From Sheffield
Formed in 2006
Label: Shotgun Records

Who are they?
Dave Woodcock - guitars, vocals, harmonica

The Dead Comedians include:
Chris Murphy - guitars, b.vocals
Lee Bradley - bass
Andrew Wood - percussion, b.vocals

Dave Woodcock Biog
PRESS RELEASE (2008)
DAVE WOODCOCK is something of a contradiction. A simple Yorkshireman of simple tastes ('Cigarettes, Booze, Junk Food and the Blues' as he sings in his song of the same name- an infectious sing-along and fans' favourite). A down to earth man of the people with the common touch...

Yet in reality, he is so much more; Dave Woodcock has the soul of a poet and the zeal and tenacity of a prize-fighter -
he wasn't described as Sheffield's most dangerous songwriter for nothing. Yet he is an artist who can be heartfelt and
sincere whilst turning on the charm offensive and delivering a riveting and captivating performance.

Dave not only embodies the spirit of working class South Yorkshire (born and raised in Rotherham, he has since moved to neighbouring Sheffield) but that of Britain's rich musical roots as a whole- in particular, reviewers have recognised some of the same punk spirit that drove the late Joe Strummer. Yet whilst he is ever
content in the pubs and venues of Sheffield, the man's music has a distinct and alluring Americana flavour -with
critics making worthy and flattering comparisons to his heroes Dylan, Springsteen and Cash.

In 2007 Exposed Magazine hit the nail on the head when- in describing Dave's variety of influences and wide appeal -it said that the most apt description of his style is a fusion of Canada's finest troubadour
and a solo star hailing from his own South Yorkshire home: "[Woodcock] conjures up images of Leonard Cohen jamming with Rich Hawley in some smoke-filled den of iniquity".

To date Dave has done innumerable gigs as a solo performer and recorded the critically acclaimed solo album 'Wednesday's Child'.
With his band, Dave Woodcock and the Dead Comedians, he has delivered some blistering live shows leading SoundsXP to comment on the "intelligent, assured playing" of their "darkly spiritual rock n roll" and Square Indie magazine to describe him as 'The Very Definition of Rock n Roll'.

Dave is currently available for gigs in the UK, with his band or solo- according to the
venue/promoter's preference. If you are interested in booking him for one of your shows
then please email: shotgun.records@yahoo.co.uk
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PRESS
"THE VERY DEFINITION OF ROCK N ROLL" -SquareIndie Magazine

"DARKLY SPIRITUAL ROCK N ROLL....STIRRING STUFF" - SoundsXP

"EXCELLENT" -The Indie Hour

"Honest if woe-filled songs armed with folk-flavoured warmth and a natural flare for emotive expression - as well as the occasional rock 'n' roll work-out to match the rusted vocals" - The Star

"The latest from Sheffield's acoustic troubadour conjurs up images of Leonard Cohen jamming with Rich Hawley in some smoke-filled den of iniquity. To be fair, that's probably not far from the truth...From the harmonica-driven heartbreak of Only Came In For One to the disaffected narration of Tea Shirt, this is the perfect soundtrack to whisky-fuelled solitude. Full of woe? Damn straight. **** (four stars)"- Exposed Magazine

"Dave Woodcock is a stalwart of the Sheffield live music scene and "Wednesday's Child" is his debut album as a solo performer. As the rhyme says, 'Wednesday's child is full of woe', and this downbeat affair reflects the title aptly. Taking cues from Dylan, Neil Young and - closer to home - Richard Hawley, Dave Woodcock has weaved together an honest, emotive and revealingly personal, country-folk-tinged album of delicacy and warmth. Drink is Woodcock's focus (with titles such as "Sleep It Off", "Firewater", "Last Orders") making each songs seems like a moment of clarity in the alcoholic oblivion. Perhaps "Wednesday's Child" is probably best listened to alone, late at night and with a whiskey in your belly. It's a rough ride, but one worth taking."-TheeSpc

