Jez

Doves set for top 10

Music week reports that the best of is on course to slot in the top 10, though overtaking Lady Gaga (again) seems unlikely.

Doves’ greatest hits set The Places Between, as well as new albums from Rufus Wainwright and Jonsi are all set to debut within the top 20 this Sunday, as Boyzone and Lady GaGa continue their tussle at the top.

The Places Between (Heavenly) sold more than 3,000 copies yesterday despite the bank holiday to sit at five in midweek sales flashes, the highest of a number of new entries.

Jez gave an interview to 6 Music where he gave his views on the music scene today..

Guitarist Jez Williams told 6 Music that money from record labels for touring and recording has dried up –which he put down to the effects of file-sharing.

“It’s really difficult for bands to go out on the road and tour,” he said. “It costs a lot of money to take a band on the road to do 10 UK dates.”

Referring to the pot of cash traditionally provided by labels for their artists to go on the road, he said: “It’s really tricky for new bands to get tour support because there’s no such thing as tour support any more.

“So people haven’t got that back-up any more. And that’s a direct link to people downloading albums without paying for it. It’s suffered because of that.”

The Manchester trio have just released their greatest hits album, called The Places Between, which is heading for the top 10 this weekend.

The process of choosing the tracks caused some friction within the band, he revealed.

“Everyone’s got their own favourites so it was a bit of a long painful process of trying to pick [songs] and compromise where we all were happy,” he said.

Going back to third album Some Cities gave him a particularly pleasant surprise.

“That sounds a lot better than I remembered it,” he explained. “There are some great songs on there and I was really proud of most of that CD.

To read the full interview, click here.

Jez: ‘You’ll have to wait until 2012 for our next album’

Once again Jez has spoke about the band’s plans for next year. As previously reported, a greatest hits album is in the works. Then he goes onto say don’t expect new doves til 2012..

“We’ve done four albums so next year, around January time, we are putting out a greatest hits collection. I know four albums isn’t masses but we have been around for ages because each album takes so long to write,” explained Jez Williams.

“We will have to start thinking about a fifth album after the greatest hits collection, but in all honesty, I doubt we’ll finish our fifth album until at least two or three years’ time.”

He added: “It makes me sick just thinking about it. That’s because I know it will be the start of two to three years of arguments. The thing about Doves is all three of us write each song. We’re a democracy, and we always have different input into each songs so it ends up taking ages. Expect a new Doves album in 2012.”

To read the full interview, which includes Jez talking about the Electric Proms gig, visit NME here.

Interesting reading, doesn’t surprise me to much. If you’ve followed doves long enough, you were not expecting a new album next summer. Next year should be good with the greatest hits album, which will presumably be toured a wee bit. They could have fun with that, as many bands have done with tours celebrating just the music. More later, gotta run to work..

Greatest Hits Album Due Next Year!

 

In a rather revealing interview with adelaidenow, Jez let slip some of the band’s plans for next year. He also says he is not sure whether there will be another doves album.

Jez on the possiblity of a new doves album:

I think if there is another Doves album – and we’re not sure at this moment whether there will be or not – we won’t be staring at a blank canvas, but we’ve got some really strong ideas in front of us,” he says.

“It was a very slow process to be honest, and I think we were looking for some kind of direction – but something different for us – we didn’t really know what we were looking for.

 

“There’s a lot of material lying around – some of it finished and some of it just sparks of ideas. If it’s possible and we get some time when we get back, we’ll start going through it.”

 

Jez on the band’s plans for 2010..

 

While this news is disastrous for fans of the band, Williams let slip plans to release a greatest hits of Doves early next year, which will include two new songs.

 

“There’s talk of us putting a best-of out next year and then we’ll start touring on that,” Williams says.

 

“It’s a bit of a luxury, really, after putting out four albums but we’re going to write some new songs for it or have a look at some of the material we’ve already got.”

For those who missed the band’s recent east coast tour, all is not lost. The band had planned a more extensive tour of Australia, which would take in all major cities and, despite this having fallen through, Williams says the band will return to Australia next year – following the release of Doves’ best-of and perhaps a live experience for fans to own for themselves, in the form of a live album.

 

“We might do that as well, seeing as how we’ve recorded every single gig on the UK tour,” he says.

 

“There is talk of a live album. But we’ll be back in Australia for a more extensive tour – possibly for the best-of.”

 

To read the full adelaidenow article, click here.

 

Interesting news! Personally, I think a greatest hits album/tour is great news for next year! The band deserve to go out and celebrate the past decade of hard work, which brought us four brilliant albums.

The debate begins, what needs to go on the greatest hits lp..

