​THE DACHA BAND

The two parts of the album might be called ‘Death’ and ‘Life,’ as the first is almost entirely made up of negative emotions whilst the second is lighter. However, nothing in ‘Hard Luck Stories,’ can be said to be happy, unless one considers the joy at realising someone else had died, not you, can be considered positive.

 

The albums comprised about four live sessions and a host of overdubs. It was impossible to bring in the sort of old horn section the album really needed and so, here and there, a kind of synth ensemble puts in an appearance, heavily distorted. In the main it is Lee who provides the colour, working miracles in difficult circumstances.

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Ken produced a whole host of perfect montages for the cover art and they remain some of my favourite Dacha art work, catching the depression era mood wonderfully. A few of the songs on the albums became all time favourites for the Band. Lee’s particular favourite being ‘Freight,’ and mine, ‘Veterans Blues,’ simply because of the mad scale of the thing. Probably the most extraordinary track of the piece is ‘Been Out West,’ which closes part one. A murder ballad with a difference, it shocked us all when we recorded it and still scares the pants off me now.

 

Unfortunately, during the recording of ‘Hard Luck Stories, part two,’ Steve and I discovered that our Mother, Janice, was terminally ill with a brain tumour. The sense of loss and trauma pervades the album. My Mother chose to die at home and so many of the last sessions were recorded whilst she lay nearby. I think something of her extraordinary dignity and strength seeped into the songs. It certainly dominated the next Dacha project recorded only days after her funeral.

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