WATCH: Dan Reed Network to record new album in 10 different cities around the world
The ever-genial Dan Reed spoke to Wyatt moments after Dan Reed Network’s electric penultimate slot at Planet Rockstock on Saturday night (2nd December).
Asked about his plans for 2018, the funk rock icon said they held a DRN Studio Session at Manchester’s Blue Print Studios on Friday where they invited fans along and laid down a new track called ‘Fade to Light’ together with a remake of their 1988 song ‘Ritual’.
Dan says the band now plan to do this is in nine further locations across the globe throughout 2018 to make an ambitious new studio album.
> Ran into friends from Sweden, Finland, Germany, and America in the lobby bar last evening who are attending the DRN studio date today... Going to be a truly international affair today in 'Blue Print Studios' ? Thank you all for making the long journeys! pic.twitter.com/Nv0IYcZseZ > > — Dan Reed (@dan_reed) December 1, 2017
He explained: “We just did a studio date yesterday in Manchester where we had 150 guests come there and instead of going to a concert they get to spend the whole day with the band and watch us record a new song and remake an old song and they get to sing background vocals on both.
“We served them dinner and played a little concert for them at the end of the night and we’re going to do that in New York, in Portland, Stockholm, hopefully in Glasgow and then over in Tokyo.
“This is all in 2018 – so we’re going to make a record this way of playing in ten different cities and actually create ten new songs and ten B-sides from the old songs. So that’s the plan for 2018.”
Elsewhere in his chat, Dan spoke about balancing old material with new songs in their set lists, saying: “For me, they’re each stages of our foundation so I don’t look at them as embarrassing – I used to think ‘Tiger In A Dress’ is an embarrassing song to play in my forties and fifties but it’s one of our favourite songs to play live.
“It’s all just a snapshot of who we used to be and where we are now; so if we can play two or songs off of each album, the songs that people seem to crave the most, that’s great. When we’re playing our own shows – like two hour sets – we take requests, we try to wing it and people stump us and what have you. That’s a lot of fun too. A lot of comedy ensues.”
You can read our full roundup of Saturday at Planet Rockstock here and see photos from the whole day here.