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David Lance Callahan
Birth nameDavid Lance Callahan
Born (1964-03-18) 18 March 1964 (age 60)
Chelmsford, Essex, England
OriginHarold Wood, Essex, England
Genres
Occupations
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • guitar
  • sampler
  • synthesizer
  • bass guitar
Years active1985–present
LabelsTiny Global Productions, Slumberland Records, C/Z Records, World Domination Enterprises, Def American, Too Pure, Atlantic Records, Matador Records, Creation Records, Bertelsmann Music Group, Odd Box Records, Cherry Red Records, Midnight Music, The Pink Label, A Turntable Friend, Tip Top Recordings, Optic Nerve Recordings, Where It's at is Where You Are Records
Member of
Formerly of
WebsiteDavid Callahan homepage

David Lance Callahan (also known as David Callahan) is an English musician, naturalist and writer. His music has been classified as rock, art rock, post-punk,[1] garage rock,[2] post-rock,[1][3][4] experimental rock,[5] psychedelic folk,[6][7] experimental folk, dub,[5][8][9][10] noise rock, noise pop, andsampledelia.

Callahan has been a singer, songwriter and instrumentalist with The Wolfhounds, Moonshake, The Changelings, and The $urp!u$. He is considered a significant figure in British alternative rock due to The Wolfhounds' contribution to the C86 cassette (regarded as a pivotal moment for independent music in the UK)[11][12][13][14] and due to Moonshake's subsequent contribution to the development of British post-rock.[1]

Callahan currently records and performs solo singer-songwriter work informed by folk, blues and experimental sound, describing himself as a "dissonant electric folk singer."[15][non-primary source needed] He has also worked with Swell Maps C21, PJ Harvey, McCarthy, Stereolab, Manyfingers, and Silver Apples as musician, producer or collaborator.

As a naturalist and nature writer, Callahan has written three books and numerous magazine articles.[16][non-primary source needed] Further books are planned on other subjects, including a study of the relationship between British popular musicians and the dole, and a novel expanding on the themes of his song "Foxboy".

Biography

Early years and formative influences

David Callahan was born in Chelmsford, Essex, England in 1965 and grew up in another Essex town, Harold Wood.[17] He recalls his hometown, at the time, as having been "pretty small-minded, occasionally sinister" with problems of sexism, violence and racism, commenting "if you were deemed to be a – this is in inverted commas – 'a poof'... if you showed any sign of sensitivity or intelligence, you were called that word and often had it hammered home to you with hands and feet."[17] One of Callahan’s classmates at primary school was murdered as part of a gangland hit, and he has observed that the area was "the kind of Essex you read about with gangsters moving out there. There was definitely that undercurrent there... It was definitely a kind of black economy but quite well off on the edge of town. It's hard to describe really. I spent a lot of lyrics in songs trying to describe it. There were all these possibilities. All these engaging and stimulating, positively stimulating things and, also, quite a dark side to it... Jobs did not pay well, and you were kind of browbeaten. If you were clever, everyone thought you were trying to be better than them, so they hit you. If you weren't clever, then you had to try and keep in with people. People were very physical in their opinions at the time.[17]

Callahan was consoled by Harold Wood's proximity to London and his ability to obtain "obscure and weird and engaging records and books and magazines... Outside my house, it was often a cultural dearth but inside my house, the local library and a few select shops in Romford, there was some colour, intellectual excitement and emotional excitement."[17] As a child, he became a keen naturalist, becoming interested in birds and lizards: he had a menagerie at the age of eleven, including newts, a stoat, a bat, a moorhen and a slow worm.[18]

Callahan became an active music fan in September 1977 at the age of twelve, attending concerts by Alternative TV, Patrik Fitzgerald, The Purple Hearts and assorted mod revival and post-punk acts at his local youth club. ("Once a month there would be these weird punk gigs going on. So that was a refuge if you like. Libraries, that, and we just used to sit over in the park with a cassette player, take speed and drink wine with like-minded school friends.")[18] He would also listen to John Lydon's DJ slots on the radio, noting that "you were expecting him to play all the great punk stuff and what he did instead was play Can and Captain Beefheart and Tim Buckley and Doctor Alimantado. Just amazing stuff and mind-blowing things. It threw you back in time to the really interesting music that was being made when you were too little to hear it. It was that stuff that influenced me much more than punk ever did really... When the post-punk and indie thing happened, that was my thing. You could mix it all up as well. You could have Metal Box by PiL but also Postcard Records pop guitar stuff. You'd buy things on Rough Trade, and it wouldn’t just be Scritti Politti, there'd be James Blood Ulmer and jazz and stuff like this. It was like a melee of really good stuff from all over the show.[18]

