First there was the bad shit then the mad shit – the biggest-selling album in Irish history, an international hit and a record you hear “in every shoe shop”. So, having climbed the white ladder to phenomenal success, how does David Gray follow that?
Cynics may see this album as a stop-gap release designed simply to fill the void back home, while
David Gray sets out to break America with White Ladder.
In an age when hype springs eternal, DAVID GRAY is that rare phenomenon a success story scripted by the fans rather than the industry. And a distinctly Irish success story at that. A certifiable platinum-selling box-office blockbuster in this country, the Welsh singer-songwriter still awaits a similar eruption of Gray fever in Britain, Europe and America. But his latest album, White Ladder, could be the record which tells the world what Ireland already knows. Now as he prepares to wow the faithful at Galway s Big Beat festival, JOHN WALSHE presents the inside story of the best kept secret in the west.
Pics Mick Quinn
DAVID GRAY’s sell-out December gig at Dublin’s Point Theatre was an intense, emotional affair.
NIALL STANAGE reports on a remarkable night and offers a personal perspective on the singer-songwriter’s journey
For the person in the eye of the storm, massive success can involve a titanic struggle. Especially when, as you’re trying to keep your bearings, ordinary life jumps up to punch you in the teeth. Now, after death, birth, fatigue, grief, joy and the "mindfuck" that is "the tidal wave of success," it is time, says David Gray, to get back to the music. and – whisper it – maybe even have a little holiday.
How David Gray - whose follow-up to the planet-conqueringly successful Whilte Ladder is due out in eight weeks - beat the how-the-hell-do-you-follow-White-Ladder blues
No longer the angry young man who heralded A Century Ends, nor the underdog troubadour we took to our hearts and our homes with White Ladder, the David Gray of 2005 is something like a phenomenon.
Sharp suits, a global fan base, his own luxury recording studio - David Gray has certainly come a long way. On the eve of the release of his latest album, he talks about the dark side of success and explains why he wants to leave the singer-songwriter tag behind
NIALL STANAGE reports from the tenth Finsbury Park Fleadh, which featured performances from THE PRETENDERS, VAN MORRISON, ELVIS COSTELLO, SHANE MACGOWAN, DAVID GRAY and, er, RONAN KEATING
It's all changed for DAVID GRAY. Within the past month he has played a series of sell-out gigs across the US, gone top ten in the UK, and returned to this country to celebrate the release of Lost Songs. In a hotpress exclusive, NIALL STANAGE reports from New York, Boston, London and Dublin on the globalisation of Ireland's favourite Welshman. Hotshot hitman: STEVEN FISHER
Its action all areas as a musically beefed- up David Gray leaps back into the fray. Inviting Hot Press to an exclusive tour of his London studio, he talks about early success in Ireland, his break with loyal drummer Clune and a recent get-together with uber-diva Annie Lennox
Interviews, reviews, images, videos and more....
hotpress.com documents the rise and rise of Ireland-adopted folk phenomenon DAVID GRAY in an exclusive microsite
Best known on these shores for his Under The Table And Dreaming album, and if you're still saying 'huh?', bear in mind that this current album sold 732,000 copies in its first week of release in the US.
After more than 15 years in the business, Aslan are still able to command massive, devoted audiences in music venue and record shop alike. John Walshe joins the Lions' club on the road
The four Of Us are back, and reflecting a new kind of maturity. Classified Personal is notable for its laidback mellowness. If you were feeling overworked, hungover or otherwise emotionally stressed, the fourteen tracks here could provide a soothing balm for your frazzled soul.
The result is a reflective, elegiac, extremely personal study of love and loss, measuring the yawning absences of bereavement, and testing the fortitude of the relationships which tether us at our most bereft
given the choice, I’d prefer to see him in front of a comfortable-sized crowd, but due to his immense popularity, grander things are called for these days. .
To transform the intimacy of his records into an entertainment show is some task, but one which Ireland’s favourite Welshman has improved on as the years go on, simply because more material equals rich pickings: those less suited to shared appreciation can be dropped.
It’s a sign of some pretty vacant musical times that Angels And Cigarettes, the major label debut from 24 year old Eliza Carthy, can saunter all the way to the Mercury Prize nominations list.
It’s been a long, hot, muggy day, but Galway’s weather still won’t piss or get off the pot. A short, sharp shower would actually be extremely welcome, but the heavily pregnant clouds just tease with the prospect of rain. On the plus side, the evening skies over the Fisheries Field are appropriately shaded for the musical night ahead (sorry, but it’s an unbreakable rule of music journalism that every David Gray live review must contain at least one pun on his surname).
30,000 people, loads of A-list stars, four stages on Fairyhouse Racecourse. Yes, we're talking about WITNNESS. KIM PORCELLI reviews the biggest festival of the summer.
