Interview: Dry The River
21 februari 2012, 11:05 | Jeroen
Dry The River stond recent nog op Eurosonic/Noorderslag en in november op Crossing Border en tourde intensief in 2011. In aanloop naar het optreden komende week in de Tivoli en hun eerste album release had ZUBB de kans gitarist Matthew Taylor een paar vragen te stellen:
Who are Dry The River and where do you originally come from?
We are a rock band from London, originally from the middle and south of England, pleased to meet you.
How would you describe your music?
Epic post-folk-rock, or something.
How did you come upon forming this band? Was the idea always there?
A few years ago Peter had written some folk songs and wanted to record them so he called each of us to go into the studio. He knew us from playing together in previous bands and from playing gigs in the local reading / Newbury area. After we recorded the 4 song demo, we got a gig, and we haven’t stopped since! We didn’t start out with a grand plan really, we’ve just taken things as they’ve come to us.
Where does the name Dry The River come from?
Sorry, it is a secret.
For how long have you been playing and writing before Dry The River really started to get noticed?
We gigged for about 6 months before we had any interest from anyone I think. So not very long! We’d all played in bands for years and years without getting noticed but this one seemed to work out.
Sometimes your music sounds fragile. Where do the lyrical contents come from?
The lyrics are written completely separately to the music, by Peter. He writes sometimes from personal experience, sometimes narratives drawn from other things – things he’s read I think usually.
Is there a special place where Dry The River rehearses and writes?
Once Peter has an idea for a song or two, there is a tiny cottage in Wales that we sometimes retreat to, to get away from distractions, so we can really concentrate on the song. Its beautiful there, you can walk across the hills and see the ocean then go back to work.
Did you got noticed by RCA/SONY itself? Can you tell something about how you came in contact with the record company?
Yes, Sam Mumford, who now A&R’s (Artist and Repertoire, red.) us started coming to our shows in 2010 and we got on with him very well from the start. He is quite a character. The music industry needs more Sam Mumfords. He looks like Stephen Tyler.
How did you guys met Peter Katis? How was recording a full album with him?
He was at the top of our list of people we wanted to record with and luckily he liked our music when we sent it to him. It was an incredible experience, using the same studio as bands like The National and Interpol and Jonsi, using the same instruments and recognizing the sounds from the records we knew so well. It was done in a series of short trips which meant we worked quite intensively. I got a few headaches during the process but I think they were worth it.
What are you tour plans for summer 2012?
We played 38 festivals last year and I think we’ll be doing something similar this year. We had a great time at Lowlands last year, I hope we get to play there again.
De band staat 28 februari in de Tivoli en het nieuwe album Shallow Bed ligt 5 maart in de winkel.
