The self-proclaimed poor man's Chris Issak.
Like most people who just seem to exude coolness, it’s actually pretty hard to explain what it is about Dan Sartain that actually makes him so bad-ass. Speaking with the southern-drawl you’d expect from a guy who grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, and often sporting a pencil-thin moustache and dirty-white suits, he looks more like one of those guys who lets snakes bite them in scary southern churches than the resurrection man of rock 'n' roll. Admittedly, the above picture doesn't do him much justice.
One thing you can’t doubt though, is his authenticity. Now that everyone is banging on about bands like The Fresh and Onlys, Crystal Stilts and Wounded Lion, and every other act, good and bad, that seems to have picked up a copy of ‘Back from the Grave’ and a reverb pedal recently, it’s not very often that you can say someone is the genuine article. But with Sartain you can cry it out and mean it. Cranking out foot-stomp, blues-laden rockabilly, he croons with a voice filled with hard-living and heartache that makes him seem like some awesome chimera of Johnny Cash and Bukowski. Put simply, when you were listening to the White Stripes back in 2003, you should have been listening to Dan.
Back with a new album of booze, pain and heartache on One Little Indian, I chatted with Dan Sartain to see what’s up. He’s a really funny guy.
Is it just us, or have you been going for a new sexy image lately? Your new record cover has you looking like a cross between Bryan Ferry and Steve Buscemi.
Sexy was not the first thing that came to mind when we chose the cover image. If you think it's sexy, that's cool, but I'm just fond of the picture. Besides which, image is secondary. The sounds are what's important.
My favourite drummer is Karen Carpenter, and one of my favourite singers is Glen Danzig, and if I judged those people on how they looked rather than how they preformed, I'd like neither of them.
Your last few albums had a 'drinking beer in a pool hall' kind of vibe, but your new one 'Lives' has more of a 'drinking whisky with the lights off' feel to it. Was that a conscious decision or did it just sort of turn out that way? Can you recommend a drink to enjoy while listing to 'Lives'?
I'd just shoot up heroin into the veins of my cock.
OK. What's with all the cobra/snake references?
The cobras are metaphors for people who behave as if they were animals.
In that case, Link Wray or Dick Dale?
John fucking Lennon. Peace.
What do make of the whole garage/surf revival thing? Is there any good stuff in there, or is it just a bunch of Californian hipsters armed with reverb pedals?
What? You got a problem with reverb pedals? Geez. I don't know much about the "modern music scene", so I'm probably the wrong dude to ask. The last album I bought was made by people who are dead now.
Lastly, can you recommend us a decent Nuggets compilation?
They're all audible.
Atheist Funeral is out Monday. Dan is currently touring Europe and will be making stops in Brighton and London in the near future.
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