Alan Clark - new interview

[quizzaciously]

There’s an act called Clearwater Creedence Revival that skates a bit close name wise in my opinion!

HAHAHA! That's hilarious. When Mark's auction was malfunctioning, there was a very funny chat on YouTube with all Knopfler puns.

In it, there was a guy with the nickname Kark Mnopfler. I wonder if I would "perform" under this name, how fast I'd be contacted by Kark Mnopfler's lawyers.

[Knut]

There’s an act called Clearwater Creedence Revival that skates a bit close name wise in my opinion!

HAHAHA! That's hilarious. When Mark's auction was malfunctioning, there was a very funny chat on YouTube with all Knopfler puns.

In it, there was a guy with the nickname Kark Mnopfler. I wonder if I would "perform" under this name, how fast I'd be contacted by Kark Mnopfler's lawyers.

I think you'd get away with that one. The names sound VERY different.

You also have the Fogerty song Zanz kant danz, which had to be changed (but just slightly, to Vanz kant danz) as it was too close to Zaentz, who he had a "beef" with at that point. Sometimes, you don't need to do alot.

[Knut]

Well, if you compare Terminal Of Tribute To with 3 Chord Trick and say they're just different ways of mocking each other, at least you should be able to call both of them out on it with equal wording, rather than going the whole fanboy route where the "hero" gets a free pass just because "oh, he's a genius" or whatever.

I don't know how much truth there is in the MK vs the cover bands thing, but if MK actually has a problem with them and their members, it's childish and immature. I hope he knows better than that. If he can play DS songs live post-DS, surely the other members of DS can do the same.

Although I like OES, it doesn't feel much like a DS album - it sounds more like a continuation of Notting Hillbillies. What AC says sounds reasonable to my years. But - let's be real: MK knew it was the end, and didn't care if it made sense to go in that direction as there never was supposed to be a follow up.

Your last paragraph sums it up fine, to me OES is more like Mark's first solo album anyway. As if all the previous albums weren't his solo albums. Hehe.

The funny thing is Mark never expressed anything towards his ex-band members besides the Terminal Of Tribute To song, not a single word. Guy also added on his forum that Mark said everything he wanted to say about the matter in the song. So I'm not sure who's childish where in this situation. Only when really "cornered" in one of the "tough" interviews, did Mark admit that David was just not a good guitar player.

I see this whole situation of ex-band members trying so hard to return to Dire Straits or saying it went a wrong way is like going to your ex-girlfriend or ex-wife and trying to resurrect the marriage. The magic is gone, arguments are all over the place, but you still do it, when there are 4 billion other women in the world.

Well, there is this odd thing where an ex-member from DS can't really say much negatively about the direction of DS without implying that they feel MK made the wrong moves, as he was the one who made the decisions. And that's not their fault, really. It's not like they owe MK to not talk about DS, and express their opinions about their time in the band. The childish one for sure is the one trying to talk down other musician's work. Such as DSL. It's a legit business, not their fault MK didn't want to continue and they have no reason to let that stop them from playing some of the songs they played live when they were in the band. Which is what they do, not sure if they ever played any other DS tracks than those.

[Knut]

I don't know how much truth there is in the MK vs the cover bands thing, but if MK actually has a problem with them and their members, it's childish and immature. I hope he knows better than that. If he can play DS songs live post-DS, surely the other members of DS can do the same.

The way I understand it, Mark has a problem with tribute bands using the brand name (or almost) of Dire Straits -  "The Straits", "Dire Straits Legacy", etc. He would never, I think, object to John's, or anyone's, performing DS songs live per se. Of course he has a point in as much as such tribute bands are, by definition, cashing in on a big name and brand. Whether one sees this as a problem or not is subjective.

To me, Terminal of Tribute To has always seemed overly vitriolic. I can see where Mark is coming from - they are his songs and those are his former bandmates - but from a multi-millionaire, and one who will never resurrect DS, it just seems uncalled for. No one would consider such bands a threat to Mark, or expect him to voice an opinion of them, if he hadn't written, recorded, and released a long song about them.

This is very common, though. Like, you have AC/DShe. You probably guessed it: all-female AC/DC cover band. As long as it's clear what they are (i.e. not just one letter difference - "Dire Strats" would be crossing a line), there's not a problem. After all, they are playing in the DS style, even with ex-members from the band and names such as DSE or DSL are CLEARLY just tribute names and not trying to misguide concert goers. They get what the name implies: the same old songs, played by (mostly) different people.

