FEATURE
Deep Love Foundation Carry On A Tradition of Rock
Deep Love Foundation is a hard rock group based in the West Midlands region of the UK. They have recently released two singles off of their forthcoming ‘Soul Slaves’ album which is due out in May of 2021. Their latest single, “Salvason 606” is loud, heavy, and in your face, in other words, a kick-ass rock n roll song. The band recorded “Salvason 606” as well as the rest of their debut album at the famous Rockfield studios in Monmouthshire, Wales. DLF is carrying on the excellent tradition of heavy rock acts from their small corner of the UK and they don’t shy away from that heritage one bit. Today we speak with Deep Love Foundation about their new single, the legendary Rockfield Studios, and more.
Would you mind introducing us to the band mates? Who plays what?
On guitar and vocals, we have P.B Lockley – Paul simply brims with positive energy which transmits through his performances and to anyone in his presence. On the Bass we have Baz Corinaldi, or as we call him ‘the bass ninja.’ Barry always brings tuneful and impactful b-lines to the party as well as his match-winning smile! Last but not least, the drums are pounded by our drummer Gaz Ayres. Gaz brings the right flavors and is the perfect foil for what we have going on as a band.
How long have you been together as a band, and how did you come together as a group?
The band originally got together in the early 2000s but life has a habit of throwing you curveballs and for a number of reasons this line-up couldn’t continue. The feeling was such between us that we couldn’t imagine continuing with stand-ins or replacements. Even so, this was hard to take and left us all with the feeling of unfinished business. It was another tragedy, the death of Paul’s brother John that brought us all back together. We met at John’s funeral and decided he at least would want us to get back for a jam together, so we did.
We quickly released that the passion and the music were still in us, the DLF machine then just took over and propelled us on this journey, bringing us here, to you, today. Around that time we were approached to play at a local festival which actually turned into headlining the Saturday of the event. That night was very special as we walked back on stage like warriors for the first time in 10 years despite only a few week’s preps. It proved pivotal because we released we still loved to do this and still could do this so it was at this point we began meeting regularly and writing more and more music.
The story of how we met originally is an interesting one that involves a touch of coincidence and chance, but you’ll have to tune in again for that part of the story!
Do you find that being a trio allows for a little more freedom for each band member to fill in the sonic space the way that they see fit?
Definitely, we love the three-piece chemistry and musically we’ve always spoken about its potency. We feel its strength is in its fragility – there is nowhere to hide when it’s a raw trio, everyone has to contribute and hold their own. It’s an interesting paradox and we’re goofy enough to be into stuff like that!
Being a trio goes a lot further than sonic thinking for us though, the most important thing for us is that the balance between the people in the band is right. And when we found this balance of the three of us we’ve never felt like it needs to be changed!
England has such a deep and rich history of rock n roll, what kind of effect do those legendary rock bands like Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, have on your music?
We’re very proud of the legacy these great bands have bestowed on our nation. For all of us, the bands you have mentioned gave to us the gift of inspiration to create and perform our rock music. The excitement we get from listening to their music we aspire to when we create our sounds together. Specifically, the groove that these legendary bands possess is unparalleled and we also want to provide a groove that sparks the body to move. This is the true power of music.
The West Midlands has produced some of the greatest hard rock acts/artists to ever grace the airwaves, including Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Robert Plant, the list goes on. What do you think it is about this specific region of England that you are in that produces this heavy rock sound? Working-class roots? The gloomy weather? Something in the water?
Haha, it’s a great question! We’re not sure anybody really knows the answer to that one; Perhaps all three of those factors contribute in some way shape or form!
What we do know is that the West Midlands is also heralded as the birthplace of the industry with the famous Ironbridge being built by Thomas Telford in 1779 which is located at the Severn Gorge in Ironbridge, Telford.
Abraham Darby, a visionary thinker who mastered the art of smelting iron in 1709, provided the steel for this world’s first achievement. Darby’s discovery led to a whole new era of human history over the last 300 years which has led us to the modern world we know today. We’re pretty confident that the energy that has flowed through this area during the centuries and since has surely affected those living in the region.
We also believe that music generally reflects society and arguably none more so than rock music. It allows the most marginalized voices in society to be heard in the ever-increasingly centralized landscape we all live in. This only strengthens our belief that the region of The West Midlands and great rock music are more closely intertwined than what it may seem at first glance.
Maybe all of these are reasons for the West Midlands hard rock phenomena we all know today?
