Dynamo Go's Gian giving away their debut album to download. Dynamo Go's album The Fool of Fountain City expresses the folky acoustic pop group's unique take on living in Hamilton, once known as 'fountain city'. The band has had a number of line-up changes since it was formed in 2005, but frontperson Gian Perrone - that's him on the cover of the album - has been there from the start, and has recently been touring Dynamo Go with concert dates around the North Island. Gian tells GayNZ.com that he just loves making music. "There's two basic aspects to it, I guess. On one hand, there's the purely creative aspect - it's a way of channeling creativity. That's the more pretentious part. The other aspect is the fact that it's hugely social - the people in my band are my friends, and so in making music together, I get to see my friends and have a great time heading around the country playing shows and recording together and all those fun sorts of things." The lyrics are a cynical look at life in Hamilton, Gian explains. "'Fountain City' was the ill-fated marketing slogan for Hamilton a few years ago. It's pretty ironic because there are very few fountains in Hamilton - like, fewer than in most cities that don't claim to be 'Fountain City'. Because the album is largely about my experiences living in Hamilton, it seemed an apt sort of thing to reference. FINDING INSPIRATION Dynamo Go: The Fool of Fountain City So are Dynamo Go's songs based on real-life situations? "I generally write about characters, sometimes based on people I know, sometimes not. I really enjoy people-watching as an activity, so it kinda comes naturally to start telling stories about these people. "That said, sometimes writing a character is a way of capturing a feeling or reacting to a situation, so many of the songs are based on a slightly warped re-telling of things I have gone through." The sometimes-vibrant Hamilton music scene goes through phases, and it's going through a quiet patch at the moment, Gain admits. "But there is still stuff going on. The thing I love about the Hamilton scene is that it's reasonably small and close-knit, which is good fun. It's really accepting and friendly. It's nice to be able to go out in Hamilton to a show and know that you're gonna have a good time. I guess the smallness of Hamilton means there isn't a lot of room for divergence from the stereotypical rugby-and-beer kinda nightlife, but the Hamilton music scene has managed to carve out a little niche in the city and that's always great." BUDGET BLOW-OUT After spending considerable time, effort and money on producing their first album, Dynamo Go decided to release it under a Creative Commons licence, rather than go through the lengthy and expensive process of releasing the album for sale. "Basically, we blew our collective budgets recording the album," Gain confirms."We did most of it as cheaply as possible, but it was a pretty tight budget to start with. It's interesting that having finished recording an album is just the start of the expense if you want to do it properly. We put out an EP through a distributor available in stores last year and I think we've probably only just made our money back now. It's a big up-front investment that we just couldn't stump up this time. "So releasing it for free on our website is a great way to get people to listen to it (which is really what we want, mostly) and it avoids that huge uncertain investment that we would otherwise have to make to go the traditional route. Our hope is that people will turn up to shows and maybe they'll consider buying the next album we do!" HAVE A LISTEN! Download Dynamo Go's album The Fool of Fountain City free from the band's website, linked below. If you like what you hear, check them out live on these dates and venues: Hamilton - April 3rd - Ward Lane with The Dusk and No Fixed Abode Auckland - April 24th - Wine Cellar with Lindon Puffin and Panther and the Zoo Wellington - May 1st - Happy with the Sing Songs and guests Palmerston North - May 2nd - Bar Mode with guests Matt Akersten - 2nd April 2009