I recently had the opportunity to pose some questions to both Andy & Jez about all things Black Rivers. I asked them both 10 questions each. This is part two of the interview. You can read part one here.

This part of the interview may make more sense once you have heard the album! Now you can as gigwise are streaming the album now. Go ahead and give it a listen.

Thanks again to both Andy & Jez for their time!

Five questions for Andy:

- Who writes the lyrics? If you both do, which tracks did you write the lyrics for?

We both write lyrics, something i always enjoyed doing in doves,
on this record from what i can remember my lyrics were the forest&the ship&Coral sea
Jez’s were Voyager 1,then all the other songs were both of us contributing together.

- Age Of Innocence is possibly as far away from Doves as you get on the record. Love the drumming, where does this song come from?

thanks.i like the energy in lots of those rockabilly records,guess its my attempt at that.

- Deep Rivers Run Quiet is probably one of the most beautiful tunes you guys have ever penned. How did that one come about?

well thank you, Deep rivers was interesting as jez had pretty much all the music already& the line ‘deep rivers run quite’ original verse lyrics were more of a love song,but we both felt the lyrics needed subverting a little bit, so we ended up deciding on trying to write a song about technology/surveillance paranoia!&how our phones,computers etc come to rule our lives which is a subject us&i suppose most other people can relate to at one time or another. Again it felt like something new (to us) to write about

- What was the toughest track on the album to nail down and why?

theres always one on every album!! both prob got different opinions on this
i’d prob say the wind that shakes the barley as lots going on in it,getting it to flow…is weird as live was one of the easiest to come together&one we always look forward to playing.

- Any old material/ideas that may have been previously worked on for a Doves album get recorded for Black Rivers?

think jez might have had music for voyager 1&a basic version of harbour lights from a few years back.

Five Questions for Jez:

- I hear a “Gimme Shelter”-esque intro guitar sound/pitch at the beginning of Diamond Days. Was that an influence at all? If not, describe how this track came about.

Interesting stones reference but no …for me it wasn’t …There was no direct writing influence on that song Apart from.. i liked the piano and guitar sound from my favourite beck album “odelay” a song called jack-ass …Which he in turn sampled from the brilliant “its all over now baby blue “by them

- Did you collaborate with anyone (Martin Rebelski perhaps?) on the record or is it entirely your own work?

Nope just me and andy ..

- How are you choosing which Doves tracks you are putting on the setlist?

I think that will change over time perhaps when we have a few more days of rehearsals ….we will chop and change to keep it fresh

- I love the sound on The Wind That Shakes The Barely. Tell us how you came up with that track, what was the starting point?

Thanks The initial idea came out of a cascading de-tuned guitar sample (which came from another song that didn’t make the album ) Andy had a lose top line chorus idea …that he’d written for an old chemical brothers demo track (which never saw the light of day ) we fused the 2 and then we were kind of “right were on our way to something a bit different here” in our heads we wanted a kind of beach boys vibe over an electronic sound …

- Coral Sea is probably my favourite track on the album, what is the inspiration (if any!) behind it?

Had the chord and top line sequence from ages ago Was just waiting for the right angle …At first it was a bit more electronic but clicked into place when we added a more acoustic feel …We wanted it to have that pure escapist Balearic feel to it

- What synths are used on the record? Are you still buying old gear to record with or are you using softsynths? Which synth did you have most fun with?

A mixture of the 2 ….I now have a lot of ..big old creaky synths from the 70s …But also use software synths for instance “the ship” Is a mixture of the 2 …I’m not a synth snob …if something works then it works …
My main 70s/80s synths are …
polyvox
Moog rouge
Kitten

Black Rivers have just announced a small handful of US West Coast dates. As Andy revealed to me last month, the dates will encompass the band’s appearance at Austin’s SXSW Festival. More West Coast dates are expected, whilst their SXSW date(s) have yet to be announced.

The dates announced so far:

Mar 23 Soda Bar San Diego, CA
Mar 24 Bahia Los Angeles, CA
Mar 26 The Chapel San Francisco, CA

Get the tickets links via Black Rivers official website.

The debut Black Rivers album is out this Monday, February 9th! If your in Manchester you can get it a day early at HMV Manchester (Arndale Centre) from 2pm where they will perform a few tracks and will sign copies of the album!

