Their new album, The Universal Want, will be released on September 11 - the band’s first LP since 2009’s Kingdoms of Rust.
It’s been a long 11 years without them.
We spoke to drummer Andy Williams about the return of Doves - and he also chose a special Champions League Spotify playlist, which you can listen to ahead of Friday’s second leg against Real Madrid at the Etihad.
The new album, The Universal Want, is eagerly anticipated by many of us. It’s your first in 11 years. How happy are you with it?
It always takes us a while to put an album together and it’s hard to tell what the final result is going to be like when you’re in the middle of making it, but listening to it now it’s finished and, with a bit of distance from the process of putting it together, we’re really happy with it!
What was the creative process behind the record?
We got back together in 2017 after writing separately for some time, pooled everyone’s ideas and started working on those ideas collectively as well as writing some others as a group. We used a couple of studios - Eve in Stockport and Vada in Alcester - along with working in our own rehearsal/recording space too
Prisoners is a great song. I was so happy when I heard it because it was just so good. The lyrics touch on issues of the mind. How important is it that society allows people to talk openly about their mental health and the struggles people go through on a daily basis?
Thanks! It’s hard to stress how important it is to offer support and understanding to those around us who may be going through either a rough patch or more long term difficulties, especially with the many challenges that are facing us all this year. The work that so many people like Peter Crouch and the Heads Up campaign are doing to highlight these issues through their efforts are vital to us losing the “sort yourself out soft-arse” attitude and to be more understanding that people are affected differently by what happens around us.
It really is OK not to be OK if you like.
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Are there plans for a tour? And how difficult is it for bands at the moment to plan for live shows given the health pandemic?
We’ve just announced a UK tour for March/April 2021, which we really hope will happen as we’re looking forward to getting out to play the new stuff. Like every other band we speak to all we can do is plan ahead, get everything in place and hope for the best
You played a few live shows last year. After so long away, what was it like being back on stage? Was the chemistry still there?
It was amazing! It was so good to be back playing live, we were hoping to continue touring in 2020 but those plans have obviously been pushed way back now, but, yeah, the chemistry was still there.
I’m not sure if we would have ploughed on with plans for the future if it wasn’t.
City are 2-1 from the first leg but Real Madrid will still be tough. How do you see that one going?
They’re on form and obviously topping La Liga will mean they’ll have their tails up, but we’ve got our noses slightly ahead going into the game and we’ve got the home advantage, which I think still means something in these times, so as long as we’re on form I believe we can come away with a win.
Can we win the Champions League?
Yes!
What are you thoughts on Pep’s time in charge of City?
It’s hard to add anything new to the plaudits that Pep has already received from all corners. So in simple terms it’s been ‘emotional’ on many levels. Long may he reign!
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