David Gray’s priceless memories of lessons learned the hard way
6/23/202637 min
David Gray went through the roof with his White Ladder album in 2000 and he’s toured and recorded ever since, ending this summer’s loop at Latitude. He talks to us here about the rigours of seeing bands when you lived in rural Wales and the hilarious, hard-won lessons of the first gigs he played himself and every possible shade of crowd reaction. It’s an absolute whirlwind from start to finish and features ...
... playing weddings, clubs, festivals and a Welsh village regatta
… the role of music in the construction of your character
… the turning point: “I arrived onstage to more applause than I’d ever had when leaving”
… the time gave Morrissey his string of beads
… the emotional architecture of live performance and how Elvis programmed his shows
… vivid memories of seeing the Cult (“bloody nose”), the Mission (“headbutted”) and the Stranglers (“we left terrified”)
… running from stage to stage at Glastonbury in ‘86 and the insular genius of the Cure
… his Liverpool punk band in their perishing “Joycean” flat
… the unbeatable sound of a crowd singing one of your songs
… Nick Drake’s frail sensibility and the value of growing a hard skin.
David Gray tickets here: davidgray.com
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsMark Ellen· Host0:01
[guitar music] Now, look, Word In Your Ear comes to you at least once a week in the form of a podcast, a videocast, or a thing so new it has no name, and it's free. All we ask is that you subscribe, like, and wherever possible, leave a comment. And if you feel like getting further involved, you can become a Patreon supporter, which could mean you're inviting us to rifle through your record collection, our inviting you to join us for our very special Friday night quiz, and all of us feeling the sum of human happiness has been increased. Details at patreon.com/wordinyourear. And now on with the show.
David Hepworth· Host0:44
[guitar music] You're listening to a podcast from The Word. This is Word Down Your Way, in which those about to tour salute you.
Mark Ellen· Host1:04
Welcome to another of our podcasts featuring musicians who are about to be appearing somewhere near you, and, uh, that now includes David Gray, who's actually already on tour. The tour's already started. David, lovely to see you.
David Gray· Guest1:16
Yeah, it's nice to see you too, Mark.
Mark Ellen· Host1:18
Where do we find you? Whereabouts are you?
David Gray· Guest1:20
I'm in London at the moment, but just briefly as I pass between Dublin via my family, uh, on the way to Derby.
Mark Ellen· Host1:28
All