Author: Les Tombeaux (page 2 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.

21 March 2020 / 0 Comments

Camp Davey reopens after decade of isolation

Fans and critics of Davey Dreamnation united today to condemn the re-opening of Camp Davey to visitors.

Industry observers described the move as a violation of a peace treaty brokered by the United Nations.

Others pointed to the risk the reopening posed to continuing efforts to constrain the coronavirus.

News of the recommencement of the infamous Camp Davey Tours was leaked to an unnamed journalist located in Majorca.

It then quickly spread around the world via social networks and word-of-mouth.

Reopening confirmed by Camp Davey spokeswoman

A Camp Davey spokeswoman, Paige Turner, officially announced the reopening of the offshore resort and former detention centre in an email.

A press release attached to the email claimed that all tours “will comply with the terms of the treaty”.

Turner, however, stopped short of confirming that Dreamnation himself, who has not been seen for over a decade, would lead the tours.

“Look, we’re taking things one step at a time,” she confided by telephone shortly afterwards.

“But I think it’s safe to say we are in uncharted territory here,” she added.

A few hours later, the first chinook-load of ‘visitors’ flew to the island.

An artist's impression of a Premium Suite at Camp Davey, which is rumoured to have reopened.
An artist’s impression of a Premium Suite at Camp Davey, which is rumoured to have reopened. Photo by Darren Lawrence on Unsplash.

Reopening ends long period of self-imposed isolation

Davey Dreamnation retired from the music industry in 2010 after an on-stage meltdown during the Goulburn River Valley Music Festival.

The troubled artist had regrouped shortly afterwards, undergoing court-ordered therapy and changing his name to Davves.

However, the UN-mandated deletion of Davves’ first DNRC Records single in 2011 brought his career to a halt. Dreamnation/Davves promptly announced his total retirement from public life.

He also hinted at his intention to reside, from that point on, in the third person.

Why did the United Nations get involved?

Davey Dreamnation self-released his debut album Islands In the Stream of Consciousness online in 2002.

The album’s arrival met with little fanfare at the time. But critics described Dreamnation’s subsequent musical efforts as “seething”. This forced the United Nations to enter into treaty negotiations with him.

The end of the negotiations coincided with the proclamation of UN General Assembly Resolution DDN01 in 2003.

The resolution stipulated that Dreamnation was free to release his own music, on two conditions.

First, Dreamnation had to publish all recordings under the DNRC Records moniker. Second, he had to instantly delete each catalogue number on the moment of its release.

At the time of Dreamnation/Davves’ disappearance, observers assumed that the combined deletion of over 100 DNRC Records releases had finally taken its toll on an artist once described as “the Skylab of his generation”.

“Yes, the Entertainment Precinct has seen better days. We’re working on that,” said Paige Turner, a spokeswoman for Camp Davey Tours. Photo by Maksim Shutov on Unsplash.

Clean-up process likely to take years

As more details emerged regarding the reopening of Camp Davey, it became clear that the decision has been some time coming.

“Well, the D/DN Tourism Commission (DTC) has been dicking around for 12 years now,” said Les Tombeaux.

Tombeaux, a music writer also based in Majorca, has spent the past two years planning the definitive authorised biography of Dreamnation.

“Clearly, simply announcing the reopening of Camp Davey doesn’t change the fact that the entire place is in serious need of repair,” he continued.

“I mean, the Goulburn River Rampage used to be the centrepiece of the Entertainment Precinct, back in the days when Camp Davey was still located in Tribesco.

“Right now it’s a disgrace. I wouldn’t let my own kids play anywhere near it. The clean-up process for that ride alone is likely to take years.”

Responding to this criticism, Turner agreed.

“Yes, the Entertainment Precinct has seen better days,” she admitted.

“But we’re working on that. The Goulburn River Rampage is just one of the four rides at Camp Davey,” she added.

“While we wait for the water supply to improve, we’re concentrating on getting the Lismore Lagaphone Legends experience up and running again.

“I think our visitors will be more than happy with the initial results.”

Camp Davey Tours already fully booked until 2021

In a sign that people are willing to believe anything, the DTC later announced that it had suspended the sale of tickets for the Camp Davey Tour.

The DTC cited “overwhelming” demand as just one of several factors involved in its decision. No other factors were mentioned.

Social media postings appeared to confirm the rush for tickets.

