Self-doubt, writer’s block, creative desert, whatever you call the frustratingly barren period Damon Gough went through a year or so ago, it’s ironic that one of the deepest thinkers in contemporary music was enticed back into writing songs by the lure of a comedy movie.
Damon, aka Badly Drawn Boy, was asked by Caroline Aherne (Royle Family, Mrs Merton) to pen the soundtrack to last year’s film The Fattest Man in Britain, which manifested itself in the album Is There Nothing We Could Do?
Up until then he hadn’t set foot inside a studio, nor did he feel he had written anything that deserved to be recorded since his 2006 album Born In The UK.
The 2009 album though sparked a period of unprecedented creativity for Gough, resulting in a wealth of great new songs. He decided the best way to capture this surge and give the songs the exposure they deserved was to release a trilogy of albums called It’s What I’m Thinking.
Part 1 – Photographing Snowflakes is released October 4.
As Damon explained to Rocktalk, “I’m just kind of back on track. Up to about a year ago I was trying to find a reason to go in to the studio, I didn’t think I had the songs to warrant going back in.
“I got the fear of whether I could do it or even wanted to.The Fattest Man in Britain”Then Caroline came along and asked me to do The Fattest Man in Britain and that gave me a reason. It’s like riding a bike, you get back on and it’s fine but it gave me a reason for going back in front of a microphone again.
“The thing is my entire career spans the last ten years, I’ve had two kids and a lot has happened during that ten years, when I stopped and looked back I was a bit bewildered.
“It was a sort of mid-life crisis, but I took a step back and realised I was able to do it, I am back on track again.
“The first album is ready to go and then I’ll get on to the next one.
“The singles I’ve released don’t really reflect what I do, the true face of me is on an album.
“It’s more relevant to me as a person.”
Looking ahead to his festival slot at Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival this weekend, Damon was pondering whether to bring his band up along with his wife Clare and kids Edie and Oscar.
“I do a lot of gigs solo but I also like playing with a band as well.
I might bring my wife and children up as well I’ll be camping so they might come to Belladrum with me, too.
“The long-term plan is to buy a campervan and use it for gigs but it hasn’t happened yet it wouldn’t work for some of the gigs anyway.”Too Many MiraclesDamon has announced an autumn tour to promote the release of the new album, which is preceded by a single, Too Many Miracles, on September 27.
That tour involves only one Scottish date, at the Old Fruitmarket in Glasgow on October 20, which Damon says disappoints him, so much so he actually asked his management to see if he could play in Dundee and Aberdeen as well as the usual bigger city venues.
“I mentioned that to the booking agents because I haven’t played in Dundee before, I wanted to include places I hadn’t been to.
“Playing live, when it goes well you come off with such an elated feeling, but if it goes wrong it can be really bad, and I can’t hide my feelings.
“I always give 100% and more and I’m really disappointed when it goes wrong. But I’ve got more experience now and if things are wrong I can deal with it better.
“At festivals, you don’t get a lot of time to think but if you think too much anyway it overshadows the whole thing.”Belladrum FestivalWith Belladrum being a 12,000 sellout, it’s yet another success for the organisers, and is great news for Dundee club Fat Sam’s, which this year is sponsoring the Mothers Ruin Tent, featuring top acts like The LED, We See Aliens, Euan Williamson, Tommy Reilly, Filth DJs, Fat Sam’s resident Charlie Duthie, Plexus and the Grouse Beater Sound System.
Fat Sam’s director Angus Robb said, “It’s great the festival has sold out, we’ve got a tremendous line-up over Friday and Saturday and I’m delighted to be involved with the Tartan Heart Festival.”
The final batch of acts confirmed include Fence Collective main man King Creosote, Indie-electronica act and Rough Trade signings Wilder, Mulls Sorren Maclean, local act Abagail Grey and rising star rock chick Tiffany Page, who join headliners Feeder and Amy MacDonald and the likes of Badly Drawn Boy, The Wailers, Candi Staton, Eliza Doolittle, Twin Atlantic, Divine Comedy, Dick Gaughan, John Otway, The Lush Rollers, Martin Stephenson, Kassiday and Bombskare.
Among the new non-music features at this year’s event are an aerobatics display by the Chang Gang, Finding The Will theatre company who will perform Shakespeare-related drama in Belladrum Temple and a multitude of child-friendly activities.
The independent festival has built a reputation for its eclectic line-ups, its offbeat non-musical entertainments and its all-ages approach. The festival won a VisitScotland Thistle Award in 2009 and is a past winner of the Grassroots Festival Award at the UK Festival Awards, the festival industry’s ‘oscars’.
For those of you looking for any last-minute tickets, log on to www.tartanheartfestival.co.uk and click on the viagogo link on the home page.