Musical career, 1980s and 1990s

"I can't bear it when people accuse songs that are similar of plagiarism. Folk music evolved from people copying each other and getting it slightly wrong or adding their own thing to it. That's how pop music evolved too. The idea that you can bring a lawyer in and sue someone, because you've nicked a line or a bit of the tune and made the song your own and take that person’s money and divvy it up between lawyers. It all sounds stupid to me because it shows a complete misunderstanding of how music actually works. Most music has developed because someone has tried to copy someone else, and either wasn’t good enough to do it or got bored doing it and changed it into their own voice, or couldn't do it any other way but their own. That’s how music evolves. I was an early adopter of sampling because it's like a collage. That, for me, is a perfectly valid form of art. I was perfectly happy to sample people and muck it up, distort it and make it all sound weird. I'm perfectly happy for people to do that to me as well. It’s all part of the same flow."

David Callahan[17]

Callahan first performed onstage at the age of fifteen, having been asked to recite his own poetry over the music of a local punk band. Other musicians he met at around this time included Mike Herbage (later of Department S) and Terry Edwards.[18] Leaving school shortly afterwards, he worked at various dead-end jobs and performed briefly with a few more short-lived local bands (such as The Changelings, which teamed him with Simon Stebbing and Bob Manton from The Purple Hearts plus guitarist Paul Clark).

The Wolfhounds (1985–1990)

Main article: The Wolfhounds

In 1985, at the age of nineteen, Callahan co-founded a garage rock band, The Wolfhounds (initially with Clark, Andrew Golding, Andy Bolton and Frank Stebbing).[19] The Wolfhounds came to broader attention due to their inclusion on the C86 compilation album, to which they contributed "Feeling So Strange Again".[20]

With various line-up changes, The Wolfhounds spent the next few years rapidly developing into an experimental rock band and releasing four albums, Unseen Ripples from a Pebble, Bright and Guilty, Blown Away and Attitude.[21] This work gained them plenty of critical attention but low sales, and the band split up in early 1990.[22]

Moonshake and The $urp!u$ (1990–2000)

Main article: Moonshake
David Callahan with Moonshake, 1994

After the split of The Wolfhounds, Callahan formed the experimental rock band Moonshake with former Ultra Vivid Scene member Margaret Fiedler.[23] Following a debut EP on Creation Records, the band signed to Too Pure and released two further EPs, touring the UK, France and America. Moonshake's debut album Eva Luna was well received and has maintained an enduring reputation as one of the key albums shaping British post-rock as well as redeveloping dub-based post-punk and incorporating hip hop production techniques.[1][5][8]

Following the release and tour for the band's second album Big Good Angel, Moonshake split in half in 1994. Fiedler, bass player John Frenett and producer/engineer Guy Fixsen left to form Laika.[24][25] Callahan continued Moonshake with saxophonist Ray Dickaty and various other musicians, continuing to play live (including a three-month tour of North America that included three weeks on the nomadic Lollapalooza Festival with Metallica, The Ramones and Wu Tang Clan, and co-headline tours with Codeine and New Kingdom) and recording two further albums, The Sound Your Eyes Can Follow and Dirty & Divine.

Following Moonshake's final split in 1997, Callahan briefly moved to New York before returning to London circa 1999 and forming The $urp!u$ with Anja Büchele (continuing Moonshake's sampler-driven avant-rock experiments on a smaller scale). The $urp!u$ recorded four songs, compiled onto the $$ EP, before Callahan quit band work in 2001 (although he would continue with occasional work as a DJ).[18]

Becoming a nature writer (2000–present)

"You get into music and suddenly you're into all the obscure stuff and you're trying to find rare records and hear songs that haven’t been released yet. It's the same thing with birding. You start to identify the most tricky-to-identify species and go to the most obscure ends of the earth. Birding's taken me to much weirder and way-out places than being in music ever did, and I've met way more interesting people as well."