“I can’t believe I still have to wait until 2021 to visit Camp Davey!” one Twitter user exclaimed.

The online portal operated by the DTC reportedly crashed and was, as of today, inaccessible.

“These are just technical glitches,” Ms Turner emphasized.

“We’d like to think that the reopening announcement simply adds a little more pizazz to the world’s most untold resort,” she concluded.

“We truly hope that visitors to Camp Davey enjoy their stay.”

The official Camp Davey website, which features a virtual tour of the facilities, remains online.

23 May 2019 / 0 Comments

‘Guard these moments well’: the lyrics of Chris de Burgh

Let’s just for a moment pretend that Chris de Burgh never wrote ‘The Lady In Red’. Let’s also pretend that ‘Don’t Pay the Ferryman’ was never recorded, let alone ‘a minor hit in the states [sic]’ as alleged on his official website. Indeed, let’s go so far as to say that Chris de Burgh never existed at all.

Okay, perhaps that’s taking things a bit too far.

However if, like me, you grew up on Chris de Burgh’s records, you can probably understand why I get frustrated when people mention those two songs as if that’s all Chris de Burgh ever did.

For the benefit of the vast majority of the world’s population, therefore, I’d like to set the record (no pun intended) straight. In fact, an analysis of Chris de Burgh’s early albums shows that he was already a formidable songwriter. The lyrical prowess demonstrated on ‘Don’t Pay the Ferryman’ was no fluke.

Read more
5 May 2011 / 0 Comments

Davves: “Pre-Soak” b/w “Detailed Image Package”

Davves' debut single, 'Pre-Soak'.
DNRC102 | 7″ single | 2011
Track listing    

'Pre-Soak'
'Detailed Image Package'

After suffering the indignity of an on-stage meltdown during the Goulburn Valley Music Festival in 2010, an act which led to his retirement from the music industry (not to mention the deletion of his ‘barnestorming’ swansong EP, The Silence of Untold Sound), Davey Dreamnation regrouped, underwent therapy and changed his name to Davves.

While this decision was approved by his therapist at the time, in hindsight it appears to have been a fatal mistake, as this rare double A-side 7″ single, the only extant recording by Davves, attests.

Clocking in at just under three seconds, the purported radio-friendly unit shifter ‘Pre-Soak’ is an utter disgrace, consisting only of the sound made when plugging a jack into an obviously out-of-tune guitar. Things don’t get any better on the flip-side, where we almost fail to find any traces of sound at all in ‘Detailed Image Package’.

In fact, the attempted release of this double piece of navel fluff was blocked via a class action taken on behalf of the listening public by the International Whaling Commission, a case which was heard in-camera due to the explosive nature of the allegations against Dreamnation–Davves.

While we may never know the full effects of the so-called sub-Tasman ‘listening parties’ carried out by Davves in preparation for the singles’ release, the current absence of marine life in the areas where ‘Pre-Soak’ and ‘Detailed Image Package’ were unleashed on the submarine listening public speaks volumes.

Upon the court-ordered deletion of ‘Pre-Soak’ b/w ‘Detailed Image Package’, Davves promptly announced his retirement from the music industry, an act only half as stupid as his initial decision to join it. Nevertheless, fans of post-punk wave foam can still find bootleg versions of this release, as well as unreleased demos, in all the usual fishermen’s baskets.

22 February 2010 / 1 Comment

Davey Dreamnation: “The Silence of Untold Sound”

DNRC101 | EP | 2031 | DELETED

Having watched in amazement as the world proceeded to ignore his other masterpiece (the abominable That’s Buddha Mini-LP), Davey Dreamnation retreated to his Majorca lair, and rightly so. The Silence of Untold Sound, Dreamnation’s long-awaited swansong, put to rest any doubts about his good intentions, while shedding no further light as to his real talent or chances of success.

The master tapes of the EP itself were almost accidentally deleted and then restored, lovingly, from the remnants of two calculators and an Eyna record, in a remarkable tale of hardship, camaraderie and studio boffinry to rival anything Stung or Christy Burr might care to come up with. But let’s leave history to the historians, shall we?

Still, it’s worth pausing, for one second, to reflect upon the fact that The Silence of Untold Sound was DNRC’s one hundred and first release, and then to move on. The Silence of Untold Sound was also DNRC’s last release, following on almost immediately from the mis-timed and ill-conceived thought-experiment that was Scaramouche’s Quiche Lorraine.

