way you look at it, this can only spell good news for residents of and visitors to Camp Davey,” the unnameable source continued.

“For one thing, it means that the finger-food menu at the Scaramouche Bar and Grill can finally be scrapped.”

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Analysis: Non-evacuation good news for Scaramouche’s Kiwi friend and rival

The surprise back-tracking by the DTC on the evacuation of Camp Davey may be bad news for the resort’s resident culinary amateur llama, but it may also spell good news for Scaramouche’s long-term friend and rival.

Stung, a one-time Sting impersonator originally from Dunedin, was rumoured to be one of the five quasi-celebrities trapped in a dangerous game of chicken inside the Quarantine Area.

While DTC sources have refused to confirm the passenger manifest for the first chinook-load of visitors to arrive at Camp Davey, Stung had posted a number of updates to his socials just prior to Camp Davey reopening.

These updates—seen by this journalist—hinted that the talented car-commercial theme-music composer was preparing to record the follow-up to his 2009 triple album, the slightly overrated Desert Boot Nose.

That Stung should choose Camp Davey as the location for the recording sessions for the new album— titled Nothing Like the Stung—seems a little odd.

After all, there is no mention of a recording studio anywhere in the promotional material for the resort.

Nevertheless, even the possibility that Stung is back in the recording studio will surely send his many fans into an overdrive of expectation.

As a long-term fan myself, I’m hoping Stung uses the studio time to finally record a decent version of ‘Prussians’, a song that never even made it onto the album for which it was originally written.

I speak, naturally, of Dream of the Blue Pipe Cleaners.

We live in hope. ‘, 0, ‘liveblog’, ”, ‘liveblog’, 0, 6);
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DTC officials confirm Camp Davey evacuation was ‘a hoax’

DTC officials today confirmed what the rest of the world knew ages ago. Namely, that the Camp Davey evacuation was ‘a hoax’ designed to lure Scaramouche from the safety of his eponymous bar and grill, located in the Camp Davey Pool Bar.

The official confirmation, which came via CB radio from an unnamed location off Majorca, should finally put to rest both this live blog and, perhaps more importantly, Scaramouche’s career as a finger-food chef.

“Look,” said Paige Turner, after being relayed the news, “are you sure you haven’t called the wrong number? There’s no person by that name here. Thank you, and goodbye.”

Elsewhere, tock markets reacted cautiously to the news. The FTSE 100 was closed, in a show of respect for Scaramouche’s family and fiends. Meanwhile the Dow opened on a positive note, climbing by 1.5 points throughout the day, as it began to emerge that the confirmation of the hoax was not itself a hoax. ‘,

2020-04-17 15:37:50

Thanks for joining us

And on that note, we’ll be closing this live blog. For now. But if anything newsworthy occurs, you can be sure that we will cover it here.

In the meantime, guard these moments well.

It’s been real.

Revealed: the five quasi-celebrities trapped inside Camp Davey

D/DN officials stunned the world today by announcing that at least five ‘quasi-celebrities’ are among those currently trapped inside the Camp Davey compound.

Dispensing with the usual leaks to Majorca-based journalists, the D/DN Tourism Commission (DTC) further revealed that at least one of the quasi-celebrities is in fact not a celebrity at all.

“Look, this is the first I’m hearing of this, too,” admitted a tired-sounding Paige Turner, the official spokeswoman for Davey Dreamnation.

“Let me get back to you once I’ve read the press release,” she added.

Follow-up calls, emails, texts and friend requests sent to Ms Turner remained unanswered as of deadline this evening.

Quasi-celebrities confirmed—but not named

Camp Davey, which reopened to tourists on 21 March, was shut down just three days later due to a “complicated” quarantine stand-off.

So far, no cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in the world’s most untold resort.

However, as a precaution, all residents and visitors have been placed in lockdown. Meanwhile, a media blackout makes it difficult to determine who is where—and why.

According to the DTC statement, which was issued via MySpace at noon today, the ‘quasi-celebrities’ are currently trapped inside a Detoxantine™ Suite, along with several D/DN quarantine staff.

Worryingly, the statement fails to mention the names of the celebrities, claiming that this specific information is itself “subject to quarantine”.

It remains possible that the quasi-celebrities ended up in the Quarantine area after a mix-up at the Camp Davey Upgrade Desk. Photo by CDC on Unsplash.

In fact, the press release contains no contact information of any kind, referring inquiries instead to the World Health Organization.

Furthermore, while the DTC does not define the term ‘quasi-celebrity’, it is understood to refer to recording artists who have released—or plan to release in the future—their music via DNRC Records.

