20 years ago today Doves announced their arrival with their debut release the Cedar EP! 1000 copies were pressed and released on their own Casino label through Rob’s Records.

I recently caught up with Andy and band manager Dave Rofe to discuss the Cedar EP and how it all came about. You can check out what they had to say…

Interview with Andy Williams

Interview with Dave Rofe

Doves have kindly offered up a signed super rare test pressing of the Cedar EP. To be in with a chance of winning this record, all you got to do is take a picture of something Doves related you own and post it to either Doves Fans group under the competition post, tweet @Dovesmusicblog using the hashtag #cedarepcomp or email to dovesmusicblog@gmail.com using the subject cedar ep comp.

The picture can be of absolutely anything Doves related, a copy of a album, t shirt, your vinyl collection..whatever you fancy.

I will pick at random up to 10 from each medium and draw one lucky winner from a chipped Doves mug!

 

 

Friday November 9th marks 20 years since Doves announced their arrival with the debut release the Cedar EP! I recently caught up with Andy Williams and band manager Dave Rofe, who gave me their thoughts on the Cedar EP and all things Doves from that time period. The interviews will be on the site from Friday.

Doves have signed a super rare Cedar EP 12″ test pressing. We’ll be offering that up to one lucky reader, details to follow!

Almost 20 years ago November 9th 1998 to be exact, Doves announced their arrival with their debut release the Cedar EP. 20 years on we plan to celebrate the 20th anniversary, we need your help!

Have you got anything you would like to share with the masses from the 98-99 period? Maybe a photo, a press cutting, a gig memory, a story of meeting the guys at the time or whatever you can think of that may be of interest.

You can post whatever you have either on the active Doves fans discussion group on the official facebook page, tweet @dovesmusicblog or you can email dovesmusicblog@gmail.com Would love to hear from you!

Published author Joseph Rogers saw Jimi live in Cardiff a few years back, whilst Jimi was touring the Odludek album. Joe wrote an account of the gig and his chance meeting with Jimi. Its a thoroughly enjoyable read, please don’t take my word for, go check it out. Thank you to Joe for allowing me to post the entire article for fans of Jimi/Doves to enjoy.

An Apology to Jimi Goodwin

©Joseph Rogers. This is an account based on true events. Whilst every care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of information, neither the author or publisher is responsible for any errors or omissions present. Dialogue is not necessarily representative of the thoughts of person(s) /organisation(s) mentioned and are a recollection of the author’s account of events – not an official record of the event. This work is part of an (as yet) untitled larger project for possible future release. For more information on this and other projects, please contact Joseph on Twitter @TheJRogers

The petition to get Doves to reform has generated a wee bit of buzz on social media! If nothing else it has got people talking about Doves again which ain’t such a bad thing. The petition was first picked up by nbhap.com who may recall interviewed Doves regarding the 15th year anniversary.

Now Manchester based thejournalix have also put their weight behind the petition.

As I write this, it nears 500 signatures! Kudos to you Scott!

Still in business! Happy New Year to you. As per usual not too much going on, but one fan is so fed up with the hiatus that he has started a petition..

Titled “Encourage Doves to reform” you can sign it here. Best of luck!

It was suggested that I replace the official Doves forum with a modern version at facebook using their groups feature. After 17 years the website based forums have had their day, whilst social media has made it easy for us all to be lazy at social interaction on anything other than fb or twitter.

A Doves fan forum group page has been set up here. Feel free to join, all are welcome! The website forum will stay up, it costs nothing to keep anyways so for those of you who don’t facebook its still here to use.

Whilst I’m at it, here is a snapshot of the official Doves forum through the ages from the brown board in 2001 to the lights out forum of 2006. It was brutal at times as you can see.

 

Martin Rebelski has been busy with his new project Rogue Emperor.

Rogue Emperor is a collaboration between ex Elbow drummer Richard Jupp and Martin Rebelski, Doves keyboard player. The pair are joined by 1,2,3,4’s guitarist Mike TV – who can often be found backing Badly Drawn Boy live – and Ollie Collins the renowned session bassist.

Check out their first track Holy Ghost in the video above. The track was mixed by our very own Jez Williams!Follow Rogue Emperor over at their facebook page.

Jimi has been busy mixing, you can check out his latest creation over at Soundcloud!

Black Rivers have hinted that some big news should drop in November! Its all happening. 🙂

Looking to help out a big Doves fan who is based in Japan. Do any of you have the full recording of the February 3, 2003 Tokyo Club Quattro Show? A recording does it exist of the full show, so if you have it and are willing to share please send me a message. A DVD of the shows does exist, this does not cover the full show.

Thanks!

A rather fine cover of Break Me Gently by EQUADOR