DD Smash


DD Smash was a New Zealand pop/rock band formed by Dave Dobbyn after the breakup of Th' Dudes.

Members

Members included Dave Dobbyn, Andrew Clouston, Peter Warren, Rob Guy - both formerly of Lip Service - and Lisle Kinney - formerly of Hello Sailor. Originally formed in New Zealand, the band resided in Australia for much of its existence. The band briefly used the name "Dave Dobbyn's Divers" until drummer Peter Warren came up with "DD Smash". Dobbyn says the name "seemed to say everything about what we were into, which was having a jolly good time and blasting out music."

Records

DD Smash, mainly based around Dave Dobbyn as the main songwriter, produced hits including the show starter "Devil You Know ", "Outlook For Thursday" and the more 80's sounding "Magic ".

Achievement

By late '81, DD Smash signed a recording deal and immediately set about recording their debut album, with Ian Morris in the producer's chair.
DD Smash released their debut album in 1982. Titled 'Cool Bananas' it debuted in the national chart at #1, an historic first. It remained in the chart for 24 weeks and became triple gold. The album's biggest hit was 'Devil You Know.' In '82 the 'Top Male Vocalist' award was won by Dobbyn, 'Top Group' went to DD Smash; 'Cool Bananas' won 'Album of the Year,' Ian Morris got 'Producer of the Year' for it, Doug Rogers and Paul Streekstra got 'Engineer of the Year' for it, and it won 'Best Sleeve Design.'

Breakup

DD Smash split during the 1980s when Dave Dobbyn began recording by himself. From there he went to work on the Footrot Flats movie soundtrack. Many of the band members became involved with 'DD' over the years, with drummer Peter 'Rooda' Warren becoming Dave Dobbyn's drummer for the next few years, until he was asked to leave under unclear circumstances; both parties stick to the "musical differences" story.
In 2015, as part of the 40th anniversary celebrations of the New Zealand Music Charts, Recorded Music NZ honoured DD Smash's debut album Cool Bananas as being the first album by a New Zealand artist to debut at No.1 on the album chart.

Discography

Albums

Singles

RIANZ Awards

The New Zealand Music Awards are awarded annually by the RIANZ in New Zealand.
YearAwardDetailsResult
1982Album of the YearCool Bananas
1982Top Male VocalistDave Dobbyn
1982Top Group of the Year
1982Most Promising Male VocalistDave Dobbyn
1982Producer of the YearCool Bananas — Ian Morris
1982Engineer of the YearCool Bananas — Paul Streekstra & Doug Rogers
1982Sleeve Design of the YearWayne Robinson — Cool Bananas
1983Album of the Year
1983Single of the Year"Outlook for Thursday"
1983Top Male VocalistDave Dobbyn
1983Top Group of the Year
1983Producer of the Year"Outlook for Thursday"
1983Most Popular Artist
1983Best Music Video"Outlook for Thursday" —Andrew Shaw
1983Engineer of the YearLive: Deep In The Heart Of Taxes—Graeme Myhre
1983Engineer of the Year"Outlook for Thursday"—Paul Streekstra
1983Producer of the Year"Outlook for Thursday"— Dave Dobbyn
1985International Achievement