My name is Dan Trolley and I’m about to release my debut solo album called ‘Hours Electric’. I’ve released 2 albums and a single with my current band Mass Cult and now I’m releasing an album under my own name. Its coming out on cassette on my new label Conspiracy Tapes and I’ve made the extra effort with the packaging. It’s hard to tell what genre it is but I use a lot of  synthesisers, drum machines and guitars, I guess you can call in ‘post punk ,garage, new wave, disco’. While making this I was influenced by  Tubeway Army, Jesus and Mary Chain, Sonic Youth, Fad Gadget, Brian Eno and Chrome.

You’re launching your debut solo album this week at The Gasometer on Cassette in a clamshell case, why did you decide on cassette and did you make the clamshell cases yourself?

I recorded the album at home in my lounge room, dining room and bedroom over the summer. Its very lofi so I thought a cassette would be perfect. The clamshell case idea was the artwork designer Luke Fraser’s idea. It looks like a video game cartridge/ mini VHS case from the 1980’s. We got the cases shipped from New York. The whole packaging matches the sound of the album, it looks great.

You are a one-man band, tell us what we can expect from your live show?

It’s me with a guitar, loop pedal and drum machine. It sounds like a whole band if you close your eyes, its danceable, hypnotic, intense & pleasant. At my first gig at the Old Bar some drunk dude said I sound like a “stoned Lou Reed in a good way”. I think that was a compliment.

What’s your earliest memory of performing and who inspired you to start?

First gig was when I was 17 at some high school competition. The judge said I sounded like a drunk version of the John Spencer Blues Explosion.

Guitar or drum machine and why?

Both, without them I’d have no live show.

What and where was the first gig you first recall going to?

It was a New Zealand band called Supergroove in 1994. They were massive at the time.

How do you find new music?

I don’t listen to the radio or watch t.v so the only way is through various websites, mostly on Youtube.

Do you have any particular ritual before you go on stage, or even a lucky charm you take with you?

I have a 2 beer limit these days before going on stage

If you could curate your own festival, where would it be, who would be on the bill, how many people would you let in and what features would it have?

I’m not a fan of going to festivals but I’d say Lou Reed, The Stooges and  a reformed Sonic Youth as headliners.  I’d be on the bill somewhere and some of my friends bands as well or else I probably would stay at home. It would be at the Abbottsford Convent so I can cycle there. 500 capacity only.

Because it’s more fun to do things together, which living artist from anywhere in the world would you most like to collaborate with? 

David Bowie, Thurston Moore, Brian Eno and maybe Lou Reed

Where we can see you play next, what releases do you have available and where can we get them?

‘Hours Electric’ cassette/album launch is Thursday 8th of November at the Gasometer Hotel (Upstairs). 484 Smith Street Collingwood. Doors at 8pm with guests Machine and Mountain Static. See you there!

www.facebook.com/dantrolleymusic

www.dantrolley.bandcamp.com

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