Abattoir Blues Interview with Dave Harris
Acoustic singer/songwriter from Stockport and Lead guitarist in Manchester indie band Floone Dave Harris will be playing this year’s Abattoir Blues festival Sunday 25th August at 2.30pm and we can’t wait!
-Who or what made you decide to pick up an Instrument? I had friends at school who could play and I wanted to play too. I remember asking my Dad for a guitar one Christmas and he got me a harmonica instead. When I asked him why he said that I didn't have the patients to learn guitar and I'd just get bored with it after a week. This made me was to learn even more so I sold some things to some mate and bought one myself and taught myself to play within a few months. I win this round Dad! Ha ha
-Could you give us a brief history of the band with any standout moments?
This is my solo acoustic stuff. I've played a few cool gigs at Night and Day and Antwerp Mansion. The most worthwhile one though was probably back in Uni. On a field trip I borrowed without permission (from his locked room) one of the lectures guitars. As I played it the lecturer in question came down to watch me play. He told me that at first he was going to fail me for the year because he was quite angry but after I played his favourite song he changed his mind and even bumped up my grade abit. I joined my band Floone at 25. It was kind of a small mid-life crisis. I realised that I'd been playing for 12 years but had never been in a band. I put an ad on Gumtree and was playing gigs within a couple of months. We've been all over the country and have our own residency at The Ducie Bridge in Manchester (1st Friday of the month). I get to pick all the bands that play which is great cos we've played with some really great bands over the past 2 years.
-Do you think the blues is still relevant in modern music? Yes of course! Blues is what's missing from most modern music. Sometimes I look at a band and think "where's your Soul" Blues is nothing but soul. It's from down deep where you can't fake it or do it half arsed. If you're not singing the Blues is any of it's forms (and it has many) then you're probably not singing anything worth listening to.
-How has the blues influenced your music? If you're talking about blues style chord patterns and riffs then quite alot. My band, Floone's next EPs lead track all raw Blues patterns in it. We're well chuffed with it! And if you're talking about Blues lyrics, well I don't see the point of singing a happy song. Life is an ugly mess and this is my way of facing it.
-What’s next for the band? For my acoustic stuff I'm looking to gig more and more. Open mic slots don't give me enough time I've got too many songs to play for that. And I need to get stuff recorded. I'm hoping to have a release by Christmas. I did get asked to be signed by some online label but when I looked into it I thought that I can do a better job of things on my own. Fuck 'em!
For more information visit https://soundcloud.com/dave-harris-27
