featuring: doyle & the fourfathers.

some people asked me a while ago how i came across doyle & the fourfathers, and to be honest, i have no idea. i would guess it was entirely by accident. thinking about it now, obviously i’m glad i did find them, even though i can’t remember how or when.

their song welcome to austerity got me hooked, so i jumped at the chance to see doyle & the fourfathers live last month. what was the verdict? absolutely brilliant show. despite being somewhat familiar to their music, i didn’t really know what to expect. the energy they had on stage was absolutely insane though – in a very good way. the only sad thing was that their set was pretty short. i could’ve easily listened to ten more songs. the current line-up includes lead-singer and songwriter guitarist william doyle on acoustic guitar, drummer alex urch and ben clark on electric guitar. originally from southampton, now based in london, they released their debut album man made early last year, their newest release will be titled olympics critical.

interested in finding out more about the band, their music and their intentions, i got in touch with them and lead-singer william kindly agreed to answer some questions for me. 

 william doyle, alex urch and ben clark

question: after seeing you guys live in manchester last month, i’ve been recommending you to friends, family and basically anyone who was willing to listen. people kept asking me what kind of music you’re doing. how would you describe your sound?

william: we usually go for "alternative pop" because it probably covers a wide spectrum. we don't really have a set "sound" per se, as we pride making each song have its own distinct flavour. we seem to be expanding all the time though so perhaps that classification won't be relevant forever...

i’ve read quite a few reviews and articles about you and it seems like people often compare you to jarvis cocker, ray davies or neil hannon from the divine comedy. do you mind these comparisons or do you think they’re flattering?

very flattered indeed. these are bands we listen to a lot and have been influenced by, so it's good to know people are picking those up and believe that we are worthy of the comparison.

since michael goozee (who played bass in dt4f) left the band earlier this year, do you plan on replacing him or do you think you’re going to continue as a three piece from now on?

we do plan on returning to a full band very soon. we had our friend karl jump in for a run of shows which was great but now we're looking for someone permanent. maybe even a keyboard player too! 

some people claim that with welcome to austerity, your songs have become too political. supposedly this is a bit of a shame as most of those people think that your unique sound stands out by itself and that you don’t require such drastic measures to get your music heard. what made you address political issues in your lyrics? do you think it’s necessary to write about it?

before i wrote welcome to austerity i noticed a distinct lack of political music in (especially) british pop music. i thought this was a dire situation because there are plenty of issues to talk about and be raised and, as bands and songwriters have many times in previous eras, music is a great forum for discussing and airing opinions and ideas, especially in relation to politics. i think it is very necessary to write about it. i think many more people should do it. the problem is, as a band or a songwriter, it's quite easy for people to see you have a political song and then dismiss you or even worse pigeonhole you for the remainder of your run. this was just a gesture i wanted to express at a time when i felt it was most urgently needed. i see plan b has a vaguely political new song and that's topped the chart over here so well done to him. maybe it's time for me to move on now.

you’ve already released an album, an ep and two singles. your new ep olympics critical is coming out soon. what else do you have in the pipeline in terms of new music or tour dates?

we are writing a new album at the moment. we've taken a couple of months out to write the basics of it. it's all sounding quite different. let's see what happens!
we return to the stage in june... here are the dates so far:

sat 23rd june - the leopard, doncaster (free!)
friday 6th july - old cock in, droitwich spa music festival (also free!)

saturday 7th july - armitage bridge club, huddersfield - monkeyfest six

then two dates with our friends the undertones:

thursday 12th july - the playhouse, whitley bay

friday 13th july - the duchess, york

keep checking www.dt4f.com for more dates. we're putting them up all the time!

 doyle & the fourfathers - welcome to austerity

many many thanks again to william for taking the time to do the short interview. as he said, keep an eye on their website for all the latest news about upcoming releases and tourdates. you may also wish to check out their facebook page (which is also where you can find the photo posted at the beginning) or follow them twitter. 

on repeat. videos.

having no tv at home makes you forget about annoying soap-operas, useless casting shows and stupid game shows. quite frankly, i’m more than happy about this as i do not miss any of this at all. but having no tv also means not being able to watch any music videos on television, although i’m not even sure if i would want to watch any here. who knows what i might end up watching - probably not worth finding out. anyway, once in a while i take the time to have a look around youtube and see what some of the bands i recently listened to have come up with in terms of new videos… so here’s a small collection of videos that are, in my humble opinion, worth watching. and yeah, most of the time the songs are pretty good too - just in case you were wondering.

nancy from now on - father john misty

…a.k.a josh tillman, who recently gave up drumming for seattle band fleet foxes (ff). what probably only hardcore ff fans know is that josh tillman has been making music and releasing albums for quite a few years already. his newest project father john misty sees the release of his "debut" album fear fun in early may. the video for nancy from now on might be one of the more disturbing ones but to be completely honest, i didn’t expect anything else from him. and besides, his absolutely beautiful voice is the thing to focus on anyway. the video is simply the little extra something.  

