Once leading purveyors of Christian-orientated dance music, husband and wife duo DBA have now re-invented themselves as part of the underground club scene. DJ Coopoid reports.

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There's a saying, "good things come to those who wait", dba's latest album 'Spectrum' confirms it. With a string of well respected 12" releases into the European club scene and ever increasing airplay on BBC Radio 1, dba are set to go places as yet relatively unexplored by Christian musicians.

Over 10 years ago Robbie Bronnimann and Shaz Sparks joined a band put together by New Generation Ministries to bring the Gospel to school children and students. This band became known as 65dba (a measure of volume - actually very quiet - imposed on them at one of their first gigs). Over the next few years, various people left and slowly Robbie and Shaz gained more artistic influence and the second album 'Shout' laid a foundation of European dance that has continued to be built upon. Eventually Robbie and Shaz were the only band members left (though ex-members still worked for NGM in other areas) and a change of name (to just dba) indicated the change of focus to infiltrating club culture with a positive uplifting message. This change demanded a more dedicated approach to the music so Robbie and Shaz returned to Maidenhead (their home town) to set up a new studio and to write for Dtox Records with '80s synth pop star Howard Jones. Two years later, the fruits of their labours are made available to the world in the form of 'Spectrum'.
So was the transition from ministry focused band to music focused duo a difficult one? Robbie explains, "In some ways yes, in some ways no. Dtox was able to push us to work hard at our craft without settling for things which are just good but not brilliant. We were able to look at exactly what we wanted to be and to spend a lot of time developing it. The sad things were breaking away from people that we'd known for a long time." Another benefit of the move was an increase of creative freedom (lyrically and musically). "It's one of those things that when you're perceived as a Christian band there are certain unsaid expectations put upon you like what you should say or not say. The only thing that Dtox are concerned about is that we are true to who we are. They are not trying to squeeze us into a box. There are no restrictions. All music has something to say, depending on who's making it. Dtox just want freedom of expression for us: who we are, where we've come from and where were going. We don't feel we have to write songs about our faith all the time. For us as Christians it's about the whole life we live and there's a lot of other issues that come up along the way which we have to deal with (perhaps in a different way to those without faith). We want to explore all facets of what we've been through in the last couple of years and we'll continue to do so."

Talking of the last couple of years, their three 12" releases ("Go With The Sun" [twice] and "Smiling Girl") have not been enough to satisfy most dba fans who were constantly asking for a new album. "It's initially available in Europe on the internet (www.dba.web.com)", states Robbie, "because a lot of Christians don't follow the dance scene, aren't clubbers and aren't even aware that we've been putting out 12 inches into the clubs. Also, we've got so much material anyway that we wanted to put out an album. We are talking with a number of mainstream labels throughout the world, which has always been our plan to get licensed distribution deals with major labels, and it's important to give them a finished product." So does dba aim to become a chart-topping act? Robbie continues, "We're very passionate about what we do in the clubs and that has been growing over the last couple of years quite considerably. A new 12" came out just a few weeks ago ("What Is Love 2001") which is already causing a storm in the clubs with worldwide licensing on the way. We are passionate about continuing with that. We had to start from scratch, saying 'this is who we are', go relentlessly gigging and putting releases out to build up our name in the industry. It takes a very long time for that to happen. Now it is happening and we're getting re-mix work with the major dance labels as well. We want to cross over (to the mainstream charts) in a credible way. For bands like ATB and Fragma, they had a disproportionately big club track which then broke into the mainstream, and then they find it very hard to maintain their credibility in the club scene because they're just seen as a pop act. So we want to build it slowly, continually feeding the club scene without always trying to feed singles to the mainstream charts. We didn't want to make an album with just a couple of good tracks and a load of filler stuff. Our aim was to do 12 tracks which felt like a proper album with the traditional ethics of strong melodies and good songwriting at the heart of it. So we have every confidence that stuff could crossover. The mainstream press has already dubbed us as a 'Eurhythmies for the Gatecrasher generation', which kind of sums it up because there is that sort of duo element with strong songwriting and a strong front person in Shaz, but there is also the club side of what we are doing."

'Spectrum' is quite an autobiographical CD, dealing with the issues that Robbie and Shaz have been working through during the last two years. Some of them have been difficult, but the album retains an energetic and uplifting focus. Robbie again: "It's been a roller coaster couple of years: death in the family, changed relationships; so it was really important for us to write stuff that reflected things we were experiencing; its almost like a diary of the last couple of years for us. But I think that's what really engages with people: if people get a sense that it's things that you've lived through or have been part of in a personal way, it can strike a chord with people. Our record company have been clear all along that the process of making this record was really about exhaustively exploring things to make sure we have a record we're proud of and which is a real representation of us." Shaz explains a few songs in more detail: "When The Light Has Gone' describes when my mum died and the whole process of her being sick. Seeing someone suffer raises a lot of questions in your mind and you experience these dark moments. But at the end of the day I had God and good friends to turn to, to help me be strong through it all. It was a very difficult time, though it is a very uplifting song. 'Ocean Of Love' is about being filled with love and giving it out to people in whatever way that may be: even just smiling to someone as you walk down the street can really make their day. 'Smiling Girl' was written at a time when everything seemed so difficult and not going the way I hoped. I felt so miserable and unhappy, and there was so much change for us, I thought, 'Will I ever smile again? Where has the smiling girl gone?' She's come back now though!" The fun love song 'Bunsen Burner' and the spy movie pastiche "Never Say Bye" are other highlights, along with "Cup Of Tea", an intriguing window into life in the dba studio.

With Robbie and Shaz able to devote so much time to music now, what can we expect in the near future? Shaz gives some clues: "Robbie has a lot of remix and writing work for other people: he's even playing keyboards for Madonna later in the year! I've also been singing for other projects: I just did a track for a guy in America. He sent the music over and I wrote the lyrics and melody. He also produced Faithless' latest single. I'm waiting to hear what the finished mix sounds like. We also did a project called 'Sauna' with Howard's guitarist called Robin Boult. We wrote a couple of tracks in the studio with a Spanish/Arabic vibe and I did a lot of ad lib vocals over the top. People thought I was from Turkey(!), but it's a real good dance track and has been licensed in America. We will go on tour in the autumn and we will always come out with new remixes for the clubs: that's on-going. We have started writing our next album, because we've got so much material. We're always writing, so it won't be such a long wait for the next one!"