DAVID RYDER PRANGLEY
“VAMPIRE DELUXE”
Interview took place by telephone on Tuesday June 29th2021
Hi David and welcome back. Obviously, we were very please with your first record and our interview for the site. It did cause a lot of interest, especially the give away did that transpire into sales for the record.
David Ryder Prangley : Yes, the last time it worked out really well. I think for somebody like me a lot of it is down to live work and live promotion, people will get a chance to see it, but with lockdown people who wouldn’t normally see it have had the chance to see and hear my stuff. It’s interesting because you know being associated with the glam rock thing and people have now looked back into the Rachel Stamp stuff and that being all part of the glam rock cannon so to speak
Absolutely that’s why we are here
D . R . P : It’s really great that people are checking out my stuff based on that really
Well, I mean basically they now know you as a solo artist and from that and they will focus on you but saying that you were also the kind of focal point of Rachel Stamp really to yeah?
D . R . P ; Well, I guess so, maybe.
Yeah Well visually definitely
D . R . P ; Yeah. It’s good the more people hear about the record and the more people that are interested so it is all great y’know.
Absolutely and the first record (“Black Magic and True Love”) was a great product.
D . R . P ; Thank you
Yes, the vinyl issue was especially great. Where did you get that pressed? I now a lot of bands get them pressed in Czechoslovakia
D . R . P ; I think it was done in Czechoslovakia yeah
What the sort of budget for that
D . R . P ; I can’t remember actually how much it was, but I just decided I really wanted to do it because well, Rachel Stamp put a few things, singles E.P’s out on vinyl but we never did a full-length L.P.
Yeah, you did some singles
D . R . P ; I just really wanted to put out an LP. Its not like a big thing where I have got a big label doing the records for me or anything like that
So, you did it all yourself and you didn’t licence it to some company so, you are in fact Serena Records basically
D . R . P ; Yeah, and because it was the first one, I just wanted to just get out there and get things started.
Yeah, to see what is happening
D . R . P ; I think in 2021 I don’t really look at albums to have a “hit” album or whatever. When I got into music and a band like say KISS or something and by the time you had heard of them, they already had like six albums out and you would go and seek them out and stuff
Exactly
D . R . P ; I think it was a really good approach to it and I want to consistently put out music. I am hopefully going to put out another album maybe mid-way through next year (2022) and just try to build it up and if people like it then they like it
And a lot of people do like it and are seeking you out which can only be a good thing. Glam as you well know is a very big umbrella y’know all the way from Arthur Brown, the Kinks even but you know a lot of the new glam bands spend too much time singing about drinking whiskey and leather trousers and it has all got a little generic and somehow, they totally miss the point of glam. That is why when someone like you comes along it is glam but isn’t the generic thing, so it does resonate more on more levels, light and shade y’know instead of singing about Jack Daniels and cowboy boots. The light and shade really are far more interesting and something that people can be a part of and identify with y’know
D . R . P ; Yes, I think it is a bit weird singing about drinking whiskey and they have probably never drunk it in their life! I don’t drink these days, but I know what was like to be a real drinker and it is just that these people don’t really know what they are talking about
Yes, I think they see the pictures of Guns ‘n’ Roses and take the look but take no notice of what they listened to if you know what I mean
D . R . P ; Yeah, yeah
Being very generic and having nothing original going on makes it is almost throwaway, when the bands that they like are anything but throwaway. Less Bowie and more Spread Eagle or something. Unlike you which is new but with a flavour of the past. We were all very happy with “Black Magic…”, but I have been totally immersed in the new record “Vampire Deluxe” which we shall get into in just a moments time but before that I did see something that you devastated with the passing of Jim Steinman. Now this will lead us nicely into the new record but when you met him you hurled yourself at him like some glam rock banshee can you go into that a little more?
D . R . P ; My first encounter with Jim was when I had just moved to London, I hadn’t been in London very long at all and there was some doughnut shop, I can’t think of the name.... Dunkin Doughnuts or something like that in Piccadilly and I was basically just sat in there eating a doughnut and drinking a coffee and I just saw someone walk past and I’m like, “Oh my god that’s Jim Steinman!” and he had a leather jacket with erm... it had like a lady of lake, the hand coming out of the water holding a sword.
Excalibur, wasn’t it?
D . R . P ; Well, this is the weird thing I always thought the sword in the stone and Excalibur were the same thing, but they are not. When I watched a New York Dolls documentary Arthur Kane explained the difference between the two. Therefore, also the New York Dolls are so important, not only are they fun but they are also educational
ha ha Absolutely they taught us so much and continue to do so in their own ways
D . R . P ; Excalibur was the sword that the lady in the lake gave to King Arthur to replace the sword in the stone.
Glam rock and mythical creatures
D . R . P ; Exactly any historians on the site, if I’m wrong forgive me, haha but that is was I it as far as I understand it haha
That was the New York Doll documentary, wasn’t it?
D . R . P ; I think it was yeah, yeah
It was sad. I am so pleased he got to play in the Dolls again because it seemed that is all he ever wanted and then it was taken away from him again for good only a few months later, so sad
D . R . P ; Yeah
So back to Jim Steinman did you have any contact with him the first time you saw him?
D . R . P ; No, in my mind I was just going to run down the street after him, but I think I was just too shy and didn’t have the nerve really
Was he an imposing character? He looked like a smaller version of Meat Loaf didn’t he really?
D . R . P ; No, he wasn’t physically intimidating I just didn’t have the nerve I think I was just really quite shy at the time. It was before Rachel Stamp had a record deal or anything and I was just trying to get my thing going I might not even had met Will (Crewdson Rachel Stamp guitar player) at that point.
Oh, so early on then
D . R . P ; Yeah, super early. If I had had a record deal, I would have gone down the street after him and said, “Hey I’m signed to Warner Brothers” and so on but it didn’t happen. Then years later after Rachel Stamp ended I was looking for the next thing to do and there was this website called the “Dream Engine” which I don’t think it was run by him, but it was run by someone that was in contact with him and it said, “Write to Jim at this address”. So, I just wrote this email, it wasn’t completely crazy but.....
Are you sure? Haha
D . R . P ; No, I’m sure and I was just trying to explain what I had done and y’know I just thought he must get loads of people writing to him all the time so I just thought send it and he either will notice it, or he won’t and I remembered I did sign it off, “If I sound crazy. It’s because I am!”
HAHAHA
D . R . P ; And in my head I just thought he was going to email me straight back and say, “yes I’ve heard you stuff let’s do something” but he never did
And he is gone now, sad
D . R . P ; Yeah, yeah it’s incredibly sad. I think his work did speak to a lot of suburban people. Y’know I came to London and you speak to the so called “sophisticated” people who would say, “You like Meat Loaf? Why do you like Meat Loaf?” and I would be like, “I’m from Dinas Powys and it’s like fucking Shakespeare to me” and it is. It is incredible really, so deep, and passionate and a great sense of humour that a lot of people miss as well. Y’know people are like, “Oh god it’s so cheesy” and it’s not cheesy at all it knows what it is doing all the time whilst it’s doing it.