David Callahan[18]

Now the father of two children, Callahan spent the early 2000s working in warehouse logistics, (something which he described as "arty manual labour... sending film reels to festivals for a film company").[18][26] Having rediscovered his interest in nature, he began studying Biological Science on a night-school degree course at the University of London's Birkbeck College, as a mature student, as well as spending seven weeks in Madagascar on an ecological survey. Graduating as a Bachelor of Science, he subsequently went on to gain a master's degree in Taxonomy and Biodiversity at Imperial College (in collaboration with the Natural History Museum and the Zoological Society of London).[18][27]

Callahan's writing career began when he approached Birdwatch magazine on spec, suggesting some topics for articles. His suggestions were taken up, and the first article which he wrote for the magazine made the front cover. Callahan then joined Birdwatch as a staff writer and remained there for ten years before going freelance.[18][28][29]

Since the start of his work as a naturalist, Callahan has also written for the UK publications Birdwatching and BBC Wildlife, and for international publications including BirdLife magazine. He has also written three popular ornithology books – A History of Birdwatching in 100 Objects, Where to Watch Birds in East Anglia: Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk, and Where to Watch Birds in Southeast England: Essex, London and Kent. A well-respected expert on the birds of eastern England,[20] he has also travelled the world to research and report on birds across the globe.[28]

Musical career resumed

The Wolfhounds (2006–present)

Callahan with a revived Wolfhounds, 2012

In 2006, Callahan resumed his musical career alongside his writing career.[18] The Wolfhounds reformed in 2006 and have gone on to play regularly and to record three new albums, Middle Aged Freaks, Untied Kingdom (...Or How to Come to Terms with Your Culture) and Electric Music.[18][30]

Solo work (2018–present)

In 2018, Callahan began a solo career – this time under his full name of David Lance Callahan – creating music for which he describes himself as a "dissonant electric folk singer."[15] These recordings have seen Callahan producing more intimate work for voice and solo electric guitar, with some use of string quartet and sampler. There are also contributions from other musicians – regular Callahan horns collaborator Terry Edwards; former Pram/Nightingales/Fall drummer Daren Garratt; Alison Cotton (vocal/viola player with The Left Outsides and Eighteenth Day of May); Mel Draisey (violinist and vocalist with The Clientele and Le Volume Courbe); several Spanish students from the Berklee music school in Valencia; and singers Katherine Mountain Whitaker (Evans the Death) and Anja Büchele (Meuve, The $urplu$, Triple Negative).[31][32][33]

"This is the thing: I tried to avoid being a musician. I had children, I had to get a job. But I'd got so much into the habit that I’d wake up in the middle of the night and have to write lyrics down, or I'd have to pick up a guitar. I'd suddenly find myself writing a new song. There's a comedian over here called Stewart Lee, who I know a little bit, and he said to me, 'Your art, basically, is a life sentence'..."

David Callahan[18]

Callahan began his solo career with two singles, "She Passes Through the Night" (2018) and "Strange Lovers" (2019). His first solo album, English Primitive I was released in October 2021 on Tiny Global Productions:[6][7][34][35][36] a second, English Primitive II, followed in November 2022.[37][38][39][40][41] A stand-alone single, "Evil Magnets/Free Radicals" was released in May 2023. Callahan's third album, Down to the Marshes (recorded in Valencia and London), was released in September 2024.[42][non-primary source needed] Callahan promotes his solo music via gigs and tours on his own and as a two-piece with Daren Garratt.

Taking note of Callahan's "career of consistent brilliance and stark originality", the press release for English Primitive I commented that "Wolfhoundian riffage offered enough ramshackle charm to somewhat obscure Callahan's darker, more penetrating writing. Likewise, Moonshake's musically bi-polar approach disguised his underlying political impulse. Here Callahan's lyricism finally, indelibly, proves him to be among the finest British pop craftsmen. This is his masterwork, a mélange of what has been called 'mutant Eastern, West African, folk, blues and post-punk influences'... an improbable cross-cultural gumbo, yet one which coalesced into a swirling, kaleidoscopic psychedelia of emotion unlike any other record in this era."[43][non-primary source needed]

Other musical activities (past and present)

Callahan is a current member of Swell Maps C21 (a project to "rekindle the spirit" of experimental post-punk band Swell Maps, also featuring Jowe Head, John Cockrill, Gina Birch, Luke Haines, Terry Edwards, Lee McFadden, Joss Cope and Chlöe Herington),[44] having played live with the band as well as contributing guitar and vocals to recent studio recordings.[42][non-primary source needed] In the past, he has contributed synthesizer playing to the live line-up of Stereolab, production work to early McCarthy recordings, guested with experimental electronic pop project Manyfingers[45] and remixed electronic rock pioneers Silver Apples.

