David Gray went through the roof with his White Ladder album in 2000 and he’s toured and recorded ever since, ending this summer’s loop at Latitude. He talks to us here about the rigours of seeing bands when you lived in rural Wales and the hilarious, hard-won lessons of the first gigs he played himself and every possible shade of crowd reaction. It’s an absolute whirlwind from start to finish and features ...
... playing weddings, clubs, festivals and a Welsh village regatta
… the role of music in the construction of your character
… the turning point: “I arrived onstage to more applause than I’d ever had when leaving”
… the time gave Morrissey his string of beads
… the emotional architecture of live performance and how Elvis programmed his shows
… vivid memories of seeing the Cult (“bloody nose”), the Mission (“headbutted”) and the Stranglers (“we left terrified”)
… running from stage to stage at Glastonbury in ‘86 and the insular genius of the Cure
… his Liverpool punk band in their perishing “Joycean” flat
… the unbeatable sound of a crowd singing one of your songs
… Nick Drake’s frail sensibility and the value of growing a hard skin.
David Gray tickets here: davidgray.com
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