Music
David Lance Callahan
I have a parallel career as a musician and songwriter with a healthy international following. The former singer with the bands Wolfhounds and Moonshake, I currently release solo albums and play guitar and sing with the reformed Swell Maps. I've toured all of the UK, Europe and North America as a headline act in the clubs, as support to the likes of My Bloody Valentine, PJ Harvey, Wedding Present, House of Love and House of All, and as part of the nomadic Lollapalooza festival in the USA. I've collaborated with Stereolab and PJ Harvey, and my solo records feature contributions from Daren Garratt (The Fall, Nightingales, Pram), Alison Cotton and Terry Edwards (PJ Harvey, Gallon Drunk).
David Lance Callahan
Since the bands mentioned below, I've embarked on a successful solo career, releasing two twin LPs – English Primitive I & II – to international acclaim. A third LP – recorded in Valencia and London, and entitled Down to the Marshes – will be released in August 2024.​
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Recent reviews and praise:
“The year’s stand-out album for me” – Stewart Lee
“A sort of modern-day pastoral” – Simon Armitage (Poet Laureate)
“Arguably his generation’s best lyricist ... Callahan remains the great lost British frontman” – Martin Aston, Mojo
“So many stand out tracks that it sounds like a greatest hits set from a parallel universe.” – Louder Than War
“Should be heard far and wide, printed on broadsheets across the land and used at the closedown of broadcasting every night” – Mickey Bradley (BBC Radio Ulster/The Undertones)
“Callahan is one of British pop’s unsung heroes – a harsh but humane social commentator to rank alongside Mark E Smith and Jarvis Cocker” – Andrew Perry, Select
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Listen and buy here:
https://davidcallahan.bandcamp.com/album/english-primitive-i
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Want know more? Here's an extensive interview I did very recently with the Toneglow website in Chicago:
https://toneglow.substack.com/p/tone-glow-127-david-lance-callahan
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Photo by Joel Goodman (https://joelgoodman.net/).
Moonshake
During the 1990s, I toured the Western world, singing, playing guitar and programming samples for the band Moonshake.
Debut LP, Eva Luna, was voted 77th of the top 100 LPs of the 1990s in Alternative Press (New York), as well as in NME’s top 50 of the year at 41, with Secondhand Clothes the 28th best single. It was the 23rd best ‘post-rock LP here: https://www.factmag.com/2016/04/20/best-post-rock-albums/. Moonshake also had several rave reviews in the New York Times and throughout the UK music press.
Eva Luna has just been reissued – you can listen to it and buy it here:
https://moonshake.bandcamp.com/album/eva-luna-deluxe-edition​
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Read more about the band here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonshake
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Photo by Joe Dilworth.
Wolfhounds
During the mid to late 1980s, a much younger me sang and played guitar for the band Wolfhounds. The band reformed in 2014 and still occasionally performs.​
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In its early incarnation, Wolfhounds received numerous singles and album of the week plaudits, and toured the UK and Europe extensively. The reformed version has also received copious rave reviews for each of its three 21st-century albums.
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You can buy and hear much of Wolfhounds' back catalogue here:
https://thewolfhounds.bandcamp.com/
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Read more about the band here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wolfhounds
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Photo by Andrew Springham.
Swell Maps C21
As a teenager, I was much enamoured with the hordes of amazing post-punk bands that released independent records and were often played on Radio 1's John Peel Show. Little did I know that, as an adult I would be playing guitar and singing with them live and in the studio. 14 year-old me can't believe it ...​
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Hear and buy the latest (live) LP here:
https://glassmodern.bandcamp.com/album/polar-regions
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Photo by Philippe Guinot.