Pictures From Jodrell Bank

Here’s a couple pictures of the band at Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, as Jez attempted to bounce guitar notes off the moon, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the moon landing.

For the full story, see our previous post here.

Jez Moon tuning at Jodrell Bank

Andy & Jez at Jodrell Bank

Click on the images for larger view.

Doves Celebrate Anniversary Of Moon Landing

Buzz Aldrin walks on the surface of the Moon Photograph: Neil Armstrong/Corbis

We just got this in from the band, it does not get much cooler than this:

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the moon landing, doves were invited to Jodrell Bank, the Cheshire based Centre for Astrophysics last Thursday. Where they attempted to bounce notes from Jez’s guitar off the moon! The signal was sent from a dish in Cambridge and was to be picked up by the lovell telescope at Jodrell Bank.

Unfortunately they couldn’t align the dishes whilst the band were there. But yesterday, Dr Tim O’Brien successfully sent and received the signals. Which is believed to be a world first!

More as we have it. How cool is that?

Kinda related bit regarding Jodrell Bank from an interview the band did with thequietus.com back in April.

So, Jodrell Bank –that’s fucking brilliant isn’t it? I used to love going there when I was a kid.

Jimi: “The first thing we ever did as Sub Sub, ‘Space Face’, had Jodrell Bank on the cover. It’s like our spiritual home. You can see it from here and from our studio. We were there for three months before I realised you could see it. I was out the back having a fag and I was like ‘It’s fucking Jodrell Bank, man.'”

Andy: “Every time I went out for a drive to get away from the studios I’d always end up there.”

Jodrell Bank tracked the Russian Luna 9 probe to the moon’s surface and received the first facsimile photo from the surface. They ended up doing it because the Russians were about to launch this thing but then realised that they could send something to the moon but they didn’t have a telescope strong enough to track it and receive messages from the surface. They couldn’t ask the Americans obviously . . .

Andy: “It’s amazing. It’s about 50 years old now but when it was first built it must have been like ‘What the fuck is that thing?'”

Jimi: “I like it as well because it represents that 1950s vision of the future, that shining steel and massive design from the golden age of flying and space travel. Future retro. It reminds you of a time when it was your ambition to fly. Now you daren’t mention that you flew to get to a concert.”

Jez – Under Fire In Montreal

cornershopstudios recently caught up with Jez, before the show in Montreal.

Question: Deciduous or Evergreen?
Answer: Evergreen. Because it’s fresh and invigorating.

To read more similar in-depth questions, check out the rest of the interview here. A cracking read.

Jez Advises Fans To "Get Ready"

In a recent telephone interview with phillyBurbs.com, Jez has strongly hinted that Doves’ next output will be a departure from the current album, Kingdom Of Rust.

phillyBurbs.com

The Doves, who also includes vocalist-bassist Jimi Goodwin and Jez’s brother/drummer Andy Williams, believe that “Rust” is a good stepping-off point for the band.

“It’ll be interesting where we can go from here,” says Williams. “I think that ‘Rust’ proves that we can do anything we want to do. We challenged ourselves a great deal this time because we’re not content to put out the same old thing. It worked out as well as we could have ever hoped. It’ll be interesting to see what we do next. Just get ready for it.”

To read the full interview, click here.

Interview & Performance For MN Public Radio’s The Current

Minnesota Public RadioMinnesota Public Radio’s The Current have uploaded an interview and live performance from Jimi, Jez & Martin, recorded earlier today on Jimi’s birthday.

Click here, to listen to the broadcast.

Jez Interviewed For Colorado Springs Independent

Bill Forman of the Colorado Springs Independent recently interviewed Jez, discussing his thoughts on: Doves losing the UK #1 Album Chart position to Lady Gaga; Manchester City, and the band’s personal upheavals during the creation of Kingdom Of Rust.

Colorado Springs Indy

“We did ‘Blue Moon,’ but it’s a really messed-up, drugged-out, psychedelic version,” says an obviously pleased Williams. “It’s a little bit left-field for the City, but they play it, so it’s all good.”

To read the full interview, visit this link.

Bill Forman can be contacted via Twitter, username Billforman.

Jez Speaks To Tandem Magazine

Canada’s Tandem magazine has posted a short interview with Jez, talking about New Order, the four year hiatus and the Gallagher brothers…

Tandem Magazine

Williams notes that “in Doves, we are all brothers in a way, and two of us are biological brothers. It’s like a family unit, a three-headed monster, and it’s so intuitive it’s sometimes scary!” So no sibling fighting, as with those other Manchester rock star brothers, the Gallaghers of Oasis? “No, we’re more laidback,” laughs Jez Williams. “We did a lot of fighting at 15 and got it out of our system then.”

To read the full interview, click here.