Interview: Stig Pederson, D-A-D

Originally known as DISNEYLAND AFTER DARK, newly monikered Danish rockers, D-A-D, tell Nick "McDougall" Douglas why they're risking it all with their new LP.

RISKY BUSINESS

Having spent more than a year locked up in a soundproofed basement cellar somewhere in deepest Copenhagen, writing and rehearsing their new album, followed by a none-too-brief period actually recording the thing in their favourite Copenhagen studio, Danish mayhem merchants, D-A-D, are once again ready to launch themselves on an unsuspecting world!

Since their formation as a skate-punk/country & western outfit in 1983, and subsequently having been obliged to change their catchy moniker, Disneyland After Dark, to the shortened D-A-D under threat of potential lawsuits from the Walt Disney estate, the band have gone from strength to strength, signing to Warners, selling half a million copies of their major-labeled debut album, No Fuel Left for the Pilgrims, and becoming Denmark's only musical export along the way. (Except for KING DIAMOND~Ed) Now, some two years later, they've completed their new album entitled Risking It All, and they're about to embark on a tour in support of their new opus that should take them to all corners of the globe and should keep them busy until next summer. Phew! And just to make sure that we are completely aware of all that is going on in the D-A-D camp, Stig Pedersen, the band's bassist and backing vocalist, is on the blower from the band's HQ in Copenhagen. 



So Stig, let's start at the beginning. How did D-A-D come to be?

"Well, we started nine years ago as we are today. We started in the ruins of punk because a lot of the old punk music was getting very depressing. People were crying down their beers and playing doomsday music. We thought that we would form a band that was a bit silly but still also powerful and that was trying to look at the music business in another way," he explains in his broken yet very clear Danish accent. "We played what we called 'cow punk' and started off with a lot of funny stuff on stage and immediately got support jobs for the LORDS OF THE NEW CHURCH, GUN CLUB, LOS LOBOS, and people like that. So we immediately got out to a big audience."

Okay, fine, but how did the band arrive at the rather strange original moniker?

"Well, in the beginning, actually, we thought of it and then thought it might be a little bit too long as you couldn't write it on a wall and then run away quickly enough when you were out doing a little bit of promotion. But later, a lot of people said, hey, that was a great name, so we started getting used to it and then, as part of the record deal, we had to either shorten it or change it completely. Walt Disney is about the worst company for copyright, so we had no choice."

Being obliged to change their name, however, did nothing to break the momentum of D-A-D's growth, both at home and on foreign territories. Had they ever considered leaving Copenhagen to set up base in one of the more traditional rock n' roll cities like London or New York? Stig is quick to defend his hometown.

"We are all from Copenhagen. Now that we've got a very fine record deal, no! But if we hadn't got a good deal, we might have moved to either to London, L.A., or New York, but as it is now, we go on tours for nearly a year, and I think it's important to get back home and see your friends and see 'who I am,' because otherwise you'll get a bit messed up."

Wise words indeed. So just what is the music scene in Copenhagen and Denmark like then?

"We have a very strong tradition for singing in Danish here," Stig enthuses, "so we do have a lot of good music here but it is with Danish lyrics and that is not good. Some bands have seriously tried to break out into the international market and have translated their lyrics into English but somehow they have shaped themselves like people wanted them to, and they haven't been stubborn and kept themselves as themselves."

D-A-D, however, have stuck to their guns and in doing so have managed to remain in control of all aspects of their career. They had any number of big buck major company offers on the table when they chose to sign to Warners in the summer of '89, and since completing their last tour, have taken their time in writing and recording the new album. So does the band itself have a leader and/or main songwriter?

"No, not really," states Stig. "It takes a very long time to write a D-A-D tune. All four members [Peter L. Johnson (drums), Jacob A. Binzer (lead guitar, backing vocals), and Jesper Binzer (lead vocal, guitar)] have to have a say on it!  We all say,  'hey wait, I got a good line here' or 'I got a good riff here.' It's a very democratic orchestra. It took us one and a half years to make this album." 

Do the band find it difficult to write lyrics in English as opposed to their native Danish?

"No, because there are so many words to slang around! In Danish, we only have one word for one thing, but in English you have, like, more words to express the same feelings, and we like that. We grew up with the punk music, so all our idols were from England and the US, so we have always been listening to English-singing bands."

Talking of idols then, just who do Stig and his cohorts bow down and pay homage to?

"Right now, I am crowing to the new CRAMPS album. I like the Cramps very much. They have a very good live show. I also like a lot of old stuff like NANCY SINATRA and a lot of stuff from Finland. There are a lot of Finnish rock bands that are very happening like SMACK." 

Before signing with Warners, D-A-D released two independently produced LPs. Do they think that Warners have tried to change the band at all? Stig doesn't seem to think so.

"The record company hasn't tried to change us. They understand that we are not a hit band; we are a long-term project. They have a good understanding with us. On our last album, we had two songs banned in North Korea, and the record company put out a special 10-tune North Korean version."  (surely, South Korea!~Ed)

D-A-D like to tour heavily in support of their albums. What was the tour for their last album like, and where exactly did they go?

"We went to the States on two tours. We went on a promotion tour and as support act opener for BADLANDS. That was a very long tour, over two months, and we had six nights playing in a row and then one night off and then six nights playing again. One half of the tour, we were support, but during the second half, the lead singer of Badlands lost his voice, so we were headlining! And a lot of people actually stayed instead of getting a refund. The venues were about 600 to 1,000 people in size, so it was very good."

Right, so now the new album is about to be unleashed, preceded by the first single, "Bad Craziness." Are D-A-D., looking forward to touring again? Stig is obviously keen to get on the road, having spent so much time in Copenhagen recently, working on Risking It All.

"We have always been playing a lot in Scandinavia, so I'd say that Finland, Sweden, and Norway are also our home places, but we're starting to get an interest in places like Germany and France, which are very hard to get an interest in. We start the tour at the end of November/ start of December in Scotland, and then we go down to England. We'll go to Holland, Germany, France, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, and then back home to have Christmas with our families. Then we go to the States and Australia in February. So we're going to be very busy. I like going on tour and trying to convince people every night that the wonderful world of D-A-D is worth coming into."

D-A-D plan to be in the music business for a long time, but they also believe in having a good time while they're doing it! Humour and fun play a larger role than money and the trappings of fame in their outlook on life, How many other bands who find themselves the recipients of a large wad of cash as a competition prize would give the whole lot away to a charity for the insane? Not many!

D-A-D should that stand for "Danish and daft"?

Nick Douglas
Riff Raff

January 1992

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