Cherbourg’s ex-frontman Andrew Davie has told FFS that the band “is no more”. Davie said it became obvious that the four members — himself, Chris Maas, Kev Jones and Phil Fiddle — found that they wanted different things from the band. He said: “I can’t see us as a four playing together again… At the beginning there was a vision and a shared idea but it lost it’s direction.”
Davie will play a solo show for Levi’s One to Watch on 16th November at London’s Hoxton Bar and Kitchen. He said the show will be a transition and a chance to “say goodbye to Cherbourg’s songs”.
Davie, who’s 21, put Cherbourg together over a year ago. It evolved from Davie Fiddle and the Lucky Egg, which also featured Phil Fiddle.
“When you’re young you change your mind about stuff every five minutes. I’m seeing my friends go to uni and start jobs and things and they try something for a week and decide it’s not for them. When you’re in a band you all have to keep going in the same direction.”
Asked if he’d still be playing Cherbourg’s songs — as heard on their EPs Last Chapter of Dreaming and Into The Dark and single No More Flowers — when he embarks on his solo career, Davie said: “It’s hard to know exactly now. I don’t feel connected to those songs now.”
FFS is excited about Davie’s new material, which he has said will really focus on the song.
He has plans to record his debut EP in December and an album in March. He is taking some time out to write new material and has revealed that the songwriting is very important: “The sound of the new music is similar, I guess but I’m really trying not to forget the song.”
“You really have to believe in what you’re doing.”
“I went into the studio with a producer, Barney, and tried my best to play all the instruments on all the songs. I don’t know how good the tracks from that session will be but it was interesting. I’m a terrible drummer but I sat down and tried it. It was a different thing to have to try to play keys coherently.”
Davie spoke fondly of his Cherbourg bandmates saying: “We always had so much fun, and always loved playing shows together, we all just seemed to get each other when we were on stage.”
Click here for more info on Davie’s solo show
FFS’s 2008 interview with the then newly-formed Cherbourg
Words: Lynn Roberts