It’s the right side of pomp, I guess. I always think about Meat Loaf, he was in the best musical ever and that’s where he got his break in the “Rocky Horror Picture Show” and I think everything he has done has been played with a rye smile and little tongue in cheek as it should be everything needs humour.
D . R . P ; Yeah and at the same time it’s really daring as well and very brave. It’s got all these passionate love songs y’know.
Well, it was the power ballad before the power ballad almost. I don’t listen to Meat Loaf I will be honest with you, but it is popular and almost rock opera really but bottom line its story telling and story telling is oh so important in music don’t you think?
D .R . P ; Yes I agree and there are such great Jim Steinman songs, “Pandora’s Box” and his solo record “Bad for Good”. Something I find really interesting about Jim Steinman is that the single versions of his songs are different because when you hear the LP versions there is often another verse in there. There are these crazy devastating lyrics on the albums like “Total Eclipse Of The Heart”, there is an extra verse and it’s just like really mind blowing and people just don’t know about y’know.
Yes and interesting cat for sure and Meat Loaf shame his voice is all but gone. (AS HIS IS NOW. R.I.P.)
D . R . P ; I finally got to see him a couple of years ago on that album
“Teddy bear” something?
D .R . P ; Yeah when he played at Wembley, and he opened with “Saturday Night” from Rocky Horror
No way
D . R . P ; Yes first song out of the box and I had sort of forgotten about that track because when you go to a Meat Loaf concert you are not thinking of Rocky Horror.
No, you’re not
D , R . P ; And he opened with it, and it was just genius and true he couldn’t really sing anymore but there were moments there that were just mind blowing. People don’t really talk about when people get older and lose their voices its almost taboo to write about it, I don’t know how you feel about it?
Absolutely
D . R . P ; It’s the whole KISS thing
Yeah Paul Stanley….
D . R . P ; Paul Stanley lip synchs in concert and he is in complete denial about it he is like, “my voice is better than ever”
Well, they have all these “yes” men now and they are totally rolling in money, and they are just not hungry anymore but it is a bit of a double edge sword really because Paul at his height a better vocalist you couldn’t name me. You can’t y’know but ,the last time I saw them was at the last little gig they did in London
D . R . P ; Kentish Town Forum
Yes, that’s it and I was looking at the footage after it and he was croaking his way through the songs but however when you are there y’know you have had a drink or whatever and you are having a good time it still makes sense. Saying that Bowie didn’t lose his voice but then people may say, “did he have a voice anyway” much like Lou Reed hahaha
D . R . P ; Lou was an absolute superstar, and he didn’t have anything to live up to vocal wise and he did go and make those weird albums with Metallica and such. I had an interesting experience with all that kind of stuff. When I was a kid, I never listened to The Velvet Underground just never listened to them they just weren’t on my radar. The I went to Glastonbury one year was in Ninety-Three?
Oh, way before the Stamp
D . R . P ; Yeah well, I went to Glastonbury and the Velvet Underground were playing because a lot of people forget that they reformed in the nineties and they did a tour and I was watching them and basically everyone around me the velvet underground fans and they were looking down their noses and saying, ”this sounds fuckin awful, it’s nothing like the records” but I had never heard those them before so I’m like, “this band is phenomenal this is blowing my mind!”. They weren’t meant to sound like that, but I loved it and that is how I got into the Velvet Underground.
Yes, I mean I love the Velvets, but I got to them through the whole Bowie connection thing and to me I think they are a little like The Tubes, who we touched on before. They are sort of the idea of them is more attractive them the some of their music if that makes any sense
D . R . P ; Yeah, yeah
The Tubes I love them dearly, all the things about them and yes they were (and are) a little subversive but some of their music is just TOO middle of the road for me
D . R . P ; Yes I think that’s true The Tubes musically are a little bit hit and miss. I like the sound of all the songs, but I don’t put their albums on very much I don’t but y’know when they are on or something y’know it makes sense.
We did see them, here in Nottingham at the Rescue rooms are you familiar with that venue?
D . R . P ; Yeah, yeah
Yeah they played there and if there was fifty people there it was generous, and they did all the show and I got to see Quay Lewd up there. It was a true moment for me but, they were pissed off at the promoter, but they did sign stuff for everyone, and it was a great gig for the fans not the band and I doubt we shall see them here again however we digress let’s get back to you and your work. So just pronounce your name again for me I have said it so many times can you just conform the pronunciation of it for me and everyone?
D . R . P ; There is an interesting story with that name because it is a real name, and it isn’t made up. It basically goes back to like the seventeenth century errr no the eighteenth century, I’m really bad with centuries the seventeenth hundreds are the sixteenth century is that right?
Err well the nineteenth hundreds were the twentieth century and two thousands are the twenty first century I think?
D . R . P ; right ok so in the eighteenth century in the seventeenth hundreds there was a small town in Wiltshire called Causley where a couple of people got married and that was the first time that the name Prangely appeared in a record book in the U.K and more than likely it was a misspelling of some German name
Oh, so German origin then
D . R . P ; Yes, so that is the origin of the name, and I didn’t make it up haha
So, your parents were Welsh then no German relatives at all?
D . R . P ; Well on my Mum’s side just going back a couple of generations it is Norwegian. So, I have got like a Norwegian thing going on I think it was my great great great grandad was Norwegian
Oh, right there you go you said you didn’t like your name so I thought we should touch on it a little more
D . R . P ; Yes it’s just so weird but it is interesting because it is an unusual name
Well, it’s double barrelled for a start
D . R . P ; Yeah, yeah. When I was a kid, I thought I should change my name to David Jones because David Bowie changed his from David Jones so I thought I should change my name to David Jones
I was saying to my better half, “If he is Welsh (we have met a couple of times before) maybe you say it Dafydd?” I didn’t know haha
D . R . P ; Well, it is the same name but with a different spelling it’s got three ds in it and f
That’s the Welsh influence then there. Talking of Wales do you go back there often at all?
D . R . P ; I have got quite a few friends that still live there so I do go back there
O.K so the line from “Dead Girl” went something like, “there’s only one train on the hour and it goes straight to hell” was that really what it was like?
D . R . P ; Yes, Dinas Powys well, it’s a bit better now but what it was basically was a Sunday night and I was going to, oh I don’t know if you know the band Coil?
Yes, somewhere in the back of my mind they ring a bell
D . R . P ; Anyway, I have this friend who has played in many bands (including Coil) and at that point he lived in Cardiff, and I was going to visit him. When I would come back from London for the weekend and trying to get to Cardiff from Dinas Powys was just like one train an hour y’know and at that point it wasn’t uncommon that you would get on the train, and someone would offer to beat you up
Yes
D . R . P ; It the usual kind of thing looking unusual in suburbia, and I just hated it. They were like, “you must be proud of your Welsh heritage”. Well Wales wasn’t proud of me I can tell you that haha
Well, it is the same the country over I think. You have played Nottingham many many times and y’know well not everybody can wear jeans and tee shirts y’know. I am not saying everyone would look good in a dress but just let people be people y’know why the hang ups?
