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We’re very pleased to spend some time today with Don Powell who most of you will know from the nigh legendary (and multi-platinum selling) rock band Slade; welcome to our humble pages, Don! Before we dive down the proverbial rabbit hole, how has 2022 been treating you six months in?
Don Powell: Well, except for being 75, with the natural diseases that many of us acquire, and a recent intestine-operation, it’s been a year of enormous inspiration. We recorded an album in April, which Mick Gallagher (Animals, Clash, Ian Dury & The Blockheads) will also be on. It all went so fast and easy, and was a pure relief. No quarrels, just playing the stuff we love. This is the way we work, in order to get the initial inspiration into the tracks. Afterwards, on the contrary, the editing takes time, primarily the vocals.
Congratulations are in order as you embark on a new journey with the rousing band Don & The Dreamers which is a veritable Who’s Who of simply amazing musicians! How did this incredibly talented group come into being, Don? Is there a VH-1 Behind the Music story you can share with us about the formation of this super-group?
Don Powell: Henrik Littauer passed by my home in Jutland, Denmark, with his sister, one of Hanne’s (my wife’s) and my, dear friends. This was right at the end of the corona-period and I was more or less out of work, since I quit Slade a few years ago – except for my minor activities in England (Don Powell’s Occasional Flames and Don Powell Band). I had become somewhat introvert, and asked Henrik, if he had anything interesting going. Which he was very immediately ready for, so he got the best guys together for a session a few months later. I felt , kind of, lifted up!
From top to bottom, can you officially introduce all of the key players in Don & The Dreamers to our reading audience?
Don Powell: Well, they are all very experienced and pro, and playing alle their life, which you can hear on our playlist on Spotify. But largely unknown in Britain. Aged 64-74. They have always been in the mainstream/traditional-rock/blues. Never fusion or anything really different.
Henrik was a popstar with Malurt in the 80’s and has produced and recorded in 50 years. He has been a doctor, but retired early to concentrate on music full time.
Curly Erik has been around the Copenhagen music scene for even longer, and is known as a great organiser and a gifted blues/rockabilly-singer with five solo albums behind him.
Knud Møller has been voted Denmarks best rock-guitarist several times, and fits into our simple music, in a way like Keith Richard suits Stones. He is originally, from conservatory, a violinplayer.
Helge Solberg is a Norwegian bassplayer, who has played with almost anybody in Scandinavia. He is a super sweet and easygoing person.
Another big round of applause is due you and The Dreamers for the May 31 release of the incredible single Something Else! How did this crackling tune come about?
Don Powell: It was actually my suggestion. I love it and I have played it way back in the 60’s. The ‘Nbetweens I think it was! Glad you like it! Well it’s an old Eddie Cochran from 1956, but Tanya Tucker/Little Richard made a duo of it i 1994.
Don & The Dreamers corralled surprise guest singer Michelle Birkballe for Something Else. Had you always intended for Michelle to appear on the new song, or did it just present itself naturally?
Don Powell: At the time we started the group in October 2021, Erik and Henrik came across her, at a gig. She turned out to be very interested and a fabulous rock&roll queen, of a kind, and with a personality you rarely see these days…
Don & The Dreamers calls to mind for this long-in-the-tooth writer the amazing super-groups of the 1980s such as The Highwaymen and The Traveling Wilburys. Were these two titans of the so-called super groups at all an inspiration for Don & The Dreamers?
Don Powell: Not at all, but I was reminded a bit of the way The Wilburys, kind of, formed a circle around Roy Orbison!
For those who absolutely worshipped at the altar of Slade, how are Don & The Dreamers similar to that chart-busting band? How is it different?
Don Powell: The Dreamers are very pleasant people to be with, and at the same time they master the same simple kind of music that Slade did. Opposite to Slade, they don’t race for a hit, and have had their time. We were young in Slade, and very busy and ambitious. The Dreamers are working on original material, but are very content with interpreting old rockabilly.
Listening to Something Else, it feels like more than anything else to be a rousing and utterly infectious jam with a group of master musicians at the top of their respective games. Did you and The Dreamers have a blast recording the new song?
Don Powell: Yes really! It was an eye-opener..a new world..and Scandinavia at it’s best…and the reasons for us wanting to continue this together.
Who was your producer on Something Else and what did that collaboration look like in the studio?
Don Powell: Well, Henrik of The Dreamers has the final word, and is the producer. He is also in charge of the small independent record-company Himalaya Sound. But he really listens to us, and once we’re in the studio we just play, and tend to use the engineer as a coproducer. Henrik’s job is more editing, dubbing and being critical, organizing mix and mastering, which has been done in 4 different studios.
Can fans look forward to seeing Don and The Dreamers on tour this summer?
Don Powell: Well, not exactly this summer. We are more like concentrating on the releases now, and the great reactions to them. If we get the feeling of an emerging demand for us playing live, I think we all dream of big stages, and in particular, festivals like Glastonbury, which then could be next summer. We are not in a hurry, and what we record is meant to last many years. And we are, after all, dreamers. Let’s see if we get any good offers!
With the release of the new single and an EP on the horizon, when can we look forward to a Don & The Dreamers full-length album?
Don Powell: Well, you might have understood that Something Else is a part of an EP of three songs, which were put out simultaneously 31. May. A full album is on it’s way, and expected in November. Singles from it will be released from the early autumn.
Speaking of that upcoming EP, when will that precisely drop, and what can fans expect from the EP itself?
Don Powell: Well, as I said, the EP is right there now. The style is approaching Louisiana-style rockabilly or cajun, as you mainly hear from the use of accordion.
Who are you listening to right now, Don? Are there any artists out there that you follow at all?
Don Powell: Well, mainly things from the past. I’ve always adored the Beatles and, not the least, Ringo’s drumming..And, of course, i listen to Michelle Birkballe and the past works of my Dreamers.
What do you hope fans walk away feeling after listening to Something Else?
Don Powell: Inner joy and a sense of being lifted up. Like “life is really worth living”!
