Dave Rotheray

David Rotheray (born 9 February 1963 in Hull, England) was the lead guitarist for The Beautiful South.

He was the fifth of five children. His parents were both intellectual and had met through the young communist league. Having much older brothers and sisters speeded up Dave's musical progress; by the age of 10 he was listening to rock and imagined being in a band. His chosen instrument at the time was the bass.

Overview

He joined his first band when he was just 13; it was called Mammoth, at one time performing the then current Sex Pistol's single 'Pretty Vacant' at a school concert, without any microphones. At that time Dave's musical tastes were for progressive rock, his favorite being Pink Floyd. His parents were naturally worried but still allowed him to play and drove him to clubs to perform. Eventually, Mammoth evolved into a more serious band called The Newpolitans, who where a trio. Both Mammoth and the Newpolitans featured Hugh Whitaker on drums who later became the drummer for the Housemartins. The Newpolitans also later featured Dave Hemingway on drums, who also became drummer for the Housemartins and then a singer with the Beautiful South.

The Newpolitan's style was itself an eccectlic mixture of the then current musical styles, from the Style Council to the Gang of Four. Band members included Dave Rotheray who played bass, drummers Dave Hemingway and Hugh Whitaker and Brian Lilley on guitar / vocal. Later, temporary additions, mainly for demo recordings, were sax player Kev Christian and the trumpet players Andrew Nicholson and Andy Russell. The Newpolitans recorded a self-financed single but the failure of the single provided the catalyst for the band's demise. However despite its failure commercially it probably represents one of the first attempts to record a political rap song in the UK with 'Duck Town'. Dave Rotheray, Dave Hemingway and Brian Lilley then formed the Velvetones with other musician friends from Hull. The Velvetones were a kind of swing version of Ten Pole Tudor.

At the time of The Velvetones Dave was still at university and completed a degree in psychology, he was just going to start a Ph.D in the Spring of 1988 when Paul Heaton made him an offer he couldn't refuse and Dave joined The Beautiful South playing guitar. Dave being recommended to Paul Heaton by Dave Hemingway.

When Dave joined The Beautiful South he began writing songs alongside Heaton. Many people noticed the similarity between Dave and Paul's former writing partner Stan Cullimore from The Housemartins.

Homespun

In 2001, Paul Heaton decided to release an album called "Fat Chance" which was recorded under the name Biscuit Boy (also known as Crackerman). However, as the bulk of tracks on "Fat Chance" were written by Heaton alone or with other collaborators rather than Rotheray, it was decided that Rotheray too would have a side project whilst The Beautiful South were on a recording hiatus.

Homespun originally featured Rotheray and Sam Brown, daughter of 1960s hit maker Joe Brown and known for the hits 'Stop' and 'Kissing Gate'. The band has released three albums to date. However recently Sam Brown has been replaced by Helen 'Aitch' McRobbie as lead vocalist.

Homespun - Album Discography

* Homespun (Classic Records 2003)

* Effortless Cool (Musicvision 2005)

* Short Stories From East Yorkshire (Active Media 2008)

Homespun - Track Listing

* Track 1: Unfortunately Young

* Track 2: Did You Ever?

* Track 3: Don't Force Me to be Free

* Track 4: Anniversary Rag

* Track 5: Let Me Be Good

* Track 6: I'm In Your Head

* Track 7: Lonely Together

* Track 8: Days

* Track 9: Your Radio

* Track 10: Footsteps

* Track 11: Sundial

Effortless Cool - Track Listing

* Track 1: Sweetness

* Track 2: If We're So Happy

* Track 3: Love Will Come Around

* Track 4: Italy

* Track 5: Effortless Cool

* Track 6: Rubber Duck

* Track 7: A Minute

* Track 8: Whistlestop Blues

* Track 9: Cosy Island Lullaby

* Track 10: The Reluctant Sailor

* Track 11: If God Was A Girl

* Track 12: You Are Here

Short Stories From East Yorkshire - Track Listing

* Track 1: Short Story

* Track 2: My Sorrows Learned To Swim

* Track 3: Happiness Passes

* Track 4: Driver

* Track 5: First People On Earth

* Track 6: Memo To Self

* Track 7: Magician's Daughter

* Track 8: Yorkshire Ghost

* Track 9: Watching

* Track 10: Lover's Chapel

* Track 11: Screen Goes Black

* Track 12: Rendezvous Roulade

References

* Pattenden, Michael (1999) "Last Orders at the Liars Bar". ISBN 0-575-06739-X

External links

* [http://www.homespunrecordings.net Homespun]