once and for all – clock opera

if you’re one of those people that gets very emotional fairly easy, you might want to get some tissues before watching this video. not only are the lyrics of once and for all very moving, the video is heart-breaking. the song itself doesn’t necessarily manage to get this across, but in connection with the video, it’s just beautiful. and when you saw the video once, that’s what you think about when you listen to the song again, so it doesn’t lose any of its beauty when the video is over. the london 4-piece clock opera will release their debut album ways to forget on 9 april.

matilda – alt-j

since seeing them as the main support for wild beasts a week ago, i probably watched every single video / live performances of alt-j that you can possibly find on youtube. i absolutely love the diversity in their music, joe newman’s unique vocals and their unmistakable sound in general. their double a-side matilda / fitzpleasure already shows how multifaceted their style is. matilda is the mellow one of those two songs, although mellow might not be quite the right description but have a listen yourself. the video is pretty interesting, especially if you don’t know what the guys look like at this point (so don't google it if you don't know it yet and watch the video first!). their debut album an awesome wave is due on 28 may.

in my drunken head – honig

now this is not an actual video but a recording of a live performance. why did i still choose to include it here? easy answer, in my drunken head was the first song i’ve ever heard from honig, it’s the one that got me hooked. honig a.k.a stefan honig is about to release his sophomore offering empty orchestra, which will include in my drunken head. and if the rest of the album will be as good as this song, we’re in for a treat. if you want to have a look at a proper video of his, make sure to check out for those lost at sea here.

night air – jamie woon

jamie woon is actually pretty new on my list. i remember checking him out a few months ago and basically dismissing him after one song (which was lady luck). turns out, of course i judged too quickly. thanks to a good friend, i gave him another chance and what did i realise? jamie woon is not so bad after all. he definitely doesn’t fit into the folk scene that i usually listen to but his mix of rnb and indie sure is quite interesting. and he’s got a beautiful video to go along with this great song.

hooting & howling – wild beasts

i’ve watched this video a million times before and yes, it makes me feel a little dizzy every single time. nevertheless, it is one of the best videos i’ve ever seen, just because of its simplicity. hayden thorpe’s voice takes some getting used to but as you probably know by now, i’m a massive wild beasts fan, so all i can do is advise you to check them out. the video perfectly fits the song by combining a rather fast drum beat with slow and "elegant" pictures of the band members in the water. great song, great video. hooting & howling is taken from their second album two dancers (2009).

wild beasts. live. o2 academy.

who: wild beasts

where: o2 academy, liverpool, uk

when: 17 march 2012

support: johnny sands; alt-j

wild beasts is certainly one of those bands that you could go and see live at least once a month. when one show is over, you're already planning the next one and it can't come fast enough. four months that easily felt like a year, have passed since i last saw them at the manchester cathedral. it was a show full of magic in a unique surrounding with an amazing sound - something that would be very difficult to top. let's see if they managed to do that last saturday night in liverpool...

usually when you're excited to see the headline band, the support acts are nothing but annoying. from time to time though it happens that the support turns out to be quite alright and sometimes they're even so impressive that you want to see them again as soon as possible. i'm not really sure that johnny sands is one of those support acts. his sound is described as alternative / electroacoustic / french pop on his myspace page. alternative? hm, is something different in my opinion. french pop? not sure what was specifically french about his music. electroacoustic? probably the best description out of these three but it still doesn't quite describe what we've heard on saturday. besides the fact that he basically had no stage presence whatsoever, his vocals were not significant in any way and his sound didn't do it for me either, neither the electric guitar not the acoustic guitar. so in my book johnny sands belongs to the category of support acts that you just have to deal with if you want to enjoy the headline band from the first row and therefore have to arrive early. 

alt-j

on the contrary, alt-j is a support band that you have to see again. i've read quite a lot of reviews about them before and it seemed like people genuinely enjoyed their music and their live performances. after seeing them supporting wild beasts, i would sign that statement. their music is a mix between james blake and wild beasts actually, but lead singer joe newman's vocals clearly set them apart from both of these acts. to be honest, they need a bit of getting used to at first. however, once you're over the initial "shock", you realise how well his voice goes together with their sound. backing vocals mainly come from gus unger-hamilton on keyboards and guitarist gwilym sainsbury. thom green on drums completes the alt-j line up. their stage appearance reminded me a lot of conor o'brien and his band villagers - sweaters that were definitely not the right size, cardigans and button-down shirts made them look like 12-year old school boys, but i guess that only added to their charm. alt-j delivered a more than decent set and are definitely a band to keep an eye on this year. 

