music.wikisort.org - Musician

David Westlake is an English singer/songwriter. He led indie band The Servants from 1985 to 1991.

David Westlake
At the NME C86 show – London, 2014
Background information
Born	(1965-02-12) 12 February 1965 (age 57) Hayes, Middlesex, England[1]
Origin	England
Genres	Indie, art rock
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter
Instrument(s)	Guitar
Years active	1985-present
Labels	Tiny Global Productions Cherry Red Records
Website	www.lostsheep.com/davidwestlake

History

Westlake formed indie band the Servants in 1985 in Hayes, Middlesex, England.[2]

The Servants appeared on 1986’s NME-associated C86 compilation, and the band was from 1986 to 1991 the original home of Luke Haines.[3]

Haines describes David Westlake’s first solo album, 1987’s Westlake (Creation Records), as “a minor classic”.[4]

In 2002, Westlake released self-pressed album Play Dusty for Me (Mahlerphone) in a limited issue that quickly sold out.[5] Play Dusty for Me was reissued in 2010 and 2015.[6][7]

Tiny Global Productions released Westlake’s album My Beautiful England in 2022.[8]

The Servants

The Servants' Small Time album was well received on its 2012 Cherry Red Records release, more than twenty years after its 1991-recording. The belated release followed the inclusion of 1990’s Disinterest in Mojo magazine’s 2011 list of the greatest British indie records of all time.[9]

Westlake and Haines played together for the first time in twenty-three years at the Lexington, London N1 on 4 May 2014.[10] Westlake and band played at an NME C86 show on 14 June 2014 at Venue 229, London W1; the show marked Cherry Red Records’ expanded reissue of C86.[11]

As chronicled in an interview in US music magazine The Big Takeover (issue 53, 2004), Belle and Sebastian frontman Stuart Murdoch was a huge Westlake fan and tried to locate him in the early 1990s in hope of forming a band with him, before launching Belle and Sebastian in his school class instead.[12]

David Westlake is a solicitor and academic.[13]

Discography

Albums

Solo

• Westlake (Nov 1987, Creation Records, CRELP019 [LP]; reissued on CD by Sony in August 1993)
• Play Dusty for Me (Jun 2002, Mahlerphone, CDA 001 [CD]; reissued Jul 2010 & Nov 2015)
• My Beautiful England (Aug 2022, Tiny Global Productions, PAPLP005 [LP]/PAPCD005 [CD])

with The Servants

• Disinterest (Jul 1990, Paperhouse Records, PAPLP005 [LP]/PAPCD005 [CD])
• Reserved (compilation; Mar 2006, Cherry Red Records, CDMRED297 [CD]; reissued in reduced form as Youth Club Disco, Jul 2011)
• Small Time/Hey Hey We're the Manqués (Oct 2012, Cherry Red Records, CDB RED 535 [2CD]; reissued Dec 2013)

Singles

with the Servants

• “She’s Always Hiding”/“Transparent” (Mar 1986, Head Records, HEAD1 [7"])
• “The Sun, a Small Star”/“Meredith”/“It Takes No Gentleman”/“Funny Business” (Oct 1986, Head Records, HEAD3 [12"])
• “It’s My Turn”/“Afterglow” (Sep 1989, Glass Records, GLASS056 [7"])
• “It’s My Turn”/“Afterglow”/“Faithful to 3 Lovers”/“Do or Be Done” (Sep 1989, Glass Records, GLASS12 056 [12"])
• “Look Like a Girl”/“Bad Habits Die Hard” (Aug 1990, Paperhouse Records, PAPER004 [7"])

References

External links

• Derek Sozou, David Westlake site
• Luke Haines, Bad Vibes (London: William Heinemann, 2009), 5-10.
• Luke Haines, sleevenotes to the Servants’ compilation Reserved (Cherry Red Records CDMRED 297, 2006)
• Luke Haines, sleevenotes to the Servants’ album Small Time (Cherry Red Records CDB RED 535, 2012)
• Jack Rabid, review of David Westlake’s album Play Dusty For Me in The Big Takeover, 17 Jan 2011
• John Peel session information
• Janice Long session information
• PhD

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