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Monday 9th November.
This year has seen Welshman David Gray's fourth album 'White
Ladder' go triple platinum in Ireland, he received the coveted
Hotpress award of "Guest of the Nation", by-passing
the likes of Robbie Williams and R.E.M. He played phenomenal
gigs at Slane and The Big Beat in Galway and now plans to headline
the Point in December playing to a sell-out audience of 10,000.
This meteoric rise to fame has not been easy, David Gray has
come from humble beginings indeed, he has moved through two
major record companies and had little commercial success with
previous releases yet it was 'White Ladder' an album released
on an independent label that sealed his success.
B Scene spoke to a very content David Gray earlier this week:
'White Ladder' your most successful album to date was released
on an independant label. Did you ever envisage the success it
has achieved?
It's been an amazing year. It's been beyond any of our expectations.
Having had no proven track record of commercial success, I would
hardly have been expecting to get a triple platinum. (Laughs).
The venues you are playing in these days are growing in size
to match your increasing popularity (such as Slane, and headlining
The Point, Shepards Bush), will hardened Gray fans be disappointed
with the loss of your now legendary intimate shows?
Things have got to change for us and the fans. The situation
has changed. It's moved on a few paces, so we're just trying
to keep things interesting. You can't please all the people
all the time. We wanted to have a big party and get the most
amount of people as we could at it. If the gig in Galway hadn't
gone so well this Summer I don't think we would have contemplated
it. That gig had four and a half thousand people and that was
just a riot so we thought what the hell - Why not play the Point.
Please Forgive Me has been re-mixed by Paul Hartnol of Orbital
is this an avenue you plan to take with future releases?
I think it¹s facinating what people will do in a re-mix.
"Please Forgive Me" is already quite a dancy track
and he's made a much more dancy version.
Is it an attempt to break into the clubbing scene?
No. Everything is up for grabs these days. Your don't have to
be hard and fast into the club scene to get things re-mixed.
It's become and expected part of music culture at the moment.
You¹re releasing White Ladder in the States early next
year. Do you think it will receive the success that it has in
Europe?
I'm very optimistic. We've sold more records on imports on this
album than we have sold to in the shops with the last album.
I think that must be a good omen. I think with this record,
when it gets airplay it works for itself. We¹ve had a particular
radio station in L.A. called K.C.R.W and they've been playing
it to death. We sold thousands of imports in L.A. on the strenght
of that. Things have actually moved along in our absence which
is the way we like it. You don't have to do the work (laughs)
When are we to expect the next album?
We've made a new record. We finished it the day before we went
on tour. We went into the studio and gave ourselves 10 days
to record and mix and we did it. They¹re were a few songs
that weren¹t involved in White Ladder' because they didn't
quite fit and some of them were written just after Sell, Sell,
Sell. So they had fallen through the cracks so we swept them
up with the broom of music and now they've been collected on
this album. We don't know what we are going to do it with it
yet. We don't know whether to release it or just make it available
to fans over the internet. There's also an idea for a film project
where we plan to get some people to make films for each track
and make a kind of instillation out of it. Any of those things
sound interesting.
Do you write songs consistently?
I¹ve hardly written a song all year because I¹ve been
too busy. When the year ends which I¹m really looking forward
to, I¹m planning to chill out, take a bit if time out and
let the whole writing process start. I think I¹ve had all
of 1999 I can take for now.
Are you excited about the Point gig in December?
I¹m working on my stage projection. (laughs)
David Grays White Ladder is in the shops now, an essential
album for any serious music fan. He plays The Point on 22nd
December. Grab any tickets while you can!
Aine Fitzpatrick/Brian O Mahoney
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