By Heath McLeod
I’m waiting around the office for an interview with Duotang. An hour passes, and they still haven’t called. I go over my options of what I can do if I don’t get to chat with them. Perhaps I could review something special, like eating an apple. Or maybe I could regurgitate some scores from the World Cup.
I sit down to do some menial tasks-polish the editor’s boots, file bad copy and scrape gum off the floor. In the middle of making some coffee Sean Allum of Duotang calls and takes me away from my chores.
Rod Slaughter and Sean Allum are Duotang, and when they signed to Mint Records they were only together for six months.Unsure of what to do with their new-found success, Allum comes to the astute conclusion that "we were just two fools who thought, ‘hey lets play bass and drums!’"
Before their latest album, The Bright Side, they were on a break for two years. Allum went to school, Slaughter to the pop-rock group Novillero. Worried that people would forget about them, they put The Bright Side together.
"The next hiatus we take will be because Rod is getting up there in age," said Allum. "It will be when he’s in the grave."
Together for six years, Duotang have built a strong bond–almost a little too strong.
"It’s like being a married couple, we bicker and everything, but it’s easier to get our shit together that way," says Allum. "We’re just two guys trying to make it, like Thelma and Louise."
Duotang seem envious of four-piece bands in their own way. It’s an unfounded position, but Allum is a believer.
"It’s a little easier for us because we’re a bass and drums band," says Allum. "It doesn’t sound as good, but people enjoy it."