The Line of Best fit reviewed the album:

“Wind That Shakes The Barley” isn’t the all-out house of Sub Subs “Ain’t No Love (Ain’t No Use)” but nonetheless it’s a euphoric slab of psychedelia that wouldn’t be out of place at a rave. “Diamond Days” has the same touchpoints as “Words” from The Last Broadcast with a similarly lilting, repetitive guitar hook and gentle voice. It segues into “The Ship”, which starts as a sea shanty then thrillingly mutates into a Kraftwerk workout replete with effect laden vocals.

Read the full review. Thanks to Nikkijaydee for the link!

..aand finally the second part of my interview with Andy & Jez will go live on Monday.

This past weekend saw Heavenly Recordings celebrate 25 years with a Birthday bash in Hebden Bridge Yorkshire. DMB was there for both Jimi & Cherry Ghost gigs, both of which were memorable to say the least. We had such a great time that we got very few pics ourselves, so I would recommend you either check out the Doves forum for pics & comment or these sites for a review & pics..

Jimi reviews: Backseat Mafia | Gourmet Gigs

Cherry Ghost review: Gourmet Gigs

Thank you to those who stopped us and offered kind words regarding the site and stuff, was really cool seeing some old faces from Doves gigs from years gone by, just as it was equally cool meeting new faces too! It was a grand old time and we hope to do it all again someday soon.

Setlist from Jimi’s show, sadly the encore was not played due to time restrictions, thanks to gibbo for the pic!

A great way to end Jimi’s Odludek campaign. We look forward to the follow up immensely! Now our attention turns to Black Rivers, with their debut lp out here in a couple weeks. Part two of my interview with Andy & Jez will be live on album release day.

Just recently surfaced, a video for Seven Day Smile with Jane Weaver filmed at the Manchester Ritz. I don’t ever recall seeing this before, so a hidden gem if there ever was one!

Also in the news.. Jimi was ‘in the booth’ talking to Liz Kershaw on 6 music earlier today. You can listen to the interview via the 6 Music website. Fast forward to 1 hour 9 mins to hear Jimi discuss what he is currently reading and he reveals a wee bit about the upcoming Guy Garvey solo album & the Heavenly Hebden fest that’s happening in a couple weeks.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Thanks so much for all the support this busy year, supplying news, setlists etc that helps keep this site going!

Its been a great year with Jimi’s brilliant debut album and endless touring. 2015 promises to be just as good with Black Rivers prepping their debut album for release in February. Andy & Jez kindly answered a ton of questions for us which I will post up in the new year.

Here’s to another busy year ahead! First up will be A Heavenly Weekend in Hebden Bridge next month!

Wishing you all a very Happy Holiday season! The debut Black Rivers album release date has been pushed forward a week and will now be released February 9th. Andy & Jez are signing copies purchased at their online store.

They will be playing a short tour before they go out on the megadome tour with Noel Gallagher, dates listed above. They will also be supporting Elbow in Manchester & London. For the very latest visit their official website. They have also posted a video trailer for the album on facebook, It sounds fantastic!

The video for Jimi’s next single Lonely at the Drop, which comes out as a digital download on January 5th. The download features a Wings of Fury remix of Hope and Live Like a River remixed by Tea Street Band.

The video was premiered by Loaded magazine. In an interview with the mag, Jimi revealed he is writing the next album and hopes to start recording this side of Christmas!

First released 20 years ago, Sub Sub’s first lp Full Fathom Five has just been released on all good digital stores.

Its not the first time certain tracks have been made available online legally, Ain’t No Love, Past & the first single Spaceface (not on FFF) can be found at iTunes on various compilations. Full Fathom Five and its follow up Delta Tapes have been traded among fans for many years, whilst the CDs fetch silly amounts of money on auction sites.

Here’s a small handful of links, it can also be streamed on Spotify.

iTunes UK

iTunes USA 

Google play

Here attached is an interview Jez did for the Sun newspaper that was published earlier this week. There is nothing new regarding Black Rivers that we don’t already know, besides a funny story about Jez seeing Jimi live earlier this year.

Jez sat in on 6 Music’s roundtable show last Thursday. Jez did reveal they plan to play SXSW in the States, which bodes well for us at this side of the pond. Though we’ll see what happens next year!