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Press Release
Let's try to make a long story short. The Dallas Explosion is not a band, it's
the solo project of Geoffrey "Dallas" Hautvas. He's the one who writes
the songs, records them (with the precious help of few friends), finds the gigs,
the musicians and why not a record deal and so on! He is helped by his good friend
Cedric "Morris" Raymond who plays the bass, the piano and the drums
on the records.
So "The Dallas Explosion" is:
Geoffrey "Dallas" Hautvas (21) : vocals and guitar
Cedric "Morris" Raymond (20) : bass guitar and organ
Xavier Rogé (21) : drums
A little bit of History :
Dallas started writing songs for this project around December 1999, until that
time he and Morris were playing in a cover band and in a French pop band (No need
for names, we have all done mistakes). This is their second demo CD. The first
one was released in June 2000 but being very lazy people, they only sent it to
three addresses : The Monster Talent Hunt 2000. They went to the final at the
Botanique (Brussels), didn't win but it was their first concert with this band
and it was a pretty good start ! The Concours Circuit 2000. They went to the 1Ú2
finals and got some very interesting contacts! The Rif-Raf Magazine. They wrote
a good review in their "kick-off" column.
Their influences :
Dallas : The Velvet Underground, The Beatles, old blues stuff like John Lee Hooker,
Muddy Waters, T-Bone Walker, Peter Green, Johnny Guitar Watson, Little Walter
, jazz stuff like Miles, Coltrane, Grant Green , soul giants like Sam and Dave,
Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, and new bands like Weezer, Reef,
The Black Crowes, Palace, Soulwax, (too many)
Morris : Radiohead, Jaco Pastorius, Stevie Wonder, Aka Moon, The Doors, Mother
Earth,...
Xavier : Pat Methany, John Scofield, Aka Moon, Greeting from Mercury, jungle music
, no rock!
Their side projects :
- Dallas:
-a vintage blues band based in Brussels featuring Roger Carlier (Burning Plague)
and Werner Braito (Vaya Con Dios, Purple Prose, The Wild Ones).
- still trying to form a noise pop band as a drummer this time!
- Morris:
-Keyboard player in the "John Arcadius and Band"
-Few backing as a jazz musician with Toots Thielemans, Pierre Vandormael, Dj Grasshopa,
Zap mama's former singer and a lot more...
- Xavier:
- he's rehearsing with some really well known Belgian jazz musicians, watch out!
Their goals:
To find as many gigs as they can. Go to the studio to record their new songs (The
new demo just came out but they got tons of new materials) Be the most "international"
possible, which means at their level not just playing in the Brussels area and
the French speaking part of this little country.
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My Opinion
What guts. The Dallas Explosion steps forward on this demo with the attitude
of the Gallagher brothers, and with the same mentality "steal from music
history and act as if it's a thing that you invented just now & there".
The songs & vocals of the very young Geoffrey "Dallas" Hautvas sound
like John Spencer at one moment, as Axl Rose a second, a bit later like Steve
Wynn with a cold or a depressive Mauro, and says goodbye as a 2nd hand Lenny Kravitz.
Despite the healthy ambition and a nice "dirtyness" about this demo,
the six tracks didn't convince me a 100% after all, as each & every song has
its "pudding moment". Positive is certainly also that it's nowhere to
be heard that this demo wasn't made in Dallas, Texas, but in - of all places -
Braine l'Alleud. Based on this demo and their recent victorious campaign in the
contest for a place at Marktrock, I'm reasonably confident this isn't the last
I (and you) will have heard from them.
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for a little audio-preview)