I’m not sure what the career guidance counsellor might have suggested to Melbourne school boy Dave Lane in 1998 as his options for future employment. I’m certain that joining his favourite professional rock band the next year was not one of them. But that’s exactly what happened.

Dave had been involved in the construction of the You Am I website. As a talented guitarist, his job was to work out the band’s guitar tablature for placement on the site. Dave had to sit down and dissect Tim Rogers’ material, piece by piece. It was this intimate knowledge of the You AM I catalogue combined with a chance impromtu jam with the group, and a fair amount of natural guitar ability that lead to Dave Lane becoming the fourth member of the band.

Prior to joining You Am I, Lane was content to sit in his bedroom with his Samick guitar playing songs by the Who, The Jam and of course Tim Rogers. Since then he’s toured several times with the band and has just recorded his first You Am I album "Dress Me Slowly". Australian Musician’s Greg Phillips caught up with Dave Lane reflecting on the road he’s travelled so far.

"It’s something I would never have dreamed of a couple of years ago." Said Lane " I just met the band at a show, had a chat and we all seemed to get along alright. We love the same records, love Telecasters, Tonemasters, there’s a kind of kinship there. Just got to playing one day in a rehearsal studio."

You would have known the songs back to front from doing the guitar tab for the website?

"Yeh, from that point of view I suppose it was convenient. I knew their open tunings and dropped A’s and D’s."

So what was Tim looking for in an extra guitarist?

"I guess someone else to play off. Playing as a three piece they sounded great, but I suppose there are certain holes in the music, or spaces where I could fit in."

  How much creative input were you allowed as the new guy in the band?

"When it got to making the record I had been in the band for about 18 months, had time to settle in, but Tim writes some incredible bloody songs. It’s just a privilege to get to play on them. Tim would send me a tape of his demos and I would work out a part and then get together and work on it so that we’re not all playing the same thing. You know Tim might do something where he plays with a capo on the fourth fret and I tune to E flat just to have a differentiation."

You Am I has always had a fairly bare sound with not a lot of effects or overdubs, that seems to be the case again with this album?

"Yes definitely, it doesn’t sound overproduced does it? The songs that Tim writes don’t require orchestras or soundscapes or Norman Cook embellishing them with break beats. We did some work with one producer who was keen to push that sort of thing, but the producer we ended up working with, Cliff Norell has worked with REM and The Pixies, Replacements. So what we did was similar in the way that some of those bands’ records were produced. Cliff didn’t try to make the songs something they weren’t. They are just recorded well and mixed brilliantly."

Do you think you have to get along with a producer personally as well as musically to get a good result?

"Definitely. You need to be able to sit down and go to the pub and have a beer and a chat and be able to talk about things. You don’t necessarily have to like the same things. But if you’re a Stones fan it helps if you all like Sticky Fingers and Exile On Main Street and not Undercover and Dirty Work!"

The record company were keeping a close eye on the project asking for new demos etc, how did the band cope with that?

"The demo process is arduous in a way and more frustrating than going in and making the record, which was just a joy. The record company in America, RCA were more involved. The frustrating things were like sitting at home waiting for a phone call to say they liked our demos, but in the end the songs we liked best are the ones that ended up on the record."

Tell me about the gear you use with the band?

"When I joined the band I borrowed a couple of Tim’s guitars and just went for broke. I didn’t really know the sound I was looking for. But I’ve fallen in love with Telecasters really. I’ve got a 72 Thinline which is my main guitar, that looks like a beaten up piece of shit but sounds like a dream. The next thing I’d really love to get is a big old hollow body kind of thing, a Gretsch or Guild. I‘ve seen the way Living End’s Chris Cheney approaches things. He’s one of my favourite guitarists."

You use the Sunn Model t amp?

"Yeh., It’s a brilliant sounding thing I like about it is the Club and Arena switches on the back. I guess it’s just a power circuit type of thing but calling it Club and Arena seems a very 70’s kind of thing to do and we’re very 70’s sounding."

The Who, one of your favourite band used Sunn too?

"Townshend used Hi Watts, I’ve also got a Custom Hi Watt 50. I use that occasionally. I think Entwhistle’s bass rig was Sunn. I’m very studious about that kind of stuff. The Who are my B-all and end-all."

What does the band do in last half hour before going on stage?

"Neck a few beers. Sing a couple of Beatles songs to warm our throats up, try to keep our minds off the show until the intro music plays and the nerves kick in. Then the nerves and everything just gets thrown out the window. But that last half hour certainly seems like longer."

What about soundcheck, what do you do?

"If Tim’s got a riff we’ll knock that about. There’s one song on the album called ‘Gone, Gone, Gone’, that was developed over soundcheck over 30 shows we did. So by the end of the tour the song was pretty much done and we started out with just one verse. We play covers and Tim does his impromtu Bruce Springsteen songs, he does very well. Once everything’s sounding good we just hang back stage until the show".

Is there any aspect about being in You Am I that you hadn’t considered prior to joining?

"I never thought that I’d be getting up at 5am in the morning with a hangover and having to drive 5 hours in a Tarago to get to the next gig. It’s all good though. The whole routine of sound checking. The luxury of having a guitar tech. It was like wow, I didn’t know that was there! I’m used to playing in a band where you break a string and keep playing. You didn’t have a man standing side stage to give your guitar to. He gives you a spare and he’ll restring for you. You’re playing in a rock and roll band where your strings are changed for you every show and that’s a real luxury."