Interview With Dave Hemingway From The South

The Beautiful South were one of the biggest bands to come out of Yorkshire in the late 80's. Over the years the band ruled the singles chart before disbanding in 2007, although former members of the group got together as The South who tour the country regularly. The band released an album of new songs 2 years ago.

The band visit Warehouse 23 in Wakefield on Saturday 22 October, I caught up with vocalist Dave Hemingway for a chat.

The band are visiting Wakefield to play a gig on 22 October. Yorkshire seems to be a good place to play for you.

It is, I'm from Yorkshire and we always get a good response. We must have played in Wakefield before and we are all looking forward to the gig.

You are also coming to Holmfirth in November

That's right, we are doing two gigs at the Picturedrome. A lot of bands play there, it's quite an unusual venue. We usually play there just before Christmas but we are visiting a bit earlier in November this year.

What can we expect at the gigs?

All the big hits and we also include one or two new songs, which we hope to release on an EP. I hope that they get a decent reaction. We are hoping to record another album too at some point. I'm not too keen on Pledge Music idea where you ask the fans to buy the album before its recorded; it's like asking the fans to pay for recording the album.

Why did the Beautiful South split up?

Paul (Heaton) had enough of the band format, he'd been doing it for 20 years. His solo career has been quite successful. His timing was just right. He has done 2 albums with Jacqui Abbott who was in the Beautiful South at one point. I'm not in touch much with him these days.

I saw an advert for a tribute band called The Southmartins, have you ever seen them live?

There are quite a few around. There is one called The Beautiful Couch. I have seen The Southmartins live. It was strange seeing them. They had a Paul, an Alison but they didn't have a me!

What are the bands plans after to tour?

In January, February we will be getting some new songs together and we also have some European gigs too next year. The Beautiful South had a lot of success in Germany and we shall be visiting there.

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