D . R. P ; Exactly
Football is on the TV at the moment, and I absolutely detest it the whole scene not just the game. The misunderstanding that it is just a mentality that’s based in stupidity, why care what someone else is doing let alone take it to another level.
D . R . P ; Well, it is. What I find really funny about the whole thing, you get pretty square people who think what they are doing is acceptable. It is ridiculous what is considered to be acceptable wear because none of it looks any good
Comedy ale tee shirts anyone?
D . R . P ; We all are wearing different cloth but why should someone who has a leg of a trouser wider than someone else should get beaten up. It is just so ridiculous when you think about it. Or I’ve painted something on my face means that someone wants to kill me
When I get dressed up, I don’t do it to shock I just see something and I think, “that’s looks cool let’s wear that” that must be pretty similar to your thoughts also?
D . R . P ; Exactly yeah
It’s kind of now if you want to be a punk rocker you can go and buy that look off the peg but back in the day it would be weeks between finding anything cool to wear y’know you had to earn your look almost. The Stamp must have gone through that too to some point yeah.
D . R. P ; Yeah it was really hard, but I was really lucky that I became friends with a really amazing woman called Rachel Van Ash who makes many many things, but she also makes clothes and she made all the stage clothes for me when I was in Rachel Stamp. That was pretty amazing all the stuff I would wear like the catsuits was made for me, so I was really lucky.
That’s good. I did notice the photo you have with the lady with your side project you had a scarf thing going on and the big glasses. What look were you going for there?
D . R . P ; The Sister Witch photo?
Yeah, that’s it
D . R . P ; Yes I was just going for.. I don’t know what I was going for haha. I just found a scarf and I put it over me kinda like a poncho. I think I bought that scarf in Swansea, y’know I just find things
Do they make those things in Swansea haha. Does Wales have a darker side to it at all?
D . R . P ; I don’t know. I wasn’t aware of one. When I was a kid, I was really pretty sheltered.
Well, you touched on being religious when you were younger
D . R . P ; So yes I was really religious, and I wasn’t really seeking out anything like that. I didn’t drink or anything.
You drank milk and read the bible apparently haha
D . R . P ; Drank milk and read the bible yes. That Lyric actually does appear in the Stamp track, “Dirty Vanity” . Anyway, I was just basically one of the kids and Tigertailz were around I think I mentioned that before
Yeah, yeah
D . R . P ; And Pepsi Tate was just great, he was just a lovely, lovely man. It was kinda of a bit of a joke. I was in a band with some older kids, my brother’s band basically
Yeah
D . R. P ; It was a bit of a running joke that I didn’t drink, and I was religious, and they made fun of me but in a kind of nice way. I remember being at my friends Mark’s house and Pepsi came by and said, “Oh where’s David is he upstairs with his bible”
Ha-ha
D . R . P ; Pepsi Tate said that and I’m like, “I got to put that in a song….”
Talking a bit more about the Tigertailz thing were they kind of like a shinning beacon for the other bands at the time? Did they look that glam at the start I don’t think they did as such?
D . R .P ; Well, they were just sort of interesting
I imagine stripped trousers and that kind of look at that point
D . R . P ; they had more of a , well Pepsi almost looked like he could have been in Souixsie and the Banshees or something
Yes
D . R . P ; So, he had the spiky crimped blond hair and he used to wear a pyjama top, you thought it was a paisley shirt, but it was his pyjama top and Jay (Pepper) was going more for the LA metal look. Then basically Steevi Jaimz arrived in Dinas Powys, and he saw the potential in them. He had been in LA, and he came over to me and said, “we are going to do all this stuff, cover the amps” and stuff like this. The first time I ever saw Tigertailz they had an electronic drum kit, like a Simmons drum kit. They had that and they had, well the stage was covered with TVs that were all set on static, and they had all these rags over them, and they had like three Marshall stacks each y’know a Marshall backline and it was amazing but I don’t think they won’t mind me saying this, but when they started playing they didn’t sound as good as they looked. They had a different singer and an extra guitarist but when Steevi arrived he was the one who said, “C’mon let’s tighten up the song writing and get the look really, really together” and they were amazing and then they put out their own ep “Shoot to Kill” . It was just amazing they just said, “we’re going to do this” y’know and then to see them get some success was phenomenal really.
Indeed yes
D . R. P ; Very inspirational really and they were always very encouraging , Pepsi was always nice too and just such an interesting character. He was really into so many things, I mean his favourite bands were Def Leppard, The Tubes and Frank Zappa, he was really into Frank Zappa
Yeah I always thought there was more to Pepsi than “Shoot To kill” in a sense that he seemed to be the “arty” one y’know he did all the artwork and he seemed to be more into other influences, but when I encountered him I think he was in full on “Tigertailz” mode unlike when you knew him because you knew him before all that kicked off for him
D . R . P ; Yes but I think the choice that he made. I saw an interview with him on Metal Sludge and basically they were asking him what was the last show he went to and he answered with this totally Avant Garde artist he had been to see and Steevie Rachelle was like , “oh that’s unusual” and Pepsi was like, “well I didn’t talk about that sort of thing when I was in Tigertailz because what would have been the point? It was all image and stuff then” and he kept all that side of things to himself really.
Yes that is kinda cool and such a shame we lost him, well quite a few years back now and he was still so young, as we all advance in years he was so, just so young wasn’t it?
D . R . P ; I think he was like forty or something, which is just not very old at all. So that was a real shame, but he was always very inspirational and even now if Tigertailz play London I will go and see them and talk a bit with Jay, he was always really great as well.
Fond memories are always great and even more so when the person is not with us anymore, so it is great it is still a great memory for you. O.k. so without further a do I guess we better talk about your latest record; it is great to chat by the way I have been looking forward to this for a while
D . R. P ; Yes, yes me too
Now I thought with “Black Magic & True Love” and now “Vampire Deluxe”, which I think is a total sister record to “Black Magic” would I be jumping the gun in thinking that there is going to be a trio of releases?
D . R . P ; That is correct yes. It was something I really wanted to do. When I first started this part of my musical career my idea was that I was going to get three albums that are very similar in sound and themes, put them out then see where I wanted to go from there
Yes there is just something about three, Peter Criss was obsessed with it and it just seems to be a magical number for some reason I don’t know why but
D . R. P ; Well, it just seems a good number of albums to do in a similar style, maybe that is something to do with growing up with KISS
Yes, I hear ya those first three yes totally.
