Dave: My dad is “the only thing I can really write about”
It’s not really a secret at this point, but Dave has confirmed what others have said about the next Gang of Youths album: It’s gonna be about Dave’s dad, Tattersall.
His comments showed up about a week ago in a “rough cut” Reuters news video — i.e., one without any reporter narration. It has Dave and Max talking on several different topics. At about the 1:15 mark of the video (see below), Dave says this:
This record’s gonna be about my father and how he died, and how he lived, and everything I found out about him. That’s the only thing I can really write about. It’s gonna be about him … and about people I love.
That first sentence is interesting. The reference to “everything I found out about him” may suggest that Dave did some investigating of his family background after his dad died. Listen for yourself:
As far as I can recall, that’s the first time Dave himself has confirmed what he’s writing about for Gang of Youths’ new album. Back in the spring, Max discussed the influence that Tattersall’s death last year would have on the new album, but Dave’s comments to date have mostly been about how far along the songs are, having a title decided already and so forth.
As always, see our Gang of Youths’ new album page for a running collection of everything we know about what will be GOY’s third full-length studio album.
Other Notes
There are a couple other interesting notes in that video clip:
Dave says the band is interested in doing “art and music therapy for prisoners in Australia.”
Dave also says he hates the band’s name. He took “Gang” from Gang of Four and “Youths” from Sonic Youth, and Gang of Youths was never supposed to survive for more than one album … but now, he says while laughing, he’s “stuck with this stupid fucking name that I hate so much.” ?