When we first went up we'd intended to do something industrial, but eventually we let the environment start to influence us." "We definitely had a tendency to meander," says Young, "but I also think we were trying to make the wrong kind of music. Weeks would go past without anything happening deadlines and daytime began to disintegrate. We learned how to pick magic mushrooms, it's a proper hot spot up there." We didn't do anything except make music, cook, smoke weed, and walk on the moors. "You're exaggerating, I didn't think it were that bad," interrupts Buttery. I saw a guy getting bottled and a police car just drove past it." I don't even think they have laws up there. "Having been in London for years, where every corner of the city is booming, it was weird coming to the polar opposite. Once they got there, though, Young wasn't sure they'd made the right decision. So they upped sticks and moved to the countryside near Huddersfield, "where we could get a four-bedroom detached house for, like, £800 a month". They had also "been a bit reckless with cash" and were, subsequently, skint. It didn't take long after North's release for Darkstar to once again become disillusioned with dance, feeling that "a lot of what was going on felt like it had slipped into the mundane". We didn't do anything except make music, cook, smoke weed, and walk on the moors'ĭarkstar: their favourite Instagram filter is "portentous/under-exposed". I know that sounds judgmental, but I believe in a gradual rise I didn't want us to be 'that hot thing'." So it wasn't until 2010 that they released their debut album, North, a bedroom-dwelling post-dubstep epic that paved the way for James Blake to sing about kestrels. "At that time we were making big singles," says Young, "but we were also looking at people close to us who were doing the same thing but going in completely the wrong direction. They almost released an album in that vein in 2009 but feared the scene was becoming saturated. They moved to east London in 2007 and started to dabble in dubstep, in 2008 releasing the pioneering Need You on Hyperdub. Their musical evolution followed the contours of London underground music: early songs were grime productions featuring MCs who hung around their student house in Harlesden. ![]() Originally hailing from Yorkshire and Cheshire, the group met when they were all at university in London. "But I like it here in Paris," says James Young from underneath a beanie, "it's a good place to, like, mooch." They are painfully out of place in this trendy Parisian cafe, hunched and grimacing, talking in northern accents so thick they could be in a Victoria Wood sketch. Looking at them, you'd never guess just one was experiencing bowel discomfort. It's fair to say that the three personalities in Darkstar don't reflect their music's sunny disposition. If I have to run the loo in the middle of the interview, you'll know why." (His Dead lists are split across several pages, so 'view list' for the years you want."I think I ate a dodgy sausage roll." says singer James Buttery as he stretches out his hand to greet me, "I'm feeling terrible. Matt Vernon's reviews of almost every Dead show up through the '70s. Lots of info & reviews of official Dead releases - a good site to browse around. Another Grateful Dead Listening Guide with a very different approach. Looking for info on Garcia's non-Dead shows? This is where to go. ![]() A collection of vintage media articles on the early Dead. The other blogs linked here are also illuminating. An impressive, well-researched blog about lost & little-known Dead shows. A discography, among other things - there's tons of information here, and you'll find things you didn't expect. The front page has a Dead forum which can be searched for discussions & debates. Has streaming copies of almost every circulating Dead show. An invaluable setlists site, featuring song timings, source notes, links to available copies on the Internet Archive, and more.
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