Ahead of the release of their album 'Follow The Road', Joe from Leeds indie/rock/folk group The Dunwells shares the album's title-track and talks to us about success in the US, his karaoke tunes and the joy of festivals.
TSOC: Hey, The Dunwells! For those who aren’t familiar with your sound, what can they expect from you?
Joe: You can expect songs played with passion. We love playing live, and do a lot of it, so really you have to check us out and make your own judgement.
TSOC: You seem to have a busy summer ahead of you touring the States and Canada. Are there any UK festivals you’re missing that you wish you could catch or be a part of this year?
Joe: We are playing a lot of festivals both in the states where we are through June and July in fact 'til the Lollapalooza Festival early August and then home to the UK. We love festivals as you can really rock out more than playing in clubs with the space. This August we are playing Bingley Fest and Cropredy and Moseley, we did Leeds Live and The Great Escape in May. It would be great to play our home town festival, Leeds (Reading) Festival. One Day!
TSOC: Being Leeds lads, how do your UK shows hold up/differ against your US tours?
Joe: They don't really differ, we play the same songs over there as we do over here, but sometimes we do semi-acoustic shows but it's pretty lively as we have 5 vocalists, 4 guitars and Jonny on kahon instead of drums. But every show is a new experience in a new place.
TSOC: Are there any fresh new faces from your home town we should be keeping an eye out for?
Joe: Keep an out out for my brother's band City of Light, they really put on a great live show.
TSOC: The UK version of your debut album 'Follow The Road' is due for release next month. Having already released it under the title of 'Blind Sighted Faith' in the US last year, are there any songs from the album you’re tired of already?
Joe: Not at all we love the songs we're playing and by putting new songs in the set it keeps it interesting for both us and the audience also so the albums are different with either different versions of songs or a few different tracks which seemed to work differently.
TSOC: You worked with the legendary John Porter on the production of your album, is there anyone else you’d love to collaborate with in the future?
Joe: There are so many people that I want to work with, that's why I keep writing songs. Even since working with John Porter we worked with George Drakoulias, Chris Kimsey, Tim Palmer, Jamie Candiloro, Ghian Wright - each producer has a different flavour.
TSOC: You've been likened to contemporary bands such as Mumford and Sons and Fleet Foxes. To mix it up a bit and with a rise of female singer songwriters in a similar bracket as you right now, are there any who you’d like to work with?
Joe: I like the Emeli Sande record, what a great voice, the new Laura Marling album is killer. There are so many great female singer-songwriters.
TSOC: You performed at the huge SXSW festival this year. Did you make any unexpected friends, artist wise?
Joe: We met some great people at SXSW there were so many musicians, all them were at the top of their game.
TSOC: Having fallen in love with your cover of Imogen Heap – 'Hide and Seek', say you were to release a five track covers EP. Can you give us four more tracks you'd stick alongside it?
Joe: When singing in clubs early on, I would always sing my favourite songs:
High and Dry - Radiohead
Volcano - Damien Rice
Georgia - Ray Charles
Home Bird- Foy Vance
TSOC: And last but not least, you're headlining your own fantasy festival and can pick five bands/artists past or present to appear on the same bill. Who do you choose?
Joe:
Ray Charles would have to be there, I would have loved to have seen that voice live.
Biffy Clyro they are a great British band.
Radiohead - my favourite band of all time,
Damien Rice - the reason why I started writing songs.
Bruce springsteen - the boss.
Thanks,
Joe
The Dunwells' website
Buy the album
Catch them live:
Jun 20 KISS Summer Nights Series, El Paso, TX
Jun 21 Rio Grande Zoo, Albuquerque, NM
Jun 22 Fox Theatre, Boulder, CO
Jun 24 Santa Fe Bandstand, Santa Fe, NM
Jun 25, Gerald R. Ford Amphitheatre, Vail, CO
Jun 27 Jazz Aspen Snowmass Festival, CO
Jun 29 Slowdown, Omaha, NE
Jun 30 Milwaukee Summerfest, Milwaukee, WI
Jul 01 S.P.A.C.E., Evanston, IL
Jul 03Ann Arbor Summer Festival, Ann Arbor, MI
Jul 04 Riverfront Rendezvous, Stevens Point, WI
Jul 05 Kyptonite, Rockford Township, IL
Jul 06 Levitt Shell at Overton Park, Memphis, TN
Jul 09 The Drake Hotel, Toronto, Canada
Jul 10 Ottawa Blues Festival, Ottawa, Canada
Jul 12 Bunbury Music Festival, Cincinnati, OH
Jul 13 Winnipeg Folk Festival, Winnipeg, Canada
Jul 14 Winnipeg Folk Festival, Winnipeg, Canada
Jul 21 The Saint, Asbury Park, NJ
Jul 23 Rams Head On Stage, Annapolis, MD
Jul 24 The Wolf Den, Uncasville, CT
Jul 26 Calgary Folk Festival, Calgary, Canada
Jul 27 Calgary Folk Festival, Calgary, Canada
Jul 28 Hillside Festival, Guelph, Canada
Jul 30 Peck Pavilion @ Marcus PAC, Milwaukee, WI
Jul 31 Dakota Jazz Club, Minneapolis, MN
Aug 01 Peace Plaza Stage, Rochester Township, MN
Aug 02 Schubas, Chicago, IL
Aug 03 Lollapalooza, Chicago, IL
Aug 10 Fairport Convention Festival, Cropredy, United Kingdom
Oct 11 Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA
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