Jez Williams (Doves)
June 2002
Seattle

Last time we spoke to Jez Williams, guitarist for Manchester outfit Doves, it was quite the preliminary stage for their now-completed second LP, The Last Broadcast. When Doves debuted with their previous record, Lost Souls, it was easy to gauge the huge potential had by this three-piece out of one of the world's great capitols of music. But what Last Broadcast delivered was a stylistic range that blew away expectations, predictions and stereotypes from critics and fans alike.

Starting the first leg of their U.S. tour, Jez agreed to speak to TIMBT again and complete the circle of thought behind the creation and release of The Last Broadcast.

I'm glad to be speaking with you again because you were such an open, honest guy to talk to last time. Hopefully you haven't become twisted and warped by your fame and your success.

(Laughing) I don't think I have!

Well, kudos to you and the band for not bending to pressure to produce another Lost
Souls and not fearing to try something so different for this new record. Did that take a lot of courage to do or not really any second thought at all?

No second thought at all - it's just a very natural thing. We didn't even really discus what we were gonna do. We wrote 15 songs and just decided to go in and start the album. There's no kind of pre-plan or anything; it was just a natural thing, really. And we didn't really get affected by any pressure from Lost Souls. We knew we wanted to do a different album, that's for sure, but it comes naturally to us to do a different kind of thing than before. I think it's important to keep moving things on for yourself.

What was the amount of time roughly between when the songs were written for Lost Souls and when the songs were written for Last Broadcast?

It wasn't so much the songs, it was…the thing about Last Broadcast was that the actual songs literally took about five or ten minutes to write. It was a spontaneous sort of thing. But the actual recording process took bloody forever! (Laughs)

So that's what takes the longest - honing your sketches of songs into finished product.

Yeah! We've always been obsessed by layers of sound. I suppose it comes from our dance background, really.

All the stuff you did with Sub Sub, like we discussed the last time.

That's right, yeah. And obviously that's what took the time. We wanted to try different things, go a bit more experimental than Lost Souls. We just tried to push it in the production.

You know what's odd, though? The last time we were talking you were excited about the potential for this new album and how it was going to be a lot more electronic and experimental, but strangely to me it sounds very organic. At the same time there are many levels sonically it really does have this grounded-in-reality organic-ness to it.

You're quite right that when we started it we did want to shove in more electronics… I suppose in hindsight it was not as electronic as we wanted. But I think what we managed to do is use organic instruments in a different way, do things like on "Friday's Dust". We pushed things. We sort of subverted organic instruments.

I think Last Broadcast is perhaps a more positive album than Lost Souls - I think it's more uplifting just for the very fact that we were doing what bands do, releasing records and touring, which we felt a lot happier about, and that came through in the songwriting of Last Broadcast.

Although there was an interview you did a couple of months ago with a great quote about how frustrated you were with having to tour because what you really want to do is just be writing music. (Laughs)

Yeah, it's that kind of thing - when you're in the studio for a year then you really wanna tour and when you're touring for a year you really wanna go back to the recording studio. The grass is always greener, isn't it? (Laughs) Obviously the reason I'm out now is because Last Broadcast does deserve to be toured. You kind of have to not look down and just enjoy it - and I am enjoying it. I always enjoy doing American tours. I just love the audiences here.

From the gigs I've been to and people I've talked to, it does appear that you've got a strong following in the States.

Yeah, we even have a cult out here! There's quite a strong little tough fan base, and it's a really nice sort of feeling knowing that's there. It's just a nice, warm feeling, you know? We know that people are going to turn up! (Laughs)

Most shows sold out in just a couple of hours, which was amazing since you're playing venues a little bigger than last time for the most part.

In some places, yeah; in other places probably the same. But we're coming back here in September as well. This time around we're kind of dipping our toe in. September is the real tour.

So you're gonna be playing massive stadiums and stuff, right?

(Laughs) Uh, no. We won't do that. We did a lot of stadium tours in England supporting Travis - starting like four days after we finished Last Broadcast! We just had to do these 25 dates. They were cool…(pauses) I've come to the conclusion that I don't like stadiums.

A little too big for you?

Yeah! They're kind of like generic, especially after you do all these cool theaters with loads of character…

When you were younger did you not like to be in the audience at stadium shows either?

Hated it. I hated it because the probability is that the ticket you bought is in the very back and you can overhear people chatting about what they saw on tele last night and you're trying to listen to the band and it's just irritating. I hate that about stadiums. Up on stage, you're kind of removed from it, and that's no good, man. That's just no good. You know what I mean? I always think that if bands get really big they should just do like three nights in a small theater rather than do a stadium. It's harder work, but I think you connect with the audience more.

Maybe when people get more famous they get scared of that connection, that intimacy.

You mean they want to build a wall around themselves?

Yeah, and that's why they do those big stadiums; that's why they turn into U2 or whatever.

Yeah, you've gotta watch that -you've gotta have a bit of self-awareness, you know?

Speaking of touring, do you guys feel comfortable presenting alternate versions of the album tracks or do you really feel that you need to honor them the way that they were recorded?

Not at all. In fact, we change loads of things for the live performances. For us, live is a totally different thing from the studio. The studio's like, you know, you go in with a track and it's all about what we like - the subtleties, you know. When it's live we turn everything up and it's all a bit rawer and I think that's important, you know, the energy. It needs to be high when you play live.

And so many of your songs are so high-energy anyway - I remember when you were here last year it was one of the loudest shows I had been to!

(Laughs) You have no idea! But I just think there needs to be that energy, and so we take a different slant when we do the songs live. That works for us.