[Beryl]

I dislike all those tribute bands with ex members letting DS name confuse everybody just in order to cash in. BUT I think Terminal of Tribute To is a truly mean-spirited, unnecesary, unfunny, perfectly mediocre piece of lyrics which put MK in a position I don't like to see him. Satire has to be good (this song is not satirically brilliant at all) and should go bottom-up, not top-down (the small guy should make fun of the powerful, not the other way around).

[quizzaciously]

I dislike all those tribute bands with ex members letting DS name confuse everybody just in order to cash in. BUT I think Terminal of Tribute To is a truly mean-spirited, unnecesary, unfunny, perfectly mediocre piece of lyrics which put MK in a position I don't like to see him. Satire has to be good (this song is not satirically brilliant at all) and should go bottom-up, not top-down (the small guy should make fun of the powerful, not the other way around).

Brilliantly well said Beryl. Terminal is a strange song indeed and clearly shows that Mark also has his flaws. Instead of keeping the silence, he broke it with this masterpiece and turned back to silence again. The only theory I have in Mark's defence here, is we don't know the real scale of their bad relationships with some of the ex-band members, and this level of harshness from MK could be a sign that everything's truly bad. You need to do or say something extraordinary when a guy who wrote Brothers In Arms writes a song about you.

[dustyvalentino]

The music is good though!

[Matchstickman]

I dislike all those tribute bands with ex members letting DS name confuse everybody just in order to cash in. BUT I think Terminal of Tribute To is a truly mean-spirited, unnecesary, unfunny, perfectly mediocre piece of lyrics which put MK in a position I don't like to see him. Satire has to be good (this song is not satirically brilliant at all) and should go bottom-up, not top-down (the small guy should make fun of the powerful, not the other way around).

I agree on Terminal, and made a similar point earlier. That song does not land well.

But it's not the only time. "Poor old fakers trying to dance in my old shoes" is surely about old DS members as well.

It seems inconceivable that Mark would care so much about cover bands or tribute bands in general. He takes issue with old band members doing it, especially when named "The Straits" and what not.

[Matchstickman]

As for the country stuff on OES...

I've been thinking about Dusty's point about Setting Me Up on the first record. It's a fair point - it's country/country rock song. And yes, Mark uses chicken pickin' and so on. Still, Setting Me Up is just such an awesome song - great riff, catchy lyrics, cool groove, fantastic soloing - and it does not feel typical of those early albums. It is more of an outlier. (Six Blade Knife is bluesy, but mostly the early songs are neither blues nor country).
 
With OES, and the tour, there is a different vibe that comes across in several of the songs, no doubt reflecting Mark's leaning in that direction more generally. The last DS song is How Long, and it's fine and everything, but still... It does seem a bit odd. And in that sense I think Alan is right.

[Love Expresso]

I dislike all those tribute bands with ex members letting DS name confuse everybody just in order to cash in. BUT I think Terminal of Tribute To is a truly mean-spirited, unnecesary, unfunny, perfectly mediocre piece of lyrics which put MK in a position I don't like to see him. Satire has to be good (this song is not satirically brilliant at all) and should go bottom-up, not top-down (the small guy should make fun of the powerful, not the other way around).

I agree on Terminal, and made a similar point earlier. That song does not land well.

But it's not the only time. "Poor old fakers trying to dance in my old shoes" is surely about old DS members as well.

It seems inconceivable that Mark would care so much about cover bands or tribute bands in general. He takes issue with old band members doing it, especially when named "The Straits" and what not.

I would also count "Sky And Water" into this group of songs although he maybe tried to change the perspektive here.

LE

[Matchstickman]

LE, are you saying you interpret Sky and Water as being about old band members and Mark? If so, then the band members would be the ones getting rid of him (the captain)...

[Love Expresso]

Exactly that is my take on it.

LE

[Matchstickman]

Never thought of that, but it does not quite seem to fit, since the band never got rid of Mark; he got rid of them. Also, the narrator in the song seems to be addressing a loved one at home, so the focus is different. (Unless there are specific textual clues that I am missing.)

Years ago, Mark was reading these types of seafaring stories, so that's probably where the idea came from, in any case.

Still, interesting point. Never thought much about this song. It is open to metaphorical readings.

[Robson]

I remember a discussion on the forum that this was a story inspired by The Bounty.

[Matchstickman]

Makes sense!