D . R . P ; Yes then they had a little break with the live album
Yes
D . R . P ; Yes I like that, and I really think that it works’
Yes it did and does work definitely
D . R. P ; I think there is something a little odd like, Todd Rundgren is one of my favourite artists but at some points it can be a little jarring you know
Yes left tangents
D . R. P ; Which I like and when you have put out as many albums as he has it is great because you can kind of go in and choose
Yes take your pick
D . R. P ; At the start of this sort of cycle of my music and this phase I am in now I wanted to keep it well, so people know what they are getting
I think so and I think it is important that an artist has a clear view, we will touch on Bowie later, but I think you know if you do have a clear focus you and your audience both have a clear view of what you are and what you are putting out there. Like you go to KISS for certain things you go to the Tubes for certain things, you go to Alice for certain things, so you know who you got to for certain things, like you are not going to go to KISS for a rock opera are you? Well, “The Elder” but let’s not go there hahahah
D . R . P ; Haha I like that album
Well, that was the first album of theirs I bought on the release date, there are spots on that record, “The Oath”, “I” is a great song and I like “Just A Boy” for some reason plus Lou Reed was involved there too
D . R . P ; Yes he did and that is another weird thing people talk about, they talk about Lou Reed and Metallica nobody ever talks about Lou Reed and KISS or Alice and Dali
Oh, did you see that picture, I don’t know if you follow him but Dennis Dunaway shared a picture of him and Cindy (Neal Smith’s sister) on a Halloween night fancy dress and Denis was dressed as Dali and he looked the spitting image.
D . R . P ; Wow
Yes and that was a big thing why the band fell out because Dennis and Alice were mates who bonded over their love of Dadaism and roll forward a few years and Alice goes off to work with Dali and the rest of the band didn’t know about it and that was one of the things that started the rot inside the original band
D . R . P ; Yes that was sort of strange and I only found out about that through that documentary
Super Duper Alice Cooper
D . R . P ; Yes and it is odd
Yes it is but you know there was lots of drinking going on they were drowning in money I think they were just sailing without sail into the wind. In fact, they were the blueprint for all of this, KISS etc…
D . R. P ; Yes I actually love all the original band his solo stuff I just think he is brilliant
His solo stuff I like but the band man, “Love It To Death” and “Killer “are just perfect records for me. They were subversive, they were catchy and man just killer dangerous rock n roll right there.
D . R . P ; Yes absolutely
Anyway, just chatting away, so getting back to Jim Steinman and “Bat Out Of Hell” , you are more like “Vampire Bat Into Hell”, you are not trying to escape hell instead you are flying headfirst into it
D . R . P ; Well, the title came about because of few years ago I wrote a comic book and a film script called “Vampire Deluxe” that people wouldn’t really know about because it didn’t really make it out there. It is still a work in process basically, but I had the title. Strangely enough at one time I was going to steal the unused Jim Steinman title of “Renegade Angel” but I thought, I just can’t do that, it would be just too cheeky but then I realised I already had the title “Vampire Deluxe” and unfortunately these days, indicated by my wanting to steal Jim Steinman’s title I didn’t want people to nick it, so I just thought here we go let’s just use “Vampire Deluxe”. It really does fit in to all this lockdown time we are in everyone feels a little undead to a degree
Yes in limbo
D . R . P ; Yes that is it and what do you do to survive. Also it just really fitted in with the cover
Absolutely
D . R . P I really wanted to come up with exciting visuals. I work with this really great photographer called Rowan Spray
Yes absolutely
D . R . P ; She is just really great and between the two of us we come up with all these ideas
She just counters you perfectly, same with the “Black Magic” album cover
D . R . P ; Thank you and I think her artwork work is just a really great part of it all and I also work with a designer called Jeff Conway and the two of them in conjunction is just really, really great.
Yes this one you have the Eno hair again and the white face and just the tasteful one drip of blood out of one side of your mouth, was this KISS influenced at all?
D . R . P ; Well, that was probably more from I think, one of my favourite films which is “Blood For Dracula” y’know the Andy Warhol film
Yeah yeah
D . R . P ; It has one of the best opening scenes of any film ever I think when Udo Kier as Dracula is painting his hair and his face in front of a mirror and then the camera pans around to show he has no reflection. Perfect.
Andy Warhol well, that is another subject we could talk for days about too
D . R . P ; Yeah and that was also a really big influence on me also Candy Darling and all those other characters that were around
Yes I think Warhol did so much stuff that you can just dip into any period of his work and life and take what you want from any of it and indeed it could be said he was the zeitgeist for what we know as glam really, y’know with the Velvets and all the drag queens and craziness that was that scene was kind of the blueprint I would say…
D . R . P ; Well, that’s an interesting thing, I remember hanging out with one of my friends and we were wondering where Bowie got the idea to shave his eyebrows from and we were just thinking about it and then I realised that Jackie Curtis used to do that
yeah and Jayne County and the like
D . R . P ; Yeah and she used to shave her eyebrows and he just took it from there and thought, “ I’m going to shave my eyebrows off” and Angie Bowie did it first I think , she was the one who would just go , “yeah I’ll try that and if it looks good on me it will probably look good on you too”
Yes they both went to see the Warhol play “Pork” didn’t they and took lots of ideas from there
D . R . P ; Yes it was at The Roundhouse I think here in London.
Yes and I interviewed Jayne quite some time ago now and I was a little starstruck to be honest, but I didn’t want to go into what she had done, you can read about that anywhere, I just wanted to know what life was like for her right then and it turned into a great piece. She was, is and always will be an icon and one of the very few that are left from that whole scene, a true star and also another influence on you and on this record too so that is good
D . R . P ; Yeah when I make records I do like it to be a whole thing and I hope people listen to it hopefully from beginning to end in its entirety and really get into it
As it should be whatever it is the art form should take you to another world and this record certainly does that
D . R . P ; Thank you I do appreciate that
It definitely does and in my notes here I just put perfect, a perfect record. Also, I loved “Black Magic” but there is an odd song on there that whilst it doesn't subtract anything from the record it adds nothing either however with this record all the tracks as a whole make the perfect statement
D . R . P ; Right
As I said you loved the Warhol Dracula film, I love the old Hammer Horror Dracula films and in those you had the beginning, middle and at the end a moral y’know you have everything in that hour, hour and twenty minutes and that idealism runs in parallel with this new record and as such makes a much clearer and cohesive statement as a whole. Like you said it is just seeming right to listen from beginning to end to get the full picture
D . R . P ; Well thank you. I try to do that with everything that I do, and it is good to hear that you think it is better this time around. One thing that I did do on this record I don’t know if you picked it up, but the first song and the last song has the same chords
I didn’t notice the same chord, but they definitely had the same tone
D . R . P ; Yes so its E minor and D. I purposely did that to start and stop with a musical variation on the same sort of, theme. So, the songs start in one place and then go to another.
