DOVES
Recorded at the tail end of 1998... this interview featured in a program looking forward to possible highlights for 1999.

HELLO

My name's Jez and the singer's Jimi...

I KNOW... I'M QUITE WELL VERSED IN THE WAYS OF DOVES! THE LISTENERS THINK YOU SPONSOR THE SHOW COS OF THE AMOUNT OF TIMES I'VE PLAYED CEDAR ROOM! ARE YOU SURPRISED AT THE INCREDIBLE RESPONSE THAT IT'S HAD?

JIMI:- We weren't expecting anything, we're a bit too long in the tooth for that! It's the old cliche, we knew what we were putting out was good, but we didn't have any expectations.

YOU HAD GREAT COMMCERCIAL SUCCESS WITH SUB SUB, BUT IT SOON VAPORISED... IT MUST HAVE TAUGHT YOU A LOT ABOUT THE FICKLENESS OF THE BUSINESS.

JIMI:  Yeah definitely. The timing was never right for Sub Sub, there were always 'what ifs'... plus we weren't expecting what happened to happen. Ain't No Love caught us dead by surprise. It wasn't meant to be a top 3 hit. We were used to putting out obscure shit that sold 2000 copies, which was great... but, you know, it was good on the one hand cos we got to do things like Top of the Pops, but on the other hand we didn't have any material to back it up, We learnt that you can't rely on other factors, you have to just do it for yourselves.

WHAT ABOUT THE EXPECTATIONS THAT NOW SURROUND THE BAND JEZ, HAVE YOU GOT THE MATERIAL TO BACK IT UP THIS TIME?

JEZ: The album's done, so there isn't any pressure in that respect... you can get wound up by being pressurised, but we've learnt to try not to let it affect us. Basically you've just got to get on with it and not analyse what's happening too deeply. You can't take it too seriously...

JIMI: We lost the fun for a while! That's what it's meant to be about... I could be working in Kwik Save tomorrow but I'm in a band for God's sake... it's supposed to be a laugh!

JEZ: Exactly!

THAT SHINES THROUGH ON THE SINGLE, EVEN THOUGH IT'S DARK AND MOODY,  IT HAS A CELEBRATORY FEEL TO IT... I DANCE ROUND THE STUDIO WHEN I'M PLAYING IT.

JIMI: We want the music to be uplifting, but a lot of people find it depressing!

JEZ:  There is joyousness in there. I love records that have the sadness and the beauty, and it can be uplifting depending on the mood your in.

JIMI: It can be tricky trying to get the line between being a little bit melancholy and uplifting at the same time. We don't design it, we just write the tunes and it comes out like that.

JEZ:  Hopefully it comes out like that!

CEDAR ROOM HAS GOT THE SAME KIND OF EPIC AND UPLIFTING FEEL AS 'I WANNA BE ADORED', DON'T YOU THINK?

JEZ: Well, we're quite chuffed that you said that! That's a great song, a great sound and maybe the best example of the Roses being influenced by dance culture. It's ironic that they were a guitar band who got influenced by dance music and we used to be regarded as a dance act and now we're using more, and louder, guitars!

THE CEDAR RISING E.P. SHOWS THAT THERE'S OTHER ELEMENTS TO YOUR SOUND, WILL THE DEBUT ALBUM BE VARIED?

JIMI: I guess so, yeah.

JEZ:  All the tunes are connected in some way, but if I had to describe it in one word it would be... erm...

JIMI: Melodic!

JEZ:  Yeah, melodic! With a bit of melancholy thrown in as well, cos I'm a miserable twat!

JIMI: He's not that bad! There's the odd tune that's schizophrenic... a track like 'Catch the Sun' is dead uplifting and there's no sadness there at all... just a pop song. There's a thread running through them all, it's just hard to explain what that thread might be!

JEZ:- It's hard to explain because we're too close to it, we recorded it and wrote it. When we were making the album we were very conscious of making it connect. It should do, anyway, because it's the same three people, the same voice over the top... that connects all the songs together. You can't analyse that sort of stuff, it just has to come out of you.

DO YOU THINK YOU LEARNT SOMETHING ABOUT DYNAMICS MAKING DANCE RECORDS WITH SUB SUB THAT YOU'VE APPLIED TO DOVES?

JEZ:  Definitely. We've always been interested in how you produce a record. First you write it, and then you think about how you want to hear it. We're very interested in focusing in on the sounds in our heads and then trying to get that down on record.

JIMI: We're not desperate for the latest technology or production techniques, but we keep our ear to the ground in case something interesting comes along that can help us get the sounds in our heads down on tape. We don't just want to sound like another guitar band so hearing and making new sounds is very important to us... as long as it's not the detriment of the songs.