Discography

solo (as "David Lance Callahan")

(albums)

(singles)

  • "She Passes Through the Night" (Where It's at is Where You Are Records, 2018)[46][non-primary source needed]
  • "Strange Lovers" (Slumberland Records, 2019)
  • "Free Radicals/Evil Magnets" (Tiny Global Productions, 2023)

with The Wolfhounds

(selected)

  • Unseen Ripples from a Pebble (#6) (May 1987, Pink, PINKY19 [LP]; Nov 2014, Optic Nerve, OPT4.012 [LP & CD])
  • The Essential Wolfhounds (November 1988, Midnight Music, CHIME0032S [LP]/COLIN1CD [CD])
  • Bright and Guilty (February 1989, Midnight Music, CHIME048 [LP]/CHIME048C [C]/CHIME048CD [CD]; Aug 2022, Optic Nerve [2LP] – reissue w/extra tracks)
  • Blown Away (October 1989, Midnight Music, CHIME057F [LP]/CHIME057C [C]/CHIME057CD [CD])
  • Attitude (May 1990, Midnight Music, CHIME1.07 [LP]/CHIME1.07CC [C]/CHIME1.07CD [CD])
  • Lost But Happy (1986–1990) (April 1996, Cherry Red, CDMRED126 [CD])
  • Middle Aged Freaks (November 2014, Oddbox, BOX023 [CD])
  • Untied Kingdom (...Or How to Come to Terms with Your Culture) (October 2016, Oddbox, [LP]; 2017, Optic Nerve [CD])
  • Hands in the Till: The Complete John Peel Sessions (2018, A Turntable Friend, LP/CD)
  • Electric Music (2020, A Turntable Friend [LP/CD])

with Moonshake

(selected)

  • Eva Luna (1992, Too Pure / 1993, Matador / Atlantic)
  • Big Good Angel (mini-album) (1993, Too Pure / Matador)
  • The Sound Your Eyes Can Follow (1994, Too Pure / American)
  • Dirty & Divine (1996, C/Z-BMG / World Domination)
  • Remixes (1999, C/Z)

with The $urp!u$

  • $$EP EP (2001, Ada Records)

guest appearances

  • McCarthy – Red Sleeping Beauty EP (1986, The Pink Label) – co-production on "Red Sleeping Beauty"
  • McCarthy – That's All Very Well But... The Best of McCarthy (1996, Cherry Red Records) – co-production on "Red Sleeping Beauty"
  • Silver Apples – Beacon Remixed (1998, Whirlybird Records) – remixer on "Borrowed Time (Together/Cosmic String)"
  • Manyfingers – The Spectacular Nowhere (2015, Ici D’Ailleurs) – vocals & lyrics on "The Dump Pickers of Rainham", "70" and "From Madam Hilda Soarez"
  • Swell Maps C21 – Polar Regions (2023, Glass Modern) – guitar on "HS Art", "Bronze and Baby Shoes", "Midget Submarines", "Cake Shop" and "Helicopter Spies"; vocals on "Read About Seymour" and "Let's Build a Car"

Bibliography

Books

(as author)

  • A History of Birdwatching in 100 Objects. Helm. 2014. ISBN 9781408186657.
  • Where to Watch Birds in East Anglia: Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. Bloomsbury Wildlife. 2020. ISBN 9781472962218.
  • Where to Watch Birds in Southeast England: Essex, London and Kent. Helm. 2024. ISBN 9781399403603.

(as contributor)

  • True, Everett (2017). Electrical Storm: Grunge, My Part in Its Downfall. Rejected Unknown.
  • Wyatt, Malcolm (2023). Wild! Wild! Wild! a People’s History of Slade. Spenwood Books. ISBN 978-1-915858-07-8.

Articles (selected)