Yes well as an artist it is your job to take the listener in to the world you have created. Who the listener peoples it with is their choice but it is your job to get them there in the first place and I think with this record you really achieve that, you really do. With” Black Magic” you were tempting people there and it is up to them if they go there but with this record you are right in the middle of it all right in the centre of well, a vampire film essentially
D . R . P ; Yes. It’s interesting because I think it just became a lot clearer what I wanted to do
I hate to use the word, but did you write “Vampire Deluxe” as a "concept" record? As to say did you write songs to fit a format or did it just happen like that
D . R . P ; Well, I knew what I wanted to achieve with it. I guess it was, well I knew I wanted most of it to be atmospheric and laid back, well not laid back more ethereal
Yes totally get that
D . R . P ; I wanted like a couple of really stomping rock tracks
Which you do have
D . R . P ; “Sweet Heartbreaker”
Which we shall discuss later
D . R . P ; I’ve actually had the riff for that for years and years but could never quite come up with the track and then finally it just clicked one day, and that song just came together, and I was really pleased with that song and that took the purpose of adding some drama and some humour
I think Yes we will touch on that one more I have a lot of notes about it here but before we get there there are a couple more I want to touch on first. “The Palace Of Dead Stars”, it is just black and white you are just leading people to it. Did you write the songs as they appear on the record in that progression, or did you write the songs and fitted them where they needed to be?
D . R . P ; Yes well I knew that when I recorded it that was going to be the first song on the record
Did you record all in one go or…?
D . R . P ; Well, it was recorded in quite an interesting way. So, if I remember correctly that was the first song that we recorded and that was actually the first time I had sung out loud since the last gig I did before the lockdown which as in March 2020
Geez
D . R . P ; Yeah I went to the studio with Drew Richards who plays guitar in my band, and he co-produced the record with me, and we used to play gigs just the two of us
Was that the footage when you did “Moonage Daydream “and “I Wanna Be Your Dog”?
D . R . P ; Oh no that was just me in a club on my own. A club that my friend Ben Cristo owns called “Shot Through The Heart” . Ben Cristo is the guitarist from The Sisters Of Mercy and he owns this club, and I just went up there and did it on my own
Oh ok
D . R . P ; So, we went into the studio and we kind of set up the microphones and recorded pretty much live
Well not that there is anything wrong with live recording, but the record doesn’t sound like that as to say it sounds much more layered and lush sounding. A very full sounding record
D . R . P ; Well thank you I did overdub some things but most of it is just bass, drums and two guitars. I did the vocals separately just because it is hard to record them at the same time
Lots of bleeding etc..
D . R . P ; “The Palace Of Dead Stars” I actually played it and sang at the same time, and it was the first time I had sung in about a year and I wasn’t even sure that I would still be able to sing
Oh, do you not just sing around the house at all?
D . R . P ; No, I don’t like making a lot of noise at home funnily hahaha. I save it for the rehearsal studio and stuff
Well, it’s Ying and Yang really isn’t it. Where is home for you just as an aside?
D . R . P ; Well, I live in London at the moment in Highgate.
Oh, in Highgate ok
D . R . P ; Which is another tie into the vampire thing, the whole Highgate Cemetery thing, I don’t know if you are familiar with that
Yes absolutely. Was it by accident or by design?
D . R . P ; It was kinda by chance I ended up here a few years ago and the returned to it fairly recently, in the last couple of years.
Spooky! Ok, back to the music
D . R . P ; So, “Palace Of Dead Stars” we just recorded it and kinda went for it. I managed to sing that one and then we just said, “shall we do another one?” but I just couldn’t sing anymore
Hang on you “managed” to sing it , you are far too bashful it sounds great
D . R . P ; Well thank you and I was pleased with it y’know. Then we recorded “Song For A Witch” the same day just the two of us on there and then essentially I had been rehearsing with the band I use for live gigs and a date came up, a cancelation in the studio on Halloween
Perfect
D . R . P ; So, then we went in and recorded another five songs on that day. So, anything you hear with a drum kit and full band on it we did it all in one day. Well, the vocals were done separately but all the music was done in that one day
The planets had aligned
D . R . P ; Exactly
So next up let’s talk Hello. You gave this track away with the pre order of the record and I just thought Cheap Trick. We know of your love of Cheap Trick as we have mentioned it before was that the sort of influence there.
D . R . P ; Well, that song there were a couple of influences with that song actually you mention Cheap Trick which is that classic chord progression in the chorus very Cheap Trick, James Bond and another influence in the lyrics was an artist called Lisa Dalbello do you know her?
No new one on me
D .R . P ; Well, she made an album with Mick Ronson in the eighties
Wow never heard of that, that’s new to me
D . R . P; She is just absolutely phenomenal and do you know the Queensryche song “Gotta Get Closer To You”
Err no I tend to switch off when that band is mentioned
D . R . P ; Yeah, but that was one of her songs and “Hello” was influenced a little bit by that song too. Funnily enough initially I was going to do a lot more sonic stuff on “Hello” but it just sounded really good with just the two of us, just the basics
The first track "Palace Of Dead Stars" takes us to the place and then "Hello" is knocking on the door and then walking in on that flag stone floor entrance hall sort of thing
D . R . P ; Haha
There is a darkness to it but you are not quite sure what is in store haha. Now my favourite on the record “Sweet Heartbreaker” and I think it is the most instant track on there. My first thought about the track was you sat down with Paul Stanley and Joan Jett and had written the song together
D . R . P ; Wow well thank you.
Its just that classic Kiss riff with a Joan Jett glam kinda stomp to it and is it right there is no snare drum on the track?
D . R . P ; Well, there is a snare drum in the drum solo section.
Yes it’s just kick drum and hi hat And clapping
D . R . P ; and stamping on the floor
Also channelling Slade there. What is the story behind this track?
D . R . P ; Well basically a while back I was just messing around recording some tracks and I came up with that guitar riff
Which is just great it is “Black Magic and True Love” vibe but then you turned everything right up to ten and people are just. “Right, what is this?” “Who is this? We need to know!”. It has an urgency to it and I think a record needs a song like that to get them interested
D . R . P ; Yeah I agree and that was the roll of that song very much to be a real instant thing and a song that you can dance to too which is important too
Yes just total glam rock
D . R . P ; Yes and that was what I was after with that
Yes so did you write the songs so they would stand on their own or was it just to be in the concept of the record alone
D . R . P ; Well, I think that song in particular you could hear just on its own but it did take me a little while to get the order of the songs, the running order in fact I wrote out the song titles on strips of paper and just moved them around
Thank you David
D . R . P ; yes and I think it just works there and the song definitely has a sense of humour to it. I have always been really fascinated by the idea of the rock star, the fact that people worship other human beings because they can sing and they have a funny haircut or whatever and the fact also we aspire to be those things, when I was a teenager that’s what I really wanted to be and I want people to react to me in a certain way and when it sort of happened to a degree in Rachel Stamp. When it did happen to me I suddenly realised how weird it is. When people meet you and they can’t speak and it’s a bit weird and I know it is because I was that person too
Well, this could well be your “Ziggy Stardust” period and well let’s face it vampires were the first rock stars, look cool, live forever, and do what you want
D . R . P ; Yes that is right, and I think the idea of the vampire in literature and into the pop culture is really interesting and each generation has its own twist on the vampire tale. I mean for a lot of us the image of the vampire was “The Lost Boys”. They are also the kinda reluctant villains and also just the idea that you have been alive for so long you have seen so many things, not least fashion wise like, Louis XIV and say Jimi Hendrix or whatever
Yes I thought the Ann Rice take on the legend could have made a great dark film, but it just had the wrong actors in it, for me
D . R . P ; Well, it’s interesting because I have never read any Ann Rice
Me neither not so much but I was just aware of that film
D . R. P ; I enjoyed that film, but I do know a lot of people who didn’t like the choice of the actors but for what it is I enjoyed the film and I think Tom Cruise is a fascinating character because he is almost like a real-life vampire
He is a scientologist, isn’t he?
