Son of Dave : 'Ain't Going To Nike Town'
I must admit to not having a clue what to expect from a band or artist named ‘Son of Dave’ and a song titled ‘Ain’t Going to Nike Town’. I mean, come again? Is this a band of brothers whose Dad is actually called Dave, whose lyrical subject of choice is in fact a sports brand? Surely not. So I got researching before I even played the record – perhaps that was wrong of me, but I felt like I needed some sort of indication as to what to expect and prepare for, I couldn’t walk straight in to Nike Town, no way – and what I found was that ‘Son of Dave’ is the pseudonym of one Benjamin Darvill, formerly a member of 90’s folk-rock band Crash Test Dummies. Well I never. At least this gave me a point of reference – Crash Test Dummies are a band I’m relatively familiar with and so, with hope restored that this record could be pretty decent, I let my computer have the CD and sat back to listen.
It’s perhaps ironic that in the face of my initial confusion the three minutes odd of music that followed are exactly what you’d expect of such a well-travelled musician. ‘Aint Going to Nike Town’ is an attack on the modern world, a siege on popular culture, and it’s one done with simple, straightforward style. It swaggers defiant, bleeds cool and saunters to its end at its own pace. Best of all, it doesn’t give a fuck what I think. That it seems is what Benjamin Darvill intended – he’s had his moment in the sun with Crash Test Dummies and now wants to tell us all what was wrong with that time of his life and what’s wrong with those who now turn similar circles. Lyrics aside, the music is nicely put together – a west-coast harmonica and summer beat setting the fractions for the words to keep to, and his voice is exactly what the song needs – he sounds like he’s just woken up from a long sleep, put on his shades and taken a walk down the beach, laying into the commercialised world he’s forced to live in as he strolls. Backing vocals and nice layering add spine to what is a relatively bare song, a strength that helps to support the meaning behind the song and ensures that what is essentially summertime pop retains its incisive cynicism.
Throughout this song is so much more complex than its final cut – it screams class in all it does and only fails on the grounds of it not being the type of song you can imagine a crowd of people latching on to. ‘Son of Dave’ won’t gain many more fans for this, but anyone who is lucky enough to stumble on it – like me – will find themselves looking out for him in the future and delving into his past.
9/10
Words: Benjamin Coley
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