Unless you won the lottery or the pools, or had a good run on the horses, 2011 has been an “annus horribilis” for most of us, so spare a thought for Dundee band The Law.
After the “incredible” highs of 2010, when they achieved a modicum of fame if not fortune, they can’t wait to see the back of this relative “non-event” year for the foursome, despite having recorded and finished their second album, Trigger.
The biggest disappointment, of course, was the loss of their inspirational guitarist Steve Anderson, but as lead singer Stuart Purvey admits, living up to the previous year was always going to be a tough one.
Last year, The Law were on a major high, packing in the fans at two stages at T in the Park, playing at Rockness, Reading and Leeds before the year ended on a real high when the band was invited to perform as special guests of Paul Weller during his UK tour.
Following on from their UK success, Stuart, brothers Simon and Martin Donald and Steve also caught the attention of several notable international tastemakers, particularly in Germany, before a coast to coast tour of America, which took in New York, the legendary South by Southwest Festival in Austin, TX and Los Angeles.
The tour was a huge success and generated widespread support across American radio, leading to numerous ads for single Don’t Stop, Believe on alternative speciality radio stations.
In addition to the airplay, The Law had their music featured in the hit ABC network American television show GREEK, who used the tracks Still Got Friday to Go and Man in the Moon.
On top of this, Don’t Stop, Believe was used in the international trailer for movie The Men Who Stare at Goats.
After that, anything less was always going to be an anti-climax, even though they managed to get the album finished and ready for release next month.
One main source of annoyance for Stuart is that he can’t remember the last gig the band played.
“The main reason for that was Stevie leaving just after we got the album finished. So we’ve had to recruit and rehearse a new guitarist when we should have been out gigging the new songs.
“It’s been a massive comedown since the last year for me,” he admitted. “Everything we’ve done in 2011 so far has been in the studio, we got through all the writing and recording of the album and then Ando told us he was leaving.”
The new man is guitarist Alan (Albo) Mills from Fife band Beatnic Prestige who, Stuart admits, was an automatic choice for him.
“He was the first person I thought of because Beatnic Prestige had supported us at King Tut’s and I couldn’t take my eyes off him.
“You would think there wasn’t a frontman on the stage, he was that good on guitar. So I spoke to him, they were all doing their own different things so he was well up for it, he was available and he jumped at the chance.
“So it’s been a good three or four months of rehearsals. By the time he joined the album was completely finished, we were right down to signing off the cover when we heard Ando was leaving.Don’t Stop, Believe”It’s funny, he’s called Albo, we didn’t want to confuse people so we got somebody in with the same sounding name.
“It was obviously a big shock when Stevie left, but it was never going to be the end of The Law. You know the song Don’t Stop, Believe from the last album, if I did decide to split the band I’d be announcing myself as a hypocrite.
“So once this album comes out we’ll tour and promote it and try to sell it and then we’ll do another album.”
The tour starts on Saturday with their Christmas Eve show at The Doghouse and takes them to Elgin, Dunfermline, Falkirk, Kirkcaldy and another show at King Tut’s.
“We’ll be adding to that as well and obviously we’ll be hoping to do all the festivals.
“It would be great to get back to T in the Park again, we had such a brilliant time there in 2010 and it would be a dream come true to play with The Stone Roses at T in the Park, hopefully if we get there it will be on the same day as them.
“So it’s onwards and upwards, The Law will never stop as far as I’m concerned.”‘Masterpiece’Stuart says he views the new album as “a masterpiece” which, he says, “deserves to be listened to from start to finish,” not just by the band’s own fans but hopefully a whole new generation.
“It’s a lot more diverse, a lot deeper and I think people will love it. The Law have got the greatest fans in the world and it was made for the people who came to see us in 2010 and came drinking with us, and if it gets us more fans then that’s even better.
“Hopefully a lot more people will like it and they become fans as well. The first single is going to be Holiday it’s a great song and it’s really uplifting.
“My other favourite tracks are 7th Avenue, it’s got a really great saxophone part, very inspirational, and Tripper is great, really bluesy and rootsy.
“We got a couple of Dundee artists designing the cover. I’m really proud that it was made in Dundee by Dundee people and it’s a real marker of the Dundee music scene and the people here.
“So it’s great that the first night of the tour is in Dundee and at The Doghouse, it’s our spiritual home and it’s on Christmas Eve, so it should be a really banging night.
“It’s a chance for everybody to see The Law with Albo on guitar and hear the new songs. It’ll be great for us too, it’ll be a big buzz to play in Dundee again.”
The Law are resurrected, with all guns blazing.
Doors open at 8 pm and it’s an over-14s gig. Advance tickets are available from the venue.