|
|
 |
Doves.
"I'm one of those sort of quarter Irish-Englishmen who feels more proud of Ireland than of England. Plastic Paddies, we call them. In the whole band we're all plastic paddies... I'm excited to be part of Europe, but our leaders don't really want to be."That's in every country across the continent at the moment; the goal posts have been shifted on that particular goal... I mean, we're European at the end of the day, and we're nationalistic in that way."
On the eve of the Live8 concerts and the G8 summit in Edinburgh, and in the midst of the European unification referendums, my chat with Jimi Goodwin, frontman for Doves, took place at a hectic time in politics. You wouldn't say it's political, but 'Some Cities', the latest release by Doves, dwells heavily on growing up in northern England, hence my question about patriotism.
"Obviously I've got regional pride: we're all proud of where we're from, but we don't have to wear it like a badge. In this instance, ['Some Cities'] is kind of cliched, writing about what you know, but writing about what we knew on some of the songs on the album is pretty much the universal feeling, isn't it? It's that frustration of where you're growing up not being particularly inspiring."
The single Black And White Town includes some particularly
gloomy lyrics about the satellite towns that surrounded the
big cities, but surely it's not as bad as depicted? "It's quite
a strong reaction, but it's a little bit playful. It's about
that time when your eyes are starting to open as a kid and you're
no longer prepared to climb trees. That's just not enough anymore.
You're starting to get into music, you're starting to get into
clothes... It's about that thing of 'Is this all there is? Is
there something else there in the city? We've got to get out
of here, or we'll be buried'."
Yet, at the same time Ambition speaks of being wary of putting too much hope in escape. "Andy wrote the lyrics to that, but I think it's about sometimes stopping to smell the roses and appreciating what you've got.
Especially in this age of mass media, there's so many things you're told you've got to be," Goodwin explains. "Whilst it's good to have a bit of get up and go and a dream to follow, if that dream turns obsessive and you're not having any fun, and you're not appreciating the people around you such as your
family... well..."
Little lessons and life parables can be found in many Doves songs and I would argue that makes Goodwin somewhat of an educator as well as a frontman. "Not every song we write has meaning," he counters. "Sometimes the lyrics of a song are just a feel good thing, and it just fits the song. Pounding's about nothing really, it's our idea of a bubblegum chorus."
Doves' home page reveals the "Make Poverty History" logo in prime position, I asked Goodwin about Doves' involvement in the campaign.
"We'd have loved to have done something this weekend at one of the [Live8] concerts, but we had other commitments that had been booked for a long time. As far as being an ordinary punter though, it's inexcusable that we've let it go on for this long. It's things like clean water and malaria that piss me off, when I open the papers and a village somewhere doesn't have a water pump. It's inexcusable," he snarls. "There's no need for it with the money that the west has got. It's about African corruption as well. Look at [Zimbabwe President Robert] Mugabe right now: he was once Africa's greatest hope - a modernist, a reformist - but I think the guy's gone mad, the power's gone to his head.
"The cynic inside me says they're going to ignore us like they did in Iraq. There were anti-war marches all over the show - I mean there were 2 million people in London - and it was like 'well, well done you. You've exercised your right to protest and we're going to go ahead anyway and fucking do what we want.' So, I just hope that doesn't happen this time. We're sending very clear signals to our MPs and politicians that this is it, we've never been in a better position to try and make a difference." He sighs. "I just hope they come out of that conference [G8] with some real solid, concrete plans. It obviously something that's not going to happen overnight: it's from the commitment you show, and with that you can do anything."
Steven Williams
 |
dB Magazine proudly presents The Doves at Heaven on Tues 26 July with neon.
|
|
|
The latest issue
available now!
|
