EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH DORIAN GRAZE, THE BIGGEST BRITISH BREAKTHROUGH BAND OF 2011
Debut album "In The Frame" OUT NOW for download on iTunes and Amazon! If you would like a CD copy then send us a message! UK tour supporting East 17 just taken place in September! Watch this space for more exciting news. Get their music here;
GET TICKETS to their gigs at
(1) Half Moon Putney 6th January 2012 Ents24 Ticket web
Dorian Graze became one of Britain’s biggest breakthrough acts of 2011. With five years together and under new management - Drummer Mark Devereux, Lead Guitarist Steve Woodley and Frontman Chris Walker have just released their debut single ‘The Destination’ which will be aired on radio along with their first radio interview at the end of January. Currently in all media spotlights, the trio have been grabbing great reviews and cementing their status as the band to watch in the coming months.
RECORD LABEL:
Ingeny Music Ltd WEBSITE
Manager: Damian Knowles
DORIAN GRAZE INFO
Follow their video diaries on Youtube and NME online
BIOGRAPHY
Up and coming extremely talented, young and lively electro rock band from Hertfordshire UK. Packed with strong and melodic vocals and vocal harmonies, searing guitars, thumping drums and a rock solid electro synth back-line; Dorian Graze are set to take the world by storm! Having already released 2 successful singles and their debut album "In The Frame" - This band are NOT to be missed!
Dorian Graze are a three piece Electro/Rock group from Hertfordshire in the UK. The band was formed in the summer of 2006 by Mark, Chris & Steve. The band joined the Ingeny UK Ltd label in autumn 2010 and have since been working on their debut album called "In The Frame" which is out to buy NOW on iTunes, Amazon and all other good download sites and also in selected HMV Stores! The band are currently rehearsing hard and have just completed a UK wide tour supporting the legendary East 17, picking up rave reviews from every city they have played and adding to an already growing following along the way! Expect big things from Dorian Graze in the very near future.
 |
| Dorian Graze on the Sporah Show Sky 184 |
London Guru: Hello lads, how are you? What do Dorian Graze do during the Xmas season?
Hello! We're all very well thanks, how are you?! We're looking forward to Christmas and the usual new year’s worth of partying! during this time of year we pretty much do what we do all year round which is rehearse, write new material, go to events and try and gig as often as possible. Obviously we like getting the chance to spend a bit of time with friends and family too and enjoy the holidays.
London Guru: You have had an incredible year, how do you feel when you look back?
It has been an amazing first year for us, we have done incredible amounts and it’s difficult to see how it can be topped next year - but we're very sure that it can be done! Highlights of the year have to be releasing our first two singles, then the album, then the Boxmoor festival (in front of 10,000 people!!) and finally the UK Tour with East 17 which we all pretty much agree was the greatest 2 weeks of our lives... So yeah, pretty good year haha!
London Guru: I love the name Dorian Graze, how did you come up with it?
Aah good question! Well the name was inspired by the Oscar Wilde novel 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' as we liked the idea of eternal youth. We basically thought that it was a really cool name and we especially wanted something that would capture people’s imagination and also something that would stick in their minds...so there you go! Also some trivia here for you - Dorian Gray was born by the name Dorian Devereux which is the same surname as our drummer Mark!
London Guru: You are signed to Ingeny Music who also signed the re-formed East 17. When and where did they spot you and approach you to join their label?
Our manager, Damian, spotted us around about 2 years ago now playing covers in a local pub. After the gig he'd said how much he enjoyed it, saw how much the crowd loved us and asked whether we did any of our own material. At this time we hadn't really thought about writing our own stuff, but about 6 months later we decided to give it a go and got in touch with Damian, handed over 4 of our demo tracks (3 of which are on our current album - In The Frame) and it all went from there really.
 |
| Front man Chris |
 |
| Front Man Chris |
London Guru: You have an impressive and loyal fan base already. How would you describe the sound of Dorian Graze to the people new to the band and your music?
Lively, rocky and exciting full of catchy lyrics and vocals, searing guitars, thumping drums and lively synth work! We've got the whole 'electro rock' feel going on but we know how to write a ballad or 2 too! Since day one we have always said that Dorian Graze is best defined by the live show. We feel that when we play live there is just something extra that you can’t capture on a CD or MP3 or whatever!
London Guru: Your album “In the Frame” was out on 19th July 2011, has it exceeded your expectations both critically and commercially?
It's hard to tell we guess because it was our first album, so to us it was just an amazing achievement to get it out there and receive any feedback at all - let alone all the fantastic feedback it has received from fans and industry professionals alike.
