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THE DANSE SOCIETY
[ Interview with Paul Nash from The Danse Society by Diego Centurión. ]
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Thinking that a band can celebrate 40 years of existence is a dream that very rarely can come true. But we are here before one of those bands that can boast that it has reached this age and that it still continues to have fresh ideas to release its seventh album, "Sailing Mirrors" that will arrive on September 1. And beginning a new decade within a pandemic, we can ask one of the pioneering post-punk bands in English these questions.
Hi Paul, thanks for agreeing to answer these questions and thanks for a new album by The Danse Society.
There is something that has crossed us in this 2020, Covid-19. How and where has all this madness surprised you? And how are they today after several months of this pandemic?
Firstly thank you so much for the interview and may we wish everyone who reads this healthy and happy best wishes. When the pandemic hit the UK and everything went into lockdown I personally was very ill for two weeks (which I believe was Covid-19) although no testing was being done at the time so I guess I will never know for sure. Unfortunately a couple of months later my elderly father contracted and died from the virus so for me it’s a very personal thing. I find it amazing that our government have been so incompetent at dealing with this here in the UK and while other countries like New Zealand are leading the way in fighting the pandemic my country appears to be the worst, which is tragic for all the people here who have lost their lives. While things are beginning to return to normal in some areas, there is fear of the second wave and the worst hit area, which is the arts, especially live performance, is not being supported at all. I am scared to think of what will happen to the music and performance industry and when and if we will be able ever play live music again. I believe the response in Argentina has been much more decisive and successful in dealing with Covid which is really good news. There is no doubt though, going to be a challenging times ahead for everyone. Apologies if that was a bit of a heavy answer as I said it’s hit me very hard personally.
It is difficult to summarize 40 years in a few questions. Surely each album each, single, each show, has a story to tell and surely they are very interesting anecdotes. But to cover these 40 years, you have been supporters of Killing Joke, Bauhaus, The Cure, all bands that are already 40 years old… There are not many bands that can boast about it, how does it feel to look back and have so much road traveled?
You know it’s hard to believe that this all started 40 years ago, in some ways it seems like a blink of an eye! I do however feel privileged to have played with so many great bands, many of which as you mentioned, are still around! It was a magical time - so much great music, so many great bands, so many great times. The Cure gave us our live break supporting them in Manchester and London, and then we were lucky to get on tour support with the mighty Killing Joke where we
really learned our trade so to speak - I will never forget the power of Geordies guitar and the intensity of Jaz’s vocal performance. Bauhaus turning up to the gigs in a hearse was great fun and Pete Murphy was super cool (too cool to talk to the support band that's for sure!) These days we still get to play with some bands that were around then, recently doing some gigs with Spear of Destiny, Rose of Avalanche but for me it’s about making new friends and making new music recently playing with Palais Ideal, The Arch etc. although there are still some bands 40 years old and more I would still live to play on the same stage with (who knows it may happen one day!)
From the beginning of the band “Society Records” was born and they still continue, How is it to carry your music in such an independent way throughout so many years? Because today it could be understood more, but in the 80's and 90's maybe it was all much more difficult.
Society records was born so we would have complete control of our musical output and not be influenced by anyone outside the band (which actually worked pretty well except for the period we were signed to Arista/ BMG) - the value, looking back, seems very clear - when we were signed we had to bend to the record companies desires, I don’t think for example we would have ever made ‘Say it Again’ had we still been independent, not that there’s anything wrong with it - just that it wasn’t really the direction we were destined to explore. Going DIY these days is much more common and easier to do in many ways, but now there is so much more competition so it’s hard to get noticed - but we make our music for us (as always) and hope that other people like it (which fortunately they seem to do) - The Danse Society sound has always been an evolution - I don't
want to be stuck in the same rut like some bands (mention no names) who churn out the same sounding album time after time. I want each album to be something new and interesting, some will love and some will prefer the previous records which is fine btw - we are grateful for the support from our fans in any way.
How is the spirit of the band maintained after the member changes?
As in life people/friends come and
go and are part of your timeline for a while before moving on - I am fortunate to have met so many great musicians while doing The Danse Society. They all bring something fresh to the musical table and it makes for interesting and rewarding collaborations. The band has fun playing together and that keeps the spirits high. Plus on the new album ‘Sailing Mirrors’ I asked a few friends to contribute including our old keyboard player David Whitaker amongst others.
If I name some people or festivals,
what words come to your mind? John Peel
Peel was massively important to so many people my age introducing new music to us night after night - doubly important to TDS as he gave us our first big break by offering us a BBC session - sadly missed
Futurama Festival
John Keenan the promoter of Futurama took a chance booking a small young band from Barnsley onto the same stage as U2 and Soft Cell (we played in between them) - it was our second ever gig as Danse Crazy (which became shortly after Danse Society). Fantastic set of gigs/festivals - just look at the lineup posters!
