Doves, Manchester’s foremost purveyors of what the Guardian has described as “expansive and ineffably north-western rock,” are currently touring their homeland. The jaunt comes on the back of their critically revered fourth album, Kingdom of Rust; the four year gestation of which proved not altogether easy.
FasterLouder spoke to one half of the Williams brothers (in the form of drummer Andy) on the eve of the opening night of the tour. He mused on everything from Blade Runner to what it means to play in a band of brothers and why it’s only important to make music “that pleases us first.” As Doves’ stature grows with the scope of their often transcendental rock and soul, perhaps their unassuming rise to the top can be put down to the fact that this is just what naturally happens to you when the first gig you saw as a kid was the Smiths.
Hi Andy.
Hullo!
Are you calling from home?
From home, yeah. just outside Manchester.
Never tempted to make the London move then?
No, never. We’re very happy here, all our friends and family are all here, so there’s never the temptation, really [laughs].
Can you recall a really life-changing experience with music you had growing up?
It was really lucky growing up in Manchester. I grew up in a time when there was some great, great music coming from there. The Smiths and New Order were the people growing up I used to go and see. All three of us were very lucky that in the late 80s we had those proper great bands. And obviously a big influence was the Hacienda nightclub that played all the big American dance music. So in the late – œ80s we were going to see that and really did inform our approach to music. The way we could stay up in Manchester and not have to move to London, we could do things from up here. Factory Records, the way they were advancing was very single-mindedly and that was definitely inspiring and formative for us.
Is it still a vibrant scene there today?
Yeah, very much so. Obviously the success of a band like Elbow, it’s renewing itself all over again, definitely. It’s a creative place, there’s something in the water you know.
When you’re starting the whole record release/touring machine up again like you are now, is there ever a part of you that finds that difficult? To be leaving home for a long stretch?
Yeah, definitely. But it’s exciting though. We’ve been locked away for so long in the studio, and there were times when we weren’t sure if we’d be able to finish the record—they were quite uncertain times. So it’s a nice feeling knowing it’s in the bag. And it’s daunting too, yeah, because we’ve all got families now and we’ll be away for long periods of time. But it is what we do and we love what we do. We feel really privileged that people have stuck around for us! We’ve just finished this first, small UK tour here and it couldn’t have gone better.
What was it about recording Kingdom of Rust that was more difficult this time?
It was us, really. People’s lives, the last few years – there’s been ups and downs. And when you’re working together, outside influences can affect the way you write. And beyond that it took us a long time to get a set of songs that we were totally confident with. We could have put a record out earlier in 2008, but we wouldn’t have been happy with it, it wouldn’t have pushed us anywhere new.
We’re always looking for new sounds and to push ourselves and to try new things out. As frustrating as that was, we wouldn’t have been satisfied to put it out. We feel we have a pretty high standard for ourselves to live up to, so we worked on it longer and I’m glad that we did.
The album really jumps to a lot of places stylistically while being a completely recognisably Doves record. What did you listen to in the lead up to writing a new record?
Cheers for saying that. It sort of changed from song to song really, our influences. Like Jetstream had that kind of Kraftwerk feel. We’ve always been big fans of Kraftwerk. And Jez mentioned, Blade Runner (being an influence on that track), and we love that film and wanted that kind of retro-futuristic vibe to it.
Kingdom of Rust had I guess a kind of Johnny Cash feel to it, then the Outsiders has a Krautrock feel to it; like a Can sort of thing. So it really changes a lot, each song has its own set of influences. If we do a particular kind of song, we like to react to that with the next song being something totally opposite to that, just to keep things interesting. We’re quite restless that that, we get bored easily. We have to change, or we don’t feel like we’re progressing.
Do you have a kind of lock down period once you’re in the studio where you don’t listen to anything, so you aren’t directly influenced by anyone?
I think if we’re having trouble finding inspiration then you listen to a lot of stuff. But when we’re on a roll we tend not to. We’ll work all time and not really be listening to anything else. At the start of a record though, you listen to a lot of stuff – not new stuff, older stuff. All three of us have very different musical taste. We try and soak up influences, but really we’re creating something that’s just for us.
So you’re always trying to please yourselves first?
Yes, I’d say so. If something resonates with you [meaning the band], then the hope is there that it will resonate with someone else.
Is it a collaborative democracy in the band when you’re writing material? How does that work?
Jez is very prolific musically, he’s always working up ideas and always has something cooking. Lyrics, I really enjoy writing lyrics as Jimi does. Sometimes someone will come with just a melody or riff and we’ll all work on it, sometimes we work things up all together and someone will go off and write the lyrics for it, so the collaboration changes from song to song. That’s one of our main strengths, is the democracy of songwriting. I think it’s a lot of pressure for that one person in bands who comes up with all the material.
Do you and Jez have that telekinetic sibling mind-meld thing?
It can be like that, when it’s good. When it’s bad it’s not [laughs]. I can’t pretend we go into the studio and it’s always there, sometimes you have to really work on it.
Do you think Jimi ever feels on the on the outer, not being a blood relation?
Not really, we’re kind of all brothers. We’ve worked with Jimi for twenty years now, so it’s an unspoken writing process with him as well.
I was reading that you’re partial to playing the harmonica.
Yes, I am.
Can I ask if it was you who played the harmonica solo on Rise from Lost Souls? Because whenever I listen to that I always think that it’s one of the most sublime lines of music I’ve ever heard.
Oh cheers! But no, it wasn’t me! [Laughs]. It was a guy we got in to play on the session. But we are playing Rise again on the tour at the moment, though you might be upset to know that part is not played on harmonica. Jez is playing it on guitar.
I don’t mind that a bit, as long as we hear it. You’ve played some really huge supports in recent years, touring stadiums. Do you have those kinds of big aspirations for yourselves?
We’re an ambitious band – I’m not saying we don’t want to play stadiums – but it’s not our goal in life. I don’t think we’d ever want to be the biggest band in the world. I don’t think we ever could be, because that can involve a lot of other stuff which takes away from the music I feel. Our ambition is to make records that will hopefully last, you know?
Kingdom Of Rust is out now on Heavenly through EMI. Have a read of the FasterLouder album review.
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