Vintage Rock – September-October 2019

M

usic runs deep in the blood of Danny “O”, frontman of one of the hottest

new acts on the British rockabilly scene. Taking his stage name from his

father Paul Dawkins – of Paul “O” & His Big Guitar – Danny first drew attention

with The Caezars and Thee DB3 before assembling The Astrotones last year. The quartet –

featuring guitarist Sam French, drummer Curtis Doel and bassist Steve Neller – arrive with a

bang on their debut album Introducing..., a reminder of the visceral power of rockabilly.

You recorded your dad’s song Machine

Gun on the album?

He unfortunately had an accident in 2003

that left him wheelchair-bound and unable

to play guitar. I started playing guitar a few

years after that and I’ve always done at least

one of his songs in all of the bands that I’ve

been in as a way to keep the flag flying.

I used his old guitar when I was playing

with The Caezars. We played at a festival in

Spain and the airline lost my Telecaster. It

was the weekend before my 18th birthday,

I got back, and he gave me this homemade

guitar called the Astrotone, so that’s why

the band is called The Astrotones. It’s been

passed down to me to do the job of scaring

people with loud rock’n’roll music.

Do you still play that guitar now?

My guitar is a copy of Dad’s guitar built by

WORDS BY DAVID WEST

Danny “O” (third from left) and his
snazzily-garbed Astrotones

Danny “O”

& The Astrotones

Sharp threads, killer riffs, and a handmade guitar launch

The Astrotones into the rockabilly stratosphere

a very good friend of mine called Little Carl

and it’s called Astrotone Mark II. I didn’t

want to tour with Dad’s guitar anymore, it

had been signed by Link Wray, it has a huge

emotional attachment, and I didn’t really

want to be playing it night in, night out. I’ve

broken it twice as it is. Now I use the Mark

II, but I still take Dad’s guitar to every gig

and it’s my back-up. I realised by having

Dad’s guitar there, he’s always got my back,

which sounds a little bit corny. I didn’t do

it for that reason, but he pointed it out to

me. He passed away last year, which makes

everything bittersweet with it.

Did you have some time away from music

after The Caezars split?

ON THE

RADAR

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