I cannot imagine being in a band (full of artists) for 15 years straight, let alone 30. It must be a wonderful feeling despite all the obvious heartaches that any long relationship survives. If it is meant to be then it is. Diesel Park West (UK) were meant to be. They just released their ninth studio album, "Let It Melt" and as the lyrics in the track Scared Of Time express, "And my arms, my legs don't move like they used to.... and my hair, my skin doesn't shine like it used to..." their battle worn scars may show but it only adds an emotion and deeply engaging patina to singer, songwriter and guitarist John Butler's vocal presentation. It is wonderful and the track with it's emotional guitar lines, chasing beat, and vast organ way in the back is one of those songs that feel so comfortable and classic even the first time you hear it. You feel that nucleic acid of bands like The Stones, The Beatles, Mott the Hoople and more, yeah, that ilk and that is something to be reckoned with.
Speaking of sticktuitiveness and surviving the music industry, Butler says “We’ve never lost the spark,” says singer, songwriter and guitarist John Butler. “We’ve never stopped writing, recording and gigging. We’ve never let the setbacks encroach on our creativity. We’ve only ever judged ourselves by the standard to which we are performing. And we’ve pushed on through.”
Diesel Park West is John Butler (lead vox, guitar), Rich Barton (guitar/vox) and Geoff Beavan (bass) and Rob Morris (drums), who joined 15 years ago.
"Let it Melt" is released on Palo Santo, an independent label located in Dallas, Texas.
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Robb Donker
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM- PRESS NOTES;
The first time most people may have heard of the band would have been around August 1987 when the indie single 'When the Hoodoo Comes' started to get played on night-time radio, leading to a full session later that year which really got tongues wagging.
By late 87 the band had become available hot property in London with the major record labels all forming a disorderly pack of signature chasers. Overnight sensations? Not really. There had been some formative years grimly holding on to principles while music in the UK was being led by some seriously transparent early-mid eighties "artistes". In fact, strange as it might seem now, the guitar's position as the pivotal popular instrument looked to be at an end.
There were guitar bands of course and the worldwide success of U2 ensured that record companies were constantly looking for something similar, but the influences of the previous decade (with a few exceptions) had largely been unhelpful. By early '88 however, things were starting to change a little and Food records were signed to EMI Records in order for the label to get its hands on the Indies latest band ... Diesel Park West. Now with major backing, the band started to record the debut album which was soon to have a considerable impact, Shakespeare Alabama. Although the album never delivered a huge breakthrough hit single, it did generate enough influence on the times and create such a buzz about the band to ensure them a special place in the bigger picture.
Three whole years, however, were to slip by until the second album Decency was to surface. In true major label style, there had been a lot of executive positioning ready for the inevitable massive breakthrough. Like all dead certs it never quite worked out the way it was meant, and despite an almost hit single 'Fall to Love' in early 92, the band were divorced by EMI and seemed set to follow the well-worn path of other major-label victims ... thank you and goodnight. Well no! Not at all, in fact for a variety of reasons the creative rivers were really starting to flow at this point.
The band had forged a strong musical identity onstage, drawing upon its own musical influences - Buffalo Springfield, Moby Grape, Big Star, the Brian Jones era Stones and Love - all considered outdated & largely irrelevant by the UK 'taste-makers' at the time. As rock has grown older with an unexpected dignity, these bands are now widely acknowledged as being seminal. Free to operate within its own taste, Diesel Park West have so far gone on to release six independent albums which have all maintained a high critique for the band.
The band entered the indie sector with The Corporate Waltz in 1993. The hugely (then) influential Q Magazine stated that 'when the marketing department at EMI hear "The Cats Still Scratching" it will have them eating the carpet.' And so it proved because that song remains the only Diesel Park West song ever to be play-listed on UK national radio (a vital ingredient for a UK hit single). Evidence that if the band been retained by EMI a breakthrough would have indeed followed? Maybe! The album swirls and delves directly into the heart of the band's subconscious vision with songs 'Where Will The Birds Sing', 'Good Times Liberation Blues', 'Old Mans Bluff', or the great pop swing of 'Vanity' leading the way.
It's a given in rock n roll lore that second albums can often be a bit awkward or difficult to get right because of various energies used by the writers being syphoned off for the actual process of promoting a debut record. This, a largely unacknowledged factor in the Diesels' camp, is what happened between late 89-90. It speaks well of the band that they nevertheless delivered tracks of quality such as 'While The World Cries Decency' and 'Fall To Love' for Decency, the "difficult second album".
It is, however, The Corporate Waltz which provides the clear white light of proof that this group from the English Midlands should have dominated rock for at least a good decade. Sonically it carries the perfect balance of pure spirit mixed with a deliberate and knowing rock edge, a combination often spoken of but rarely achieved by many bands. Food/EMI label-mates Blur broke through with their third album Parklife and so it could have been with Diesel Park West but fate, having decreed otherwise, decided they were to run through the jungle fully laden without maps or support. The band proved to be more than tough enough for the task!
Starting in 1995 the album Freakgene kicked off a run of three official releases up to the year 2000. It was followed by Hip Replacement (1998) and Thought For Food (2000). All these recordings were done at the band's own Barkby Road studio and all received the by now familiar Diesel Park West five star media critique. The 1998 release even had the Guardian describe Diesel Park West as "the most relevant band of that year" which considering their debut was by then nine years old was a remarkable comment.
In 2005 EMI re-released Shakespeare Alabama and a new 'best of' Left Hand Band - again both prompting very favourable retrospective reviews. Although live shows were not numerous the band always played two or three London shows every year, along with a handful of hometown and northern dates. People who saw these shows usually came away bewildered that such a high-quality live act was not enjoying a much higher live profile. Nevertheless, the Diesels returned to the studio in 2007 to record the outstanding Blood And Grace album which actually got some radio support based around the shining single 'There's A Grace'. The record confirmed the band's creative staying power and was followed in 2011 with the release of the beautifully named Do Come In Excuse The Mess.
Eight albums is a substantial body of work for any band but for one which has struggled to survive in an increasingly impossible environment, it is all the more remarkable. It would be foolish to regard the eighth as the final one.
