“We come from a lot of different musical backgrounds I suppose so that all goes into the pot,” Read said, speaking by phone from the U.K. “You know, I don’t listen to one type of music, but it does make it difficult when people say, ‘What’s the band like?’ ‘Well … it’s a bit of this and a bit of that,’ but we’re not sticking to a particular genre. Most of the time when people come up to us, they say how much the music took them somewhere.
“That’s really nice,” he continued. “It’s quite thoughtful music. We’ve gotten a little more funky, a little bit more upbeat with the newer stuff and some of the older stuff as well, but it is quite relaxing music and people drift off to it.”
Credit: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Credit: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
U.S. debut
This is Project Blackbird’s first trip to the United States.
“The last time I was in the States doing shows was 2014 with the Specials,” Read said. “I mean, I’ve been over since then. Ming is my partner and she’s from the States, so we’ve been to see family quite a bit. I haven’t been since before the pandemic. I came to a wedding in 2019. We were due to come the following year, obviously that never happened so this is my first time back in four years.”
This trip was sparked by Read’s remote work with American indie label True Groove Records.
“I’ve been working with a New York musician and producer on his albums and another band signed to his label, True Groove Records in New York,” Read said. “During lockdown I was doing remote recording and they came over here. They said, ‘Well, why don’t guys come and play a show in New York?’ We thought, ‘Well, if we could do New York, we might as well do a trip through America. Ming’s family also lives in Colorado so we’re like, ‘Well, let’s finish there and let’s see what we can pick up on the way from New York to Denver.’ It’s a bit of a road trip thing as well.”
Watch Project Blackbird live in the studio with a performance of “No Big Deal”:
Project Blackbird has recorded a new original song for an upcoming compilation from True Groove. The group is in talks for a bigger relationship with the company.
“We’re in the process of signing a deal with True Groove,” Read said. “If that comes off, it makes sense for us to start coming over a bit. It’s not cheap to get over. You know, it’s OK but it’s not the breakeven sum. You have to speculate to accumulate, don’t you? I know even when we were touring with the Specials, it was hard to break even. I mean, it’s a lot bigger scale, obviously, but everything then costs more.
“They broke even but they weren’t making very much for it,” he continued. “And I toured in the ‘90s with the Mark II Specials. I was part of the release of the album, ‘Guilty ‘Til Proved Innocent!’ I was much more involved in the day-to-day stuff, and I know they made next to nothing. We just about broke even on the tour.”
Credit: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Credit: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
New horizons
This is not only Project Blackbird’s first American dates, it’s also Read’s first time across the pond with his own group.
“This will be the first time playing our own music, so I think that’ll be really nice,” he said. “I’ve toured with other bands. I’ve played with session players, which is great fun. I loved it completely but to actually go and play my own music is always really special. It’s nice when you’ve got a suggestion to have the freedom to explore it. When you’re a session player, it’s like, ‘Play it like this, please. Yes, OK, that’s good.’
“You don’t really get any sort of musical input,” Read continued. “I did on the ‘Guilty’ album, of course, because I was part of the project. But when you’re playing iconic songs that are set, even the band members can’t change it around because that’s what people expect. If you do they go, ‘Well, that’s not how it goes on the record that’s been around for like 40 years.’ It’s nice to have a little more freedom.”
Project Blackbird, which released the albums “Endurance” (2018) and “If This Is the End” (2021), will record a new full-length later this year.
“We’re working on the third album,” Read said. “It should be out at the end of this year or maybe next year. It’s going slowly but good. We’ll be playing four or five tracks from it. Well, we haven’t recorded them yet but they’re five brand new songs as part of the set. It depends on the set, but we’ll be playing at least four of them each night.
“Even if you’ve got the albums, there will be something new in there,” he continued. “That’s fun. The last album was recorded during lockdown. It was very remote and separate so it’s nice, with this one, to be able to actually play the songs first and then go and record them. It will have more of a live feel about the album rather than a polished, well-produced one. It’ll be slightly different but it’ll be as good.”
Contact this contributing writer at 937-287-6139 or donthrasher100@gmail.com.
HOW TO GO
Who: Project Blackbird with Rude Scholar
Where: The Brightside, 905 E. Third St., Dayton
When: Tuesday, July 18 at 7:30 p.m.
Cost: $10 in advance, $15 day of show
More info: 937-410-0450 or www.thebrightsidedayton.com
Artist info: projectblackbird.band
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