D . R . P ; Yes there are just so many interesting rumours about him. I think rumours are just that and not based in any fact, but they are just gossip but there just so many crazy rumours out there about him, his lifestyle, and his role in Hollywood
Well, we all need a new Howard Hughes don’t we? Or do we? Anyway, anymore to say about ”Sweet Heartbreaker”
D . R . P ; Well, it’s interesting because when we were mixing that song I wanted more of a Led Zeppelin kinda sound and Drew Richards (who co-produced the record with me) said , “nah I’m gonna make it sound like “I Love Rock n Roll” and I was like, “Really?” and I love “I Love Rock n roll” but
Why wouldn’t you?
D . R . P ; And Drew said, “no, trust me” and it sounded great everyone really liked it
Yes it is reminiscent of a lot of things but it is its own song and another thing there is a lot of space in the song with the vocals giving the song space to breathe and also a drum solo and the guitar solo has an almost Johnny Cash, Link Wray sound to it
D . R . P ; Well basically before we recorded the album I bought a Fender Stratocaster, and it has a vibrato arm on it, and it was just me going to town on that. I kinda didn’t know what I was going to do on it and I just made it up and it is kind of a mess but we all liked it
Yes it is the Ace Frehley’s school of guitar solos isn’t it
D . R . P ; And he is one of my favourite guitar players
Yes just press record and let rip!
D . R . P ; Yeah the electric guitar you can just make noises and it can sound as good as playing something melodic
Absolutely, perfect song. Ok next song “Never Grow up” , there are a lot of songs like” I’ll Never Grow Up, Now!” by Twisted sister amongst many others about not growing up that are very angsty and rightly so and kinda immature, but you have turned this idea on its head, and you did it as a ballad and with a more thoughtful introspective view on it. Is that what you wanted to say with that song
D . R . P ; Well there are a couple of angles going on with that song, one is that weirdly after Rachel Stamp broke up and I started to write songs again I really felt that people wanted me to be exactly the same as I had been before and y’know it’s almost that thing of, “we want you to stay the same as you were at the end on that band” kinda thing and it was almost like other people wouldn’t allow you to grow older or change
Well, you can understand that on a fan level, being as you are a fan too but as an artist it doesn’t really work like that does it?
D . R . P ; Well, yes that’s it and also its just a physical impossibility too. So that was one of the ideas and the other is that it is quite nice that you don’t have to and especially in rock music because people would always say, “when are you going to grow out of that?” that’s the worst thing because rock n roll is an energetic viable thing and I do think it is really sad when people in inverted comma’s “grow up” and lose their mojo
Well rock n roll is meant to keep you young
D . R . P ; And it does, and I think it should do. You just live a better and more interesting life as human beings if you don’t just suddenly become boring
Well, it is opening your mind to experience and many possibilities. Ok I just thought it was a great twist on the growing up problem, great song
D . R . P ; Well thank you, yeah and like you I try and put these strange references in there too.
Yes we won’t mention them all here but lets just leave them as “Easter eggs” for people to find out
D .R . P ; Yes that’s the thing I like people to spot them all if they can
So next up is “St David Of The Bleeding Hearts” is that a re-record or did you just re-mix it?
D . R . P ; We totally re-recorded it
Oh, I thought it was, but I wasn’t sure
D . R . P ; Yes the original recording I did with a producer called David M Allen. An amazing producer who worked with Siouxsie and the Banshees and The Cure and I did a couple of songs with him
Was “Tears Of Black Glitter” the other track?
D . R . P ; That was a different thing, but it was around that time, and I put them both out as like a digital single and then we started playing it in the live set and the version we were playing with the new band wasn’t like the original and it sounded really great and Drew the co producer thought, “this song belongs on the album” so we recorded it again
Yes a lot heavier version
D . R. P ; Yes it’s a different sound with the different band playing it
Yes also you are not afraid of your voice, one minute its low then next a slight feminine tone to it then powerful at other points and you just let it all flow out and I think that song is a really good bridge to the next song which is “Song For The Witch” which we touched on before
D . R . P ; Yeah well I think that is an important thing for me at the moment. I think if you are in a band, and you put music out it has to be interesting to people. A lot of people do music for fun, but I don’t really do it for fun I really want to give people something
Well, it is your art it is what you do
D . R. P ; Yes that’s it. I think objectively I am not an egotistical person, but you have to know when you are putting something out as an artist you have to know whether it is good or not and if people like my music that’s good. I have one thing going for me that my voice doesn’t really sound like anyone else’s
Yes lots of samey vocals out there. You don’t really have any gravel to your voice, yes there is attitude in there, but it is crystal clear really
D . R . P ; Well, yes that’s it and I think that is something to be taken advantage of. My band plays a lot quieter than Rachel Stamp did, the loudest band at the time and that was great, but we play a lot quieter, and it is really just more about communicating. Interestingly enough I don’t know if I mentioned it before but, I did play bass for Adam Ant for a while and in rehearsals he was always saying, “the show is about my voice, that is what the concert is about”, and he would be very much, “when I’m singing don’t fucking play”. And he was right because that is what the audience were there for. He is a great artist and I learned so much from him
Yes I adore Adam Ant we all grew up with him, a true star. I remember seeing “Dog Eat Dog” on TV at the time and he had such presence and he had make up on like Kiss who I was into at the time he was just right thing at the right time for many of us. Do you want to go into this subject a little more this time at all?
D . R . P ; Well yeah if you want to. I originally met him, well, he did come to see Rachel Stamp playing and he had been in America working as an actor and he ended up back in London and he was friends with somebody that worked at our publishing company and he just said to her, “take me to see some bands that you like” and he came to see us with the girl from our publishing company and he was like, “I like this, this is great” so then I met up with him and he was just brilliant, he sort of has that great thing of being really friendly but also really being a star. He really has that thing of being a master of pop stardom
Yes he knows it inside out
D . R . P ; He just knows exactly what to do and he was telling me, “you should do this, you should do that” and then “don’t do this don’t do that” he was just fantastic. He was going to produce us but that didn’t happen, and he ended up moving away
Was this around the time of his mental illness time, I don’t know if you want to go into that
D . R . P ; Well, he is very open about that time, but this was just before that time
He played with you at some guest spots was that around this time
D . R. P ; Yes that was exactly at that time
Let’s go back, I mean what did you think of that at the time.. “Geez this is Adam Ant” or…..
