INTERVIEW: Davey Lane is a Guitar-Wielding Man of the Cloth

As guitar maestro for the influential alternative act You Am I, Davey Lane helped pioneer a new era of Australian sound and style. And he’s not done yet. Ahead of his forthcoming solo album, “Finally, A Party Record”, Lane chatted with Man of Many about his influences, unexpected celebrity encounters, and why he wishes bands dressed better these days.

In terms of both his music and his wardrobe, Davey Lane has long been a master of the rock-star aesthetic. Whether fulfilling his duties as the lead guitarist of Australia’s beloved You Am I or building upon his stellar body of solo material, Lane’s blend of sonic and sartorial sensibilities has made him one of the most reliably stylish musicians we can call our own. 

So, when I heard he had a new album on the way—the truly excellent and somewhat sardonically titled “Finally, A Party Record”—I tried my darndest to set up an interview. Much to my surprise, the dramatically debonair Lane was more than happy to hop on the line to chat music, clothes, guitars, and his forthcoming opus. 

Dialling in from Darwin during a stop on You Am I’s “Hi-Fi Way” anniversary tour just a few hours before taking the stage, Lane freely discussed his new release, how to add a little rock-star flair to your wardrobe, and the aggressive psychedelia of a night out with Oasis’ Liam Gallagher.

It’s My Party & I’ll Cry If I Want To

Starting with the recent single and sumptuous piece of Neil Finn-esque pop Over, Over & Out, Lane explains that the song, like its parent album, is demonstrative of a comfort he’s developed with allowing his foundational influences to show through. While there can be a sensitivity or even stigma among some musicians when using sounds established by artists that have become the bedrock of contemporary music, Lane’s at ease with not trying to reinvent the wheel. 

“When I was younger and started making my own records, I thought, okay, I’m going to make a concerted effort to embrace new influences that’ve been percolating in my head. Nothing I make is going to sound like You Am I or The Beatles,” he explains. ”But eventually I thought, who cares? That’s in my blood ‘til the day I die, so why deny it? I’m now mature enough not to worry about stuff like that, and while I really hope people enjoy the record, I’m making it for my own creative satisfaction as well.”

I don’t think Lane should harbour too many concerns about whether listeners will enjoy his latest effort. “Finally, A Party Record” is a highly rewarding and richly layered exploration of his musical identity, and despite the impressive variety of sounds on offer, the whole feels more cohesive than it might in a lesser musician’s hands. From sleek synths that call to mind the neon skyline of ‘80s Miami to biting guitars that echo The Replacements, the album wears its influences on its sleeve. Yet, it never approaches the derivative. In fact, it’s a fantastic example of one of pop music’s great traditions: pairing catchy melodies and soaring musicality with deeply personal and, at times, dark lyrics.

“I try to write positive, upbeat songs, and you know what? That’s hard. It’s fucking hard.”

“I can’t do it without feeling disingenuous,” Lane laughs with a hint of self-deprecation. “So if I get into that zone where I’m feeling anger or whatever, I’d rather write a song than say something I might regret.”

This approach has served Lane well across his new 10-song collection, whether it helped realise the boy-girl dynamics of Absent Lover, the beautiful yet heart-wrenching despair of God, I’m Fucked Up Over You, or Remedies’ potent sense of isolation, acutely expressed in the lyric “How clearer can I say that I am not okay?”

When it comes to the latter of these, Lane reveals the song was written while he was enduring Melbourne’s notorious COVID-19 lockdowns: “Like a lot of people, I was at a point where I was just drinking all day. Any time I see a picture from around then (not that a lot of pictures were being taken at the time), I look ruddy and puffed up, because what the fuck else was there to do? So the song is about that. There have been other songs on vices that are certainly more profound or articulate, but this is just another one of them.”

Remedies is a better song than Lane gives himself credit for, although it’s arguably overshadowed by the track that follows, If It Can Rain, It’ll Rain. Closing out the album, it starts as a grand slice of ‘60s pop—something like an Australian sibling to The Beatles’ A Day in the Life—before transforming halfway through to become a glorious, bittersweet singalong that’s utterly infectious.

Tools of the Trade

When I ask how Lane created the affecting tones found on that closing track and “Finally, A Party Record” more broadly, our talk inevitably turns to guitars, of which he has a few (36 to be precise). 

“I’ve got three or four Fender Telecasters and they’re always my go-to. But I’ve been embracing Stratocasters over the last few years,” he reveals, almost like a confession. “I’ve got this black Strat, which has become a real favourite of mine. And it’s funny, because right through the indie-rock snob era that was my early 20s, I’d say that I’m never playing a Strat. And even when You Am I did a few tours with The Strokes, I was thinking, oh, Albert Hammond, he’s cool, but I can’t believe he’s playing a Strat. Then again, he was pretty pivotal in making that guitar cool again.” 

Lane also used an authentic remake of the Red Special—the guitar Queen’s Brian May built with his father because they couldn’t afford to buy one—and you can absolutely hear those iconic tones punctuated throughout the record. 

“It’s an amazing guitar,” Lane enthuses. “There’s a guy in Sydney named Greg Fryer who restored Brian May’s original Red Special in the late ‘90s and made three replicas for him, too. He had a box full of spare parts to make a fourth guitar, and he told me he’d rather it go to somebody who’ll actually play it, rather than a collector. So, with his help, I made an authentic Red Special, and I used that quite a bit on the record as well.”

