The main road running through the village of Villers-Bretonneux, north-east of Paris, goes by the name of Rue de Melbourne.
The main road running through the village of Villers-Bretonneux, north-east of Paris, goes by the name of Rue de Melbourne. The name of the road pays tribute to the efforts of the Australian soldiers who earned the everlasting honour of the local population during the senseless and tragic battles of World War I. In a country renowned, and occasionally parodied, for its patriotic fervour, this outpost of Antipodean celebration stands out like the sea of gravestones in the otherwise beautiful countryside.
Dimi Dero Inc’s fascination and love of Australian music is just as vivid. According to rumour, band leader Dimi Dero’s Paris residence includes a ‘Kangaroo Room’ for visiting Australian musicians; as such, the spectre of the dark, jarring punk blues of the Beasts Of Bourbon, The Scientists and The Drones can be heard lurking throughout Dimi Dero Inc’s latest album Cremation Day In The Court Of Miracles.
The cocksure swagger of Messrs Jones and Salmon permeates Unfair Enough (not to mention a jagged guitar lick courtesy of the Beasts’ Chase The Dragon), as Dero ponders the depths of the human condition. Bored opens with spitting invective; within moments Dimi Dero Inc skip into New Christs territory, with producer Rob Younger finding plenty of familiar rock ’n’ roll attitude in his French charges to indulge and exploit.
On a similar theme Recipe For Happiness could be a lost track from the Distemper sessions; while My Pals could be a God tribute in name; in song it marries the darkness of late ’80s Sydney pub rock with a Francophile Nick Cave lyrical finesse.
On tracks such as Euterpe and The Dentist, Dimi Dero Inc demonstrate a passion for rock ’n’ roll that’s as endearing as it’s threatening. The album finishes with The Painter, its dark tones and intense narrative somewhere in the mud-filled trenches between The Drones’ counter-cultural Australiana and Albert Camus’ existentialist philosophical musings.
Maybe one day Yarra Council will be petitioned to rename Wellington Street ‘Dimi Dero Avenue’, and Dimi Dero will be given the keys to the musical city he clearly knows so well. Until then, we can enjoy the wonders of Cremation Day In The Court Of Miracles.
Dimi Dero Inc’s awesome album Cremation Day In The Court Of Miracles is out now on Mere Noise Records.
