HOTEL DYNAMITE, the debut album by DMC & FRIENDS, was released as a vinyl edition on the 4th March 2022. The record is protected by a gatefold cover designed by David Michael Clarke himself. The edition also includes an insert, allowing fans to discover the full lyrics, a text by the art critic Julie Martin, and more artwork by DMC.

Buy the vinyl album or download the digital tracks here at BANDCAMP.

The Musicians

Marie Barat – musician and film-maker (Aigue Morte).
David Michael Clarke – visual artist and musician (Post Gods).
Maxwell Farrington – musician et cook (Dewaere, Maxwell Farrington & Le Super Homard).
Jack Gaby – musician (Haircare, Stella Donnelly).
Bonella Holloway – visual artist and musician (Gla bre).
Yvan Poulain – curator et musician (L’Artothèque de Caen, La Cuisine, musée Calbet).
Nicolas Sentenac – musician (Hypnolove)

The Story

The album HOTEL DYNAMITE is a collection of songs that trace the story of a series of contemporary art exhibitions conceived by the franco-british visual artist, David Michael Clarke.

The story began back in 2014 when David Michael Clarke was working on a major exhibition at La Galerie du Dourven, in Brittany. The exhibition called the FLYING BLACK COW UTOPIA  CLUB 1#01, was inspired by Piacé-le-Radieux, a project by Le Corbusier that aimed to bring modernity to rural life. At the heart of this village that was never built, Le Corbusier proposed a « club », a cultural centre that would be a meeting place, a social hub that would enable the farmers and agricultural workers to break solitude and loneliness of rural life. A second exhibition FLYING BLACK COW UTOPIA CLUB #02 brought together twenty artists, designers and thinkers and attempted to offer at least a glimpse of a better world for every man, woman, child and animal.

After a long days work in the Dourven gallery, DMC would relax by making music with Elina Bry and Tristan Lefevre, two art students who had come to help him. Together they developed four songs, two that address the historical project as envisaged by Le Corbusier and two others that celebrate the remarkable contemporary project run by brothers Nicolas et Benoit Hérisson, that offers a surprising prolongation to the original research lead by the Swiss architecte in deepest Sarthe. The exhibition opened on June 21st, the French festival of music. In the place of the usual speeches, DMC and his students opted for an impromptu concert.

A couple of years later DMC was awarded an artist residency in the Tarn and found himself teaching as a visiting professor at the à l’IsdaT, the Institute Superior of Arts of Toulouse. It was not only a particularly productive time for DMC himself, but during this time he discovered and exchanged with many artists, young and not so young and the desire to embark upon new collaborative adventures started resurge once more. It wasn’t long before DMC was invited to conceive three new exhibitions, THE STUFF OF DREAMS for  the Calbet museum in Grisolles, MADAME ORAIN AND THE MAGIC BEAN for La Cuisine, centre for art and design in Nègrepelisse and HOTEL DYNAMITE for La Chapelle Saint Jacques, contemporary art centre in Saint-Gaudens.

Toulouse by night, and a chance encounter with Australian musician Maxwell Farrington  spawned a new friendship which grew through music into a songwriting duo. Five new songs were written, that tell the marvelous stories that underpin these three exhibitions, hedgehogs that wish they could fly, bean-shaped buildings, a past that could have too easily been forgotten, and dreams of a future, or of another world… Surrounded by friends old and new, DMC offered a free concert on the forecourt of the Calbet museum, Maxwell Farrington played keyboard and guitar, Yvan Poulain, previous director, participated with his trumpet and Bonella Holloway and Juliette Wouth, both young artists, sang along and added percussion. 

With enough songs to make an album and with the generous support of the three contemporary art centres and the Ministry of Culture and Communication, DMC was able to mount a project and start recording the tracks. New friends, or friends of friends, join in the adventure … notably Marie Barat, Jack Gaby and Nicolas Sentenac. When asked to describe the music, DMC calls it ART SCHOOL POP. It doesn’t seem to be listed as a genre, but it probably should be. Whatever it is musically, it’s a curious mixture that bears witness to an open and collective spirit.

The Songs

• tomorrow today
music : maxwell james farrington / lyrics : david michael clarke / arrangement : nicolas sentenac / voice : marie barat, DMC / guitar & keyboards : MJF / synthesisers & bass : nicolas sentenac.

• les frères hérisson
music : elina bry / lyrics : david michael clarke / arrangement : maxwell james farrington & nicolas sentenac / voice : marie barat, DMC, MJF, kevin colin / guitars : nicolas sentenac, jack gaby / keyboards & synthesisers : MJF / bass : nicolas sentenac.

• the call
music : maxwell james farrington / lyrics : david michael clarke / arrangement : nicolas sentenac / voice : DMC, MJF, bonella holloway, yvan poulain / keyboards & synthesisers : MJF / trumpet : DMC / recorder : yvan poulain / percussion : nicolas sentenac.

• la réponse
music : elina bry / lyrics : david michael clarke / arrangement : maxwell james farrington & nicolas sentenac /voice : DMC, bonella holloway, yvan poulain / keyboards & synthesisers : MJF / guitar & bass : nicolas sentenac.

• the hedgehog song
music : maxwell james farrington / lyrics : david michael clarke / arrangement : nicolas sentenac / voice : DMC, bonella holloway / keyboards & guitar : MJF / synthesisers & bass : nicolas sentenac / percussion : Nicolas sentenac.

• the haricot song
music : maxwell james farrington / lyrics : david michael clarke / arrangement : nicolas sentenac / voice : DMC, bonella holloway / keyboardss : MJF / synthesisers : nicolas sentenac / bass : jack gaby.

• everyone’s museum
music : maxwell james farrington / lyrics : david michael clarke / arrangement : nicolas sentenac / voice : bonella holloway, DMC / keyboards : MJF / trumpet & recorder : yvan poulain / synthesisers : nicolas sentenac.

• the stuff of dreams
music : maxwell james farrington / lyrics : david michael clarke / arrangement : nicolas sentenac / voice : DMC, MJF, bonella holloway / guitar, keyboards & bass : MJF / percussion : nicolas sentenac.

• hotel dynamite
music : maxwell james farrington / lyrics : david michael clarke /arrangement : nicolas sentenac / voice : marie barat, bonella holloway, DMC, jack gaby / guitar : MJF / keyboards & synthesisers : MJF / bass : nicolas sentenac.

Mixage and Mastering

The whole album was recorded and mixed in Toulouse by Nicolas Sentenac and mastered by Denis Degioanni.

Support

This project was made possible thanks to the generous support of the musée Calbet in Grisolles, La Cuisine, art and design centre in Nègrepelisse, La Chapelle Saint Jacques, contemporary art centre in Saint-Gaudens and the French Ministry of Culture and Communication.