Dave Rowntree tells us about debut solo single ‘London Bridge’ – and what’s next for Blur
nme.comBlur drummer Dave Rowntree has shared his debut solo single ‘London Bridge’. Check it out below, along with our interview with Rowntree discussing a new record on the way, politics, and what the future holds for Blur.Released on Cooking Vinyl and produced with Leo Abrahams (Wild Beasts, Brian Eno, Ghostpoet) the emotive synth-led track was inspired by the drummer’s childhood growing up in Colchester, before moving to London with Blur.“There was a phase in my life as a child when the number 126 would pop up everywhere,” Rowntree told NME. “I was living at Number 126 on my road, I would get the Number 126 bus every morning, and I just kept seeing the number everywhere.
I know that’s just the brain working its pattern recognition trickery, which has allowed us to thrive as a species, and I get all that – but it’s funny when that happens to you and just how powerful it is.”He continued: “When I first moved to London with Blur, a similar thing started happening at London Bridge.
Things would happen around there that suddenly made the place seem bizarrely meaningful in my life – as if the universe was trying to scream ‘LONDON BRIDGE’ at me!“The genesis of the song was, ‘Isn’t it strange that this sense of place can take up so much of your mind’.
It ended up just talking about me, really. This is from an album about me – sorry! It’s a solo album and eventually I have to tell my own story.”Admitting that the song is not representative of the rest of his solo material to come, Rowntree revealed that the sound of the song came from the same synthy place as much of his work composing scores for film and TV – with credits including Netflix series The One and the BBC technological crime thriller The Capture. “It started as a guitar.
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