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.