De Rosa: Not In It For The Money

Critical acclaim and commercial success rarely go hand in hand. But, as a shall we say, ‘discerning’ music fan, you’ll already know this. With little fanfare, De Rosa released one of the albums of the year with their debut Mend in 2006. The Lanarkshire trio were then asked to support local legends Arab Strap on their farewell tour in December that same year.

“It was an honour,” recalls singer Martin Henry, chatting to me in biting winds outside Edinburgh's GRV. “They were the band that made me aware of the fact that you could be Scottish, sing in your own voice and that it didn’t have to be just a thing you did in Scotland. You could go out into the world and ‘be Scottish’.” The upshot of all this must have been some serious exposure, a bit of fame, some cash? “No, not at all,” states Martin flatly. “Everybody in this band has another profession. This band is everyone’s passion and that’s the way I want it to stay. We do it because we love it – I don’t care if we make any money.”

Thankfully, the daily grind of the nine-to-five hasn’t put De Rosa off their passion. They’ve just finished album number two, Prevention, which is due for release in February. “I’m really pleased with it,” says Martin, unsurprisingly. “Compared to the first album it sounds like more of a band effort.” This is no doubt down to De Rosa’s swelling from a trio to a quintet between albums. “I think the band became much more democratic. Everybody feels equal to a certain point, although I bring in the original ideas. But in the studio everything just tends to fly and depending on what the idea or song is people have a different level of input.”

When we last caught up with Martin in January last year, he assured us that “the next album will be more mature and experimental in equal measure.” Has it lived up to these goals? “I think we’ve maybe relied on instinct a lot more than using our brains this time, so I don’t really know about experimental, but it’s more mature,” he offers. “The first album was, to me, a great deal more about place, whereas I think this album is slightly more related to a relationship. There are a lot more heartbreak tunes on it than on the first album, which was more about where I was coming from. This is much more personal.”

In the meantime, eager fans have been treated to the band’s Appendices project, where each month a brand new song has been made available to download for free via their website. “I’ve always felt like for every five, six, seven, eight songs that I write, one gets used in the band,” explains Martin. “It was kind of fun to develop stuff which we thought ‘nah’ for the album but thought that it should have a place. It also keeps us doing stuff, keeps us motivated and gets us to work to deadlines, which we’re always shit at.”

It seems a little passé to ask Martin about the ‘Radiohead model’ at this point, but he is more than happy to admit that he was influenced by it. “I think everybody was,” he proposes. “I mean, it’s very easy to be cynical of what they did, but at the same time it let a lot of bands see what you could do with the Internet and it made me question why I’m doing it. Am I doing it to make money, or am I doing it because I love it?”

“It questions whether bands need other people,' Martin continues. "Do bands need record labels, distribution and stuff like that? Because really, digitally at least, you can distribute your music for nothing worldwide. I think it’s changed the nature of record contracts and I think that bands will become more aware that they can own their music and record within budgets that they can achieve, and so deals have become more like licensing. Rather than you being on a label’s roster, you choose to give them your music, maybe one album at a time, and I think that empowers bands a lot.”

Clearly, with little in the way of traditional success, this new playing field is helping provide De Rosa with the motivation to keep doing what they love. As one of Scotland’s brightest, yet least sung talents, we can only hope that it continues for a long time to come.