This is a recent interview with Dom Mariani of The Stems, DM3, The Someloves and other various projects. Many thanks to Dom for the time he spent answering these questions for Distorsioni.
By Ricardo Martillos (English Translation by Myriam Bardino)
1) What about the guitar lessons at Richard Lane in 1983, is this story true?
Is it following these guitar jam sessions that you came up with the idea of forming a band?
This is true, and more or less how the band started. I was introduced to Richard by a mutual friend Gary Constantine. They would both come to see me play in another band at The Wizbah (an inner city Perth venue). He like my band and asked me for guitar lessons. I was teaching a little at the time, but I wouldn’t call myself a proper guitar teacher. From a few lesson I noticed that Richard could play well and found out that he could also play keyboards, harmonica and enjoyed singing. We talked about music a lot,.. he liked The Sunnyboys and The Saints and I introduced to some 60’s music that he hadn’t heard of . This gave me the idea of asking him about being in a new band I was planning. This band became The Stems.
2) How important was the 60’ USA Garage punk such as: Electric Prunes, Standells, The Chocolate Watch Band, in the decision process of forming your band? And what about the Australian garage punk like The Masters Apprentices & The Missing Links?
The Electric Prunes are a big influence. I first discovered them on Nuggets and soon after found a copy of their Underground in a discount record store. This was like finding gold. It’s still one of my all time favorite albums,… The Standells, Chocolate Watch band,…Music Machine all had some influence on The Stems,…as did the Australian bands like The Masters and The Easybeats. The Masters are incredible,,,The Missing Links I discovered later.
3 ) Following your first two great 7”, quite sixties orientated, it’s quite clear that in your first ep “love will grow” you guys decided to smoothen your sound into more melodic lines ? Did you want to enlarge your fan base or was this only a pure sound evolution?
The songwriting took a natural progression, but going into a bigger and more sophisticated studio (Trafalgar) with Rob Younger and Alan Thorne’s production team, these were also factors in the way that record eventually sounded. Tears Me in Two and Can’t Resist were recorded during the same session.
4) How come that the great Citadel Record of John Needham missed the chance of publishing your first record? Do you sincerely think that your record would have sounded different, maybe a little bit grittier? And talking about Citadel, strangely enough your first 2 studio albums were not released on this label, but on the other hand they published 3 of yours anthologies. Is there any explanation?
It was more a case of opportunity really. John couldn’t afford to pay for the recording of those albums, so we had to go with someone that could. John also personally managed Died Pretty, they were his main focus at the time. I’ve always maintained a good relationship with John and wherever possible give him the opportunity to release music.
5) Is it difficult for you that The Stems is considered the band of Dom Mariani?
I have noticed that Richard Lane sings some of the songs like: Tears Me In Two, Under Your Mushroom, Rosebud , and a lot of more. What is his contribution?
It depends on how you see the band. Even tough I am considered the main song writer in The Stems Richard did contribute songs in the earlier part, but the tunes that Richard sung were mostly written by Julian Matthews (bass) who usually doesn’t get much credit for it.
6) Radio Birdman and The Saints have been two of the most influential bands of the 70’s. What do these bands mean for an “aussie” musician? What is your relationship with other great bands like : Bands di Perth, The Triffids e The Scientists?
There’s no doubt both Radio Birdman and The Saints helped pave the way for the scene in the 80’s. The Saints were more of an influence on me than Radio Birdman. It wasn’t until we moved to Sydney in ’85 that I came to appreciate Birdman more and realize the impact they’d made on the inner city scene there.
I was never much of a Triffids fan,..but the Scientists were a great band! I saw them play many times and would consider them the best band to come from Perth. Some of those shows in the early 80’s were amazing and inspired me to start a band like The Stems.
7) Why and how did you decide to break “The Stems” up in October 1987? Everyone was puzzled by this decision because it was a period where your band was quite popular and you records were always in the Australian alternative charts.
It just happened that way. Constant touring, poor management and tensions inside the group all played their part. Recording the At Fist Sight album wasn’t a smooth process and things started to deteriorate from there.
The band had become quite popular, and with a major label commitment it meant a lot more touring and being available for all the things that go with publicising a band on the way up. The band sort professional management which ultimately didn’t have the group’s real interests at heart. I started to question this and in the end decided to walk away from it.
8) The 2003 reunion and the following European tour was an inner nurtured idea or was it a consequence of the pressure of your fans, that were satisfied from The Someloves and DM3 but nostalgic of The Stems songs? And what about the European welcoming, how was it?
Our first reunion was in ’97 (10 years after we’d broken up) and then a year later (’98) we played the Mudslinger festival, but these shows were only in Perth. It wasn’t until 2003 that the idea of a full reunion tour was a serious proposition. It came from a promoter who suggested we do an Australian tour and things just happened from there. We were all a bit surprised by the response,….old fans and new. This eventually lead to the band staying together for another 7 years which included recording another album and touring Europe, Japan and the US. It was a lot of fun…
9) What about the 2007 tour with Hoodoo Gurus and Radio Birdman?
Could you tell us any stories about Rob Younger and Deniz Tek, two of the main characters of the Rock Aussie scene? Would you like to play in a band with them, or do you think that they are a little bit too egocentrics?
That was a cool tour. It came the right time for us. Heads Up had been out a couple of weeks. We had something to promote – our first album in 20 years. Both Rob and Deniz are super nice guys. I know Rob a little better having worked with him on the early Stems recordings and most recently The DomNicks mini album.
I’d work with either of them no problem. They are real music people who are passionate about their art.
10) Which of the 2 albums you recorded, better identifies the Stems sound?
I feel closer to the first two 7inches but I am positively surprised about the ability you had to combine such beautiful melodies with love lyrics like in Love Will Grow and At First Sight, one of your most popular song.
I think the last album Heads Up is close to what the band sounded like at this time. The melody above all is the most distinctive part of the Stems sound, while at the same time to keep it rocking. I prefer the sound of Love Will Grow recording to At First Sight album. There are some good songs on the At First Sight album, but I’m not that fond of the production.
11) In 2010, the Italian label Misty Lane, published the excellent anthology “From the Vault”. What are the differences between the Italian/European and the Australian public?
Not really sure…I guess the fans might be a little more passionate.
12) As vinyl collector I am positively surprised that your releases are available on vinyl, is it your own choice or is it casual?
Casual…Misty Lane approached us to do it. It’s great to have it out there on vinyl again. I’d love to have Heads Up available on vinyl.
13) This 2010 Farewell Tour is definitely The Stems last chapter? Or are you ready to surprise us and would you consider re-thinking about it? I read in a 2009 interview that you said the following “"This is our first farewell. We did break up once but we weren't in good enough shape to say goodbye. This time we'll end it off on a good note. The band's going really well but you just know when it's time to go". Could you please explain us how we need to understand this message?
It was the last shows. We often joke about the farewell and reunion thing, ‘cause I we’ve done it twice,…and the second time it lasted longer than the first. At this point I can’t see us ever doing it again as the original line-up. The door is not closed, but it would be a different line-up if The Stems were to play again.
14) In conclusion I would like to ask you a question that I had in mind from a long time. Your surname, Mariani sounds very latin: have you got any Italian ancestors or family?
My origins are Italian. My parents come from the Abruzzo region.
They immigrated to Australia in the fifties. I still have relatives there in Vasto, Uncles, Aunts and cousins.
I have visited many times and once toured with DM3 in 2001 at the invitation of Gene Gnochi who had the TV show Perepepe.