“That’s right,” confirmed Les Tombeaux, who was also caught off-guard by the announcement, despite having spent the best part of two years planning the ‘authorised’ biography of Davey Dreamnation.

“Hang on, what was the question?”

Speculation runs rampant

In the absence of official information regarding the celebrities’ names and health status, speculation in the music industry has been running rampant.

“This is almost as crazy as that time Scaramouche got stuck in a 3-D viewer,” Tombeaux continued.

“Although, it must be said the current situation is of course much more serious. I mean, we know already that Scaramouche himself is in lockdown.”

“It’s no laughing matter.”

A number of rumours relate to the cryptic nature of the DTC statement, which indicates that only four of the five quasi-celebrities are actually celebrities.

“So, we could be talking about well-known artists such as Stung, Eyna and Christy Burr, all of whom have released music via DNRC Records,” Tombeaux continued.

“That’s three quasi-celebrities, right there.”

“But there’s also a chance that the statement is referring to ‘outsider’ artists like Elrond John or Rustle Crough, both of whom are rumoured to have been the subject of some pretty crazy bidding wars.”

“However, given that I created the character of Elrond John myself, I think we can say with some certainty that he is not currently stuck inside Camp Davey.”

“The only thing that’s not clear to me is how much Rustle Crough might have been willing to pay to have his music put out by DNRC Records,” Tombeaux added.

Camp Davey goes into lockdown—just three days after reopening

The grand reopening of Camp Davey has proven to be shortlived. The entire resort—once described as the most ‘untold’ experience ever—is now under lockdown.

Paige Turner, a spokeswoman for the D/DN Tourism Commission (DTC), confirmed the lockdown via email.

The closure began at midnight on Monday (Majorca time), just three days after the DTC recommenced selling tickets for the infamous Camp Davey Tour.

“The DTC has not taken this drastic decision lightly,” Ms Turner said via telephone. “But at this stage there is no suggestion of a viral outbreak on the island.”

“Rather, the issue seems to be that some of the staff enforcing quarantine have themselves been quarantined. To be specific, they’ve been barricaded inside a makeshift quarantine cell within the quarantine area.”

“It’s quite complicated,” she added.

An artist’s impression of what Camp Davey could end up looking like if the lockdown proves permanent. Photo by Dustan Woodhouse on Unsplash.

Draconian measures suggest threat of pandemic is real

The terms of the lockdown were apparently dictated by Davey Dreamnation himself, whose whereabouts remain unknown.

The lockdown order consisted of one line of text:

“No-one will be permitted to leave Camp Davey for a period of 40 days”.

Camp Davey Lockdown Order, 23 March 2020

While there appear to be no restrictions on people entering the resort, the measure effectively amounts to a complete lockdown.

Camp Davey is located some 550 nautical miles off the Australian coast. With airlines, chinook operators and submariners all refusing to service the island amid the global coronavirus pandemic, the situation is grim.

“Yes, it’s quite worrying,” stated Ms Turner, who resides in Tribesco in inner-city Melbourne, while teleworking for the DTC.

“For example, we received a long list of additional measures that Mr Dreamnation wanted us to implement,” Turner continued.

“Some of them—including the stipulation that Islands in the Stream of Consciousness be played over the loudspeakers—were already in operation prior to the announcement of the lockdown.

“In fact, we’ve not been able to turn the blessed music off, so that’s been an additional challenge,” Turner admitted.

Other measures—including the closing of the Scaramouche Bar and Grill—have proven less controversial.

“I think we can all agree one one thing. Even the thought of that llama getting his hooves on our food was repulsive,” tweeted one visitor, who preferred to remain anonymous.

Scaramouche, a carnivorous llama, remained unruffled when DTC authorities moved in to close his eponymous Bar and Grill. Photo by Denis Tuksar on Unsplash.

Staff and visitors in risky quarantine standoff

The sudden turnaround—which was leaked, once again, to journalists before being officially announced—has thrown the travel plans of dozens of visitors into disarray.

The first chinook-load of holidaymakers arrived on the weekend, and the chinook is currently reported to be stuck in quarantine.

As alluded to be Ms Turner, some of the staff enforcing quarantine have themselves also been quarantined within the quarantine area.

“We’ve received some information suggesting that a number of visitors were not happy with the lockdown. They appear to have taken matters into their own hands,” she said.

“This apparently involved subjecting the entire quarantine staff to quarantine. But the only way to do that was to create a mini-quarantine area within one of the Detoxantine™ Suites.”

“So, within that mini-quarantine area, they’ve introduced another quarantine cell, which is about the size of a small cupboard.”

