The Black Dove Experiment
Daz Ahern
November 16th 2011

A year is a very long time when you're in a band. Band lifespans on the whole are way less than say the life expectancy of your average dog or cat, they're probably more on par with the humble hamster or gerbil at about three to five years. Every year in a band really counts, and it's been more or less that long since we first spoke to The Black Dove Experiment and their enigmatic frontman Dodger Devany.

After catching up with our other Future Zeitgeist band The Lysergic Suite, now seemed like a great time to do the same with The Black Dove Experiment (BDE), only this time we had a word with the band's guitarist and noisy reverb fiend Daz Ahern.

2011 has been anything but straight forward for The BDE, who when we first talked to them were thoroughly on the up. But despite the loss of a band member, the ever inventive, ever creative band used it to their advantage and took it upon themselves to explore new directions, and we assure you this has very much paid off.

Hi Daz, it's been a while since we last caught up with the band. What have The BDE been up to the last few months?
It's been a very difficult few months if I'm honest. Our drummer left at the end of May, right at the height of a great run of gigs and some possible festival appearances, and to say we were gutted would be an understatement. It hit us hard, and the process of finding a good replacement can be a laborious and extremely frustrating task. A tip for bands with good drummers, don't piss them off! Love them more than your own grandparents! We managed to keep our sanity in check throughout the summer though, and kept working on songs with the aid of a drum machine app on my iPad. In fact, it became our new best friend for a few months while we figured out what to do, and if we should even get another drummer in. We have always enjoyed crossing genres with guitar based music and electronic stuff, and as much as we would love to go all out experimental, it's not quite the vibe we were going for. The good news is that we are back on track 10000%, and have been writing some incredible tunes that we are dying to get out there.

Can we expect some new tracks and live dates shortly then?
Without giving too much away, we have something huge planned for the beginning of December. Following that we should have a little tour in place, and hope to visit some towns across the UK and possibly do some dates in Paris and Stockholm too.

With the time spent experimenting and the new line-up in place, can we expect a change of direction?
We have always wanted to break the rules of convention with regards to music from the start. We never wanted to be just another guitar band from London, we have always wanted to be more than that. We've been holed up in the studio over the past few months, and have really begun to find the little sanctuary of sound that we always strived for. You know the old saying less is more? Fuck that! We are bringing bigger, heavier sounds to the table this time around. So I guess it's not so much a change in direction, but more a focus on another path we have always meant to journey down. I’ll let you decide whether we took a wrong turn or not though.

From a Future Zeitgeist point of view, we've obviously not heard from you in so long that it could appear you've not been up to much. Do you think everything you've been going through, the change in line-up and the general struggles, are things that often get overlooked?
With regards to bands, you don’t normally see the inner workings, you only see the leather jackets, the gigs and the music releases. You don’t see the writing process, the production polishing or the fighting over who will or will not play the guitar/synth on a certain song. The past six months have been fraught with problems for us, but it has given us a new lease of life and made us want to do better than ever before. Regardless of whether you see that or not, you will see it in the end product, that I can guarantee.

With all the problems, the financial struggles, and now the added fact that bands (apparently) can't make money from music anymore, why do you still do it?
That’s a good question. Why do I still do it? I do it because I believe 1000% in what I do, and what my band mates do. Without that, I'd have jumped ship ages ago. Our passion and focus on this band has been tested numerous times, but we still maintain the same goal. We want to compel audiences, hypnotize people with walls of sound, and give people something more than just another band on a stage playing some songs. We have ideas bigger than us, and maybe they are above our station, but we wont stop till we pull that ceiling down and make it ours.

Finally Mr Ahern, what does the future hold?
The future is looking pretty busy for us. Between working on a whole new set, bringing in a visual aspect to the shows, some DJ slots and working towards a possible album, there is plenty to keep us occupied. In between all of that we may be able to fit in a drink or two... I think it was John Lennon who said life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans wasn't it? Well, he wasn't wrong.

The Black Dove Experiment will be playing at Bedroom Bar, 62 Rivington Street, Shoreditch this Saturday, November 19th. Tickets are £5

Click here for The Black Dove Experiment's dedicated Future Zeitgeist page

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/The-Black-Dove-Experiment/174037368522
Twitter: www.twitter.com/thebde

Words by Sean Williams