The lead singers of two of the biggest of Wales' new wave of rock bands are to release a split acoustic album, it has been announced.
Gavin Butler and Neil Starr
Ghosts & Echoes, an acoustic 10 track record by Gavin Butler of The Blackout and Neil Starr of Attack! Attack!, will be released on 1 April.
I caught up with the duo prior to the recording, to find out more about this self-released album.
"I'd had songs written for The Blackout's album Hope that didn't really sit with the vibe of the album," says Gavin. "So I took them on the road with with Neil's other, first, band Dopamine in December. I had a great time playing them, it was so a new and challenging for me. I thought it's pointless having these songs and shelving them. Then Neil asked if I wanted to to a split and I thought, why not, I've literally got nothing to lose."
Neil: "For me the idea came about after Dopamine had Gavin come on tour with us in December. I've written songs in the past which i deemed 'not right' for Dopamine or Attack! Attack! and I thought it would be a perfect opportunity for us both to get a release out, not having enough songs on our own to release albums on our own yet.
"Gav and I have been mates for years and years. I got to hear his stuff for four nights in a row on the Dopamine December tour and loved it. I dropped him a text in the new year and said would he be up for it and he was. It was lucky we could work it out with the busy schedules of our bands!"
Gavin Butler
How would the men describe their own sides? Gavin is influenced by Britpop royalty: "I'm not the most technical of guitarists, so I rely a lot on simple but interesting chords. One of my favourite song writers is Noel Gallagher and I think he's been a big influence on me.
"Wonderwall is one of the most uncomplicated songs ever written yet one of the biggest and best. There's a beauty in simplicity. That is until I learn how to shred then it's all about tapping and acoustic pinched harmonics."
"My side are songs which were written on acoustic guitar and therefore have a much more laid-back feel," says Neil. "There is a lot more emphasis on the melody and lyrics rather than the music behind it . A lot of my stuff is a finger picked style."
And how would they describe the other side? "Neil has one the best voices in the 'biz'," says Gavin. "He took an old The Blackout song which was pretty metal-ish and totally reworked it into an amazing acoustic song."
Neil Starr
"Gavin's songs are more focused on the strumming then the picking but again are all acoustic based tracks," says Neil. "I think the two sides will blend together nicely. We are recording them with [Dopamine and Straight Lines member] Todd Campbell at the same studio so that'll help with the overall feel too.
What are the mechanics of the release of Ghosts & Echoes?
"It's the epitome of DIY," reckons Gavin. "Self-funded, self-released; I even did the artwork. We're kind of lucky that the Internet can provide a ridiculous platform for us. If it was 10 years ago we'd need distribution and labels to get CDs into shops. Now we can sell and ship a CD to anyone in the world on our own."
Neil agrees, and embraces the self-reliance necessary in a release like this. "We are funding it on our own, we are recording it on our own and we will be the ones sat around my dining room table packing and posting them off after we have signed them.
"We are only pressing 1,000 CDs so it'll be limited edition from that point of view. With the power of social networking sites we can easily reach out worldwide: we have already received orders from all over the world. It's great!"
The duo have an eight date tour in support of the release in April, so what should people expect to see when they appear live? Any duets?
"We might do a sneaky collaboration, who knows?" says Neil. "The tour is still in its early stages of preparation but i know I will be doing some Dopamine and Attack! Attack! songs in my set too."
Gavin: "On the last Dopamine tour Neil and I did the cover of The Blackout song You And Me Vs The Revolution that I mentioned earlier. So there's always a chance we'll work on something, maybe a TenMinutePreview/Dopamine/Attack! Attack!/The Blackout medley."
Lastly, in an ideal world, who would they love to release a split album with?
"What you mean apart from Gav?" laughs Neil. "For me it would be Daniel Johns from Silverchair. He's a musical genius in my eyes and that would be a dream come true."
"That's a tough one," says Gavin. "[Faith No More frontman] Mike Patton is notorious for his side projects, one of them being one of my favourite bands of all time. He's always so left field and I think he'd just produce something that people wouldn't expect."
For more information, check out , Attack! Attack!'s official site, and .