“As far as we can tell, all of the quarantine staff remain trapped in that cupboard. The social distancing implications are unimaginable.”

One of the unsung but totally natural wonders of the world, Davey’s Lemonade Waterfall, is at risk of being spoiled by tourists swimming in its effervescent depths. Photo by Milada Vigerova on Unsplash.

Numerous Camp Davey icons under threat

The lockdown has also caused logistical headaches for staff attempting to herd nervous visitors through the resort’s 10 untold ‘zones’, including the Accommodation Zone, towards the Exit.

“Look, until all visitors have completely deloused in the Pool Bar, we can’t allow them anywhere near the Accommodation Zone. Let alone the Entertainment Precinct,” one staff member stated.

“I realize the water emits a weird odour, but that’s how it is. I swear, it’s like herding the cats from Cats in here.”

Other visitors have begun practicing extreme social distancing by hiding just below the surface of Davey’s Lemonade Waterfall.

“This is really not on,” warned the staff member, who refused to divulge their name or function.

“The Lemonade Waterfall is strictly off-limits. Once people start swimming in there, it destroys the delicate balance between the aerated lemonade and the random flavours injected by nature.”

“Upset that balance and you can kiss the World Heritage listings goodbye, is all I’m saying.”

“Do you see us drinking from the toilets? No? Well, don’t swim in the freaking waterfall. That’s my last word on the subject.”

“Oh, and screw you too, Scaramouche.”

Could this be the end of the road for the world’s most untold resort?

As reported on Saturday, the surprise announcement that Camp Davey was emerging from a decade of isolation shocked and confounded fans and critics alike.

“It really was too good to be true,” said Les Tombeaux, a Majorca-based journalist who has made a career out of stating the obvious.

“The first red flag for me was the whole Goulburn River Rampage thing. I knew, we all knew, that anyone who dared to go near that ride was going to regret it.”

“Turns out I was right all along.”

In response to sustained criticism, Ms Turner confirmed that the dilapidated ride would shortly be removed.

“We’ve listened, and now we have decided to act. I am pleased to announce that the Mangoplah-Cookardinia Wild Mouse will soon replace the Goulburn River Rampage.”

“However, the ride itself must first be subjected to quarantine. Given the current shortage of Camp Davey staff, this process could take months.”

The posthumous biographer’s curse

As a long-term fan of Davey Dreamnation and his ouevre, I accepted the task of writing his authorised biography both willingly and eagerly.

However, the fact that the troubled star has not been seen for several years—and is, in fact, presumed dead—has made my ostensible task that much harder.

How do you write the authorised biography of a person who does not seem to exist?

Dreamnation allegedly disappeared in 2011. He did so right after changing his name to Davves and issuing what would have been his swan-song 7″ single, had he not in fact issued (and then deleted) his actual swan-song, the magnificently barmy The Silence of Untold Sound, in 2010.

Ever since this confusing chain of events, doubts have been cast both on Dreamnation’s masculinity (the 3-second vocal track on the aforementioned Davves single, ‘Pre-Soak’, was clearly recorded under the influence of helium) and his musical abilities (the b-side, ‘Detailed Image Package’ contains no sounds whatsoever, let alone musical notes).

Clearly, as the catalogue entry for ‘Pre-Soak’ makes clear, Dreamnation was under a great deal of mental and physical stress at the time of his disappearance.

In fact, given the extremely poor quality of the whole Davves project, it should not surprise us in the least that he should have chosen to retreat from public life in such a mysterious manner.

The last known photograph of Davey Dreamnation
The last known photograph of Davey Dreamnation, who went by the pseudonym Davves in the months leading up to his mysterious disappearance in 2011.

If, indeed, Dreamnation did choose to disappear.

And there’s the rub: as a music writer and biographer, I am often placed in exquisitely awkward positions.

To take but one example, during my research for this project I submitted myself to an interview with one of Dreamnation’s artistic accomplices, the alarmingly hirsute Clint Bo Dean.

On entering Bo Dean’s Tribesco lair, I immediately regretted my decision, particularly as he used the occasion of the interview to spruik his personal brand of toiletries, a kind of ‘Panache, by Lentheric’ for men, with a side line in talc.

The awkwardness of this situation should be obvious: having consented to having my own name associated with an ill-fated line of cologne for funerals, my mere presence during the interview itself amounted to some sort of conflict of interest (at the very least, with myself).

However, the jitch I found myself in was also intensely exquisite because by allowing Bo Dean to spray my face with his abominable scent, I came a little closer to understanding the reason why Dreamnation ever consented to associate himself with Bo Dean in the first place—and therefore, to a clearer image of my subject.

