Earlier today Doves announced they would playing their own headline show in Glasgow at the SWG3 Galvanizers Yard on Saturday June 8th. The Yard being the outdoor portion of the SWG3 complex.

Tickets go on sale tomorrow (Friday February 15th) at 9am here.

10 years ago today Doves Music Blog was born! The first ‘intro’ post came a few days later on Feb 16th 09. I initially set up the blog to last through the year, or for however long the band would tour and promote Kingdom of Rust. I had recently moved to the USA in 2008 from the UK, the recession had hit so without a job and time on my hands, DMB was one of the projects I set up to keep myself busy..

Its been quite the ride these past 10 years, obviously quite lean in terms of Doves activity, though the first couple years were quite active as the site documented the band from Kingdom of Rust through to the last show in 2010. Then the site and its twitter handle helped the band connect with their fans with the ‘solo’ projects whilst Doves was on a hiatus.

Too many names to mention but I couldn’t have done this without encouragement from the band, the fans that kept the faith and followed the band through their solo work. Justin who was a big part of the early days for the website and the twitter account!

I almost took the site down last year, busy with other projects/life and really I had let the site go a bit once the solo activity died down. I toyed with the idea that the site could live on in social media. It then occurred to me the Cedar EP would be turning 20 years old later in the year and so that idea was something worth keeping the site online for! Just as well I did as the news of the band ‘reforming’ soon followed.

Apologies I didn’t mean to write so much! If your still awake, I like the rest of you cannot wait to see the band return live next month! It promises to be an epic time.

Doves will perform at Victorious Festival in Portsmouth. The festival takes place over the weekend of August 23-25. Tickets for the festival are on sale now at the festival website.

Doves announced today that joining them at the Royal Albert Hall on March 29th will be two Liverpool bands, The Coral & The Fernweh.

The Coral are no strangers to Doves of course, having played with Doves several times, the Nottingham BBC 1 Radio show in 2002 comes to mind.

The Fernweh released their debut last year to critical acclaim. It promises to be a brilliant night for those lucky to hold a ticket!

Keep yer eye on Doves social media for more announcements…

I’ve had quite a few folks ask about what Doves have been up to for the last 9 years… The known ‘solo’ albums can be checked out by visiting their respective websites. Jimigoodwin.com and Andy & Jez’s Black Rivers band website. There was other stuff released you may have missed..

The Bird Effect

Jimi wrote a piece of music for a documentary by Ceri Levy called The Bird Effect. I’m not sure if the film was ever released? So as a result the finished version of the score is not available. Jimi performed the track live with his Bird Ensemble several times. You can listen to a live version..

Raised By Wolves

Initially released to much mystery and speculation. Raized by Wolves was revealed to be a project by Jez, Martin Rebelski & Mike TV. The Call featured vocals by Editors Tom Smith. Released on Mau5trap, the track got a bit of attention when it was released Sept 2011. The follow up track Spirit World didn’t quite get the attention the Call did. I asked Jez in 2015 what happened to RBW…

“We finished 10 tracks They still sound great imo …I guessed we flirted with the pop/ electronic world and didn’t work out …But we had so much fun doing RBW ….Currently the songs are being used for other Artists …Probably released in 2015 but not under “rbw”

Whatever your thoughts are on the music, Jez did exactly what he said he would do in 2010 when he said he wanted to get as far away from Doves as possible! Several of the RBW tracks have since surfaced. My favourite is this one released on their soundcloud page.

Jake Evans – Sun Goes Down

Jimi contributed backing vocals. Jimi’s involvement maybe is not so apparent but its a song that’s well worth checking out! Great album too, Jake Evans was part of Jimi’s live band. Jimi also provided backing vocals to Elbow’s New York Morning in 2014 from their The Take Off And Landing Of Everything lp.

Justin Velor

Justin Velor’s 2013 album released in 2013 naturally, the alias of Dom Thomas. Perhaps my favourite post Doves track. Galliano Rocks which features and was co-written by Jez…

Jez co-wrote and is featured on 3 other tracks on the album – Energiser, Manchester & Back To The Source. Now go give it listen, its well worth your time.

Whyte Horses

Another project with Dom Thomas. The debut record Pop or Not features Jez quite a bit. He’s credited with co-writing 3 tracks the title track Pop or Not, The Snowfalls & Feels Like Somethings Changing. Jez performs on five tracks, I won’t name them just check out the album, its quality! This Vice interview with Dom Thomas on Vice helps give more background on Whyte Horses.

Jez is also credited with mixing a track for Amber Arcades. It Changes released in 2017 on the Cannonball EP released via Heavenly Recordings.

Trojan Horse

Salford’s finest Trojan Horse who provided support at a few of Jimi’s gigs. Jimi’s vocals can be heard on the above track The Modern Apothecary from the band’s third album Fukushima Surfer Boys. Jimi sounds great on this one. Again an album worth checking out, its a wee bit of a change from their second album World Turned Upside Down which is a heavy psychedelic beast. The third album features more electronic sounds not unlike the Postal Service, its beautiful!

So all of the above is what I’m aware of, I’m sure there’s more out there that I’m not aware of. For all you Andy fans screaming what about Andy? I’m not aware of Andy being involved with anything that’s been released. I asked Andy in 2015 what he had been doing pre Black Rivers..

I was making some music with friends, with Jim noir (a Manchester solo artist)Laurie laptop who was in Durutti Column & Also Ian smith who was in Alfie among other bands, we recorded a lot of material,but never finished stuff!! so there is nothing released of yet, some of us had other projects and a couple of the guys had ‘proper’ jobs, so it got harder & harder to get together to record/write but hopefully when everyone’s less busy we’ll finish some of those songs,as there is some good stuff there & had a lot of fun recording with them all.

Feel free to let me know if I missed something…

ICYMI: Yesterday Andy & Jimi spoke to Radcliffe and Maconie on BBC 6 Music. Up for discussion was vinyl, new music & future tour plans. Starts 2:20 in here.

Doves will appear at this year’s Sheffield’s Tramlines festival. The fest take place at Hillsborough park over the weekend of July 19-21. Tickets for the weekend are on sale now at the fest website.

Doves have been confirmed to headline Kendal Calling, Doves will play the main stage on the Saturday night. Tickets and more info available at the Kendal Calling website.

Getintothis’s Peter Guy celebrates Doves return with an article profiling Doves and their role in the 2000s guitar scene. An interesting article which finishes off with Peter listing his top 10 favourite Doves tunes, which has caused a wee bit of a debate over at Doves facebook group.

Read the full article here. With the polar vortex keeping this blogger indoors for the next few days, expect DMB’s own top 10 (or 20 maybe!) Doves tracks over the coming days! Feel free to add yours over at the above mentioned facebook group.

Jimi & Andy will be on 6 Music’s Radcliffe & Maconie show next Saturday Feb 2nd from 9am.