David R Black
Frontman David R Black talks about their latest release and how did they all come together.
"Secret City" is now available for purchase at: http://www.davidrblack.net/
How did the band form? You have to start somewhere. With David R Black, it's not the usual musician-seeks-band scenario. Sarit, Pai and myself were all in our own bands but our like-mindedness made it inevitable we would join forces at some point. In hindsight it could be seen as opportunistic for us to quit the bands we were in and form a new band. Maybe that's why David R Black works so well, but we just did it because it felt right not really knowing whether it would actually work.A lot of people such as musicians in our scene and fans of our separate bands were surprised and shocked, but as I said, it just felt like we had to do it. It didn't just fall into place either, not quite a leap before you look sketch. We kind of knew we had the right parts but it was just a case of putting them together. I think circumstance moulded David R Black very quickly; I'd personally played three tours back to back with my old band and had another ten UK dates booked. My band at the same just didn't want to do another tour so I needed a band that did. There was a two-month gap between that last tour and the new tour and the option to cancel or jump ship and play the dates with a new band. Deadlines will pull it together or pull it apart. I got lucky but perhaps you make your own luck in this world.
How does it differ from previous releases? I think it's a progression, the band are older and more experienced. We've grown a lot as people and as musicians and all of that was put into Secret City. You've been touring the past few months. How's that been going? Very well, it's great to get back out on the road with the new material.We're essentially a touring band so it was good to get feedback from the fans, all of which has been positive. I'm glad people love the album as much as we do. If your music were to be adapted into film, what story would it tell? I think the press release sums it up really well. It's universal concepts are love, loss, hope and despair. It's a very human album and you could apply it to any group of close people anywhere in the world. What are your favorite albums at the moment? I recently watched the documentary 'Left of The Dial' which covers a lot of the alternative American rock scene in the early 90's so have been rediscovering a lot of those albums, The Pixies, Nirvana, Husker Du, Pearl Jam, REM, but to be honest I listen to all kinds and genres of music.
How was the recording of "Secret City"? We approached the recording of Secret City differently to anything we've done previously. Instead Would you like to come to Portugal? of using an existing studio, we had a recording studio Very much so. We've never been to Portugal but I built in remote cottage in Wales so that we could have a lot of freidns who have toured there and had focus on the album without any distractions. Secret a wonderful time, so hook us up!!! City is also the longest period of time we've spent recording an album, taking nearly 1 8 months to make. It worked very well in some ways as we were Design & Interview: Rick very focussed but it was very difficult in other ways Words by: David R Black because we were in isolation. Photos courtesy of David R Black What's the concept behind it? I think the album is multi-layered, conceptually. We spent a good 6 years on the road, travelled all over the world. I think Secret City is an amalgamation of places we've been to and people we've met, although every nation or country has it's own identity, I think the themes are universal.