Davey Dreamnation

Davey Dreamnation, photographed in 1999, just three years before his spectacular rise to fame (source unknown).

Davey Dreamnation (1972–?) was an Australalian musician, vocalist, pirate and record-label owner who now lives "in the third person".

Dreamnation is perhaps best known for his musical output between 2002 and 2004, which included a series of digital LPs and EPs released through his own Tribesco-based label, DNRC Records, and which redefined several musical genres.

His incendiary debut album, Islands In the Stream of Consciousness, "issued" independently online in 2002, allegedly reached number 1 on the now-defunct MP3.com.au charts, despite being deleted shortly after its release. In fact, DNRC Records released and then deleted over 100 records during its short but colourful lifespan. This database of remarkable recordings has never been issued publicly.

Dreamnation went under several aliases, including d/dn, Little Lord Damnation, Bek-ho and Davves.

Early life

Of unknown parentage, Davey Dreamnation insisted throughout his life that he had been conceived during the playing of a Genesis LP in 1971 and then born on 1 April 1972. According to his own early writings, he was then raised on a sheep station somewhere in the Goulburn River Valley. This property later became the first iteration of the Camp Davey headquarters and nerve centre.

Described by persons who wish to remain nameless as "a legend in his own signature drawstring jarmies", "a colossus of lo-fidelity", "a harbinger of jitches and drum fills" and "the Skylab of his generation", little else is known about Dreamnation's upbringing, although he was rumoured to have been quite fluent in Desperanto, and to enjoy both ice hockey and Joy Division.

Education

In 1994, Dreamnation graduated from the de Burgh Institute, receiving a Bachelor of Music with Honours in Norman-era balladry. In 2004 he graduated from the University of Australalia, receiving a Master of Australalian Bush Studies. At the time of his disappearance he was in the final stages of his PhD candidature at Renaissance University, Melbourne. His unfinished exegesis was an exploration of the lyrics of Christy Burr, focussing on the early albums right up to (and including) Into the Fright.

Musical career

Davey Dreamnation was a founding member of The Spirit Levels, a band whose half-life was even shorter than its name. Upon the band's split in early 2002, Dreamnation embarked on a relatively undocumented solo career, releasing two LPs, a string of EPs and countless picture discs. His debut LP, Islands In the Stream of Consciousness, was once described as 'brimming with melody, technological sophistication, 120bpm drum beats, amazingly uplifting guitar solos and lyrics to kill for'.

A resurrection of Dreamnation's fortunes failed to coincide with the release of Recognition of Prior Learning, his incendiary although widely ignored sophomore album, due probably to his decision not to release every track as a single in its own right, a tactic which had served him well when he released Islands In the Stream of Consciousness.

A full discography of Dreamnation's musical output is currently under construction.

Literary works

Dreamnation apparently released a number of commentaries and lyrics via a range of Australalian and international organs including The Page, Speech Factory, Coat, Bush Telegraph, Islet, Meandjohn, tilt (USA), Couch, MARMITE (NZ), tallpoppies, Bowing Out Gracefully, pole position (UK), Southerland and various journals.

In addition his political views and rants are believed to have appeared in The Weekend Hibernation, Southern Tuna, Meritocratin, The Big Fish, Herpes, New England Ravers, Wakers Seance, Crosstown and Fabulous Tasmanians, although the back issues of most these publications contain no trace of his name.

Collaborators

Dreamnation is known to have collaborated with a number of musicians during his career, including the amazingly hirsute Clint Bo Dean, a seething Kiwi Sting impersonator known as Stung, his one-time manager Pixel Mouse and Scaramouche, a seeing-eye and ham-eating llama. In addition, he is rumoured to have launched the careers of a number of musical acts including Christy Burr, Mead, Eyna and countless others.

Online presences

Originally presenting himself as a pixel-sized superstar via a private Intranet, Dreamnation also utilised a variety of Internet-based platforms to distribute his work. By the time of his disappearance, he was the sole operator of a fully-automated and interconnected international web portal and hyperstation, known as d/dn, through which he sought to document his own troubled psyche.

Controversy

In 2004 the domain name pointing to the D/DN international web portal was purchased by an unknown cyberporn squatter, rendering its contents unsuitable for general audiences. Dreamnation quietly repurchased the domain in 2007.

Disappearance

After suffering the indignity of an on-stage meltdown during the Goulburn River 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, among others), Davey Dreamnation regrouped, underwent therapy and changed his name to Davves. Upon the UN-mandated deletion of his first DNRC Records single, Davves promptly announced both his total retirement from public life and his intention to reside, from that point on, in the third person.

Legacy

In 2018 music critic and author Les Tombeaux announced that he was embarking on a massive biography of Dreamnation and his ouevre, with the prospective title of The Rise and Fall of Davey Dreamnation. At the time of writing, this project remains in stasis.