The Dames

Melbourne three-piece The Dames, featuring Clare Moore on drums and vocals, Kaye-Louise Patterson on piano, vocals and flute and Rosie Westbrook on bass, are augmented for live performances by Dave Graney on guitar and Will Hindmarsh on synthesiser. They have just released a self-titled album and are about to begin a tour that will take them to Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane, as well as performing at Northcote Social Club on September 29. Clare Moore, who worked with Sister Janet Mead in the early 70s – she has some fond and interesting memories of that time – says The Dames came about when she worked on a solo album by Patterson and loved the way it sounded with two female voices. “I’d started playing drums with Kaye when she put out an album called International Traveller and we had the idea I could do some of my songs in her band. So The Dames came about that way because we liked the idea of having two vocalists to give it a different focus. And we originally had Adele Pickvance on bass but she moved up to Sydney. But we knew Rosie, who’s a bit of a gun for hire around Melbourne, due to her working with Mick Harvey. “While Kaye’s songs and mine are quite different, they do seem to complement each other really well,” Moore adds. English musician Barry Adamson, who is again playing with Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, mixed the album, which boasts such guests as Ash Naylor of Even as well as guitarists Matt Walker and Craig Pilkington. “I knew Barry from his days with (UK band) Magazine and he’d also played with one of the original Bad Seeds’ line-ups which Dave (Graney) and I had supported a few times as The Moodists,” Moore reveals. “He’s a pretty friendly chap and he did some production for Dave Graney & The Coral Snakes many years ago and then asked Dave to do the liner notes for his first solo album, Moss Side Story. “So The Dames got to support Barry when he last toured Australia and after seeing us, he asked if he could work with us. He loved it and was side of stage all night with a big smile on his face. So we were pretty happy about that. We did the modern thing by sending the files to him by Dropbox. “It all happened just before Barry was asked to rejoin The Bad Seeds, so it was good because otherwise it may not have worked. And I don’t think Barry has actually re-surfaced again since playing with them.” The Dames’ 10-song album includes a cover of the John and Beverly Martyn song Auntie Aviator. “It’s from their early 70s album Road to Ruin, and I’d started doing it a while ago but it always goes down well,” Moore says. “There’s also another song from that same album, Primrose Hill, that we do as well.” The Dames Wheatsheaf Hotel (Thebarton) Sunday, November 3 from 4pm