Tag Archives: dananananaykroyd

My iPod #521: Dananananaykroyd – Hey James

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“Hey James” is the penultimate track on Hey Everyone!, the debut album by former Scottish ‘fight pop’ band Dananananaykroyd. Despite its welcoming title the song is probably the heaviest one out of the twelve tracks, depicting an image of a barren wasteland, war and what could possibly be the end of the world itself.

In a track-by-track guide-through a week before the album’s release, guitarist David Roy confirmed that the ‘James’ in the title is a reference to their former drummer who had left to pursue other music interests in another band. The track is a tribute to him, written as “a furious sort of epic rock thing with a hint of sadness”. That hint of sadness may be an allusion to the the track’s minor key, otherwise the song is a performance of sheer energy and balls-to-the-wall noise. The use of two separate drum kits throughout the album is something to behold but both of them on here have a noticeable role on here, providing a punchy rhythm during the verses before adding to the disorderly nature of the choruses.

The track climaxes with a 6/8 time signature before closing out with nightmare-inducing whispers creepily repeating the phrase ‘hey everyone….’ into your ears. Those go on for about a minute. Although it gives you time to take in what you’ve heard it is a nervy way to end it all, but it’s all okay once they segue right into the more cheerful sounding opener of the following song.

My iPod #462: Dananananaykroyd – Good Time

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“Good Time”, the seventh track on Dananananaykroyd’s final album There Is a Way, gets the album back to the original frenetic, loud, energetic, pumped-up style set in the preceding six after a calming interlude of environmental noises after the end of “Time Capsule“.

There is a lot to take in in the three minutes and sixteen seconds this song lasts for. It speeds up, slows down for the choruses, changes time signature at one point, there is stuttering, yelping, screaming, singing in unison, it lifts you up and smacks you around. If you don’t have a physical copy of the album (cos the lyrics are in there), there is a large chance you will have no idea what is being said to you most of the time. But that’s not a bad thing. As long as you have fun, which you will no doubt, then it’s fine. Just have a good time……. listening to it.

It was its unpredictability I think that made it one of the last songs from the album that I appreciated, but after a few more listens I got it. I’m glad.

My iPod #433: Dananananaykroyd – Glee Cells Trade

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“Glee Cells Trade” is the penultimate song on ex-Scottish indie ‘fight pop’ band Dananananaykroyd’s second and final album “There Is a Way“. It comes after one of the cathartic tracks the band ever recorded, and before their grand finale of “Make a Fist” so it does the essential thing of relieving some of the tension of what you’ve just listened to, as well as settling you in for what is to come.

The track features co-lead vocalists John Baillie Jnr and Calum Gunn’s alternating their lines during the verses with tremendous ferocity before singing in unison for the emphatic choruses amongst guitar phrases which stop and start regularly and a springy bass which likes to fill in the gaps with a lick here and there. At two minutes and thirty-seven seconds it is the shortest track on the album, though it is one of the most easy-going ones on there however ear-piercing the singing tends to be sometimes. There’s something assuring about it when the two guys belt out the lines “You can’t set the way/A new baby’s meant to play” during the chorus, which also seem a bit prophetic seeing as the band would split up only a few months after the album’s release.

Admittedly it was one on the album that took me a while to get into; but, as you can see, I eventually did. And I’m glad.

My iPod #306: Dananananaykroyd – E Numbers

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Well, well, well. It’s been a long time coming. But it’s here again! It’s the series that seems to just keep on going. It’s My iPod time. And now we’ve reached the fifth letter of the alphabet…. ‘E’. And we start off with a fire cracker of a track.

“E Numbers” was actually the first track to be revealed from Dananananaykroyd’s second (and sadly, final) album “There Is a Way” in 2011. The track was uploaded on the band’s SoundCloud account and onto YouTube in April of that year, two months before the album was physically released.

I did not know this. I was too busy revising for GCSEs, you see. But it was in the last week of exams, maybe even the last day, when “Muscle Memory” appeared on my television screen. That was the first I had heard from the ‘Kroyd’ in ages, but of course all fans knew that something was coming for about two months. Listened to “There Is a Way” when I got back home, and ended up as a very happy listener by the end of it.

But yeah, the song. “E Numbers” is the third track on “There Is a Way”, coming after the ‘Hey, we’re back’ track of “Reboot” and the “You better fuckin’ buckle your seatbelts” track of “All Us Authors”. There isn’t much of an intro to get you settled into the track; it kind of just launches into this blaring loud drone of guitars and what sounds like really bad horn playing in the background before co-vocalists Calum Gunn and John Bailie Jnr start singing.

I won’t try and be pretentious by coming up with theories about what the song is about. ‘Cos I have no idea. That may annoy a few, but I just really like it. It contains lyrics about seeing things through prisms which is reflected in the album’s cover art, and some about feeding kids with e numbers and wondering on where our tantrums go….. so I’m guessing it’s a song about growing up? Maybe? Still not sure.

Whatever. It’s a real fast song on an album that never lets up on energy. You get one track that’s powerful and punchy and the band just keep feeding you and feeding you and feeding you. Listen to “There Is a Way”; I advise you.

I miss them. Rest in peace.

My iPod #108: Dananananaykroyd – Black Wax

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Hey everyone!

That was the name of Dananananaykroyd’s first album , released on April 6 2009. One day after I turned fourteen. I had not heard the song at the time. I do remember hearing the band’s name one time on MTV or something and working out how to pronounce it. That was about it really.

It was months later when I had started Year 10 in autumn 2009. A video for one of their other songs played on MTV2, I liked that. So I went on YouTube to see the video and listen to that song again. It was then that I found the video for this song.

Looking at the video then I think that I may have seen “Black Wax” on TV, but I changed the channel for some odd reason. Bad mistake. It’s a good thing I came back to the song. It’s one of the most joyful ones I have on my iPod collection. According to Wikipedia, “The song’s lyrics, written by vocalists John Baillie Jnr and Calum Gunn are about a dream John had about the thrill of having sex on a bus made of drums (with another musician, but he won’t say who) in an underground world in Paris, and trying to conserve the feeling by sealing it in a wax lined tin.” Now I know that Wikipedia can be edited by anyone, but that actually seems legit. I don’t know what the lyrics are about, but the music is upbeat and feel good as anything. Especially the last part when guitars roar in with a triumphant shout of ‘here we are’ by the two vocalists before fading out with the guitar. It’s beautiful stuff.

The song was then chosen by EA Sports to be included in FIFA 10. Whether or not that did anything to the band’s popularity is beyond me.

Dananananaykroyd were one of the happiest bands I’d ever witnessed. Instead of a ‘wall of death, they embraced the concept of a ‘wall of hugs’ at their shows. They always looked like they had a good time in their music videos, as well as their home videos they uploaded on their YouTube channel. Look at their cover of “Whip It” by Devo. You can’t help but smile to it. They split up though. That’s a shame.

I may never see you Dananananaykroyd, but thank you for the music anyway.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.