What does your songwriting process look like? Is it a collaborative rehearsal/studio space session or does one member bring a song to the table with a vision of the end goal?
Honestly, it’s a really mixed bag. We are blessed with Paul and Barry in the band as they both are teeming with ideas, riffs, and musical knowledge. All three of us contribute fully and we enjoy doing most of our writing together.
Above all, though we try to keep things as organic as possible and we will regularly just ‘jam’ together. These jams will often lead to motifs or new songs entirely that we will then go on to develop and refine.
This is one of the most exciting aspects of being in this band. It’s that every time we get together we never know if we’re about to stumble on our next little gem.
Importantly we all speak openly and honestly with each other and get on great as friends. This really helps our ideas flow and allows us to be comfortable to express with each other.
What kind of inspiration do you draw on for your lyrics?
The lyrics in all of our songs are drawn from life experiences, both good and bad. We always want to keep things real, between each other and in our music. So we only ever want to create and share music with honest integrity.
There are so many idols (false or otherwise) and ideologies presented for us to follow these days, that we feel is true to ourselves, and what you believe in has never been more crucial.
There is always a message and always truth in our lyrics and Paul is a genius at putting them together. We really feel that nobody else tells it the way he does!
I’d love it if you could explain the phrase “Salvason 606” to us. What does that represent to you as a band?
Salvason is ‘The magic bullet’ – the answer to the world’s problems and a miracle cure-all in one bottle! It’s actually a play on words from Salvarsen which was the start of antibacterial drugs as we know them and also the word Salvation as the song represents a magic feel-good sound to break through your daily white noise humdrum!
If we could bottle Salvason 606 and sell it as a cream we certainly would! We think there would be far fewer problems in the world if we did – get in touch if you can make that happen!
You recorded this track and your forthcoming album at Rockfield Studios, which has seen the likes of Oasis, Judas Priest, Queen, and many more walk through its doors. What was that experience like for you as a band?
Working at Rockfield was a combination of a hazy dream, the best lads holiday, and awe-inspiring greatness. It’s the kind of place that no matter where you turn you are confronted by a little piece of music history, there have been so many great records made there!
Of course, the spaces at Rockfield sound great, then that’s backed up by fantastic analog gear, and then there are some great people running it. That all makes for a great combination when producing records.
We self-funded our trip there so we only had five days on-site which absolutely flew by! However, working with Nick Brine meant we made full use of the time and it was a fantastic experience from first to last. We were sorry to say goodbye to everyone and we hope to go back there one day
Do you think the process of recording at Rockfield produced a better overall album than you could have made tracking at a run of the mill studio?
It’s really hard to say, I’m sure we could track great material wherever we went, to be honest with you. However, we chose Rockfield because of its pedigree, because we love the sound of the Rush and Ozzy records that came from there and because we felt the music deserved being backed to go somewhere that could do it justice.
In part, it was an acid test for the band. We’d never been anywhere other than the run of the mill before so we didn’t really know what we would come away with.
That’s all part of making music and making records though – you might think you have an idea in your mind but does that translate to a finished recording.
What we can say though is that our producer Nick Brine really understood the band and how to record in a way that was sympathetic to our sound and our way of working. We have to thank him a lot for being a key part of the process, cheers Nick!
Lastly, what are you most proud of, as a band, about your forthcoming ‘Soul Slaves’ album?
We’re proud that we have fought our way back to being together, to making music together, and having made this record together. There were times during the last ten years where I’m sure we all believed we may never make it back – so to be sharing this music with you and the world is the most special thing for us all. We make music to share the excitement we all feel from it but also in hope that it may help someone in the same way music has helped us so many times in our lives.
That’s not just as players or performers but as listeners of music. Music has been monumental for all of us through the years getting us through relationships, deaths, and illness as well as accompanying the happier memories in our lives.
So if any of the music on ‘Soul Slaves’ can help anybody else out there then we have achieved something truly beyond status, finance, or legacy.
This album is us and represents what Deep Love Foundation does. But it’s only a small slice of what’s to come; we hope this to be the first of many from the DLF machine.
www.deeplovefoundation.com (launched soon)
www.facebook.com/thedeeplovefoundation
www.instagram.com/deeplovefoundation
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0kDJ5UNYZFBxsFlqtbNfp4
www.youtube.com/channel/UCYPYdqejgm6uAa8gfPMl9BQ
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