A photograph of Clint Bo Dean
Just one of the literally millions of photographs of Clint Bo Dean circulating freely on the Internet.

As I left the interview, my body caked in Bo Dean’s unspeakable odour, and my ears ringing to the unmistakable strains of Bo Dean’s own swan song single, ‘Clint Bo Dean is Really Cool’, it dawned on me that, in order to capture the spirit of Davey Dreamnation, all I needed to do was carry out a process of triangulation, or perhaps dodecahedration.

Over the following weeks and months, therefore, I sat down and subjected all of Davey’s living pals and record label artists to some of the most gruelling interviews I have ever conducted. While the results are certainly not pretty, they do glancingly attest to the complexity of Davey Dreamnation’s character, and of his chain of friends and influences.

In the following posts some of these friends and influences—including Clint Bo Dean, Stung, Eyna, Christy Burr, Mead, Scaramouche and Captain Sans Tenille—will be given an opportunity to speak, in their own words, about the impact of Davey Dreamnation, and DNRC Records, on their own lives.

I think their words will speak for themselves. Hopefully, however, they’ll also speak Davey Dreamnation back into existence, however fleetingly.

Such is the bittersweet curse of the posthumous biographer.

Introducing the DNRC Records

When I was first approached to write the definitive biography of Davey Dreamnation—an invitation I was, obviously, more than happy to accept—I was given to understand that I would have unfettered access to Dreamnation’s personal archives, including his astonishing collection of unreleased songs; his musings in writing on the parlous state of the music industry; and his unparalleled collection of Cats memorabilia.

All of these priceless items were indeed supplied to me the day after I signed the publishing contract. The unreleased songs were furnished on a huge number of 30-minute cassette tapes without labels; the various attempts at memoir arrived in the mail printed on a pile of Post-It notes; and the wigs, costumes and beer coasters from the set of Cats had been bundled into a large van which was, conveniently, parked outside my Tribesco home.

In short: all well and good.

However, I was not told that a fourth set of objects—if, indeed, we can call them that—would be provided for my perusal: namely, a grand total of 101 audio recordings (including 7-inch singles, extended-play and long-play albums, and picture discs) released and then deleted by Dreamnation’s fabled record label, which he pompously, if also ridiculously, christened Davey’s New Record Company Records (or DNRC Records for short).

The earliest extant image of Davey Dreamnation
The earliest known photograph of Davey Dreamnation, taken in 1999—two years before he was born.

Indeed, even had I been told that these records, which turned up unannounced on my front doorstep, were products of a long-term yet secret endeavour to revolutionise the music business, I would have responded with disbelief.

To say that the existence of DNRC Records is a rumour that has flitted through the music industry like a curious butterfly in the months and years since Dreamnation’s disappearance would be an overstatement. Not many of Dreamnation’s fans were even aware of its existence during the all-too-brief period between his astonishing rise and inevitable fall—a fact that perhaps says more about Dreamnation’s popularity than these fans’ actual knowledge of his life and works.

Nevertheless, there had been whisperings. As one of the most passionate defenders of Dreamnation’s musical ouevre on the public stage, I had of course heard most of them. There were rumours that there was one complete DNRC Records catalogue still in existence; that the recordings themselves had been launched into space and were freely available on the International Space Station; and that the incidental music in Cats, when played backwards, was in fact a medley of some of the more brilliant DNRC Records tracks.

Davey Dreamnation performing live
A rare photograph from an early Davey Dreamnation live warehouse performance in Tribesco, Australia, circa 2001.

Being a seasoned music journalist, I took a non-committal stance on such idle gossip while secretly hoping that, one day, the mystery of the recordings themselves would be solved.

Now, I am happy to state that, after months of laborious investigations, many hours wasted listening to and repairing cassette tapes, and comprehensive interviews with some of the key players in Davey Dreamnation’s life—including Christy Burr, Clint Bo Dean, Mead, Moss, Pixel Mouse, Scaramouche and Stung—I have finally managed to piece together a definitive catalogue of all extant DNRC Records releases. This despite the fact that all said releases were supposedly deleted the instant they were first issued, and despite the supposed non-existence of both the label and its roster of artists.

Cynics might presume that what follows is a barely-factual account of my own fantasy DNRC Records, to which I reply: not so.

Those who know me well will vouch for my extreme professionalism, good taste and mental aptitude. I am no charlatan, no pretender. Let Dreamnation’s enemies seethe in anger at the collective brilliance of DNRC Records that shall soon be unleashed on the listening public in the form of a blistering volume of raw power entitled The Rise and Fall of DNRC Records.

In short: let the jitches begin.