Oliver Darling

Oliver Darling is a guitarist who has worked with Tanita Tikaram, Buena Vista Social Club members, and been a touring member of Imelda May’s band since 2015. Jason Barnard speaks to Oliver about his new LP ‘Lee’s Blues’, a record that takes its inspiration from folk blues.

Hi Oliver – congratulations on releasing a fine debut album ‘Lee’s Blues’. How did the idea of recording it evolve?

Thanks! It really started with just wanting something to sell that was representative of what I do at my solo gigs, then I had a couple of originals, then wrote a couple more as I was doing it, and it started to take shape as more of an album. I recorded it during the first lockdown, and then lost a bit of momentum as it seemed at one point that we’d never do a gig again! A few months later I bumped into Mark from the label, Another Planet Music, and he asked me if I had anything to release, and this seemed like the project to go for.

How do you write generally – do you start with a guitar phrase or lyric?

It really depends, sometimes it’s a riff, sometimes a lyric, sometimes a melody…and sometimes it’s like the McCartney ‘Yesterday’ story… I just wake up singing it!

The album has an analogue feel – what was the recording process and who did you collaborate with?

Yeah I’m really into the actual sound itself, I think it’s really important for the type of music I make. My pal Marco Cinelli has been putting out some great sounding stuff, and it seems we think along the same lines. One of the most important things we did for that proper analogue sound is to put the stereo mix of the tracks onto a two track tape machine-the one we used is a Revox B77.

What are your favourite tracks from ‘Lee’s Blues’ and why?

Hmmm good question! I really like Worried About Your Woman for the background story to it (too long to go into!) and the way it evolved-it started off just me and a guitar, and then after chatting with Mark about the album and what we wanted to do with it, he suggested adding more instruments to make it a more complete album. I thought Dobro and harmonica would be good, and it lent itself to BVs…then I thought piano would be great, and it ended up with a string section on it!

Where are you based and what is the musical scene like there?

I’m in North London and the music scene is ok….even pre-Covid London was getting a bit dead, I think with the uncertainty that Brexit brought, development and growth stopped. It’s picked up a bit this year but it’s a worrying time ahead for venues and gig-goers with rising living costs….I’m hoping it’s just the media hyping things up and we won’t be seeing too many places go under over the next few months. I went out last night (on a Tuesday) and it was heaving, so fingers crossed!

Can you describe your musical influences?

I have three big heros, Peter Green, Johnny Moore and Big Bill Broonzy – this album is in part a tribute to Bill (his real name was Lee Conley Bradley, hence ‘Lee’s Bles’). His dexterity, timing, sound and feel is still something I aspire toward everyday. A lot of the tracks I play on my Martin 000-28, which is the same guitar Bill used as I really wanted to try and emmulate that sound. There are lots more as well of course, T-Bone Walker, Freddie King, Eric Clapton, Rory Gallagher, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Daft Punk and…Shania Twain!

What previous groups were you in?

I’ve been involved with lots of stuff, Palookaville! were a trashy garage surf instrumental band, I was in the Mike Sanchez Band, and I also have my band, The Dirty Robbers. I toured with Tony Christie to celebrate his 50 years in music, and I also toured and recorded as part of Tanita Tikaram’s band for a couple of years.

You’ve played with many great musicians, notably Imelda May over the last decade. What are your highlights as a sideman?

Playing with Imelda has been great, especially as I’ve known her for a long time and seen her career grow, very inspiring. Alongside her I’ve travelled the world and done some of it’s biggest stages, the Royal Albert Hall, Isle of Wight Festival…this year we did Hyde Park and Glastonbury. I always wanted a career that allowed me to travel, so I feel very fortunate to be able to do this. I also love food and wine so wherever we are I try to find some local delicacies!

You’re about to embark on a UK tour – what should we expect?

I wanted to represent the album as best I could- there’s quite a mixture of stuff on there line up wise, solo, duo, etc, so that’s how we’ve structured the show. I come on on my own, then I’m joined by one of my oldest music mates, Rollo Markee who comes on and plays harp and sings..he’s a Big Bill fan too so we do chat a bit (!) and cover all the duo stuff from the album.Then we’re joined by Rob Pokorny on drums, so the set builds and I hope is interesting for the audience. We’ve done a couple of warm up shows like this and got some good feedback, so looking forward to taking it out on the road.

What are your future plans and how can people find out more about you?

We’re hoping to do more work as the line up and format above… we’re looking at more touring next year, and getting some festivals in over the summer. I guess we’ll be trying to some new songs too, getting them gigged in ready for another album at some point! There’s also more stuff with Imelda and I have a few other projects I’m working on which will be out hopefully early next year, so it’s going to be a busy one! I’m on all the usual social media platforms, and everything is on my website at oliverdarling.com.

Lee’s Blues by Oliver Darling is released on 21 October 2022.