"His best yet...downbeat, but that doesn't mean it isn't excellent" - The Indie Hour

"... a consistent, moving and searching album perfect for reflecting on the past and musing on the future. Heartbreak, love, and of course drinking are key subjects explored deeply on this record. Every track is led by Dave's distinctive voice, both rich and ravaged, hollering and hoarse. Gently strummed acoustics and just-so lead electrics are the order of the day. Dave's lyrics are truth, they hit you where it matters and often where it hurts. It's an album to listen to with a cigarette burning its way down in the ashtray, that last bourbon poured into your glass" - sheffieldsounds.com
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INTERVIEW WITH SQUARE INDIE MAGAZINE APRIL 2008

How would you describe your music to those who havn't heard it ?

I dunno, that’s always a tricky one. I’ve got a pretty varied taste in music and so I like to mix it up a bit – folk, blues, country and punk and I guess what people crudely classify as ‘easy listening’ which is actually nothing of the sort ha ha – Sinatra, Tony Bennett, that kinda stuff – late night ballads of booze and heartbreak. Someone wrote a review of a live show recently that described my stuff as ‘darkly spiritual rock n roll’ – I like that so let’s go with that.

You were formerly frontman for Punk band Taste Of Shotgun, why the change of direction ?

Well I think I kind of painted myself into a corner with Taste of Shotgun. We were together for about 3 years and recorded 3 albums but it didn’t seem to be evolving and I just wanted to try something new, play different kinds of songs with different people – I guess we were a punk band but more in the vein of the Clash than the Pistols, in so much as we still played around with different genres. I still wrote ballads and bluesy songs but we played them at a 100 miles an hour. When Shotgun finished I just kind of dusted off some of those songs and played them as I originally wrote them, alone on acoustic guitar, and I had a bunch of other songs and I just decided to record them and that’s how the ‘Wednesday’s Child’ album came about.

You've got a new album out soon, when's it out and what can we expect from it ?

It will be out at some point in the next few months. We’re just putting the finishing touches to it. It’s called ‘In Defence of Penny Dreadfuls’ and its basically a big rock n roll record with some ballads thrown in for good measure. I’m also hard at work recording a kind of sequel to Wednesday’s Child which is another solo record which will be out this year too. That one’s called ‘Born To Play This Role’ and it’s about half-finished.

The title of the album "In Defence Of Penny Dreadfuls" is intriguing. Whats the story behind the name ?

It was originally gonna be called Death Warmed Up which was one of the first songs I wrote for it but I kinda like album titles that arent just the name of one of the songs but something that sums the whole record up. I was reading a book about Alfred Hitchcock which was discussing these old victorian paperback books called Penny Dreadfuls. They were like cheap thrillers that cost a penny and were filled with stories about unsavoury subjects. They caused a bit of a stink in the same way as video nasties and violent computer games did and a bloke by the name of GK Chesterton wrote an essay defending their cultural significance called ‘A Defence of Penny Dreadfuls’. I just liked the combination of words and also the fact that some of the songs on the album are a little unsavoury too ha ha. Chris Saunders had already shot the album cover and it looked a little like the band in a police line-up, the whole thing of ‘defence’ and crime seemed to fit.

Can we expect a few live dates to support the release, if so what have you got lined up ?

I’ll be doing some solo shows and band shows later in the year to help promote it, sure. Where and when, I couldn’t tell you. But an album launch in Sheffield is on the cards.

You've put together a backing band called "The Dead Comedians", how did that come about ?

Well after Taste of Shotgun I played quite a few shows on my own and just missed having other people on stage with me to bounce off of – literally, sometimes – or to blame when everything goes tits-up haha, so I knew I wanted to put together a band and I basically wanted the best people I could get. Luckily my wish-list of people also happened to be good friends of mine so they all happily signed up. So we’ve got Chris Murphy from Boxer Genius, Lee Bradley from Viva High Rollers and Andy Wood from Pisco Sour Hour in the band and they’re pretty much the people that I knew I wanted from the get-go. I always liken it to the scene in Citizen Kane when Orson Welles is looking at the photograph of the finest newspaper men in the country and he wants them to come to work for his paper and he says ‘I felt like a kid in a candy store, and a year later I got my candy – all of it”. I think they’re the best band I’ve ever played with and very sympathetic to my style.