D . R . P ; It was quite a weird thing really. As a kid I had admired him but because I was into heavy metal I didn’t admit to liking anything else
Yes I hear ya
D . R . P ; Which is a ridiculous thing really
Yes but we were all young at the time
D . R . P ; That’s it. I am wearing a Black Sabbath T-shirt I can’t admit to liking Duran Duran or Adam Ant or something but, I did really like all of Adam’s B-sides because one of my friends that I was in school with used to be like, “listen to this” and it would be things like “Lady”
“Fall In”, “Beat My Guest” yeah
D . R . P ; Yes and I was, “This stuff is great”. So I had been more into the B-side kind of stuff and at that point Adam was really embracing the B-side thing and he was into the more dark stuff and Will (Crewdson) the guitarist in Rachel Stamp was a massive Adam ant fan and he was like, “this is amazing” and Adam was just so lovely and great and just so encouraging and it was really exciting to have someone like that come and see you and really like what you are doing
Yes indeed. I think he has really worked hard to work his way back up to where he is today again because at time he was kind of “persona non grata” to the general public as such but, to real fans who saw the dark side of his work and all together he is a true star. He is much more than “Goody Two Shoes”. He is and enigma really let’s face it
D . R . P ; Yes he is, and he is a really brilliant musician and really great singer as well which I think a lot of people don’t really understand but, fast forward a few years and we were rehearsing with him
Yeah o.k.
D . R. P ; So, the situation was it had been years apart and Rachel Stamp weren’t really going anywhere and me and Will were doing various other things, and in fact I am still really good friends with all the people in Rachel Stamp, they are like a family to me
That’s good to hear
D . R . P ; So, Will just called me up one day and said, “I was at a Zodiac Mindwarp gig the other day and Adam got on stage and played with him “and I was like, “wow that’s really cool”. So after the show Will just went up to Adam in the bar and said, “Hey do you remember me?” and Adam said, “yes of course” and Will was like, “hey if you want to do some stuff, like me play guitar for you, just give us a shout“ and this was before Adam was back doing gigs ‘n’ things and then just one day we just got a call and Adam was like, “do you want to meet up?” and me and Will went and we just had a jam with Adam. The thing was we were both into the B-side stuff and Adam was like, “this is cool” and he could come in and just do stuff like “It Doesn’t Matter” which is a pretty obscure Antz song, and we knew that so we could play that, and I think he really enjoyed all that. After that it was kind of complex thing that happened next with the band, but it ended up being four or five shows with him
And they were exhilarating as you said before
D . R . P ; They were they were just amazing. This is a crazy thing which summarizes the time really. So basically, Adam had put together this really big band with two drummers and loads of members and it was quite chaotic, and this was after his issues with his mental health so everyone knows about those and I would never say anything personal abut him that would offend or harm him but he basically had this band and it was just getting more and more chaotic and I thought, “I am going to step back from this”
Was that a difficult decision to do that?
D . R . P ; It was because I really enjoyed it but it was just becoming more and more chaotic and I could see a point were Adam was getting agitated with everything and I was like, “I’m just going to go” but Will stayed on though another two line up changes. So to cut a long story short it got to a point were Adam was booked to play two sold out shows at the Scala, one was on a Thursday and the other was to be on the Sunday and the Sunday one was to be the Matthew Ashman tribute gig so the Sunday before the first gig on the following Thursday I got a call from Will saying, “he has just fired the entire band apart from me and the drummer”
Geez
D . R. P ; Will was like, “you just have got to come back” and I was like , “Okayyyy” and that worked out really well because it was just a stripped down band, it was just me on bass, Will on guitar and a drummer called Johnny Love on drums and then we all got into the rehearsal room and we were like, “we have to make this good, we can’t let Adam down” and also we didn’t want to make idiots of ourselves on stage. So, we walked into the studio, and we were looking at the material and we were picking the earlier stuff because it sounded really good with the stripped-down band. So, we get a phone call from Adam in the afternoon saying, “how’s it goin?” and we said , “Yeah good” and he said, “right I will be down about seven o’clock ” or something like that. So, we would be running through all of the numbers so we would be ready, and he turns up at seven o’clock and he was amazing. He would walk in and he would always have two or three really glamourous girls with him and he would just be really dressed up and he would just walk in and he would be, “right what have you been doing?” and we would be like, “do you want to do “Deutscher Girls or something?” and he would be, “yeah, great” and because he would have these girls with him he would be showing off in front of them. It was like a gig in a rehearsal room. His voice was so loud, and he was just amazing , he is a really, really good singer and I was just looking at him thinking, “ Wow! He looks amazing. He sounds amazing it’s Adam Ant”. Then he would be , “what else you got?” and we would do something like, “The Day I Met God” and we would do it and then at the end of rehearsals he would turn around and say, “ok that’s great if you want to pick the set list but, make sure you put these songs in”. We essentially did these two gigs were Will picked the set list and the first Scala gig the people just went insane for it. I think the fans turned up not knowing what to expect and we basically played the “dream set”
Well, they got Adam on turbo didn’t they really?
D . R . P ; Well yeah you said you are a kiss fan it would be like them doing a set all from the solo albums
Haha yes
D . R. P ; you would be, “this is amazing. I never expected this in a million years”. So, it was a bit like that really and I think the fans were really grateful
Yes and I think those gigs were the germ to his success again. He is a major drawing artist again isn’t he
D . R . P ; Yes he carried on and Will still plays guitar for him, but there was another couple of things that happened, and I didn’t want to stay on there
Did you ever get the opportunity to go back at all or was it the lightning in a jar moment just there and then?
D . R . P ; Well at the time I did yeah but I have to admit every time I go and see him I and like, “I wish I was still in the band…” maybe just because it was so much fun, but he has got a really great band now and they are all fantastic musicians and Will really is the perfect guitar player for him.
So, we know what Will is doing but what about Robin (Guy) the drummer In Rachel Stamp? He was ill for a time, wasn’t he?
D . R . P ; Yeah so Robin has carried on doing session work and some other stuff,. When I played with Eric Falkner (Bay City Rollers) I got that through Robin. I hadn’t been in touch with him for a while but we were still friends and one day he just texts me and says, “I have got this crazy gig with the guitar player from the Bay City Rollers” and I sort of half-jokingly said, “Do you need a singer?” and he said, “no but the bass player isn’t great we may need a bass player” so I ended up playing in that with Robin. He has been in Sham 69, and he has done various other bits. He played with Bruce Dickinson at one point, and he is just a really fantastic drummer
Yes a great drummer
D . R . P ; Then a few years ago he got diagnosed with cancer, which he has had treatment for and as far as I know is doing well. We have done one Rachel Stamp gig since then and it went well so hopefully, he is well enough to do some more
Are you going to do more? You said at the time it is just as and when
D . R. P ; Well, it is the sort of thing if we get offered some good shows we will do it
Do you still have a lot of contact with fans from the Rachel Stamp time?
D . R . P ; With the fans? Some of the fans are interested in what I am doing and if I am at a gig it’s nice when people come and say, “Hi” and yeah well we were really lucky that we had really cool fans. Nice and interesting people.
