Dom Mariani Tour

DM3 (aka The Dom Mariani Three) formed in 1992 as a vehicle for ex Stems/Someloves frontman Dom Mariani to pursue his love of classic rock and powerpop influences.

Over the course of three seminal records, “One Times Two Times Three Red Light”(1993), “Road To Rome” (1996) and “Rippled Soul” (1998), DM3 were critically acclaimed as one of the finest purveyors of the Powerpop genre.  DM3 toured Europe numerous times, playing the club and festival circuit which included the prestigious Roskilde festival. The band eventually called it a day in ’99.

Since the last DM3 album, Dom Mariani has kept himself busy with a myriad of various musical projects. Namely the instrumental project, The Majestic Kelp who released two critically acclaimed albums, “Underwater Casino” (2003) and “Music To Chase Cars By” (2006), and the reformation of The Stems in 2003 and long awaited comeback album, “Heads Up” in 2007. Dom also released a solo album,“Homespun Blues & Greens” in 2004 and in 2005 his twenty years in the music business culminated in the release of the career spanning retrospective, “Popsided Guitar – Anthology: 1984-2004“. His most recent release Rewind and Play for the Liberation Blue label(2010) is an album that handpicks songs from various Mariani vehicles and recasting them in a warm semi-acoustic format.

DM3 reformed in 2009 to perform at The Purple Festival in Spain. As a result of this reformation, 2010 saw DM3 invited to play the prestigious South By South West Festival in Austin Texas, proving to audiences that genuine rock’n'roll from Australia is amongst the finest in the world. The band followed their SXSW stint with a series of concerts throughout Spain where Mariani has a long established fanbase.

This tour sees the timely re-release of Dom Mariani’s career retrospective,”Popsided Guitar” on the Liberation label sees DM3 performing their first shows on the East Coast since the late 90′s. And to celebrate, Mariani has put together a group including Ashley Naylor (Even, Paul Kelly), Stu Loasby (Datura, The Rippled Souls & 6s & 7s) and original DM3 drummer Pascal Bartolone.

Dates

Thu 6^th Oct Mustang Bar, Perth, WA

Fri 7^th Oct  Clancy’s Fremantle, WA

Sat 8^th Oct Devilles Pad, Perth, WA

Thu 13^th Oct The Basement, Sydney, NSW

Sat 15^th Oct Caravan Club, Oakleigh, VIC

Sun 16^th Oct Northcote Social Club, VIC

 

Dom Mariani – Rewind And Play (Liberation)

Dom Mariani is somewhat of a hidden Australian pop-rock treasure. Through bands such as The Stems, The Someloves and DM3 he created a body of work that should have him regarded as a peer of acclaimed international artists of a similar ilk like Ken Stringfellow, Evan Dando, Pat Dinizio, Matthew Sweet and Mitch Easter – masterful creators of melodic power-pop tunes and memorable, often under-stated sparkling indie gems.

On this album he takes a selection of songs from all three of those bands, a couple of solo recordings and even one cover (Here Comes The Night as previously performed ina more epic manner by Van Morrison) and re-makes them in a semi-acoustic mode. “Semi-acoustic” shouldn’t be taken to mean a folky album of strummed guitars though– the core arrangements are supplemented by some lovely keyboard work and plenty of tasty electric guitar lines.

But the emphasis is on the songs and while Mariani isn’t a vocalist of “Farnhamesque” proportions his gentle melodic reading of these songs in this context is ideal and appealing. Dare I say it, he actually seems to take some vocal cues from the late Alex Chilton – making his delivery all about an honest and pure reading of the songs more than appearing desperate to impress.

There are some absolute gems here – Just Like Nancy (Girl In Boots), Melt and Sunshine’s Glove are three that jump out at me immediately and of course At First Sight (which closes this album) is, and always will be, one of Australia’s great contemporary guitar pop songs.

There’s probably nothing about this album that is suddenly going to change everything and alert a worldwide audience to the quality of Mariani’s songwriting but that doesn’t prevent this being a completely worthwhile and delightful exercise. Great songs performed with great taste and pure intent – you can’t ask more than that.