The Cure
Love love love them, still amazing - did you see the Glastonbury gig last year? if not check it out on youtube - so influential and made great music - I was only listening to Three Imaginary Boys in the car yesterday - still sounds incredible.
Christopher Lee (Dracula)
Ok I have a thing for Dracula - Whitby is literally just up the road from where I live and it’s always great to see the Abbey. Christopher Lee was one of the best Dracula’s - in my mind it’s a tossup between him and Bela Lugosi as to who was best - however the recent BBC drama was pretty special...Check out the video to Valerio’s Theme, you will see my specially commissioned guitar (named ‘Mr Harker’) which features amazing artwork on it of Christopher Lee as Dracula.
Do you think that the separation in '87 was due to losing the direction of his music a little, and be influenced by bad decisions that were not entirely your own choice? How to write more pop songs to enter the rankings.
There was definitely some of that but I think it was more a frustration of not being able to get a second record deal which sent people on their way, either in search of something new or down a rabbit hole of drugs and depression, things drifted apart, the desire wasn’t strong enough like it was earlier in the decade, I don’t think it was all about writing pop songs, we were never interested in that.
2010 was the year they got back together, but Steve Rawlings was only a short time, what was the feeling of the rest of the band when he decided to leave?
Steve initially said he was interested and then disappeared back to America and despite everyone’s best efforts we could not get hold of him, again frustration set in as we had some great songs written - we wanted to put them out to show them off and for people to see the magic was still there - but it wasn’t to be.
Enter Maethelyiah and The Danse Society is reborn. What are the differences between the new TDS and the old TDS?
TDS was never the same, even during the 80s the Seduction album is radically different from Heaven is Waiting which is radically different from Say it Again or Hold on etc. We have always evolved, grown and changed. Having a woman replace a male singer was just another step in the evolution for us, in fact I challenge anyone to come up with other examples of where this has happened (there are not many). So, apart from the obvious ones in singing style, pitch and range there is also a different dynamic. For some old school fans this was too
much to handle, but for those that came with a more open mind they responded brilliantly and really got behind the new incarnation. I think ‘Change of Skin’ the first album back after reforming was some what of a shock but I really like that album and believe it still sounds like ‘The Danse Society’. Maethelyiah has added another dimension like any new member does, just like when we recruited our newest drummer Tom Davenport, however The Danse Society ethos remains the same; dark powerful music - innovative, interesting and experimental.
After several albums together they prepare for a new release, but in June they release "ON'T BBC 1980- 82". Tell us about this live song compilation album.
ONT BBC is a compilation of performances done on the BBC - two John Peel sessions, the futurama performance that was broadcast on BBC2 and the bands set on the BBC’s flagship arts programme Riverside. It captures brilliantly the band’s energy and freshness of the early 80s.
Now comes "Sailing Mirrors", certainly a great album. Tell us how
was the recording of this work.
Sailing Mirrors was intended to be a double album - in fact we had 60 songs to choose from which we worked down to 18 and then down to 9. The reason for that was it was too overwhelming to work on so many songs at once. We had to be very ruthless in our selection and we wanted to release a real album of top quality. I am sure some of the other songs will surface on future records but I am so proud of this album, we all think it sounds amazing - I hope the audience will love it as much as we do.
I imagine that you will feel a strange sensation of releasing an album and not being able to go out and show it live. How do you feel about it?
I’ve come to terms with it now but when we were recording it was ‘This ones is going to be amazing on stage’ and ‘wait till they hear this live’ - of course we did play some of the songs live before lockdown and they were very well received, especially Valerio’s Theme, We Fall and Kill U Later. I cannot wait to play them and some of the others again.
Tell us who has made the beautiful art of the new album?
An italian artist called Alessendra Centi who we discovered through a mutual friend - her artwork is incredible and when we saw it we knew we had to have it for the album - wait till you see the LP and CD (beautiful) - and also the collectors pack comes with some art prints. We are so lucky to have her on board.
For those of readers who haven't listened to the album, what will you find at Sailing Mirrors?
Well that’s a really hard question,
every track has its own story, you won’t find two alike, I’ve asked people what their favorite track is and no one says the same track - what you will find is some pretty dark and powerful tracks, some great sounds and melodies and something (we think) a bit different from the usual run of the mill ‘Goth’ record.
To finish and thanking these responses. What do you mean that I have not asked?
Thank you for asking, and I hope everyone stays safe and gets to listen to our music. If music is food for the soul then our music is food for the dark soul.
peace and love!
Paul Nash
The Danse Society
You can pre-order the album from www.thedansesociety.com or go to dansesociety.bandcamp.com for all other albums and merch.