Yes all the misfits, meant in the best possible connotation of the word.
D . R . P ; Yes and you get to meet lots of cool people. That is one of the best things about playing music is the fact that you do get to meet lots of cool people and I have always enjoyed that aspect
Yes well it is the co-joining isn’t it?
D . R . P ; Yes very much that and please if people do see me come and say hello, there is a ninety-nine per cent chance I will be in a good mood
HAHAH, absolutely those are good odds. Ok back to the new record “Vampire Deluxe”. Ok I don’t want to do a track by track I want people to look at it as a whole but let us touch on a few more tracks. Ok “Heart full of Love And A Head Full Of Poison” now I thought this track could be in the old Dracula Hammer films where the stagecoach is racing to get back to the castle before sunup with the coffin in the back and I thought this track would be a perfect match for that
D . R. P ; Well, that is great. It was interesting that song because I almost didn’t put it on the record
Oh, really why?
D . R . P ; Well, I don’t know. At one point I didn’t think it really fitted in and then Drew who co-produced the record said, “no you have to put this one on”. It’s interesting because there was a recent review came out on line of the record and someone mentioned that it had the same lyrics as “Captain Sugar” which is on the previous album but it is actually the other way around as I wrote “Head Full Of love..” before I wrote “Captain Sugar” and we were playing that live and I just needed someone at the end of that I just needed something to say so I just recited the lyrics from “Head Full Of Love” and they just kind of stuck and that is that song.
Drew Richards does sound like an important character in all of this he is almost your foil to a point.
D . R . P ; Yes absolutely because he originally he was in a band called Die So Fluid, a fantastic band and he is a really great guitar player and we have been friends for a long time and he wrote his music and we just started to jam together, he was playing guitar with me and especially with this record in particular and because of the lockdown situation getting time in the studio was difficult so we ended up recording a lot of it in his home studio. We did a lot of the vocals there and as such we just got more and more involved in it and he played more of a part in the production of it all. If I was in doubt about or song or something he would say if it needed more work or whatever and conversely if I was in doubt about a song being on there he would say, “no that needs to be on the record”. It was great to have someone involved like that
Did he have a part in “Black Magic” at all?
D . R . P ; Yes he played guitar on that record
But this time he took a far more Ronson roll yeah?
D . R . P ; Yeah yeah I would say so and he actually co wrote the music in the track “Hello”
Right o.k.
D .R . P ; Yes because everything else I write on my solo records is all usually just me but that just happened because of the situation with lockdown but, on my next record I might possibly co write with more people
Right, we will look forward to that but let’s get to the last track on this record, “Hey Stargazer”. The last song on there and some of the lyrics in there are “Stardust Jesus” and “Lost In a Dream” so are you telling us what we have been listening to is all cathartic and it was all just a dream and now we are back to reality now or are you keeping us in “the dream”?
D . R . P ; Well, I think I’m lost inside a dream I don’t know where everyone else is.
Haha yes well if you are then we are back to the artists getting everyone to come into their world, you create the world?
D . R . P ; Well yeah but in all honesty most of the time in my life I do wonder if I am some kind of weird dream and I do have very vivid dreams which are sometimes disturbing, sometimes not
Well, they do say dreaming is the brains way of releasing stress and processing thoughts and as such if you do dream you are less stressful person for doing so
D . R . P ; Well yes I do think there are certainly a lot of interesting things about dreams not least the fact that we can dream just so vividly
Yes like real life, just processing information
D . R . P ; Yes it’s really odd but I remember when I was a teenager having a dream that I would fall in love with someone in the dream and then when I woke up I felt genuinely heartbroken. I felt the person had just gone away and not that I had just imaged it. I had one of those dreams like it was as Hollywood film like something like “Mannequin” or one of those films and when I woke up
Sounds like a Roxy Music song idea. Ok so that is the record done and hopefully people will investigate it for themselves. Before we leave the record is there anything else you would like to say about it?
D . R . P; Well not really but it was recorded in the same way as the last one and the next one will also be recorded in the same way
Do you have ideas for the next one yet at all?
D . R . P ; Yes but one thing I might do possibly is, well it is bit of a trendy thing to do at the moment, but I might do an E.P of cover versions of songs that I like
Tied into the same concept as the last two records or...
D .R . P ; I think it would be just an extra little thing, but I am not sure about that I do have to think about that. I do have a few ideas of what songs I would like to do.
There is a whole triple album set of possibilities. Where do you start?
D . R. P ; Well, I think I would pick things that aren’t necessarily obvious. I think people would think someone like me would do a Bowie tune, but I would probably end up doing a Linda Ronstadt tune or something like that
The Doobie Brothers? Hahaha
D . R. P ; Haha yes probably but I really do love Linda Ronstadt and I listen to her stuff more than I do Bowie’s stuff. That might surprise and appal some people but it’s true
Well lets just put it out there. It was the seventies and into the eighties you wouldn’t buy the pop music that was around, but you would be conscious of it all. Name any band and you would know some of their songs. I think music was so much more in the consciousness then it wasn’t, download this, forget that next. It seemed to have more gravitas
D . R . P ; Yeah I think a lot of that was that everyone would listen to Radio One pretty much and you would then go to school, and you could say, “did you hear that crazy song by Laurie Anderson?” and everyone would seemingly go, “yeah”. In fact, that is an interesting thing as well, I love Laurie Anderson and I remember when “Oh Superman” was a hit and as a kid I probably just thought that it was all creepy and weird
Well, it was really
D .R . P ; It’s funny because in Rachel Stamp we totally nicked part of that song for our song “My Sweet Rose” and I found this really weird because at that time it was The Smashing Pumpkins or Marilyn Manson that were popular and the press used to say, “Rachel Stamp are trying to sound like The Smashing Pumpkins” and we were not and we totally said we ripped of Laurie Anderson and at that time no one knew who she was.
Well, that’s some people I guess
D .R . P ; Well people like what they like and that is fair enough but when a music journalist or something writing for a big selling music magazine and they haven’t heard of say, Devo and even if they don’t like them they should be aware of them and some of their records and that would frustrate the hell out of me. They would constantly say, “why are you trying to sound like Marilyn Manson” and we go, “no not in anyway shape or form. Then you go on to mention Todd Rundgren and they would be like, “who’s that?”
Yes I think a lot of the magazines where like that, but I also think for the most part it was, “jobs for boys” y'know
D . R. P ; Yes there was a lot of that at time but luckily there were also some good people too
Yes indeed some for sure
D .R . P Yes they would have heard of it even if they weren’t that aware of it.
Right, I think we are done David
D . R . P ; Yeah that’s great
Yes it was great to chat to you
D .R . P ; and you too.
Best of luck with this record and all you do in the future.
D . R . P ; Thank you for all your support.
Photographs courtesy of Rowan Spray, Ben Ga and Phillip Grey.
Missed out on David's first feature in which we talk David's history and his first solo record "Black Magic & True Love on Suits? No worries just click HERE to view it!
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