Life after
'Accent' by Paul Pryde:
So what does a
musician, performer, band member, and entertainer do after his band decide
to ‘call it a day’, after 30 years of playing? Join another
band? Play solo? Play for fun? Maybe all or none of the above.
We all need a ‘raison d’etre’ to produce and create.
I asked Gary to record the song
'On My Way' for a planned ‘boys’ trip to Scotland in 2000.
You know the sort of thing; fishing, hill climbing and
golf! I thought it would be nice to
write a little tune to play in the car as we all crossed the
border into the Highlands.
From that first project - ‘Pride of Dunbar’ -
evolved into a reality as an umbrella organisation for the production/engineering skills of Gary Dungar (Bass) and
the developing song writing of myself, Paul Pryde (guitars/keyboards).
Together with the
recent advances of digital sound recording and interest
generated, ‘Pride of Dunbar’ began to create and produce and release a varied mix of contemporary folk music, (with a twist of
rock). Various talented musicians and singers as ‘guest’ performers
were used to flesh out and enhance the songs. The result is a varied and mixed soundscape of ideas and vocals. We fully realise this leaves us open to a ‘un-defined'’ sound, but in many ways that is exactly what ‘Pride of Dunbar’ is - a ‘un-definable sound’. In this commercial sound bite market led music industry, it is a breath of fresh, clean, highland
air!
Folk music with a twist of
Rock
People like to compartmentalise or categorise music so maybe just a word on the sort of
music Pride of Dunbar play. Although some tracks are acoustic based, it is not in any way folk based in the traditional sense - folk singer, pint in hand, finger in ear. However, many of the lyrics, ideas, song content and inspiration where born out of the folk ethos
i.e. real life - (Brand New Day, One Life, I Remember) and if Folk music is about people, places and true life experiences, then this is folk music (with a twist of
rock). If nothing else, we’ve got a Rock and Roll
heart!
Why
“Pride of Dunbar”?
Apart from the obvious play on words - Paul Pryde and
Gary Dungar (people are always spelling them wrong!), ‘Dunbar’, is a small coastal town near Edinburgh. Many Prydes are buried there as it is the ancestral birthplace of the Pryde clan, First recorded in 1608.
