Biography
Born from a one off show at the Troubadour (Brisbane) on September 4th 2007, brother and sister duo “Dan & Dilmah” received an unexpected following from the title track (“Awkward Turtle”) from their debut EP “The not so very best of”, receiving solid reviews from Triple J unearthed followers . After weeks at the top of the unearthed charts, the growing support and encouragement from friends and family created a question, “should we do this (music) properly?”
The answer comes in the form of Dan & Dilmah’s debut album “Inside Out”. Produced by Paul Pilsneniks at Studios 301 in Byron Bay, “Inside Out” spawned a new sound and motivation for the band. Having written half the songs the week before going to the studio, drummer Brad Dymock and Bassist Anthony Brown knew as little of the songs as did Dan & Dilmah. As Brad finally finished setting up his kit and tuning the two floor toms (one of which was used in the track ‘Granny’, hitting it with a bag full of macadamia nuts), the 2 days under the patient and masterful care of Paul spawned an eclectic eight track box of heart felt, honest and cheeky folk rock, unimagined by all before stepping foot inside the studio. The stories spoken on long car trips by artists such as Paul Simon, Eva Cassidy and Nina Simone are still given pride of place in the family room CD carousel.
While family holidays instilled an eclectic taste for music from a young age, Dan & Dilmah have found inspiration in seeing their high school friends ‘making it’ with their music. To ‘make it’ is to have just one person say, “hey we really like that turtle song”, or “can you play the toast song again”. “Remembering the name of a song is not the point, but to have a complete stranger relate to the imagery within your song and take hold of a story you are telling as their own, who wouldn’t love that feeling”, says Dan. As far as names go, Dan and Dilmah to their family and friends are known as Daniel and Kimberley (“Dilmah”) McGregor. Growing up in Lismore, on and around the north coast of NSW, “we are both are very proud of our little corner of the world as, although we’ve both seen a lot of really ‘amazing’ places, driving home these days reminds us of just how lucky we were as kids to grow up in such a beautiful area of the world” (reflecting on the track “Nothing Sweeter”).
Each track from the album “Inside out” provides a separate and very distinct insight into the “evolution from boy to man, or little girl to woman”, as Dan puts it. Sharing the ideology of ‘calling a spade a shovel’, each of the 8 tracks will fill the awkward silences, relate to your sadness or help to get that annoying song out of your head. As a family outfit, “Inside Out” marks the first step into the adventure, optimism and splendour of telling stories to music.
