Band that split up in the 80s release first album for nearly 40 years
By Will Brook
A band who split after a tantalising brush with stardom in the 1980s are releasing their first album of new songs for nearly 40 years – after being spotted on YouTube by a German label.
The five members of the band Daniel Takes a Train, now in their 50s, have made time outside of their jobs as an estate agent, a businessmen, a lecturer and an IT consultant to record a new album Last Ticket to Tango, to be released in December.
The album was produced by industry legend Pat Collier, who was part of punk band The Vibrators, and who has produced records for some of music’s biggest names out of his Perry Vale Studios in Forest Hill, including Primal Scream and Maximo Park.
Band member James Hannington, who worked as a milkman on Valley Road, Streatham, in the 1980s, would often go straight to a shift after a gig.
He decided to pick up the sticks again, along with singer Paul Baker, from Blackheath, guitarist Dan Synge, from Greenwich, bass guitarist Jez Groves, of Sutton, and Saxophonist Paul Davey.
Guitarist Dan Synge said: “Obviously we were really, really pleased that finally our music was turned into a lovely looking album.
“It’s remarkable that you can still be in a band with people you were in a band with when you were in your early twenties. I just find that amazing.
“It doesn’t feel the same, but at the same time it’s enjoyable. It’s kind of interesting to produce music now in a different landscape.
“It’s great that all the music was recorded in south-east London, in this amazing studio.”
The band were contacted out of the blue in 2018 by Berlin-based indie label Firestation Records, who came across them on Youtube while searching for tracks for a compilation album of lesser known 80s indie bands.
They agreed to having their track on the album, and managed to dig out some more old demo tapes to sell to the label, who turned them into an album called Style, charm and commotion, released on vinyl in 2018.
But this is their first album of new songs in more than 30 years. The track My Town on the new album was inspired partly by the state of South London’s declining high streets.
The band’s new album will be available to stream on Spotify in December or for pre-order here.
Pictured: Daniel Takes a Train live at The Troubadour in 2019. From left Dan, Paul, Paul Davey, Jez
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