Flying High

Doves are huge. Not that they ve shifted millions of units or sold out arena tours of the States. Not yet! But their music is epic in scope, recent single The Cedar Room coming on like the aural equivalent of War And Peace. Their debut album, Lost Souls, has been universally acclaimed, with some over-zealous scribes heralding the Manchester three-piece as the future of rock n roll and the saviours of British rock (part 443). Doves remain unfazed. They ve been on the go for a decade, after all.
About 10 years ago, brothers Jez and Andy Williams were reunited with school-friend Jimi Goodwin in a loved-up moment at the peak of acid house in Manchester s legendary Hacienda. Quicker than you could say Got any doves, mate? , they formed a band, Sub Sub, who had a huge dance hit in 1993 with floor-filler Ain t No Love (Ain t No Use) and promptly disappeared.
Well, they didn t exactly vanish, but their follow-ups didn t hit the commercial heights of their debut. It didn t help when later collaborations with Tricky and Bernard Sumner were destroyed as their studio burnt down five years ago.
That was the final nail in the coffin for Sub Sub, recalls Andy Williams. We lost all our gear and our master tapes. It was either throw in the towel or have a new beginning. We knew we had some really good music in us, which is why we stayed together. It was just a case of rolling our sleeves up and making the record we wanted to make.
Between Ain t No Love and Lost Souls was seven years and a lot can happen in that time, Andy continues. When we started in music originally, we mucked around with our mates with guitars and drums, but when house exploded in Manchester you couldn t help but get dragged into it cos it was a new and exciting thing. After a few years, though, the scene in Manchester started getting a bit ugly there were gang problems and the music wasn t as fresh. We just drifted out of it. We were also bored with just using a computer and sampler and started wanting to have fun again.
Lost Souls is the album we have always wanted to make, and we had to be determined and strong-willed to do it, Andy says. We lost our way so many times as Sub Sub, quite a few heavy things happened to us, so we developed almost a gang mentality, whereby we wouldn t let other people tell us what to do. We learned to keep strong and not let outside influences sway us.
It was worth the wait, though, and the album is a powerful testament to the band s self belief, a towering, shimmering collection of songs that has been wonderfully received in the press. Were they surprised by just how positive the reaction has been?
Sometimes you lose your faith that good music can break through without a major push, muses Andy, so this has reaffirmed our faith that people still want to hear something with integrity and depth. We re not surprised that people have liked the album, but we are surprised that so many people like it.
Some of the press has been more than gushing, with Doves hailed as the new Stone Roses or Oasis on liquid valium . Do such lofty claims put extra pressure on the band?
Not really, Andy opines. We ve always tried our best to have our own sound, and I think it s just the fact that we are a new Manchester band that people feel they have to compare us to other bands from Manchester. We love The Stone Roses, so it s really flattering, but we always take it with a pinch of salt. We ve been around long enough to keep our feet on the ground. We ve seen the dark side of the old music business as well so we can be quite sceptical.
How about if the salivating hacks were to be proved right and Doves become Britain s next big musical export. Would they welcome the attention?
We want the music to do as well as it can but we don t want to be in people s faces, notes Andy. If you re asking if we want to be celebrities, then the answer is definitely no. Our motive for what we do is to hopefully write brilliant music and to play live. We want to get over to as many people as we can, but we re never gonna compromise our sound to to that. We want to keep it slow building, rather than being like Gay Dad, just shooting your mouth off and doing whatever you have to to get into the press. We re not that kind of band.
With a new single, Catch The Sun set for release this month, and a summer of touring ahead of them, it s going to be a busy year for Doves, particularly since they re pencilled in for practically every major festival in the UK and rumours abound about their Irish debut. So how do three blokes on stage create that enormous sound to fill a stadium?
By putting as much passion and energy into it as we possibly can, Andy says immediately. In a studio you can afford to be subtle but live, you ve got to be more immediate. We really love playing live and it took us a good year or two to get the sound we want on stage, but we re there now.
Lost Souls is out now on Heavenly Records.