Your first album "Wednesday's Child" has a more acoustic feel to it, was the inspiration behind the new album the need to try something different or a natural progression for the direction you want to go in ?

Yeah I think its more of a natural progression, sure. The new album still feels very much like Wednesday’s Child in its tone and storytelling but its just got maybe a lighter touch, a bit more optimism and the songs are being played by a rock n roll band instead of just me on me lonesome. Its just that thing of needing other people around to play with and bounce ideas off. Some of the musical ideas that really set this record apart from other ones I’ve done come from the band who aren’t afraid to tell me if something isn’t working or if we need a different ending or a different chord here and there – which is fantastic. I’ve never had that kind of collaboration before and it really makes a difference. Wednesday’s Child was recorded for the most part by myself alone and I think that’s one reason why its so personal and dark and, as has been said in many reviews, ‘honest’. The new album is all of those things too but because it was recorded with a band, and a bunch of mates too, its more lively, there’s an energy and a purpose to it which I hope comes across.

There seem to be many positive comparisons with Joe Strummer, Lou Reed, Richard Hawley (and from a personal point of view a touch of Nick Cave), how does that make you feel ?

Well its better than being compared to Westlife, innit? I love all those people you mention but they are very different artists I think – Strummer is pro-active and political, Reed is almost the opposite – dark, nihilstic, NickCave is the same I guess in a lot of his stuff. Hawley is a heart-on-sleeve romantic. But what they all share is an honesty and a finely tuned bullshit detector. Hawley, for instance, is someone I know and respect as a person and for the way he’s handled his career. He’s just over the past couple of years got the recognition he deserves but he’s been paying his dues since he was a nipper and he’s got success on his terms and his way. No compromise, no bullshit. If I’m to be compared with him and guys like Strummer and Reed I hope it’s in my attitude more than in the music I make.

When would you consider the best moment / mood is to listen to your music ?

Well I wouldn’t consider anytime suitable. If I hear it playing somewhere I want it turned off! But I’ve been told that people like to play the Wednesdays Child album, in particular, when they’ve come in from the pub and fancy chilling out with a few beers. That’s nice because I have a few ‘post-pub’ records that I used to love listening to late at night – Dylan’s ‘Time Out Of Mind’, Sinatra’s ‘In The Wee Small Hours of The Morning’, Neil Young’s ‘Tonight’s The Night’, Gram Parsons ‘Grevious Angel’ – playing these records was like a ritualistic thing almost – they always sounded a hundred times more beautiful in the middle of the night – apparently Wednesday’s Child has that same effect on other people, which pleases me no end.

Good luck with the new album. So finally what does the future hold for Dave Woodcock and The Dead Comedians ?

Cheers mate. Er, what’s next? I dunno. I’ve been saying for about five years that I’m about to quit playing musicand just paint and write books of crap poetry but inspiration always strikes just before I do. So I’m writing a lot of new songs – putting the finishing touches to In Defence of Penny Dreadfuls, recording my new solo album. I’ve written a song called Only Hurts When I Laugh with Peter Collins from Pisco Sour Hour which is a kind of weird twisted showtune which I’ll be recording with Pisco for a collaboration album they’re doing. There will definitely be some cool live shows coming up and after all that, another album with The Dead Comedians. I’m keeping myself busy. The devil makes work for idle hands, y’know.

-(c)Square Indie Magazine 2008

Website: www.davewoodcock.moonfruit.com
Myspace: www.myspace.com/davewoodcockmusic
Email: shotgun.records@yahoo.co.uk

We do not know of any Dave Woodcock gigs coming up.
Drop us an email to mail@soundaloud.co.uk to tell us about gigs.

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