Features / From pub gigs to playing to thousands – Ten Tonne Dozer celebrate 20th anniversary
PERHAPS it is singer Dave Kok escaping the stage to bellow into your face, or the grooved-up guitar riffs, but watching Ten Tonne Dozer is rarely a forgettable experience.
Over the last two decades the local metal band have developed a strong reputation both in Shetland and further afield – and a 20th anniversary celebration is now in the works.
To mark this milestone the band is hosting a special gig at the Gulberwick Hall in August to reflect on all the blood, sweat and tears.
It promises to be a busy night, with Ten Tonne Dozer joined on the bill by numerous bands – including Trowsholm, Grimlok, Bitumen River and Electric Mother from Orkney – as well as three DJs.
It was back in 2005 when Ten Tonne Dozer began, with former Bitumen River members Angus Goodlad, Dave Kok and Matthew Robertson joining up with guitarist Jamie Duncan.
There have been numerous line-up changes since, as well as tours across the UK and Europe and countless Shetland gigs – but it seems the collective fire in their belly still burns bright.
Kok and Duncan are the only two remaining founding members in the current line-up, with the pair joined by Jamie Dalziel (guitar), Barrie Scobie (bass) and Dean Williamson (drums).
Asked what some of his highlights have been, Kok – who originally hails from Tasmania – mentioned the first time the band went overseas, to Holland and Germany, as well as winning a prize at the Scottish Alternative Music Awards in 2012.
There was also playing second from top to thousands at Holmsgarth on the Sunday night of the Tall Ships last year, before a Queen tribute act – “that wasn’t a bad little gig”, Kok smiled.
But the singer said he still loves “mental pub gigs that go absolutely apesh*t”.
“There’s places you want to go back to, and that’s what draws you back to them,” Kok added.
“In this tour we’ve got coming up in April, we’re going to play Whitehaven again – because Whitehaven has been one of those mental spots.
“Elgin is a bit like that, Inverness is like that. It doesn’t have to be a stadium or anything like that – there’s nothing really like when you do a pub gig, just getting right in the face.”
Getting in faces is something right up Kok’s street; he is a frontman who likes to roam with the microphone and engage with the crowd, getting so close you can almost taste the sweat – and he also has a long history of using rather unusual objects as props on stage.
He said he has been given wireless microphones at some gigs down south, but “I just get too far”.
“I did it once at the Moorings in Aberdeen, which is now Krakatoa, and I ended up around the corner at Market Street, just assuming and hoping that the tune was still in the same place.”
And when it comes to the random array of objects he has also used during gigs over the years, Kok said it is rarely planned.
“I never planned bringing a circular saw on stage and chopping up a baby doll, or giving birth to a child in a full headdress and skirt,” he added.
“What was the last gig we did? Oh yeah, I did a strip tease [dressed] as Santa.”
Jamie Duncan, meanwhile, has historically been the main music writer in the band – but now more songs from other members are being introduced.
The veteran guitarist, who counts bands like Pantera, Black Sabbath and Megadeth among his influences, also said he has a “whole backlog” of ideas on his phone.
He also mentioned Ten Tonne Dozer’s first European tour as a highlight – “it was all just so new to us” – and the Tall Ships slot.
“I know everybody was not there [at the Tall Ships] to see Dozer, but the reception nonetheless – it sounded like a proper crowd that wasn’t just a smattering of applause, it was a proper roar…it’s not something you hear very often,” Duncan said.
“You’re speaking about sometimes playing to maybe 20, 30 folk – I think there were 5,000 at Tall Ships.
“But you have to judge each gig on its own merits. Whether it’s 5,000 or 50, it’s really how much everybody is into it.”
Reflecting on his two decades of working alongside Kok, Duncan said that “we do annoy each other from time to time, but 20 years later we’re still together, as you might say”.
He added that the band is hoping to record a new album this year, and suggested Ten Tonne Dozer must still be “relevant” if they have managed two decades. “I doubt that means that what we play has a bit of a timeless quality to it,” Duncan added.
With a fairly lengthy family tree with many members who have played important roles in the band’s history, Ten Tonne Dozer’s newest recruit is drummer Dean Williamson, who joined a couple of years ago.
He admitted he was “really nervous” to begin with, because it was his first proper band.
