Dave Cloud

Here at Dirty Water rock’n’roll is our religion. Of course, other people have their own idea of religion. That’s up to them. But of course, I have to admit that relgious fervour goes back a long way. One well respected historian of religion has described the “shaman” as a specialist in ecstasy, able to "penetrate the underworld and rise to the sky" in a transcendent state. It’s not surprising, then, that the word "shamanistic" has been used repeatedly over the years to describe the incendiary performances of Nashville's Dave Cloud and his band The Gospel of Power. Weekly late-night shows for the unenlightened Nashville masses quickly established Cloud as the Music City's enfant terrible, garnering diehard converts along the way. Holding a dusty mirror to pop music's tawdry conventions, Cloud and his colleagues deftly dismember the Frankenstein's monster of modern musical excess. Their seminal 1999 release “Songs I Will Always Sing” received great reviews from around the world, including Wire magazine which said "he sounds like a cross between the acid-addled Roky Erickson and boozed beat writer, the late Charles Bukowski". The first non-US release “Napoleon of Temperance”, set hit record stores in Europe on the Fire label this month, revisits selections from the two US-released albums, with the addition of a few brand new originals. Supporting this release, Cloud is travelling around Europe with his handpicked contingent of caballeros, including members of Lambchop and Clem Snide. Together they plan to conjure the distinctive sonic magic Nashville has enjoyed for two decades already. Part of rock'n'roll's foundations stands on something a lot like the music of Dave Cloud – that is, a compulsion to make noise with an unabashed lustfulness.