London Guru: “The Destination” was your first ever single and Lewis Nicholls played it first on his Entertainment Fix radio show. How was the experience of releasing your first single and getting on radio?
Lewish Nicholls Radio
It was very surreal! I remember being sat in the studio preparing to do the interview over the phone and being stupidly nervous! It was great though, I think we did OK in the interview and hearing the song played live was a very special moment for us! Then the song went live on Itunes and Amazon that night and all through the night we had floods of messages and calls saying how proud people were and how much they loved the track, so all in all it was very special.
London Guru: You were a covers band for many years how has the band evolved?
We've added a keyboard haha besides that, I think we have taken ourselves a bit more seriously than we did in our covers days. We have always been proud of our music but we used to play some pretty cheesy stuff back then! Now we have our own stuff it’s something to take much more seriously, but we'll never lose our fun side or the ability to take the piss out of ourselves if and when its called for... That's just the way we all are!
London Guru: How does it feel to write your own songs now?
Its amazing, we all love it! The great thing is each of us have ideas all the time for all parts of the songs and not just our own individual parts whether it be Mark coming up with lyrics, Chris with guitar riffs or Steve with synth and drum ideas. It's all there for us to mess about with.
London Guru: What do you draw inspiration from when writing your songs. Run us through your creative process.
And give away our secrets? Never! I guess inspiration comes from everything whether it be day to day life, music or bands that we love, friends, family and loved ones.. The list goes on! We could write a chorus first or a guitar riff or a vocal melody.. No song has been written in the same way for us
London Guru: Which song did you have more fun writing and which song has meant the most (even individually)
This is a tough one but I think that the answer has to be Turning Me Over purely because it was the first song we ever wrote and to this day it will always bring a smile to our faces when we hear it and perform it live as its just one of those songs you can’t get out of your head! That and we wanted to do a pirate themed music video for it, unfortunately our manager thought this was a rather silly idea. We still bicker about it to this very day.
London Guru: You supported East 17 on their 8 day 02 Academy tour around the country. Having grown up in East London, I worshipped East 17 and met Terry Coldwell in 2010 at an industry party. He has been quoted as saying when choosing a support band for the tour you were his first choice because he knows how hard you work. How did it feel hearing that and getting such an opportunity in your breakthrough year.
Hearing that Terry had said that about us was such a pleasure and an honour, we couldn't believe it about the tour when the news was broken to us.. It all felt quite unreal until we stepped on board the DG tour bus for the first time on the way to Brighton! Funnily enough we picked up Terry on the way and had a pre gig beer! We have known Terry for a while now and he has always been such a great help and inspiration to us and when we got to meet the other East 17 guys they were just as awesome, really really good guys!
London Guru: I enjoyed watching the video for Turning Me Over, you looked like you were having a great time. It reminds me of Madness at their height of their fame in the 1980s.
It was as much fun as it looked! It was a boiling hot day and we got to film in Jeff Calvert's home studio out in the countryside, we pretty much just set up our gear, jammed through the song and had a good laugh with our good mate John Swain the cameraman! Beer was involved in the making of this video
London Guru: Turning Me Over is definitely a very catchy tune. What do you hope your fans will feel when they listen to this tune?
We hope that the chorus will be stuck in people’s heads and that they sing it back at us when we play live and its worked pretty well so far! "yooou keep on turning me over..."
London Guru: I checked your I-Tunes page and I saw that customers who bought your music also bought albums from Adele, Peter Andre, The Saturdays , Rizzle Kicks and East 17. Are you surprised at the variation in taste?
Haha seriously?! We didn't see that coming to be honest... Each to their own I guess?! All very talented artistes!
London Guru: Which musicians over time have inspired you?
Far too many to mention, but we'd say Freddie Mercury, Slash, Dave Grohl, Matt Bellamy, Dave Gilmour, Robert Plant, Lemmy Kilmister, Tony Mortimer, Richie Blackmore, Ozzy Ozbourne.. Just to name a few!!
London Guru: What gigs have you got coming up? How can fans get tickets?**
We are playing the following gigs and tickets can be purchased via ticketweb or on the door at the venues:
6th Jan - The Halfmoon in Putney
20th Jan - The Horns in St Albans
1st Feb - Dublin Castle in Camden
London Guru: Are you doing another tour in 2012?
We hope to take over the world, so yes! Watch this space...
DORIAN GRAZE - THE O2 ACADEMY TOUR 2011
Band Members
Chris Walker: Vocals
Steve Woodley: Guitars
Mark Devereux: Drums
Steve Woodley: Guitars
Mark Devereux: Drums
