Perhaps better known as the drummer for Fat White Family and Phobophobes, singer and songwriter Dan Lyons has found himself the new toast of the town with tastemakers such as Steve Lamacq, John Kennedy, Tom Ravenscroft, NME, Clash and many more praising his work. And now he returns to deliver his new single, ‘Mr Meaner’.
Lifted from his latest full-length album, SubSuburbia – a concept record of sorts that’s focused on various characters living in suburbia – this new release delivers a fresh and bouncing slice of indie-rock gold. With its meandering flow and ghostly guitars, ‘Mr Meaner’ announces Lyons as one of the most exciting new acts I’ve heard all year.
So with his new album finally with us, I got in touch with him to find out more about his new album and what plans he has for the future.
Words by Chris Bound
Discovered via http://musosoup.com
Chris) Hi Dan, how are you today?
Dan) Hi, hanging in there. Thank you for asking.
How would you describe your sound?
Slop-dream-pop-rock-roll-wave.
Which artists have influenced you the most?
Elliot Smith, The Go Betweens, John Lennon, The Cure, Fountains Of Wayne, Syd Barrett, Jeffrey Lewis, Sonic Youth, Ginger Baker.
Can you tell us how your latest single, ‘Mr Meaner’, came about?
It’s about an abusive relationship. I wanted to write a song that switches perspective all the time, to try and imagine what it’s like for all parties involved in a situation like that.
It’s taken from your SubSuburbia album, which has a thread running through it about suburban characters, with ‘Mr Meaner’ being one of them. What inspired you to create a body of work based on this idea?
I was brought up in a very small village in Kent, which was surrounded by these suburban towns, not too far from London. On the surface, the place is idyllic and rural. But the underbelly is truly dark. The idea for the name came quite late on in the process, I had written a poem – which eventually became the interludes on the album – about where I grew up, and placing the different verses between the songs I had written suddenly gave them a real sense of purpose. The best albums immediately transport you to a different world, and I think we got pretty close with SubSuburbia.
The lockdown has affected everyone’s plans right now, but what are you doing to stay productive? Are you still able to work on new music?
We’re very lucky here. We moved to Margate a couple of years ago – a room in London is more expensive than our flat here – and the beach is just across the road so we’ve been walking a lot, getting as much fresh air as we can. Doctors used to prescribe the sea air here in Victorian times. I’m able to write every day, whether it’s music or poems or in my diary and, to be honest, the lockdown has actually helped me stick to more of a routine. The fact that the pubs are closed has helped too! We’ve done a few online streaming gigs too, which are always fun. I’ve been trying to keep a blog over on my website to document what it’s like down here too.
What advice would you give other artists trying to stay productive during this crisis?
I would say… keep going.