Williamson came to the group’s attention thanks to one of his workmates, who passed on a video of him drumming to Kok – and the rest, they say, is history.
“I was quite nervous but fast forward just over two years later and I think I’ve managed alright,” he said.
Touring and playing at the Tall Ships have been among the highlights, as well when the creative juices flow.
“Another highlight is when we are in the practice room thinking up new songs and playing off each other on the fly,” the drummer said.
Kok says August’s anniversary gig will be a “blast from the past session”, with associates and friends of Ten Tonne Dozer on the bill and some former members likely to lend a helping hand too.
“It’s good just to get the family back,” he added.
Rewind back to the Tall Ships last year, however, when Ten Tonne Dozer cranked out some metal fun on the big stage in front of thousands.
On the face of it, it may have been a slightly unusual booking – but the group appeared to win over some punters.
It also felt like local hard rock and metal, genres which often find themselves on the periphery, perhaps gained extra acceptance.
Local Tall Ships music booker Tim Matthew said he “stuck to his guns” with his idea to give Ten Tonne Dozer the prime slot.
“I’ve lived in Shetland for 11 years and in that time, Ten Tonne Dozer have been a fixture on the local music scene,” he said.
“I first saw them at the Heavy Metal Buffet, and have seen them in a variety of contexts in the subsequent years.
“They have always struck me as being a really exciting and committed band; you’re never going to see a lacklustre performance.
“Dave Kok as a front man is exceptional; a cross between pantomime Big Bad Wolf and horror movie psychotic clown.
“It feels to me as though Ten Tonne Dozer have always been here and when I was programming the Tall Ships music event I put them in a slot where they were essentially headlining a night followed by the tribute band Queen II.
“This decision was queried by a number of people but I stuck to my guns. I actually can’t imagine anybody not enjoying a Ten Tonne Dozer show.
“From young to old, you can’t help but enjoy their power and commitment to performance.”
That sentiment is shared by Dirk Robertson, who regularly worked with Ten Tonne Dozer when putting on gigs and festivals for the Heavy Metal Buffet project in the 2010s.
“For a hungry metalhead in Shetland, Dozer have been an absolute godsend,” he reflected.
“Their shows are always a mix of stunningly executed musicianship and full-blown comedy routines. Oh, and also a nice pinch of life-threatening danger.
“When we at the Heavy Metal Buffet started programming festivals Dozer were always at the forefront of our minds.
“We always looked forward to seeing them for ourselves as much as we were excited for the newcomers’ reactions.
“Whether Dozer opened a night and got a gig spun up to full madness from the beginning, or closed a night draining the crowd of any reserves of sweat, they have never failed to administer a hefty dose of medical grade heavy metal.”
Robertson said he believes “everyone should take the chance to see Dozer at some point in their life”.
“Even just to be impressed by the audio and visual spectacle of Dave Kok leaping gleefully around in front of a wall of guitars,” he added. “Just ask my mam.”
Outside of Shetland, Matt Jolly – who has worked at Aberdeen music venue Krakatoa for nearly 15 years – said it is “always a pleasure” hosting the band when they come to the Granite City.
“So much so that I’ve travelled with them a bunch of times over the years – with the much missed Semperfi – on tours across the UK, one epic European tour along with regular visits up to their neck of the woods in Shetland,” he added.
When questioned about what makes Ten Tonne Dozer special, Kok referred to his long-time bandmate Jamie Duncan.
“It’s a marriage that we’ll stick with, and Dozer is our baby I guess,” he said. “The love is strong, and stronger than ever.
“I think we just work really well together. We’re chalk and cheese, we’re a married couple.
“When we stay in hotel rooms, him and I have the double bed, and no-one says a damn thing – it’s just the way it’s done.
“He does the cooking at tea time, I do the cooking in the morning. I take the kids out somewhere while he cooks and does the housework.
“I think to me that’s pretty special, having that sort of friendship and bond.
“But it’s good to see as well young kids that you saw when they were really young.
“Jamie Dalziel saw us when he was 16, and now he’s in the band. So he was a fan back then, he’s a fan now.
“So it’s good to see the generations, and they’re still getting into it. Now parents can take their kids to see what they saw.”
Tickets for Ten Tonne Dozer’s 20th anniversary gig at the Gulberwick Hall on 30 August are available online now here.
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