New programme with MK - MARK LAWSON TALKS TO...

[Lis]

Loved the interview -- MK did seem to be more generous in his replies than in the past!!  I don't see nervousness, as much as I do a general sense of unease.  This seems to be present in most of his interviews... no?   

[Jarle]

Finally got round to watching the BBC4 interview. I thought it pretty well done and sensed no nervousness on MK's part at all. He skated around the David Knopfler question but that's about it really.

Was the brief clip of him with Richard Bennett new to you? Ifd so, does this perhaps indicate when the interview took place?

The part where Richard and Mark plays acoustics together is from the last five minuts of A Life In Songs... Filmed backstage somewhere during the GL tour.

[Hophead]

Finally got round to watching the BBC4 interview. I thought it pretty well done and sensed no nervousness on MK's part at all. He skated around the David Knopfler question but that's about it really.

Was the brief clip of him with Richard Bennett new to you? Ifd so, does this perhaps indicate when the interview took place?

The part where Richard and Mark plays acoustics together is from the last five minuts of A Life In Songs... Filmed backstage somewhere during the GL tour.

That coupled with Lawson mentioning the release of the 'new album' with 20 songs ...Privateering...leads me to believe that the interview may have been done this past fall..maybe October or November.
As far as mentioning David goes..he actually seemed at ease when first addressing the idea that brothers don't work out together in bands. I think Mark  wanted it to work out...but David just couldn't take direction from 'big brother'. My brothers and I get along just fine..until we try to work on a project together.. .

[Rkd]

I didn't think MK looked nervous in this interview either. There is just always a bit of unease in his body language when he talks about himself. And in reflection, I certainly get that Mark and David realized they could not work together and went their separate ways. What I don't get is that their previously close personal relationship ended when their professional relationship ended. From comments that David has made over the years, he seems to long for a reconciliation but that Mark does not. I can only surmise that in the heat of their professional breakup, comments were made (perhaps comments David now regrets making like the one about Mark being such an odd fellow) that led Mark to believe there wasn't much of a personal relationship to preserve. 

[Fletch]

I googled David Knopfler the other day.. the funny thing was in the top ten results was the marvelously satirical Uncyclepedia article on Dire Straits (very entertaining) and also some crackpot who claims to have written all the lyrics on the first DS album (this nutter has a very well produced web page detailing his claims) !! Amazing !

[Hophead]

I googled David Knopfler the other day.. the funny thing was in the top ten results was the marvelously satirical Uncyclepedia article on Dire Straits (very entertaining) and also some crackpot who claims to have written all the lyrics on the first DS album (this nutter has a very well produced web page detailing his claims) !! Amazing !

Aaaahh how the internet has opened another door for all the crackpots. Back in the pre-net days we would have found said nutter on a street corner holding a sign that proclaimed that he was The Messiah..."two men claim they're Jesus..one of them must be wrong" 

[oldhasbeen]

Finally got round to watching the BBC4 interview. I thought it pretty well done and sensed no nervousness on MK's part at all. He skated around the David Knopfler question but that's about it really.

Was the brief clip of him with Richard Bennett new to you? Ifd so, does this perhaps indicate when the interview took place?

I think the most enlightening program on the MK/DK bust-up was the BBC's "Brother in Arms" a few years back, in which  David, but not Mark, appeared. Muff Winwood and the DS manager had their say, it was pretty clear that MK was pretty dictatorial, and Muff's suggestion of doing a couple of DK's songs on an album went down like a lead balloon. Whether DK was a good enough musician or not I'm not sure, but the personal dynamics between DK & MK seemed to be the nux of the problem.

[JF]

it was pretty clear that MK was pretty dictatorial

yes, confirmed in the Oldfield book.
the difference is that John accepted this fact, David not.

[Jules]

it was pretty clear that MK was pretty dictatorial

yes, confirmed in the Oldfield book.
the difference is that John accepted this fact, David not.

And Pick either...

When he realised the path that DS was following in musical terms and the little he had to do with that (his playing I mean) he decided he had to leave.

The two original members that had their own musical thing, both left the band.

[JF]

it was pretty clear that MK was pretty dictatorial

yes, confirmed in the Oldfield book.
the difference is that John accepted this fact, David not.

And Pick either...

When he realised the path that DS was following in musical terms and the little he had to do with that (his playing I mean) he decided he had to leave.

The two original members that had their own musical thing, both left the band.

Yes, in the Oldfield's book, there is an Ed quote about Pick who thought that keyboards took more importance than drums....
There was also the fact that Pick was homesick on tour

[Jules]

When someone leaves a band there is always many factors that together, makes you take the decision.

[vgonis]

Two different things DK and PW. The first left unwillingly while making the third difficult album proven massive MM, (actually he had recorded some parts and he had his photo taken for the album inner sleeve) while  the second left after the no.1 hit album Love ove gold, so actually knowing what he misses. Some friction can be creative in a group, but everybody should accept this fact.  DK's rhythm contributions in the first DS albums were fine but MM parts were more demanding. However if you listen to DK's  solo efforts, they are keyboard heavy (or anyway heavier that the 2 DS albums). So in a way he might have been responsible for this change of sound, in a way. 
As for PW, I think it is a variety of reasons, already mentioned here.

And of course, there are some things that can not be told, for various reasons and we can only speculate.  But really I care more about the music.

Thanks Allen for posting1

[Jules]

Thats not the reason why DK left DS...

Thats the last drop obviously, but DK was very unhappy in DS cause he was a songwritter himself, and after two records and two tours he was very upset with the fact that none of his tracks were even considered by his brother, that now was coproducing the third record, so if he was just a guitar player in the band, now he was even less (considering himself as a songwriter too)

Probably the reason why DK wasn

[dmg]

It was probably a mixture of a lot of things and it just needed one thing to be the excuse they needed to quit - in DK's case the argument during the MM sessions.

[oldhasbeen]

I saw DK & his band a few years ago, DK often played keys while his mate Harry played some excellent guitar. VG gig; DK spoke warmly, if briefly, about "my brother Mark."
What did Pick do after leaving DS? I went to see a band he was advertised as playing with (the Gary Fletcher band) a couple of years back but he didn't show up and a rather heavy-handed local drummer filled in.