Changes of musical direction do not always work out for the best. Long-term fans will frequently search elsewhere for the type of music they specifically want to hear rather than remain loyal to old favourites who decide to try something new.
But a debut spot at number eight on the UK Albums chart for English alternative rock quintet Deaf Havana suggests their fan base have taken kindly to the more pop-orientated songs on the band’s fifth studio album, Rituals.
“The change of style was not a conscious decision,” explained frontman and songwriter James Veck-Gilodi. “I wrote Ritual as the first song. It was completely natural and not contrived in any way. But it was a pop song rather than rock. I didn’t realise I had that kind of song in me. But I thought it sounded really good so I decided to keep going and the result was more pop songs.”
Despite the UK top five success of Deaf Havana’s 2017 album, All These Countless Nights, James did not want to follow the same songwriting pattern.
“It would have been very easy for us to make another album which sounded like the last one. We could have may be changed one or two things here and there to give the impression that we’d progressed to some degree. But I wasn’t interested in doing that kind of thing. I knew I wanted to do something radically different. I just didn’t think it would turn out to be an album of predominantly pop songs.”
James initially tried a new method of creating the songs. He firstly chose a set of titles before writing tracks to fit around them. He also worked on a computer rather than his acoustic guitar.
“I worked with Phil Gornell, our long-time sound engineer and great friend, at his studio in Sheffield. The comfort of this working relationship meant I had the freedom to not feel embarrassed about showing these different song ideas to Phil.”
Convincing his bandmates was another matter.
“The reaction of my brother (lead guitarist Matthew Veck-Gilodi) was typical of all the guys. I sent him a song called Holy. He said it was a great song but we couldn’t use it because it wasn’t what the fans would expect from us. A week later, he messaged me saying he’d changed his mind. The song was so good that we should go with it.”
Bassist Lee Wilson, drummer Tom Ogden and keyboardist Max Britton all had their doubts but eventually agreed to the change of style.
“I completely understood how they felt. All of our albums have been different to some degree but the basis of our music has always been the same since the band was formed in 2005. The truth is that I was scared about what the fans would think. We’d spent 13 years building up our fan base and we might have thrown it all away because I wanted to try a radical change of style.”
James, Lee and Tom had formed Deaf Havana while at The College of West Anglia in King’s Lynn, Norfolk. They were joined by James and Lee’s schoolfriend, guitarist Ryan Mellor, and lead guitarist Sebastian Spitz. Chris Pennells replaced Sebastian in 2006. Ryan left in 2010 but was not replaced. Matthew and Max joined in 2013 making Deaf Havana a sextet for two years before Chris decided to leave.
They self-released six EPs before signing with A Wolf At Your Door Records in 2008. The band’s 2009 debut album, Meet Me Halfway, at Least, did not chart but attracted enough industry attention for Deaf Havana to be offered a major label deal with BMG/Chrysalis.
2011’s Fools and Worthless Liars reached number 49 on the UK chart and topped Britain’s Rock chart. 2013’s Old Souls also took pole position on the UK Rock chart and became their first major mainstream success peaking at number nine on the Albums chart.
Despite clearly being a band on the rise, Deaf Havana experienced a number of problems with their record label. The conflict was such that they were dropped by BMG/Chrysalis and signed to So Recordings. All These Countless Nights was eventually released early last year.
“That was a very frustrating period in our history. We almost broke up. I did some solo stuff but had a couple of songs which were too heavy for my solo project. I sent one to the other guys asking what they thought and they all replied saying let’s get back together and play.
“I think spending the time apart made us realise how much we enjoyed playing our songs and hanging out together. In a strange way, I think we needed to fall apart to make us really appreciate what we have together because the band are now stronger than we’ve ever been.”
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Kenny Chesney
American country music superstar Kenny Chesney won’t be earning a penny in royalties from his smash hit 17th studio album, Songs for the Saints. His share of the proceeds will be donated to Hurricane Irma disaster relief funds.
The 2017 hurricane left a trail of destruction as it passed through the islands of the Caribbean. The US Virgin Islands, where Kenny has a home, was hit to such a degree that virtually no building was left undamaged.
Kenny was heartbroken by the devastation and poured out those feelings in writing songs for the new album. But he quickly gave practical help by setting up his Love for Love City Fund which has been providing relief to those who were most in need.
Although Songs for the Saints stemmed from a disaster, the tracks do not all reflect the sadness invoked by Hurricane Irma. Kenny wanted the album to also encompass the recovery process and hope for the future.
“With the way I felt, it would have been very easy for me to make an entire record about the destruction and the devastation,” Kenny remarked. “But I’ve always felt that music is the biggest healer that we have. I’m proud that there is a thread of hope, a thread of love and a sense of moving forward on the album maybe with some strength that we didn’t even know we had.
“When people listen to the album, I hope they get healing out of it in whatever way they need. I hope they get as much healing from hearing the record as I did from making it.”
Kenny has posted official audios of every track from Songs for the Saints on his YouTube channel. They can all be heard at www.youtube.com/channel/UCB1W3WXbDmsEG_hQLxYALgg The official video for lead single, Get Along, is also posted here.
Cloak
Atlanta has become synonymous with the hip hop music scene. The city is home to so many of rap’s major names. But Atlanta also has other less well-known but still thriving music cultures. One of these has produced blackened rock-metal quartet, Cloak.
Their debut album, To Venemous Depths, has drawn rave reviews from the critics. All nine tracks can be heard in full at www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGWcifLk9mQ
Two songs, In The Darkness, The Path, and lead single, The Hunger, were initially heard on Cloak’s 2016 self-titled EP. Their official video for The Hunger is posted at www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpq05qINVTc
The band have now released their second single, Beyond The Veil. Singer / guitarist Scott Taysom said of the track: Beyond The Veil is a song that’s grown in meaning and importance the longer it’s been with us. It’s a song about both the fear and comfort of knowing there is something much greater in charge here and the empowerment that it can bring.”
The accompanying video can be seen at www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHXSgMU7Z2U
Passenger
Singer / songwriter Michael Rosenberg, better known as Passenger, returns with his latest studio album, Runaway, on August 31.
Despite his English nationality, Michael believes many of the songs on Runaway have a strong sense of Americana. He also felt they would work well if accompanied by American visuals. To that end, he spent three weeks travelling across America with his video collaborators filming videos for each track along with extra footage to match acoustic renditions of each song.
Michael’s idea is to release a song every three weeks sharing both the official and acoustic videos plus behind-the-scenes footage. Pursuing this pattern, he has now released To Be Free as the fifth single from Runaway. It follows Hell or High Water, Why Can’t I Change, the album title-track and Heart To Love.
The official song videos, acoustic and behind-the-scenes videos can all be accessed from the Passenger YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/channel/UCFHtCB_FWXQ8GpjgfYcD8-g
SUCCESSFUL: A debut spot at No. 8 on the UK Albums chart for Deaf Havana suggests their fan base have taken kindly to the more pop-orientated songs on the band’s fifth studio album, Rituals.