Close Encounters

As someone who’s been in one of Australia’s favourite bands for the best part of three decades, Lane has stories others would kill for. However, he’s far from a name dropper. For example, it’s only with my encouragement that he affectionately describes his excitement at meeting Rolling Stone Keith Richards and his horror at feeling the icon’s incredibly weak handshake: “It was like shaking a wet, dead fish.” 

Later, he recounts having a panic attack while You Am I was on tour in support of The Who, only to come across an unlikely saviour: “I was walking around the bowels of Sydney’s Entertainment Centre and having what I now recognise as an anxiety attack. My heart was pounding. I was freaking out. And then I bumped into something. Looking up, it was Roger Daltrey [The Who’s lead singer]. I said, ‘Oh, I’m sorry!’ [here, Lane feigns a voice akin to The Simpsons’ Squeaky-Voiced Teen], and he was like, [adopts a gruff London accent] ‘That’s all right. My name’s Rog.’”

Lane continues, “He took me to find the rest of my band, sat us down, and gave us this most wonderful little pep talk before we played. He said, [again, gruff London accent] ‘Look, you’re playing before The Who. It’s not an easy show to do. Put your heads down, play, and have a good time!’”

When I ask if there are any other such encounters he remembers particularly vividly, Lane recalls a night that started with a phone call from his mate, Nic Cester of Jet. 

“He called me and asked, ‘What are you doing right now?’ I was just having a quiet drink with my girlfriend, so he told me to head immediately to the Flower Drum, a fancy-pants Chinese restaurant in Melbourne. I arrived, and it’s Nic, Stevie, who was playing keys in Jet at the time, and Liam Gallagher, along with his two security guards. 

“I was like, ‘Oh, fuck!’ because Nic had made no mention that this was what it was going to be. He suggested we all head back to his place, but we needed drinks, so we stopped at a 24-hour bottle shop on the way. Liam started pointing, saying, ‘I’ll have a fucking bottle of that, a fucking bottle of that, and a fucking bottle of that.’ I just grabbed some wine, and he told me to chuck it in with his bottles. Not wanting to be presumptuous, I pulled out my wallet to chip in, and he poked me in the shoulder and said, ‘Do you know how much fucking money I’ve got?’ 

“Anyway, the night went on, and we ended up in Nic’s bathroom, you can connect the dots on that one, and Liam was lying in the bath. I told him I really like his song Born on a Different Cloud from Oasis’ “Heathen Chemistry” album, and I know how to play it. His response? ‘I bet you 50 quid you can’t play it from start to finish.’ 

“So I grabbed Nic’s guitar and started playing. It came to the part where the vocal kicks in, and I said, ‘Well, if I’m gonna play, you’ve gotta sing!’ So he did, and it was surreal. In my mind, I was asking, ‘What the fuck is happening?!’” Laughing, Lane says, “We came to the end of the song and I asked, ‘Okay, where’s my 50 quid?’ And he replied, ‘Yeah, you got a fucking chord wrong in the middle.’”

Life is a Party, Dress Like It

Having covered Lane’s music, his extensive guitar collection, and his knack for rubbing shoulders with music icons, I couldn’t allow our discussion to end without asking about his wardrobe. As I mentioned at the outset, he has a sartorial sensibility few can match, which is helped by the fact that he’s one-quarter of that rarest of beasts: an Australian band whose members actually dress like rock stars. 

For my money, young Aussie groups all too often look like they’ve just knocked off from a shift behind the bar. When I put this to Lane, he chuckles, saying, “I do sometimes wish younger bands would dress better.”

So, how does Lane walk the fine line of dressing like a man who belongs on stage without wavering into territory occupied by the likes of Justin Hawkins of The Darkness? Not to throw any shade at Justin.

“I see photos of myself when I was younger, and I probably wouldn’t go as Carnaby-Street dandy as I did back then,” Lane reveals. “The thing is, while I enjoy going out shopping, I really dislike clothes shopping. I hate the idea of going out to try things on and looking at myself in the mirror. Something about that makes me feel really uneasy.”

So online retail is something of a godsend for Davey Lane?

“Absolutely. I love getting stuff online. For example, I had an ad come up for this website called OXKnit, and I’ve bought a bunch of stuff from there. Their clothes are fucking fantastic.”

I take no small amount of pride in saying that my online shopping behaviour means I, too, have been served the same OXKnit ads. 

“I’m really into ‘70s Levi’s Sta-Prest trousers at the moment, and that whole vintage look is very much my cup of tea,” Lane continues. “There’s a vintage store up in Queensland called Arkive, and Angie, who runs the place, is someone I’ve known for a few years. She has such a great eye, and she’ll send me stuff, and it fits fucking great. I don’t have any one particular thing that I go for, but fit is important. Whatever you wear, you have to feel confident in, which is another reason I wouldn’t try to dress like Paul Weller anymore.”

While I think Lane could get away with some of that particular music legend’s looks more effortlessly than most, he undeniably has his own thing going on. To wrap things up, I ask what advice he can share for those who might want to incorporate a little of his signature pizzazz into their wardrobe. 

“I can’t stand skinny jeans, but for the male folk out there, don’t be afraid to trawl the women’s section. Sure, you might get a funny look or two, but don’t let that stop you. And don’t underestimate the difference a really nice belt can make to your outfit.”

Words to live by.

Davey Lane’s “Finally, A Party Record” is out tomorrow. Catch it in all the usual streaming places, or better yet, pick up a copy on vinyl. It’s hard to think of a new album more suited to that format. You can also catch Lane performing at the following dates:

• Melbourne — John Curtin Hotel — 28 August 
• Sydney — The Chippo Hotel — 29 August
• Brisbane — The Outpost Bar — 30 August