References

  1. ^ a b c d Gray, Martin (24 October 2022). "Moonshake: Eva Luna 30 years on: album reappraisal". Louder Than War. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  2. ^ "Wolfhounds - Bright And Guilty - 2022 Reissue / Optic Nerve from Piccadilly Records". Piccadilly Records. Archived from the original on 4 September 2024. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  3. ^ Reynolds, Simon (July 1996). "Krautrock". Melody Maker. Archived from the original on 2 March 2024. Retrieved 4 September 2024 – via ReynoldsRetro.
  4. ^ Teric, Jeff (9 September 2020). "PJ Harvey's 10 Best Collaborations". Spin. Archived from the original on 17 June 2024. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  5. ^ a b c Huey, Steve. "Eva Luna — Moonshake". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 4 September 2024. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
  6. ^ a b Sawle, Chris (1 November 2021). "Album review: David Lance Callahan – 'English Primitive I': raw punk-raga and a septet of scorching tales". Backseat Mafia. Archived from the original on 26 November 2023. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  7. ^ a b Stephen. "Into Album Reviews: David Lance Callahan - English Primitive 1". Into Creative. Archived from the original on 4 September 2024. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  8. ^ a b "Moonshake". Trouser Press. Archived from the original on 20 May 2024. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  9. ^ Avella, Gianni. "Moonshake - Eva Luna :: Le Pietre Miliari di OndaRock". OndaRock (in Italian). Archived from the original on 25 April 2024. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  10. ^ Che, Lavi (4 November 2010). "DeLorean: Moonshake - Eva Luna (1992)". Tiny Mix Tapes. Archived from the original on 26 May 2024. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  11. ^ Collins, Andrew (October 2006). "Wan Love, Indie RIP". Word Magazine.
  12. ^ Stanley, Bob (February 2006). "Unknown". Uncut.
  13. ^ "Fey city rollers". The Guardian. 13 October 2004. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  14. ^ Nige Tassell (8 August 2022). "Reel lives: how I tracked down the class of NME's C86 album". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 4 September 2024. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
  15. ^ a b "David Lance Callahan". Threads. Archived from the original on 4 May 2024. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  16. ^ "Home". My Site 3. Archived from the original on 13 May 2024. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  17. ^ a b c d e "Typical Boy: David Callahan". Typical Boy. Archived from the original on 16 July 2021. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  18. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Tone Glow 127: David Lance Callahan (Moonshake, The Wolfhounds)". Tone Glow. 26 February 2024. Archived from the original on 23 May 2024. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  19. ^ Tassell 2023, p. 72-74.
  20. ^ a b Tassell 2023, p. 72.
  21. ^ "Feature: Scratch the Surface: The Wolfhounds albums Bright and Guilty / Blown Away (1989), and an interview with Dave Callahan". Backseatmafia.com. 6 July 2020. Archived from the original on 26 February 2024. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
  22. ^ Tassell 2023, p. 76-78.
  23. ^ Tassell 2023, p. 79.
  24. ^ "Laika, Moonshake And The Great Margaret Fiedler" Archived 12 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine, The Dumbing of America webzine, 26 October 2009
  25. ^ Wieser, Brian (24 September 1995). "ridin' in the car car (fwd)". Indie List Digest!. Vol. 4, no. 39. Archived from the original on 4 September 2024. Retrieved 4 September 2024 – via Mail-archive.com.
  26. ^ Tassell 2023, p. 81.
  27. ^ Tassell 2023, p. 82.
  28. ^ a b Notes to Where to Watch Birds in East Anglia: Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk by David Callahan, Bloomsbury Wildlife, 2020, ISBN 9781472962218
  29. ^ Tassell 2023, p. 82-83.
  30. ^ Tassell 2023, p. 83-84.
  31. ^ English Primitive I liner notes
  32. ^ "English Primitive I, by David Lance Callahan". David Lance Callahan. Archived from the original on 4 September 2024. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
  33. ^ English Primitive II liner notes
  34. ^ johnrobb (20 December 2021). "David Lance Callahan: English Primitive - album review". Louder Than War. Archived from the original on 21 January 2022. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  35. ^ Bright, Kimberly. "David Lance Callahan - English Primitive 1". Penny Black Music. Archived from the original on 4 September 2024. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  36. ^ "David Lance Callahan – English Primitive I – review by Martin Aston in Mojo
  37. ^ Bright, Kimberly. "David Lance Callahan - English Primitive II". Penny Black Music. Archived from the original on 9 May 2024. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  38. ^ Review of English Primitive II by Kieron Tyler in Mojo, December 2022
  39. ^ Neal, Andrew (17 November 2022). "ALBUM REVIEW – DAVID LANCE CALLAHAN: ENGLISH PRIMITIVE II". Silent Radio. Archived from the original on 9 May 2024. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  40. ^ "Album of the Month: David Lance Callahan – English Primitive II" – review by Federico Guglielmi in AudioReview #449, January 2023
  41. ^ Santoni, Stefano (16 December 2022). "DAVID LANCE CALLAHAN: English Primitive II (English Version) • Sounds & Grooves". Ondarock (in Italian). Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  42. ^ a b "Music". My Site 3. Archived from the original on 17 June 2024. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  43. ^ "English Primitive I, by David Lance Callahan". David Lance Callahan. Archived from the original on 20 June 2024. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  44. ^ "Swell Maps Sessions live on stage + Cult Figures, Friday 3 December 2021, 8pm". Cafe OTO. Archived from the original on 4 September 2024. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  45. ^ Manyfingers: The Spectacular Nowhere Archived 7 May 2024 at the Wayback Machine @ Bandcamp
  46. ^ "She Passes Through the Night". Bandcamp.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

General sources

  • Tassell, Nige (2023). Whatever Happened to the C86 Kids? An Indie Odyssey. Nine Eight Books. ISBN 978-1-7887-0560-8.
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