Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
On ‘frenzy’ of meeting The View
Frontman recalls city festival and wild times
DAVE McCabe admits his memory isn’t what it used to be.
But when the now three-yearssober frontman of The Zutons thinks back to the “once or twice” his band played Dundee, including Radio 1’s Big Weekend at Camperdown Park in 2006, it’s his memories of Kyle Falconer, The View – and Pink that stand out.
“I just remember The View turning up with all their mates and it was hilarious,” says McCabe in an interview from his home on Merseyside.
“I couldn’t really understand what most of them were saying.
“They were just like hanging off the walls.
“Everyone was having a nice time. It was great. I remember that.
“But I remember the Radio 1 Big Weekend was cool as well.
“I remember seeing Pink, the singer, in the flesh.
“She just didn’t look like what I thought she was going to look like.
“I thought she was going to be quite little.
“But you know when you see someone in real life, like when you see a footballer and see them on the telly?
“That’s what it was like when I saw Pink.
“She was beautiful. I just remember seeing her and going: ‘That’s Pink, like!’
“But again I can’t remember much. I just remember it all being quite a frenzy. But it was a good time.”
McCabe is apologetic for missing an earlier prearranged phone interview.
“I’ve got a bad memory,” he says, in his broad Merseyside accent.
“I had my little boy and as soon as I dropped him off I was like: ‘Oh, I forgot about it.’
But the 43-year-old singer, songwriter and guitarist makes up for the delay with a downto-earth conversation about his road to sobriety, the new album and his delight at getting back on the road.
The band are playing gigs at PJ Molloys in Dunfermline on March 6 and Fat Sam’s in Dundee on March 7 as part of a UK tour.
However, they are also looking forward to the release of their first album together for 16 years.
The Big Decider is out on April 26 and was recorded at Abbey Road Studios with legendary songwriter and producer Nile Rodgers, alongside the band’s original producer Ian Broudie.
The multi-platinum-selling band released three studio albums between 2004 and 2008, scoring nine UK Top 40 singles including two Top 10s with Why Won’t You Give Me Your Love? and the all-conquering Valerie.
The latter went on to become a triple-platinum hit for Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse.
McCabe says it was when the second album came out that things “started to get a bit messy”.
By the third album he “wasn’t really interested any more” and he’d “had enough”. He thinks everyone in the band felt the same way.
But while the band never officially split, their cessation felt like “splitting up with a girlfriend”.
McCabe says the “curse” of drink and substance abuse became so apparent he had to stop.
The most difficult part of giving up is that you “have to face yourself”.
However, with most of the original members working together as an “experiment” before the pandemic, The Big Decider comes into view as an album of stark significance to the band, completed by McCabe (guitar, lead vocals), Abi Harding (saxophone, vocals) and Sean Payne (drums, vocals).
The new album was written against the backdrop of a decade and a half’s worth of lived experience and is born under the weight of family tragedies, lives lost and created, reality checks and home truths faced up to and stared down.
McCabe says the band are looking forward to the tour and always enjoy playing in Scotland.
He adds: “I just want to say thanks personally to everyone who has bought tickets for the gigs in Scotland.
“It’s always a pleasure to come to Scotland and the crowds are the best.
“They just are, they always make you feel welcome and like there’s something in the air.”
Visit thezutons.com to preorder The Big Decider.