tom fleming

but in most cases, it doesn't matter how good or bad the support was, it's always nerve-wracking to wait for the headline band. as soon as the stage went dark and burning was blasting from the speakers, it was obvious that the audience clearly couldn't contain their excitement anymore. once wild beasts finally entered the stage and opened their set with a beautiful rendition of bed of nails, it seemed like they won the entire crowd over in an instant. their sound is based somewhere between alternative, indie rock and what some people call dream pop. i personally find it quite hard to categorise them as it seems like they don't fully fit into one single genre. i'm not hinting that they invented a completely new genre, instead they combine many different genres into one that simply doesn't have a proper name yet. 

normally people instantly have a favourite band member when they first listen to a new band. most of the times they can't even explain why they prefer one to the other. when it comes to wild beasts, i always found it really difficult to pick a favourite because it just seems like an impossible thing to do. of course hayden thorpe's falsetto voice is probably their most obvious trademark and usually the first thing that people notice. despite the fact that his vocals are not only absolutely gorgeous, they simply sound astonishing in every context - up-tempo songs like we still got the taste dancin' on our tongues or more mellow ones like albatross or lion's share, hayden makes it all work. what makes the wild beasts vocals in general even more unique is the addition of tom fleming's baritone. both voices go along so well, it is an absolute pleasure to listen to them. especially hearing loop the loop live makes you forget everything around you, you're simply caught up in the moment. when hayden and tom sing "oh, don't you think that people are the hardest things?" together, you can't help but be amazed and lost for words. that's at least what normally happens to me. tom's vocals are obviously different to hayden's but definitely not any less special. songs like two dancers or all the king's men clearly highlight his vocal talent and just show that wild beasts have more than one talented singer.

benny little

but of course wild beasts wouldn't be wild beasts without benny little on guitar and chris talbot on drums. even though it always feels like i'm most excited about hearing tom sing live, i often catch myself staring at benny and chris simply because the way they play their instruments is mesmerising and just magical. the guitar during hooting & howling and all the king's men sounds live just as amazing as it does on record. to make their live show sound as good as their record is something not a lot of bands are capable of doing. wild beasts are definitely a band that can totally pull this off though. which brings me back to chris talbot. i'm certainly not an expert on drums (or any other instrument for that matter) but i just can't see how anyone cannot love his drumming skills. the fun powder plot, two dancers or definitely the devil's crayon wouldn't be half as brilliant if it wasn't for chris. of course this is only me again but if you have a thing for awesome drummers and don't know wild beasts or specifically chris talbot yet, do yourelf a favour and check them out.

the thing about those four lads from kendal is simply that you either hate them or you absolutely love them. it's more than obvious which side i'm on but i guess it could easily be the other way around. i'm glad though that their music grabbed me from the first record limbo, panto (2008) to their latest release smother (2011) because wild beasts are without a doubt one of the finest live bands that are out there. it doesn't matter if you're a fan or not, everyone has to admit that their live shows are full of magic and something you just can't resist. if you're not too fond of them at this point, it is probably worth a try to catch one of their live shows. you might change your mind afterwards, or actually i'm pretty sure you would.

they played a nice mix of all three records, including signature songs like this is our lot, and ended their set and their three song encore with an excellent end come too soon, which is without a doubt a rather perfect ending. compared to the show at the manchester cathedral last november, i wouldn't say that one was better than the other, they were just different but equally great. like kenny s. mcguane of under the radar once said: "wild beasts make music where the weird meets the gorgeous, the creepy meets the sexy and the devastating meets the inspirational." i highly doubt that there's a more fitting description out there at the moment.

setlist

bed of nails

we still got the taste dancin' on our tongues

albatross

the devil's crayon

the fun powder plot

two dancers (ii)

deeper

this is our lot

loop the loop

two dancers (i)

 reach a bit further

hooting & howling

encore

lion's share

all the king's men

end come too soon

wild beasts

hayden thorpe

chris talbot

wild beasts

check the wild beasts website or simply follow them on facebook or twitter.

nigel wright. advance. church sessions.

due to several ongoing discussions, some more objective than others, it gives me an even greater pleasure (than it usually already would) to present another new nigel wright video to you. butterfly collectors released the third (of seven) live videos that were recorded earlier this year. after anna and barriers, the newest video features the opening track advance from nigel’s debut album millfoil. in my humble opinion, this video shows once more that there can be more than one brilliant version of the same song. advance is one of three videos that were recorded with nigel’s band, clay dean and jamey merritt, at the st. johannes evangelist church in berlin. stay tuned for the last video from the church session and of course more from nigel’s barefoot session. i’m tempted to guarantee you that it’ll be worth it… but see youself. here’s advance... 

if you want to know more about nigel wright, you can read an interview with him here (which also includes the videos to barriers and anna) or simply visit his facebook page.