With a big year ahead, we caught up with the Dovegate frontman, Jon Cregeen, to talk all things music and the band…
How did you get together as a band?
I first started learning the guitar whilst in last year of high school and at that time I was good friends with Aaron (Dovegate’s bassist).
We had previously become mates as we both had similar tastes in music. At first, there was never any intention on taking music too seriously, until a few years later when we left school.
Aaron and I kept in touch and had often spoken about meeting up to ‘jam’ or make our own songs. I eventually plucked up the courage to send Aaron a video of my first-ever song and we soon met up and started writing more together.
Eventually, we played a few open mic nights and that’s when Francis (Dovegate’s drummer) messaged me.
I knew Francis from sixth form and we quickly got chatting about music and that Francis was a drummer. I then decided to invite Francis down to play with us and everything instantly clicked.
With lockdown, we struggled to keep regular practice but had soon decided we were going to become a band. We finally settled on a band name and made our Instagram account and I guess the rest is history!
What’s behind the choice in name?
Before anyone else asks… We are not from Dovecot!
At first, we had struggled for a name; everything we chose was either awful or already taken.
I remember speaking to Dan (Parker – Keyside’s frontman), who gave me the idea of having some sort of family story related to the name.
I liked this as it would give us something to talk about without having much music to play. After a long bit of thinking, I finally settled on Dovegate which is the name of a prison in Staffordshire.
The story behind that is it is actually the place where I first met my grandad, but that’s a whole other story in itself.
I suppose it was a tribute to him and I really liked the other connotations of the name about peace and freedom. It felt original and unique.
I sent that into the group chat and Aaron and Francis liked it (I hope, and we then agreed and began our journey as Dovegate.
When did you start playing and writing songs yourself?
As I mentioned, I had played guitar for a few years before I decided to make my own music.
I’d eventually got better and grown in confidence with singing. I really started working on them after I met with Aaron and we got some good feedback from family. I guess we then caught the bug for it and started making more and more.
As a band, I believe we have all really progressed since we started.
None of us have ever had any lessons and are all self-taught.
Aaron literally had never touched a bass when we first met up as an official band. Over time, we started working on our songs and saw a huge development in them, with myself bringing better melodies and lyrics backed with Aaron’s bass and Francis’s drums and structural knowledge.
We have all helped each other develop and now we are all bringing songs of our own and helping each other to write more and more.
Who are your personal musical idols and inspirations?
As a band, we all have pretty similar tastes in music.
We take inspiration from bands such as The Beatles, The La’s and Cast, just to mention a few of our favourite Liverpool bands.
Similarly, we are all fans of The Jam, Green Day and The Undertones, which you can definitely hear hints of within our sound.
I think we all take inspiration from this city and all walks of life within.
My first-ever song was written whilst in lockdown.
I was sat in the living room and outside I could see a neighbour’s funeral taking place.
The family were all socially distanced along the street and it seemed such a weird experience. I just came up with a chord progression and put pen to paper to write the song.
Another big example is how Liverpool inspired our song ‘Pool of Life’.
It’s simply about my love for the city and those within it. I think taking inspiration like this gives people something to relate to when they listen, which is evident as this is always a fan favourite.
How would you describe your style as a band?
This is a question we always find difficult.
Personally, we don’t like to generalise it with any label and like to leave our music up to people’s interpretation. Generally, we try and make feel-good music that is fresh and unique.
If we had to label our sound, it would most likely be indie rock, mixed with other genres like Brit pop, soft rock and even punk.
All we want to do is make songs that people enjoy.
What’s coming up next?
Next up for us is recording our first single to be released. We are set to record this month and hopefully, it will be a matter of time before we get our music out there.
Also, we have our first gig of 2023, on March 10 in EBGBs. We are really looking forward to getting back on stage. Tickets are out now on Skiddle and the link is in our social media bios.
You can buy tickets for Dovegate’s EBGBs show here and follow them on Instagram here.
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