The Origins of Dragonette's Galore
Canadian-British Pop Group Makes Electronic Music for Adults
The Canadian/English quartet slinks onto the pop music scene with a fierceness and boldness all their own.
Dragonette makes smart, sexy pop music; in other words they make pop music for adults! The Toronto-bred, UK-based 4-piece first album entitled Galore is a mix of rock, electro, new wave pop and lusty lyrics delivered with sultry purrs and coos.
When Martina Met Dan
According to their band bio, the seeds of Dragonette were sown when at a festival, jazzy-folk “tampon music” singer/songwriter Martina Sorbara met Dan Kurtz, the bassist for experimental electronic act The New Deal. Needless to say, sparks both creative and romantic flew. Have a listen to Galore’s third single “Competition”, for a hint at more of the early stages of Sorbara and Kurtz’s relationship.
Responding to the “Nickelback Moment”
Dragonette began as a bit of a joke, noodlings of new wave exploration and imitation, but gradually became more serious. First known as The Fuzz, Sorbara (vocals) and Kurtz (bass) were joined by drummer Joel Stouffer and guitarist Simon Craig and in response to what they refer to as Canada’s “Nickelback moment”, they unabashedly embraced the pop genre.
As such, Dragonette struggled to find a place in the alternative rock-heavy Canadian music industry but after a few strokes of fortune managed to play their second-ever show as opening act for New Order at the Hammersmith Ballroom in New York City.
That gig won them a slot as opening act for Duran Duran on their American tour where their music’s raciness didn’t go over so well with some of the more conservative mid-Westerners. According to the band’s official bio, one concert-goer wrote "I went to see Duran Duran in Dayton, Ohio, and this ******* terrible band from Canada opened. It was fronted by a slut wearing panties, and she was singing songs about Jesus and sex."
Relocation, Image and Recording
But no press is bad press and during the Duran Duran tour, Dragonette caught the attention of Mercury Records. After signing a record contract, the band decided to move their operations from Toronto to London but lost Simon Craig in the process. They recruited British guitarist Will Stapleton and began working to develop an image to accompany their sexy, new-wave sound which required an equally bold persona. Sorbara’s got an effortlessly sultry look and an electric onstage temptress persona, while her husband and Stapleton and Stouffer provide slinky, glistening, relentlessly sexy music.
I Get Around
In April 2007, Dragonette released their first single I Get Around. The song’s intoxicating synth groan shudders through the track, which coils its way around shimmering rock guitar riffs and a punctuating drumbeat, while Sorbara’s “Here I come when I’d better go/I say yes when I oughtta say no” refrain perfectly sums up Dragonette’s flirtatious and naughty allure. The UK’s NME magazine summed up the band’s appeal in saying that Dragonette were “The missing link between Gwen Stefani and Dita Von Teese.”
Aided by a healthy and growing online fanbase, non-stop live performances, the release of a gender-reversed cover of Calvin Harris’ “The Girls” (Dragonette’s was renamed “The Boys”) and Sorbara’s collaboration with Basement Jaxx on the (Sorbara penned and performed) hit single “Take Me Back To Your House”, Dragonette continue to generate a solid amount of buzz at home in Canada and especially in the UK.
Galore
Having found the right audience for their sound in the UK, Dragonette’s full-length debut album was released in September 2007. Hot pink and featuring a collage of photos including a bouffanted Sorbara, a pair of fishnet and stiletto clad legs, Kurtz’s unmasked and befringed magnetic eyes, and Stouffer and Stapleton in dandy-attire and entitled Galore, it’s an electrifying and nearly seamless album.
With lustful, playful, often poignant and always edgy lyrics, Galore’s slinky, sensuous blend of ‘80s influenced dance-rock encompasses the indie rock, modern pop and dance genres much like artists such as Franz Ferdinand, Goldfrapp, Arctic Monkeys, and Mika. Galore is peppered with knock-out tracks, particularly in the tamed-bad girl sweetness of “True Believer”, the sinewy, sweetly scandalous “Black Limousine”, and Galore’s bonus track “Marvellous”, with its blend of authentic Bollywood chic and strutting glam rock guitar showiness.
It makes even more sense when you consider that the band found its name when Kurtz spotted the name Sorbara had given her iPod. As he’s quoted in the band’s bio: ‘… we post-rationalised it and said it was about this female-fronted male power band. It's a fire-breathing dragon, but it's a chick!’ A dragon in stilettos, to be more exact.
