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Story: Jack Foley
TO CELEBRATE the release of his debut single, Rocks and Sands,
Dylan Rippon played an exclusive gig at the launch of music retail
store, Carbon, on June 12.
Carbon's flagship store opened in Soho and the gig formed part
of the four-day launch, which also included sets from the likes
of Sasha and Simian.
Available exclusively on the Rough Trade website (see link opposite),
Rocks and Sands is available on limited edition 7"
vinyl and features the B-side Ten.
The people who buy the single will be offered eight free
MP3s of work-in-progress from Dylan's debut album.
Described as being 'like the Beta Band at their best, but with
an added intensity and classic rock foundations', Dylan will release
his debut album later this year.
Dylan’s inspiration for Rocks and Sands draws on
his unique childhood – originally from Carlisle, he moved
with his family to Saudi Arabia when he was a child.
"All I am trying to do with pop music is talk about the
present day," he says when explaining about the lyrical content
of Rocks and Sands.
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"That we should look at this situation in the present, not
in the past, not 10 years ago in the time of George Bush Senior,
but right now, and we should ask, ‘What is going on?’……and
it all comes down to money and oil.
"It’s called Rocks and Sands because that is
the physical reality out there – it’s just a desert.
There is no reason to go and carpet bomb Iraq or Afghanistan,
or any of these places. That isn’t what these people really
need."
Rocks and Sands is not, however, a political song.
Dylan adds: "For something to be political it has to have
a political agenda – it has to make a statement for the benefit
of politics.
"Like most young people, I don’t care about politics.
Rocks and Sands is anti-politics. We all know that Bush
is a moron of the highest order and that Blair is himself deluded
about his own importance in the world."
The B-side, Ten, is described by Dylan as 'a kid’s attitude
to a life growing up in the desert'.
"It’s about being stone free and oblivious," he
says. "There’s an amazing purity to that kind of experience,
a complete freedom that I’m perpetually trying to get back
to."
The single, which was recently No.9 on a Rough Trade singles
chart, has been described by the BBC as 'upbeat and catchy in
the Ed Harcourt frame of mind', while The Guardian stated that:
"Mr Rippon is a singer - songwriter who is advertising nothing
more than his own enthusiasm for peace in a world which appears
to have gone entirely insane. As things stand, this is going to
be a little like trying to flog scuba equipment in Chad, but it
would be
churlish not to wish him well with it."
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