“It’s the first thing we’ve recorded that we’re happy with,” reports Alex Cameron, guitarist and co-vocalist for Melbourne quartet Dardanelles. Cameron is sitting on his bed, reading Charles R Cross’ Kurt Cobain biography, Heavier Than Heaven, as he relaxes after the 30 days in Collingwood’s 001 studio that have yielded the group’s forthcoming debut album.

Tentatively scheduled for the end of August on Mosquito’s Tweeter, the disc will be preceded by a single – ‘Footsteps’ – due out later this month, with Cameron hopeful that the progress the group (Cameron, vocalist and keyboardist Josh Quinn-Watson, bassist James Nicholson and drummer Mitch McGregor) have made since their tentative early demos were released as a self-titled EP in 2006 will be apparent.

“Our sound has melded into something that’s hard to classify,” notes Cameron (pictured third from left). “This is away from any type of that indie-dance bullshit. We’ve always been interested in groove-driven music and that’s always the basis of our songwriting. We came to realise that pure dance music is electronic and we quickly got sick of that, so we’ve layered the recordings with backing vocals and noise that more reflects our live show.”

The earliest Dardanelles line-up was influenced by going out to see Children Collide and Snapp Crakk! at a time when Melbourne’s band venues were hosting eclectic bills that suggested electronic music was being taken back by indie outfits. That, according to Cameron, is no longer the case, and he doesn’t want Dardanelles to be identified with the second generation imitators who’ve supplanted the innovators.

“[That scene] was very quickly taken over the by the clubs that they were supposed to replace,” he says. “Commercial clubs were touring indie-dance nights and it’s really become something it wasn’t intended to be. So much of the music coming out under that moniker now is twee and shallow. A lot of it is crap.”

Despite one major blow-up between “the different factions” after tracking and before the vocals were laid down (that was soon rectified), the Woody Annison-produced album has excited the band, who get back touring in the lead-up to the release date.

Revolver, Melbourne, VIC
Sunday 10 June

CBD, Newcastle, NSW
Thursday 21 June

Candy’s Apartment, Sydney, NSW
Friday 22 June

Beach Road Hotel, Bondi, NSW
Sunday 24 June

Sodens, Albury, NSW
Wednesday 4 July

Oxford Tavern, Wollongong, NSW
Thursday 5 July

Spectrum, Sydney, NSW
Friday 6 July

Ric’s Bar, Brisbane, QLD
Saturday 7 July

Barwon Club, Geelong, VIC
Thursday 12 July

Rocket Bar, Adelaide, SA
Friday 13 July

East Brunswick Club, Melbourne, VIC
Saturday 14 July

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