Dan Kelly Interview

Dan Kelly: Flaming tornadoes not pictured

THE FORCES of cool may shout him down, but Dan Kelly has some gold from ye olde brain town. The singer songwriter's new single, Bindi Irwin Apocalypse Jam, has attracted attention largely due to the
first two words in the title, but the epic underwater jam isn't a condemnation, it's more of a compliment. After all, who better to have as an underwater guide than Australia's premiere khaki-clad eco-warrior? While Kelly can understand the fuss the title might bring, he's not buying into the Bindi Irwin backlash.
"I don't know that she's heard it, I think it would depend on how up with pop culture she is, maybe if I was more popular she might have heard it,'' he said.
"I'd like to think the song is pretty kind to her. I certainly didn't plan it like this, because the song was recorded a year ago, mixed six months ago and we decided to release it three months
ago, and between then and now you've had all these people lashing out at her, and I'm definitely not trying to do that.''
"I mean if you're going to be a child star I think, y'know trying to save animals is really an ok thing, I find it hard to get angry at that. The money wouldn't hurt either."
The song, inspired by the Beatles and Jimi Hendrix's 1983...(A Merman I Shall Turn To Be), chronicles Kelly's retreat underwater, with Bindi and Terri Irwin acting as guides - along with Ringo Starr and Hendrix. It's a celebration that ends on a down note, with Kelly forced back onto the burnt earth by Irwin's fashion sense.
"That's really the only thing I had a go at her about, because wearing Khaki all the time would be pretty grating. I see the song like the start of a lot of bands, you start out playing and it's fan
tastic, and by the end of it you're saying to yourself that if one of the other band members wears that brown leather jacket one more time you're going to throw yourself into flaming tornado.''
If you hadn't already guessed, Kelly is as much a storyteller as a
songwriter and while his free solo show at the Prince of Wales Hotel on Wednesday won't be as loud as his band shows - "funnily enough I couldn't get the entire band to take the week off work" -it will be memorable for all the right reasons.
"Solo shows for me are about the stories behind the songs as much as they are about the songs. I'll get people to sing along and they're usually pretty fun. I've got some songs about WA, one is the first track on the new album - and I'm looking forward to actually playing them in WA. Hopefully you'll ask your friends to come so I'm not playing to a big empty room.''