The EP’s official release in 2031 also came almost exactly thirty years after the label’s inception in the heady early days of the new century, when the Sprite Levels ruled the roost, alongside a host of other Tribesco bands.

While this kind of contextual detail is essential for any appreciation of Dreamnation and DNRC, it provides no real entry point for any discussion of the music itself. This is a crucial observation, and one that does not need to be spelled out to the remaining two fans of Davey’s music. For the newcomer, the absence of any adequate descriptions for these songs should speak volumes.

Speaking of what’s missing, the absence of Clint Bo Dean on The Silence of Untold Sound is telling, as is that of Stung, Dreamnation’s supposed vocal coach, whose influence can be heard on neither of the two instrumental tracks: the cod-reggae ‘Son of Cave’ and the spooky-synth workout ‘Theme From Untold’.

Throughout these tracks, there’s a slightly disturbing sense that Dreamnation is asleep at the wheel, or else is not actually at the wheel at all, which begs even more questions. Things don’t get much better when we turn to an examination of the tracks that do feature vocals, as can be heard on opening track ‘You & Me’, where Stung’s helium-enhanced backing vocals spoil Dreamnation’s sometimes flawless lead performance.

Elsewhere, on ‘AH XMAS’ Dreamnation could be singing in Dutch but we’re never sure, the echo-drenched effects drowning out all meaning. One suspects the lyrics to ‘Fantasy One’, the EP’s so-called centrepiece, will not age well.

Of the afore-mentioned instrumentals, Theme from Untold is the surprise standout, perhaps because it is the only song on that attempts to relate to the EP’s title. Its final two minutes surely represent a triumph of accidental skills over premeditation, and provide a fittingly ghost-like finale to a tortured artist’s career.

It seems almost redundant to point out, even to long-term fans of DNRC Records and its loopy founder, that when the end comes it comes not suddenly, drastically or with any kind of jitchiness but almost like blinking: there’s a long period of whimpers, followed by an almost everlasting silence that doesn’t seem to end, and then does.

The Silence of Untold Sound could hardly be described as a graceful exit but an exit it nevertheless remains. We can only speculate upon Dreamnation’s emotions at the precise moment when he deliberately deleted not just his final, definite masterpiece, but also his own wholly-manufactured self, right down to the last emoticon.

In the aftermath, we can only conclude by hoping, for Davey’s sake, not to mention the sake of all of the talented artists and other less-talented people who were involved in the DNRC project, that he has ascended to some plain of untold silence, and sounds, that will never be deleted.

No stars.

22 February 2010 / 0 Comments

Scaramouche: “Quiche Lorraine”

quichelorraine

DNRC100 | 7″ | 2030 | DELETED

Perhaps it’s fitting that DNRC’s one hundredth release came from its founder’s long-time muse and benefactor, Scaramouche. After all, if it wasn’t for Scaramouche, it’s doubtful that Davey Dreamnation would have had the stamina to last so long, nor to get away with so much.

Nevertheless there is something more than a little disturbing about a failed pop icon using a musically-challenged llama as the penultimate vehicle for his long-ago conked-out idea of a record label. Therefore it is worth pausing for a moment to consider the chain of events leading up to the release of this abominable piece of toejam.

Recall, if you can, Scaramouche’s Theme, a soaring, pant-ripping anthem from the other side of Uranus that touched more than a few nerves when it was originally released, way back in the early noughties.

While that song became something of an underground cult hit, and was later featured on one of Davey Dreamnation’s own releases (I speak, naturally, of the fair-to-middling Themes EP), it is difficult to find even one trace of its unbridled (if foolish) optimism on ‘Quiche Lorriane’.

In fact, it would be possible (if not also legally advisable) to go on and state that ‘Quiche Lorraine’ might well be one of the most dreadful 7″ singles ever released were it not for the happy fact of its deletion, just seconds after being named in a class action brought by survivors of the late Christy Burr.

Nevertheless, we will never have the opportunity to write about such a shameful release again, and so let us savour for a moment the merest possibility that the spirit of Scaramouche’s ‘Quiche Lorraine’ survives in a small corner somewhere on the Intranet … before snuffing out such maudlin thoughts, secure in the knowledge that it never will get any worse than this.

« Older posts Newer posts »

About this site

This is [d/dn], the home of David Prater, a writer and editor currently living in the third person.

Category archives
Yearly archives

About David

Search