Radio Songs - solo album by Dave Rowntree

[vitekm]

Reading the comments, its maybe good to point out that Dave alredy (co)wrote quite a lot of music on his own, mainly for different OSTs, see it listed here:

http://www.vblurpage.com/discography/dave/index.htm

Some of these albums are available on his Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/6ngpbJQ ... Dv_SLBAfGw

[dougharrison]

Anyone got a handle on whether Dave started from scratch with this record or whether he's using songs (and perhaps even recordings, in part) from the Ailerons sessions?

It doesn't quite answer the question, but I do know Dave during lockdown was working on trying to finish the Ailerons album, whether or not that had become the genesis for his solo album I've no idea...

[rich]

There is a wealth of further detail in New Cue #183 https://thenewcue.substack.com/p/the-ne ... urce=email

Extracts from this excellent interview with Dave below - writing process, the new album and (inevitably, *sigh*) blur prospects:

This is your debut solo single. What took you so long?
I’ve been kind of busy, really. I've been writing songs for a long time and it was lockdown that gave me permission to start working on it all and put it in some kind of order. I've been learning my craft out of the public gaze. It’s a lockdown album really, like so many of these things are now. I was working on a couple of films as I do for my day job and they came to an end and I just had time stretching out in front of me, so I decided to collect some songs together, record them and see where it took me.

Having an empty diary must have been a first. It’s not like when Blur aren’t active you’re sat around twiddling your thumbs.
No. I do live an interesting life. I like to be constantly pushing the boundaries and doing different things. I really enjoy learning about stuff, so most of the things I do involve learning in one way or another. I've had a multifaceted career. My C.V. is weird. Thank God you no longer have to write your occupation on your passport. What would I write? I’d need a page.

Drummer/politician/flying instructor/composer/animator/solicitor/songwriter… have I left anything out?
It’s a good starting point. We shall see where life takes us.

You joined Blur over 30 years ago, have you always harboured a desire to be a songwriter?
I've always written songs. I've been playing instruments since I was ten or eleven and I’d always written songs right from the start. I haven’t written any Blur songs, but that’s not to say I haven’t written a lot of songs. It was deciding to do something with them. That's quite a mental barrier. When you start to make a record yourself you have to start setting aside years of space for it, making videos, playing live and all that kind of stuff. You have to really clear out the diary which is quite a commitment. From my experience of Blur, doing the music is the easy bit, all of the other things take all of the time and lose you all of your hair.

When it comes to writing your own songs and getting them together, is there anything you’ve picked up from watching Damon at work all of these years?
I tried to emulate his songwriting technique at one point. Damon writes the chords and the tune first and then he puts words to it. I’d always struggled to do that and ended up doing it the other way round which seemed the more natural thing to do, but when I started working with Damon and I saw how he was doing it I thought, ‘Oh maybe that’s the trick!’.

I spoke to you a few years ago and you were talking about the sheer amount of time Damon spends writing songs. That it was literally all he does.
Yes. That's why he's brilliant at it. That's what he does. When everybody else is out having an evening at the theatre or whatever people do for their hobbies and relaxation, Damon is at home writing songs. You have to write ten rubbish songs for each good one you write and Damon’s got thousands and thousands of songs from which he can pick hundreds and hundreds of great ones. He always says he has eighteen months of songs in reserve. You have to write quite a few songs to have eighteen months’ worth in reserve! It’s probably why he’s always got four or five projects on the go.

Have the other guys in Blur heard your album?
Oh yeah, I’ve played it to all of them. Damon gave me some very helpful feedback, which is nice. So I credited him on the record.

When was the last time the members of Blur got together?
We all turn up to each other's things. I turned up to a Gorillaz show not that long ago. I see Alex fairly frequently. I’m looking forward to [Alex James’ foodie and music event] Feastival this year. We usually all turn up to that. We’re pretty supportive of each other, really.

Are their plans to make any music together or play some shows?
There's aspiration. There's been aspiration for quite a while but unfortunately nothing to announce. It’s a peculiar time. It will be nice is what I'll say. It'll be nice but, again, nothing to announce unfortunately.

Watch this space?
It’s always watch this space [with Blur]. We do like playing together, but it's just… what can I say? If I had something to announce to you, believe me I would announce it to you. I’m not in the business of keeping secrets but certainly not this year. The last two years have been crazy. We've been thinking about it for a while but making those kind of things a reality is quite difficult at the moment. But I’d like to. I can exclusively reveal to you that I would very much like to play live with Blur and on my own. Those are the things that make me happy. That’s an exclusive – you got that straight from the horse’s mouth.

What can we expect from the rest of your album?
It’s all quite different to be honest. It’s very electronic. There's very few drum kits on it, and very few drums full stop. It’s all songs apart from a few instrumental tracks but it’s basically song-based. Songs are what I’m interested in. I’m a sucker for a good tune so that’s what I’m trying to write.

When will it be out?
We’re in the euphemistic finishing touches stage so I’ll give you more information about that shortly. It's a funny time to release bits of plastic, there’s a six month waiting list to make them at the record pressing plant so it's very difficult to predict at the moment, but the finishing touches are happening so as soon as I'm able to give you a definitive date I will.

[thespider]

Just heard London Bridge for the first time. Absolute banger, reminds me loads of New Order. If the rest of the album is like that, I'm quite looking forward to it.

[semi]

Not really my thing this song. But I can listen to it.

[aldamasta]

Thanks for sharing that interview rich! A little heavy handed on the Damon and blur related questions, but I suppose Dave is used to it. I can't wait to get the rest of the album!

[bugman]

something new from Dave 30th August and preview of new single

[vitekm]

Message from Dave and next single snippet:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/77yRGj5qdrQ

[aldamasta]

Really interesting intro... sounds promising to me.

[vitekm]

The next single is called "Devils Island" and will be out September 12th:

https://twitter.com/DaveRowntree/status ... 8225366018

[vitekm]

There are some Dave´s UK dates annoucements coming in recent hours. October / November UK tour.

[bugman]

https://roughtrade.com/us/dave-rowntree ... bRzyzvr8HY

new album "radio songs" will be released 20th january 2023!

[rich]

https://roughtrade.com/us/dave-rowntree ... bRzyzvr8HY

new album "radio songs" will be released 20th january 2023!

hmmm - not listed on rough trade uk yet - what's going on Dave mate?

[vitekm]

Second single, "Devil´s Island" is postponed to 26th September due to the situation in UK after Queen´s passing. (You see, the title is really kind of unlucky...)

So I think that Dave will announce the album on 26th September as well.

Rough Trade US were just too quick to post this - or simply did so according to original schedule.

[vitekm]

Tickets for London show now on sale:

https://twitter.com/DaveRowntree/status ... 7348132866