The D’Urbevilles=All Dressed Chips=Mmmm-Ben Dugas
The D’Urbevilles=All Dressed Chips=Mmmm
By Ben Dugas
Shortly after this photo was taken, guitarist Tim Burton made a grab for the Mountain Dew, and that’s when everything took a rather nasty sharp left turn.
So I’ve been thinking about this one for a while, consider this: the way The D’Urbervilles sound is strikingly similar to the way All Dressed Chips taste.
Let’s take a moment and let that one sink in.
This theory has been brewing in my head, I believe, since I first heard the D’Urbervilles (or maybe even since I first tasted All Dressed Chips – I knew there was a band that sounded like how this tastes, I just haven’t heard them yet) but it was a vague cloud of an idea, something lurking in the back of my head that I couldn’t quite put into words. Then the other week I picked up the new album and after a few listens it hit me like a bullet.
Call me crazy all you want but first do yourself a favour: go pick up a bag of All Dressed Chips, listen to a few D’Urbervilles songs and feel the connection.
There. Do you see what I mean? Of course you do.
In fact a lot of Toronto area bands have some pretty obvious potato chip flavour associations. The Constantines, for me are pretty clearly Salt and Vinegar. They’re abrasive, a bit of an acquired taste and they don’t mess around. They don’t try to please everyone. They are what they are and you either like them or you don’t.
How about Cuff the Duke? Did someone say Ketchup? I think so. Their smooth, accessible, sugary-pop sound/taste really gets around. You can put it on the radio, the bar or in the background/corner table at a bar and they/it will probably be listened to/eaten and enjoyed. Sure some of the more serious or supposedly mature individuals in the crowd might object. They might say “c’mon let’s get serious here, enough of this kids stuff, we want some Salt and Vinegar here!” but when you get down to it Cuff the Duke, like ketchup chips, will please most of the people, most of the time.
Ohbijou (I’ve heard it said) is the secret third ingredient in Sour Cream and Onion. Say you’re not having a party but instead you just want to sit back, watch a movie and enjoy some edible flakes that were once potatoes or maybe you’re trying to finish off a good book and you want something smooth and easy to listen to in the background. Well you’ll be out of luck if your local convenience store is out of Sour Cream and Onion/Ohbijou. Your night will probably be ruined and you’ll shop at another establishment in the future.
If you’ve had the pleasure of taking in a live performance by Jon Rae and the River then you’ll know that the associations with Barbecue are immediately evident. This is the kind of band/flavour that you enjoy while shouting “Yeah, yeah! YEAH!” and stomping your way through the floorboards. It’s rustic, memorable, energetic and (every so often) sweet. The taste/sound will be stuck in your head/mouth the next day and, if you’re like most people, you’ll put off brushing your teeth/memory until after lunch.
But back to the D’Urbervilles. They taste/sound like a little bit of all these bands/flavours and more. The D’Urbervilles sound like a mixture of a variety of musical ingredients but it’s all mixed in such a way that the whole sounds different, new and even tangy in relation to its parts. Maybe this is the result of a band that’s still finding its sound or maybe it’s a case of a band that will remain both a mixture of familiar parts and something entirely new and unfamiliar. Only time will tell.
The D’Ubervilles new album, We Are The Hunters. Available now.
What I do know is that I feel very much the same way listening to this bands debut We are the Hunters as I did when I had my first experience with a mini bag of All Dressed Chips on Pizza Day in grade four. It was a new, yet somewhat familiar experience but one which was powerful, moving and tasty. Also, it went well with pizza.
Copyright C. 2008 Ben Dugas