| |
 |
| Grand Drive |
Self-produced in their own
south London studio ('The Premise'), Grand Drive's
fifth album 'Everyone' comes 10 years after their debut
single Tell It Like It Is and marks the return of brothers
Danny and Julian Wilson to Loose Music: the label that
yielded their first LPs Road Music and True Love And High
Adventure ("the first stone-cold classic of the 21st
Century", raved Sleazenation) - records recently
cited by Romeo Stodart as an influence on The Magic Numbers.
The Wilson brothers kept busy in their time away from
Loose. A major label deal with BMG saw the re-release
of the two aforementioned titles plus two more acclaimed
albums (See The Morning In and The Lights In This Town
Are Too Many To Count), several 'A' list singles courtesy
of BBC Radio 2, tours of the USA and Europe and the means
to set up their own studio. In addition Julian has toured
the world playing keyboards for Damien Dempsey and has
successfully launched the Wonky Atlas imprint, while Danny
recently released his own solo set The Famous Mad Mile
on French imprint Fargo, which has seen him touring throughout
Europe and as far afield as Australia.
By returning to their indie roots you could say that Grand
Drive have come a full circle. Typically, however, the
band are in no way bitter or disillusioned about their
time with one of the world's biggest labels.
"Our
major label experience wasn't all bad really" says
Julian. "On the plus side, when you're the smallest
fish in the big pond, you can get on mostly with building
your own little whatever it is fish build, so we've come
out of it very proud of the music we made. On the downside,
it could be very frustrating to not be valued, outside
of a couple of people, within your own label. It's very
hard to get the wider world to notice you when you can't
even get the first and second floor to pay attention."
Alongside long-time associate Ed Balch, Danny and Julian
- with a little bit of help from their friends (notably
Pete Wareham of Acoustic Ladyland who adds the sublime
saxophone part to End Of Duty) - have now produced an
album that contains all the classic Grand Drive trademarks,
namely brilliant, evocative songwriting that's rich in
harmony and heavy in soul, played with an insistent determination
to stay true to themselves.
"Like all our
albums it's sort of about us, as we are now," notes
Julian. "We've never 'made it' in any great way,
with everything that goes with that, so we've always lived
very regular lives, and I think our songs are still very
real and true to that. We're not looking in at it. But
we've also got the sort of attitude that means we feel
lucky with what we've achieved through our music, we're
totally excited by it, by new songs and the whole process.
The result has always been a kind of 'positive realism',
and I hope it always will be. Having said that, we're
not snobs, we'd never turn our noses up at a little bit
of a hit."
A little bit of a hit? Who knows? |
| Press |
"rich
and melodic" - Sunday Express
"this band has always swung, swooned and
soared in all the right place and its fifth album is no
exception" - Independent On Sunday
"blinding" - Sunday Times
7/10 NME
"they soar to the heights we knew they are capable
of" - The Sun
"their patchwork musical quilt combines tender soul
and easy-on-the-ear country" - Daily
Mirror
"These songs are like Frank Capra movies set to music,
tales of hope in adversity, of broken hearts trying one
last time" - Evening Standard
"A band that elevates tortured affairs of
the heart into an artform" - The Times
"This album is a classic and the
first stone-cold masterpiece of the 21st century"
- Sleazenation
"
Stateley imaginative rock music crammed with sparkling
tunes. Just Brilliant!" - Word Magazine |
|
|
|
|