We didn’t have any news from Dale Grundle since 1998, the year his former band the Catchers released their second and last album Stopping to Fit. But since then, he wasn’t gone astray. He just formed a new band called The Sleeping years. After listening to a few songs available on the band’s website, we noticed that the songwriter has not lost any of his skills for sweet and sour songs. We wish him to succeed in his search for a label soon. Here are some insights he agreed to share with us… [may 2006]

 Could you tell us why the Catchers split up ?
Well, I don’t think there ever really was a moment where we actually decided to ‘split up’. I think it was a very gradual thing with the live band becoming smaller and smaller (we supported Dr. John in the UK as a three-piece and did our last tour as a duo) until it was back to being me writing at home. If there was any actual event it was probably when we were about to appear on an Irish television programme. I felt that we were a bit lost as a band at this point and that to go ahead with the show would have been a mistake so I told Setanta that we wouldn’t do it and that I was stopping everything for a while. Also, we had a few personal problems within the band – Alice and I had been a couple for many years and when we broke up it took a lot out of us as people. We never really had much time or space to heal because we were working together all the time.

What are the other members doing now? Do you stay in touch with them?
Yes, I’m in touch with most of them. Alice now works behind the scenes in music, fighting for musicians’ rights and organising events. She’s doing very well. She never sang again as far as I know. She helped me with some demos for the Sleeping Years songs but I don’t really think she wants to go through the whole band thing again.
Peter fell in love with an Australian nurse and moved with her and a stray cat they found on the streets of London to live in Melbourne. He’s just started drumming with another band out there. I’m very happy about that because he’s a very gifted musician.
We had a lot of bass players throughout our time so I’m not even going to start trying to figure out what they are doing…

What happened to you between the end of the Catchers and the beginning of the Sleeping Years?
I started working on new material straight away and even played a couple of gigs in London with some friends but it wasn’t really working out for me. I think I needed a break after the Catchers and also after having come out of a very long, very intense relationship. There was a period of about three years where I didn’t write any music. It’s incredible for me to think that now.
I got a job and I decided to build a little home studio so that I could record my own demos. Every month I would save up my money and buy another part until finally I had everything that I needed and I could start to record my songs.

Is the band’s name a reminder of a certain period of time in your life when music was a sleeping activity?
It’s a variation on the very first line of the first song (Beauty No.3 – ‘In her sleeping years deeply slung…’) on the first Catchers album – but I guess it’s also me saying ‘this is what I got up to in my absence’.

How would you describe the Sleeping Years’ music? How different is it from the sound of the Catchers?
I don’t think it’s a million miles from the Catchers’ sound – obviously it’s the same person writing everything but I think my approach has changed a lot. I’ve been working with the way I sing. Whereas with some of the Catchers songs I maybe started with lyrics or a poem that I would break up and then write music for, a lot of the new songs have been recorded with me singing shapes of words over the already finished music – so that I’m being guided by vowel sounds and through that I discover a lot more about my voice. I’m also a far better musician now than I was with the Catchers so I have more scope over what I can do on the guitar for example.
I think the basic elements are the same though. It’s still very lyrical and some of the music has that pop/folk sound to it that I used with the Catchers. I just think after years of practice that I’m getting better at it now. Thank god!

How is your relationship today with Setanta, your former label? Do you think the Sleeping Years could release anything with Setanta?
My relationship is very good with them. It’s odd because I’m starting to meet a lot of people from those days again through playing gigs around London. Keith from the label has been at a few shows and has been very kind about the new songs and has been trying to help put me in contact with people. I think Setanta have become a much smaller label now though. I just don’t think they are in a position to put a record out for us. I think they would love to but at the moment I can’t see how this would happen.

Would you be willing to go back in the studio soon?
Yes. Everything is written so we’re just trying to find a label to sign us. I could start recording the album tomorrow.

You have an outstanding voice, easy to recognize. Are there any voices that have managed to move you recently?
Well, thank you – I’m very glad you think that.
Recently I guess I like what the Animal Collective have been doing, I got into a lot of the Anticon stuff (Dose One in particular), a lot of the singers from the Alan Lomax Southern Journey records – Sacred Harp shape note singing, etc. Anything that is so odd or primitive that you are struck by the originality of the sound, or so utterly heartfelt that you feel that only you and the singer are locked in that moment together.
A couple of old favourites are Mark Hollis and Captain Beefheart.

Could you tell us who took the beautiful series of photographs on your site?
It’s an old school friend of mine called Nial Pollock.

Do you have any memories of your gig in Orleans, 11 years ago?
If it’s the one I’m thinking of then we were touring with another band, maybe Edwyn Collins, but we ended up going there to do our own gig. I think it might have been in a school building but I’m not sure. The one thing I do remember was that a girl turned up who was from Northern Ireland and knew Peter. That’s it. We did so many gigs in France and I remember a lot of them but it was a long time ago. That period of our lives was a very exciting time. The audiences were so good to us and we would always try to sign things for them or talk to as many people as possible after the gigs because it meant so much to us.