Doves to hit stage in 'special' homecoming (From The Bolton News)

Doves to hit stage in 'special' homecoming

10:29am Thursday 11th June 2009

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WITH a just-completed successful American tour under their belt and a triumphant North-West homecoming gig at Delamere Forest this weekend, it looks like Doves are following in the footsteps of their Manchester musical compatriots Elbow in taking the leap from nearly-rans to genuine legends.

The unusual history of the band is fairly well known. In a former life drummer Andy Williams, his guitar-playing twin brother Jez and bassist/singer Jimi Goodwin were known as Sub Sub, and were responsible for the 1993 dance classic Ain’t No Love, Ain’t No Use, which featured vocalist Melanie Williams and got to number three in the singles chart.

They released one full-length album, but in 1995 an electrical fire destroyed their studio, equipment and demos for what would have been their second album.

Shortly after, they decided to lay Sub Sub and their dance-oriented sound to rest and create the more guitar-based Doves. The band is now in agreement that this event, although catastrophic at the time, was actually something of a liberation.

Their past was given a nod at the beginning of the year when they released Jetstream, the first single from fourth album Kingdom of Rust. It was followed by the album’s title track, a Lancastrian Spaghetti Western in song form, described as what would happen if Ennio Morricone had been born and raised in Manchester on a diet of the Factory Recordings output, big nights out, and long mornings after.

It’s a defiantly Northern sound, but nevertheless the threesome received a rapturous welcome when they ventured across the Atlantic.

Their show at the Los Angeles Wiltern Theatre sold out, and Minneapolis newspaper the Daily Planet referred to them as “perennially underrated“ and said their show in the city was “stunning”.

Over here, music fans already greet any move from the band rapturously. A short English tour earlier this year sold out within hours and tickets for the three upcoming forest dates are like gold dust.

Like Elbow, Doves have received several Mercury Music Prize nominations and are hotly tipped to follow in the Bury band’s footsteps by winning the prize this year with Kingdom of Rust.

But industry approval seems to be low on their list of priorities — before they jetted off for the States singer Jimi told the BBC that he disapproved of the way the music industry hurried new bands into the limelight before they were ready.

He told the Newsbeat programme: “The thirst for new music is overlooking a lot of things and there’s not a lot of time for bands to nurture and develop.

“We didn’t get good for years or reach a place where we wanted to be. We were very lucky that we were allowed to do that.”

With notoriously huge gaps between albums, it’s not likely that a new release will appear anytime evenly remotely describable as “soon”, and for now the band are just happy to be out playing the new songs live.

“They all change when we’re on tour,” said drummer Andy Williams.

”I love seeing different places too. We never take anything for granted, so coming back and seeing the fans that have waited for us is very special.

“When we came back we weren’t sure whether people would still be interested so we’re really chuffed that people still want to hear us.”

After the forest dates, the band will spend the summer at festivals including Glastonbury and Latitude, as well as the lesser-known Hop Farm festival and Jersey Live.

Doves play Delamere Forest, Cheshire, on Saturday.