These are hectic times for The Dawn Chorus. Eighteen months ago, the Portsmouth septet released their debut album, The Big Adventure, an impressively polished collection of well-written indie-folk. Having just completed their second album, The Carnival Leaves Town, frontman and songwriter Kyle Evans agreed to talk to us about their creative process, working with Frank Turner and how Peter Pan influences their music…
SK: So, how was Christmas 2009 for you? Quiet one with the families or a frenzy of rock-star debauchery?
KE: Christmas was wonderful as always – no debauchery though, just good time spent with family and friends. I come from a large-ish family so I love Christmas. I’d like to write a completely ubiquitous Christmas song and retire on the royalties, a bit like the guy in About a Boy. If I start writing now I might be able to do it before retirement age.
SK: You received a healthy dose of critical praise for The Big Adventure – how do you feel about the album, and how it was received? Did it add to the band’s momentum?
As you probably hear from a lot of musicians, we spent an age making it but now I rarely listen to it. The last time I did I was happy with it though, and 90% of the reviews seemed to get what we were all about, which was nice.
SK: It felt like a very personal album; dealing heavily with intimate subjects. What inspired or informed it in the writing?
KE: I’d say that around 40% of the lyrical content comes from personal experience and the other 60% is improvised, comes from stories or characters that I’ve made up or books, stories, films that I’ve found inspirational. I couldn’t stand there and sing overtly personal songs – I need to mix and muddle it all up with fiction so that I can distance myself from the narrative and just be a storyteller. Perhaps we should put all that as a disclaimer on album covers; I recently saw an old uni mate who’d heard the album since I last saw him, and he was being really careful about mentioning my parents – I had to reassure him that they were alive and well despite what the track “The Big Adventure” says, and that that track was based around J.M Barrie’s Peter Pan and the film Finding Neverland.
SK: Who were the key influences behind The Big Adventure, and behind The Dawn Chorus more generally? Can you summarise the band in one pithy little sentence, for people who might not have encountered you before?
KE: See above! The bands that we originally bonded with a love of were Arcade Fire, Decemberists, Bright Eyes, so those bands will always be big influences, but there were four of us then and now we’re a seven-piece, so we listen to a hell of a lot of different music between us these days.
One pithy little sentence? I can’t do that – I could never work in marketing, so I’m going to ask our good friend and label boss Rich [Tamblyn, Jelly Maid Music] to do the honours… he says “infectious intelligent indie-folk-country-pop with bags of heart”.
SK: You’ve got a new record due out in February – can you give us an idea of what to expect? What changed, or carried over, from the first album to the second?
KE: There are no strings this time, but a much wider range of instrumentation: banjo, accordion, melodica and glockenspiel as well as the usual nonsense. That’s part of the reason it took an age to make (again). There is also a running theme of a guy who is infatuated with a tightrope-walker, though there are plenty of other little tales along the way.
SK: You’ve gained a high-profile fan in Frank Turner – as early as October last year, he name-checked you in an interview with this very site, and he’s a guest on the new record. How did you find working with him? How did he fit into the Dawn Chorus setting?
KE: He’s easygoing and completely down-to-earth, so he fitted in just fine. He came down for an afternoon and recorded with Neil, who is our guitarist and also produces all of our stuff. They had a great time eating houmous and discussing their shared love of Coldplay, and then we all came in and listened to his album.
SK: What can we expect from you in 2010, aside from the new album?
KE: We’re playing shows from February, they’ll be our first with the new expanded line-up so it should be really exciting. Hopefully we’ll be playing plenty of festivals again in the summer too.
SK: Where’s the love for you – onstage or in the studio?
KE: It’s hard, both can be a huge adrenaline rush or a real drag. Neil would definitely say playing live I think, since he’s spent the best part of a year recording our new album. He actually drove himself mad at one point and wanted to bin the whole thing. He’s done an amazing job though. When playing live you can get that instant feedback which is an amazing feeling – on the other hand you can drive 200 miles to play a youth club disco where everyone goes outside the minute you start to play.
SK: You’re from a very active independent music scene on the south coast – are there any local acts you’d like to tip, or acts from around the country you’ve played with or encountered on your travels – people you think are going to be big in the coming year?
KE: From the south there’s The B of The Bang, who we share a label with – they made an incredible album last year. Also Revere, who we are playing a few shows with early next year. They’re fairly new to me but they have a huge sound. From Cambridge there’s The Incredible Flight of Birdman, a really tight Smiths-esque four-piece, and Tom Fossum is the alter-ego of our bassist Keith, hopefully he’ll pull his finger out and record some more stuff in 2010; he has some great songs.
SK: Finally, then, we’re heading into 2010 now – have you got a message for your fans/our readers? Anything
you’d like to say to the world at large?
KE: Thankyou for reading my waffle, I’m so sorry. Please have a listen to our stuff and come and say hi to us. We’re all friendly people!
The Carnival Leaves Town is released 22nd February 2010. The first single, “Carnivalesque (feat. Frank Turner)” is released on 1st February. Thanks a lot to Kyle for agreeing to talk to us.
Tour dates
29 Jan 2010 – Hampton’s, Southampton
12 Feb 2010 – Railway Inn, Winchester
15 Feb 2010 – The Harley, Sheffield
16 Feb 2010 – The Lanes (w/Revere), Bristol
20 Feb 2010 – Wedgewood Rooms (album launch w/The B of the Bang, Revere, All The Shapes), Portsmouth
12 Mar 2010 – The Vic (tbc), Swindon
26 Mar 2010 - Eastney Cellars (tbc), Portsmouth
3 Apr 2010 – The Globe (tbc), Cambridge
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Marcus Kernohan is the founder and editor-in-chief of Stereokill.net. Email him at 
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