Originally Published: 2009-05-24

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“You get inspired by your peers. Growing up, there were bands like New Order and the Smiths. That was our era, and we were inspired by New Order doing it on their own terms. They were their own record label, they opened up a nightclub and were very influential on the city’s nightlife. For us, they were the people around the corner, so it was ‘If they can do it, I’ll have a go at it.’ To escape from Manchester, it’s either music or football, and we were shite at football!”
Critics often lazily lump Doves in with the likes of Coldplay and Radiohead, given their similarly atmospheric and epic sound, but groups such as New Order and Stone Roses make better reference points. They deserve credit for a varied sound on Kingdom Of Rust, something that Williams says they consciously sought. “Our opening track, ‘Jetstream,’ has a cold and stark Germanic sound, but the next song, ‘Kingdom Of Rust,’ is country-tinged. You could argue that they are opposing teams, but we wanted to write a very schizophrenic album, with almost every track opposing the previous one. We thought that would be a cool approach. Our worry was ‘Would it be cohesive?’ but we got away with it because it’s got our DNA on it.”
Speaking of DNA, Williams notes that “in Doves, we are all brothers in a way, and two of us are biological brothers. It’s like a family unit, a three-headed monster, and it’s so intuitive it’s sometimes scary!” So no sibling fighting, as with those other Manchester rock star brothers, the Gallaghers of Oasis? “No, we’re more laidback,” laughs Jez Williams. “We did a lot of fighting at 15 and got it out of our system then.”


Kingdom Of Rust is out on Virgin/EMI Canada. Doves play Kool Haus on June 1.

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