“I Had No Interest In Doing Music…” Dexys Interviewed

Kevin Rowland speaks to MOJO about the new Dexys album, The Feminine Divine.

Kevin Rowland’s last LP was 2016 covers set Let The Record Show: Dexys Do Irish And Country Soul. “The whole experience around that, I just found really draining,” Rowland tells Mojo today. “I had no interest in doing music. I mean, like, 2017, 2018, 2019, no ideas were coming. And then probably two years ago, maybe, I thought, I’d actually like to do something now.”

Songs co-written, individually, with Dexys trombonist Big Jim Paterson, keyboardist Mike Timothy and guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Sean Read, were demoed until late 2021. In 2022 work continued in studios including Read’s Famous Times in Hackney, Timothy’s set-up in Willesden and producer Toby Chapman’s space in Catford. Sound files were exchanged on e-mail, with Rowland singing some of the string and brass parts.