DID YOU MAKE A CONSCIOUS EFFORT TO PRODUCE YOURSELVES (THE E.P. AND THE ALBUM) TO GET AWAY FROM RECORD LABELS DICTATING TO BANDS WHICH PRODUCERS YOU GET TO WORK WITH, WHICH EVENTUALLY MAKES RECORDS JUST SOUND THE SAME?

JIMI: I think we're going to see a lot more of that going on, a lot more indies... which can only be healthy for the industry because everyone is suspicious of the major labels lack of commitment to their bands. Who wants to get dropped after a few months and a couple of singles because the label isn't behind you. You might as well set up your own. It's become DIY.. doing it for yourself.

JEZ:  I know what you mean, if you're a new band, you get signed to a major label, the label gets the producer in to record your record because he has a successful sound, he can do the sound of the moment. A lot of the new bands don't have the studio knowledge or experience that we've got so they can't rebel against that... we're lucky because we know how to get a certain sound. New bands have to put their trust in other people, and sometimes that ruins the songs.

HOW CLOSE IS THE RECORDED SOUND TO WHAT YOU DO LIVE?

JIMI: It's quite close.

I'M INTERESTED BECAUSE YOU MAKE A BIG, BIG SOUND FOR A THREE-PIECE?

JEZ:  Live it's a bit more 'beat them over the head', we lose a bit of the subtlety to get the songs over in an entertaining way.

JIMI: There's much more subtlety on the album, it's a bit more ferocious, on the edge and louder sounding when you see us live. It has to be faster and louder to entertain people.

JEZ:  We retain most of the technology we use in the studio live, so if there's a sample or a loop on a recording we'll use it at a gig too.

THE ODD THING IS THAT TEN OR FIFTEEN YEARS AGO WE ASSUMED THAT WE WOULD ALL BE LIVING IN A SLEEK TECHNOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT, BUT MORE AND MORE PEOPLE ARE LEARNING THAT YOU HAVE TO MIX THAT TECHNOLOGY WITH SOMETHING OLDER AND SOULFUL

JIMI: Something definitely gets lost in the digital era, it's too clinical sometimes, you need a bit of both.

JEZ:  Some of those old records, you will never get vocal sounds like that again. All the old rock'n'roll stuff, Elvis, Chuck Berry, people like that. Getting anywhere near those sounds today is more or less impossible. It would be great to get the warmth of those old vocals, and it's something we try to do... but it's never going to happen! It's a laugh trying, though! We love the digital technology, though, we're not scared of technology. Obviously we learnt a lot when we were doing the Sub Sub stuff... it's cool that we get to bring all of these things to the table when we're making a record.

THERE SEEMS TO BE A CROP OF INTERESTING PEOPLE COMING OUT OF MANCHESTER AT THE MOMENT... I'M NOT TRYING TO CALL IT A SCENE, BECAUSE THERE'S NO SONIC SIMILARITIES... IS IT AN INSPIRING PLACE TO BE AT THE MOMENT?

JIMI: Over the last year or so it's begun to feel like there's something interesting going on. It's not this big, close sort of village where everyone meets in the same bar, or anything! Everyone's been dead suspicious of all the baggy crap; and after that it went all gangy, everyone was in their own camp for a while, all head down, sleeves rolled up and doing their own thing. Who wants to be part of a scene anyway? I'm suspicious of scenes... and if there is a scene happening in Manchester at the moment it's just people joined by an interest in new music.

JEZ:  Scene's are created by the media, they're just contrived.

THEY CAN BE USEFUL FOR DRAWING ATTENTION TO BANDS RIGHT AT THE START, THOUGH.

JIMI:  Yeah, you're right... as long as you don't get lumped in with something that's going to hold you back later.

'CEDAR ROOM' IS QUITE A MYSTERIOUS SOUNDING RECORD... MOODY AND ENIGMATIC... DO YOU WANT TO PRESERVE THAT?

JIMI:  (laughs) Well we've blown that now, haven't we? The bubble's been burst!

WILL YOU BE DISAPPOINTED IF THE ALBUM DOESN'T GET AS GOOD A CRITICAL REACTION AS THE E.P?

JEZ:  I don't really expect anything to happen, I'm too long in the tooth to have any ambitions in that department.

YOU KEEP SAYING THAT! I'M IMAGINING SOMEONE GREY-HAIRED, TOOTHLESS OLD FELLA SAT IN FRONT OF THE MICROPHONE!

JEZ:  (laughs) I think the album's really good, it will do what it does. I think our experiences with Sub Sub have taught us to be more objective. I'm already thinking of the next album, and just keeping going.