Their one and only album may have been released back in 1989, but the music of Diving For Pearls is still deeply etched in the memories of melodic rock fans the world over. They still clamour over rare copies of the bands classic self-titled debut on eBay, and have been eagerly anticipating its long-awaited follow-up since news broke that vocalist Danny Malone was once again working on new material.
Well now the wait is over, Diving For Pearls sophomore album Texas, has been released on Atenzia Records.
It feels great to finally have this record completed and ready for release, says Malone. I think the songs stand up to, and perhaps in some ways are even better than, the songs on the first record.
Diving For Pearls aficionados will undoubtedly be excited at such a statement of intent, and with a host of ready-made successors to cherished classics such as New Moon and Gimme Your Good Lovin on Texas, its certainly not without good reason.
Founded in 1988 by Malone and named after a line in the Elvis Costello song, Shipbuilding, Diving For Pearls 1989 self-titled debut gained a coveted five-K review in rock bible Kerrang! But the grunge revolution and poor promotion by Epic prematurely ended the bands career and it would be more than a decade before Malone would reunite with producer David Prater to recreate the distinctive Diving For Pearls sound.
Texas was recorded in Allen, Texas and latterly, Massachusetts, during 2004, and the musical chemistry between the two during recording sessions in 1989 was evident in abundance this time around too.
Danny affirms: Only David Prater could have produced this record and got the vocal performances that he did out of me. He has a reputation for being extremely demanding, but I would have to say, he has always been capable of getting the best out of me.
While Texas remains true to the timeless sound of Diving For Pearls, the albums 12 tracks demonstrate a contemporary edge and the result is an effortless combination of the modern and the classic, as Malone notes.
David and I wanted the new record to have a sense of continuity with the first record without sounding nostalgic, he says. We are both fans of the records being made by bands like the White Stripes and Audioslave, and wanted to see if we could incorporate a few of the elements that they use, without abandoning the sound that we established on the first record.
Crunching opener Thinking About Things That Will Never Be certainly achieves that aim along with possible standout track, The Colours Show and the bluesy album closer, Stop The World From Turning but those traditional Diving For Pearls melodies and Malones superb vocals are always at the forefront.
There are a good amount of similarities between the new material and the old material, says Malone. I hope the fans are able to relate to the songs melodically, in the same way that they related to the stuff on the first record.
With material as strong as the heart-stopping ballad The Truth Is, the rocking If I Only Knew and Lonely Is The Dark, that wont be too hard for Diving For Pearls fans to do. Former Diving For Pearls keyboardist Jack Moran contributed to the song writing on three tunes on Texas but Malone believes the albums highlight to be Thinking About Things That Will Never Be, one of his solo compositions.
Thats the most notable song for me, Im actually very proud of that particular song as I wrote it myself, he says. I guess that most of the songs started with an idea of mine, and because I enjoy working with other people, were finished with someone elses help. But the contributions of Jack along with David Zycheks guitar and bass guitar playing really helped to shape a sound that is both reminiscent of the first record, without sounding like a obvious attempt to mimic it.
Diving For Pearls were cruelly denied the opportunity to build on such a glorious start to their music career, and though the musical landscape has significantly altered in the 15 years since the band first burst onto the scene, with the release of Texas, Malone believes some things never change.
Were still a good little rock n roll band, with good songs, and hopefully a believable lead singer, he says. And I dont think that weve strayed too far away from what weve always been good at...melodic rock.
