The Magic Kingdom - Doves

It’s a sunny afternoon on the Portsmouth coast and Doves are in search of a fry up. The Cheshire band is road testing material from their forthcoming album Kingdom of Rust – their first since 2005’s Some Cities – and the early signs indicate it’s their most ambitious record to date, swirling with a mesh of new sounds but maintaining the band’s signature indie anthemia.

Gigwise catches up with guitarist Jez Williams in a packed out cafe and he’s clearly got more important issues at hand, “Can you give me ten minutes mate? I’m just trying to find a seat in this place.” Not ones to deter musicians of their pre-gig sustenance, we wait patiently for Jez to call us back.

“Sorry about that’ he says in his broad Lancashire gruff, ‘I’ve had to head outside and leave the boys in the café – fire away mate.”

Recorded in a remote farmhouse in Cheshire, Kingdom of Rust was two years in the making with fifty tracks whittled down to a lean ten, “We really wanted to try different things on this record and keep pushing the bar as high as we could – we had so much shit to deal with over the last few years that just completing the record was a success. We’ve been away for four years and if it didn’t work this time then it was game over.”

With the chart-topping success of Some Cities and second album The Last Broadcast, Doves are looking to complete a rare hat-trick with Kingdom of Rust - but Jez is quick to play down the band’s chances, “Anyone would be lying if they said they didn’t want to score a hat trick – in any format. We’ve been away for such a long time and so much has changed in the industry that we’ve got to earn the respect back from the fans all over again – the industry has basically imploded. We've just given the record everything we can and hope that people take to it as much as we have.”

As well as lining up long-time producer Dan Austin behind the mixing desk, the band also turned to former Radiohead and Stone Roses collaborator John Leckie for two tracks – Winter Hill and 10.03. Jez marks Leckie’s contribution as some of the most experimental he’s worked on with Doves, “We knew we had to take a different route to what we’ve gone down before and Leckie allowed us to do that – he did it with so many great bands and he’s done it with us. If the [Stone] Roses did reunite then it would be unbelievable – it’s about time that band got paid. Everyone’s got to pay the rent somehow and far too many bands have been riding on their coattails.”