Melbourne three piece The Casanovas' retro-powerchords are making waves abroad as Steve Tauschke discovers from singer/guitarist Tommy Love.

The band was recently been signed to UK label The Singles Society and now you've suddenly been invited to tour Europe with The Datsuns.

Do you feel you’ve somehow been plucked from obscurity?

"It sort of seems too good to be true, especially for us, because when we started I sort of felt like we had no expectations to break out of the pub scene, let alone go to England and America and Europe. I’ve never been overseas besides South East Asia. I think that a lot of it is just timing and luck and I’m not discounting the fact that I think we’re a good band. Doing the Datsuns tour here and then them asking us to tour overseas, things like that have really gone in our favour. But it’s brilliant. I’m really excited."

You’re following in the footsteps of Jet. What are your thoughts on them?

"I really like Jet. Musically, I think they’re really good and they’re really cool dudes. It’s kind of interesting for me to see from their point of view becoming relatively successful and suffering a local backlash and how they’ve dealt with. I remember about a year after we started we copped a few bad reviews and I remember at the time that getting to me a little bit. It gets you down, the first time you cop a bit of bad press but you learn that it’s all part and parcel of what you’re doing. You need to have a clear vision of what you’re doing and not worry about what other people are saying about you."

The new single Shake It features a cover of AC/DC's Riff Raff. How far does that song go to encapsulating what the Casanovas are all about?

"I’ve always loved 70s guitar rock n’ roll and those guitar tones. This might sound silly but it’s really sexual, haaa. At the root of it, it’s really sexy sounding music. It’s tough and has a lot of heart as well as well. I kind of feel like it's AC/DC’s version of Led Zeppelin’s Rock ‘, Roll. It’s one of their best songs in terms of the riff. The beauty of music and a song like that is that it’s straight to the point and has you by the balls from the word go and doesn’t let go. And it’s got a really, really long guitar break. Haaaa!"

I believe you worked in an adult book shop. Is that where you derived your hormonally charged lyrics?

"I don’t really think our lyrics are necessarily sexually charged, I just think the music in a sense has those twos and fours, that beat, you know, like sex. But I don’t find the adult book store inspiring, it’s not like I’m looking at magazines and thinking I have to write a song about doggy style. I actually got that job because I needed a job where I could just chill out and do nothing."

Tell us about some of your favourite gear.

"I’ve got a couple of really nice guitars. I started off on a beautiful old '69 Gibson SG which is a real Angus style one. It’s a great guitar but as a three piece it wasn’t really, it has a really treble-y tone so I actually recently traded that in. Now I’ve got a '75 Gretsch Rockjet, like on Shake It you can hear the rhythm guitar sounds done with a Gretsch which gives it that Malcolm Young tone. I’ve got a '79 Les Paul which is pretty much my standard live guitar. It's a really good workhorse. The beauty of Les Pauls, for a live three piece, is they have a lot of sustain and they fill right out and have a lot of bottom end. They don’t leave the sound thin or lacking at all. My piece de resistance is one I just bought recently. I paid $5000 for this 1968 Gibson ES335, a semi-hollow body. It’s fantastic, it sings.

"I’ve been listening to a lot of Ted Nugent’s Double Live Gonzo record and he uses a hollow bodied Gibson Birdland. It’s not the same as a 325 but it gives a pretty similar tone. Amp wise, I’m using an old 70s Marshall and I’ve just picked up an old 60s Fender Bassman which is really good for that kind of Nugent sound. I have one pedal that’s pretty special and that’s my original TS-808 Tubescreamer. I never buy anything new, pretty much everything I’ve got is old stuff. The old stuff was just made better. Amps just aren’t made like they used to be made. You can’t pick up a modern amp, plug it in and expect it to sound like Jimmy Page."

by Steve Tauschke

Shake It is available on Rubber Records.