Del Scott Miller has recently released a new single, “Around Here”, with a new EP on the way. Who better to tell you about them, and him, than the man himself?
Simple things first – where are you from?
I’m from Barnsley in South Yorkshire.
How long have you been playing as a solo act?
I started playing guitar just over 30 years ago; I borrowed a G’N’R tape from a schoolmate and decided I wanted to be Slash, an aspiration since dashed by both time and circumstance.
Do you perform under your “real” name or a stage name?
My parents realised I needed some sort of handle for school exercise books, passports, birthday cards – that sort of thing – and they gave me the name I gig under. I’ve always felt lucky to have it – it’s not so dull that it’s easily forgotten, but not so utterly fucking stupid that it’s easily forgotten.
What are your influences?
The main ones are Nick Drake, John Martyn, Leonard Cohen, Billy Bragg, The Smiths, contemporary English folk music… The slightly more obscure ones are Karate (three-piece indie jazz leaning into beat poetry from Boston – the 2000 album ‘Unsolved’ is flawless) and Other Lives, led by a guy called Jesse Tabish. The latter have really nailed the sweet spot between the usual band line-up and orchestral arrangements.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
I studied jazz and classical music/guitar as a younger fellow and that training tends to infiltrate the songwriting – lots of extended chords and notes that have no place in a 3 minute alt. folk song, but fuck it. However, I hasten to add that none of it is in any way prog – that largely gets on my tits.
I also try to allow the Yorkshire accent free rein when I sing; affecting a Texan accent when you were raised on a Yorkshire council estate makes you look a bit of a bell.
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
The underdog features in quite a few songs, as do loss and longing. I’m a fundamentally anxious and pessimistic person, and the age-old advice is to write what you know. That said, I work very hard on the lyrics; with the sum of all language and learning sat in your pocket there’s bag all excuse for knocking out cliches and platitudes.
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What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
Imagine the least rock’n’roll gig that you can, then imagine that getting ready for bed. I’ve no idea at all on the number of solo gigs – a few hundred, maybe.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
The singer and keyboard player in a covers band I was in about 25 years ago once nearly burned down a working man’s club near Doncaster after setting fire to some Christmas decorations and sending them down the service lift as a ‘prank’. I can laugh now… And it’s a tenuous response to the question, but we also had to pull a weekend’s worth of gigs because the same singer had too many mushrooms and took to hiding under his bed for a few days, eating only food pushed tentatively toward him by his partner of the time. There’s a potential Netflix series-worth of material on that band in particular, but you’ll have to buy the book when I’ve the motivation to write it.
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
My main guitar is a Seagull from those jolly good eggs at the Godin factory in Quebec, Canada, and my electric is a Partscaster by Dennis Yau of the spiffing DY Guitars, Evesham. I begrudge paying too much for gear just to put it in the back of a 15yr old Nissan and drive it to a £100 gig.
What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?
What a lovely question and, gee whizz, I’m so very glad you asked.
I’m plugging the merry hell out of my latest single “Around Here” (available through my Bandcamp, Spotify, all that guff) which is taken from the upcoming EP How the Night Gets In. With that in mind, I’m also plugging the merry hell out of my upcoming EP How the Night Gets In (available soon through my Bandcamp, Spotify, all that guff).
What are your plans for the next 6 months or so?
After the release of the EP mentioned above I have another couple ready to record and I’ll be planning a big album recording/release for later next year/into 2026. I’ve also a few EPs worth of synthwave/chiptune pieces that have been sat idle for a few years so I’m going to pop them out under a pseudonym (or an alias perhaps) between the folky releases next year.
If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be supporting and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before!
I’d be very glad to both support and be supported by my mate Ichabod Wolf, genuinely one of the most gifted and erudite songwriters in the UK at present.
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Del Scott Miller: official | facebook | instagram | spotify | bandcamp | youtube
