The Dowling Poole

While their tunes shine with the gloss of polished pop, there’s a lot more to their lyrics than cars and girls.

Willie Dowling (The Grip, Honeycrack) and Jon Poole (Wildhearts), have operated as The Dowling Poole since 2013. Their sound is pop-perfect like Jellyfish in their pomp, juxtaposed with lyrics that rail against government, faceless power and injustice. It’s a good trick if you can pull it off, and The Dowling Poole do so spades. Their third album, See You See Me, fizzes with outrage while its pop tones ring true brilliantly. We caught up with Dowling.

The world is about to fall in the abyss. Is that another three songs’ worth for you as a songwriter? Generally speaking, I’ve always done it. Democracy has been perverted by degrees over the decades, to the point now where it’s no more than a loose concept. How could one not respond to that in some shape or form?

For such a brooding and sometimes bleak record, See You See Me is quite beautiful in places. Years ago, during an episode of Call My Bluff the Slavic word ‘dumka’ came up, which has no equivalent in the English language. It describes the simultaneous feeling of explosive joy mixed with an overwhelming sadness that music can occasionally evoke. Something I’d tried to do in my writing. Jon did it far better with Bring Back The Glow on our last album, One Hyde Park.

Tell us about the recent single, Deep Breath. Is that another way of dealing with the pain, by writing about it? I suppose it might be. I’m of the view that right-wing populist leaders would sooner sacrifice their people and the planet itself in order to maintain a system that supports a tiny percentage of wealthy individuals. The biggest failing with a song like Deep Breath is that it offers no solutions. For example, I’ve got a bunch of ideas of how we might move toward a more equitable, mutually beneficial system, but I’ve yet to find a way to capture that with a perky riff and a hookfilled, singalong chorus.

You and Jon seem like kindred spirits, both having an ear for a beautiful melody, and a vengeful world view. I couldn’t ever think of Jon as ‘vengeful’. I’m the hate-filled, finger pointing, angry narcissist. His anger is much more melancholic, inward-looking and regretful.

“I would be bored if I was trying to repeat that Grip or Honeycrack sound.”

Do you bring out the best in each other, then? I think I’ve written far more consistently by virtue of having him as a partner to work with, because I’m always having to think about attempting to match the quality of his songs with my own. In all my previous bands, as the main songwriter I might have been less conscious of quality control now and then.

What do you think fans of The Grip or Honeycrack might make of the Willie Dowling behind See You See Me? I think a few of them came along for the ride, and many jumped ship long ago. I understand why. Without wishing to disrespect fans of my older bands, I would be bored out of my mind if I was constantly trying to repeat that Grip or Honeycrack sound. I’m resigned to the fact that I’m never going to reinvent the wheel, but I want to be adding to and subtracting from my own wheel to see what’s possible, rather than simply yawn and lazily push ‘repeat’.

See You See Me is out now via Big Cartel.