Former Zutons frontman Dave McCabe brings new musical project to Carlisle

As lead singer of Liverpudlian indie rockers The Zutons, Dave McCabe was responsible for some of the most memorable hits of the early 2000s – not least the Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse endorsed 'Valerie'.

Recently signed to James Endeacott's relaunched 1965 Records, Dave McCabe & The Ramifications gives a voice to the frontman's more electronic tendencies.

Talking about the gestation of the album, Dave explained: “I wanted to do something that wasn’t a guitar record. There’s loads of music I’ve always been into, things like Kraftwerk, Depeche Mode, Human League, more electronic stuff that was totally different to what we’d been doing in the Zutons. I wanted to do my own version of a Grand Theft Auto soundtrack basically.”

Recorded with producers Viktor Voltage and Mr Chop and utilising their array of analogue and digital equipment, the resulting album reflects Dave’s tastes with its Moroder and Prince-esque flourishes, while lyrically exploring themes of technology and de-humanization.

“It’s about a fella who falls in love with a robot, but after a while he realizes that he actually needs some real human contact,” explained Dave.

“It’s scary man, you look at the way technology is going then you look at the way humanity is going and it’s like technology is going to start edging ahead of us and be more advanced than we are as humans.

“You look at how little we interact now on a normal level, we just do everything through our phones, we’re so reliant on gadgets and stuff you wonder where it ends.”

Recorded at Ape Studios on The Wirral in the second half of 2014, the album is preceded by the release of the single, ‘Too Damn Good’.

The single will be accompanied by an offbeat video to Too Damn Good featuring puppets and CCTV coverage directed by Scott James.

Debut album 'Church Of Miami' will be released on September 4, on 1965 Records, before the band head out on their full length tour in October.