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Music on the Road

Doves fly over new waters

By Joanne Suh
CNN

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Currently on tour in the U.S., the British trio Doves say they're thrilled by the support of their fans in America.

The band is on the road to promote their sophomore CD, "The Last Broadcast," released earlier this year.

Coming up through the club scene in Manchester, England, Doves have received critical acclaim in their homeland (the band earned a Mercury Music Prize nomination for their debut, "Lost Souls") but know the challenge of expanding that success across the pond and into the U.S. market.

Doves are Jimi Goodwin (lead singer/guitar) and twin brothers Andy (drums) and Jez Williams (guitar).

CNN sat down with the guys in Los Angeles to talk about their latest album and touring America.

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Catch a live performance of 'Pounding' off the Doves' album 'The Last Broadcast.' (September 11) Play video

CNN: Do you prefer touring or being in the studio?

GOODWIN: We like both. The studio can be just as intense and as draining as a five-week tour. "The Last Broadcast" was like 10 months of intensity really, which is very quick for us. It was actually write for a week, arrange it together, work it out, two weeks in the studio, maybe doing two or three at a time, and then just kept putting them down and going back to them. It's good that when an album comes to an end, that's when you start touring again. You get a break from that and see a bit of sunshine and a bit of fresh air. And when that gets boring, you want to start writing songs again.

CNN: You've got some loyal fans here.

GOODWIN: We love coming here (U.S.) and the fan base we've got, we can't believe it. We've very much been word of mouth, with Doves. People buying the album, playing it to five friends, and then the five friends come and see you play live. It's like, wow!

CNN: What are you most proud of with "The Last Broadcast?"

J. WILLIAMS: Just that we finished it. (laugh) I felt pretty good because the plan was we finish it, we go on tour for a month in England. And we had all this planned, and we hate things like plans.

GOODWIN: We committed to the Travis tour, like four months into the album. People were planning ... like our record company were like trying to step it up and, you know, fair play, but we still had no idea where the heart of the record was. So suddenly, it started to loom ever closer and we were like, we will cancel this (tour) if we don't feel our album is ready.

J. WILLIAMS: We just pushed ourselves. É And the quality of it, nothing was compromised, it was exactly how we wanted it. And to do that and make it in for the tour was pretty amazing.

CNN: How does "The Last Broadcast" differ the most from your debut, "Lost Souls," which earned you a Mercury Music Prize nomination?

A. WILLIAMS: The most obvious point is it's quite up and positive compared to "Lost Souls." ... I think life had gotten a bit better since making "Lost Souls." We'd had a bit more success, we'd done like two months touring in America which had gone brilliantly, a lot better than we could have expected. It wouldn't have felt right making another "Lost Souls," really. Early on in the writing process, it was pretty obvious that the first songs we wrote were really up, and we thought this is a really marked difference from the last record, so it sort of set the tone.

GOODWIN: It's a bit more outward-looking. Musically, it's quite joyous. I like that bittersweet thing. Lyrically, there's still insecurity or restlessness trying to get somewhere else. But lyrically as well, it's more direct this time. When people ask me, "What's the fear about?" Just read the lyrics, that's what it's about. It's about letting go of the past. "There goes the fear again," let it go. They're not as oblique, they're not lyrically so hiding, or trying to be poetic for the sake of it. They're just very straightforward.

CNN: I interviewed Noel Gallagher (Oasis) who said he loves the song, "Pounding."

GOODWIN: He came to some of our gigs not too long ago. We've met Noel before, we supported Oasis at Wembley once which was amazing, playing to like 56,000 people. Noel and them are cool kids.

CNN: How long have you (Jimi) known Andy and Jez?

GOODWIN: I met them when I was 15? Yeah. I joined their school, you know, the typical smoking in the tennis courts, "I like your jacket man," you know, "What bands are you into?" We just started jamming together and playing in their mum's house and then lost touch for a few years and then met again clubbing in Manchester. We just took it from there.

CNN: Did you have similar musical influences back then?

GOODWIN: When we first met, I was sort of a hippie, listening to loads of '60s rock, digging out my dad's rock collection and punk, and they were mad into the Smiths and New Order. So they brought me up to speed a little bit.

CNN: Is there anyone you'd like to collaborate with?

A. WILLIAMS: David Lynch.

CNN: Why David Lynch?

A. WILLIAMS: We've always been into his films.

J. WILLIAMS: I mean the front cover of "The Last Broadcast" is pretty much taken from "Mulholland Drive," that kind of, the grid section of L.A. And also, "Where We're Calling From," the interlude just before "N.Y." -- that kind of just conjured up the feel of David Lynch. ... I don't know what chance we'll get, but hopefully, it'd be really nice to do a film score for him sometime in the future.