​THE DACHA BAND

After the rush of ‘Down by Sunday,’ came the slog of ‘Hard Luck Stories.’ Begun as a series of piano based demos during the Autumn of 2007, work on the 30 song double album continued right through the winter 2007/2008. It was a gigantic undertaking for a trio with such sparse facilities and there were times when it seemed as though it would never end. It was also a project that was tinged with tragedy and, in many ways, signalled the end of the first phase of work in the Dacha.

 

Hard Luck Stories was intended as a sort of blues opera, rather in the manner of a work by Weill and Brecht. Its source was John Dos Pasos’ mammoth trilogy USA and centred around the depression era in America, taking in along the way ‘Cannery Row,’ ‘Laurel and Hardy,’ Jazz, gospel and many other influences. The stories take in lynch mobs, red light districts, the homeless, gangsters, world war one veterans, and a host of other characters. I still think that it is probably the best album the Dacha Band ever made although it is flawed throughout and frequently overreaches itself.