FT: How was Xmas and New year?
DA: Great thanks – we spent Christmas Day with the family and our grandchildren (aged three and five) which was magical. We’d planned a garden concert and livestream for Saturday 30th December, but the weather forecast was so bad that we re-scheduled for New Year’s Day. Just as well, ‘cos there was a good few inches of snow on 30th December…and New Year’s day was perfect albeit bloody freezing!
FT: Last year saw you back out on the road and the vinyl release of you most recent album ‘Devil May Care’. Was it a successful year for you?
DA: 2023 definitely saw things start to pick up a little after the last few years’ fiasco. It kicked off with nomination in the UK Blues Awards and a final placement in the top three which was nice. There were a couple of trips to Finland, one to Estonia which included the huge ViruFolk festival and a great show in Berlin for the German AC/DC fan club’s anniversary.
One of the UK summer festival highlights was Upton Blues Festival. I’ve done that festival a few times in the past and it’s always been a blast, but this year’s was particularly special. The Kickstarter campaign to get ‘Devil May Care’ out on red vinyl in the summer was a success that exceeded all my expectations and the support was overwhelming. And humbling.
We arranged a run of England dates to co-incide with the vinyl release and the attendance and support for all the shows was extremely re-assuring that things were improving a little for live music. A new single – ‘Younger Days’ – dropped in the Autumn and despite starting out as a hill country blues styled song turned into more of a country thing with some yodelling!
In November my pal Ismo Haavisto came over from Finland to be my special guest and open for me on a run of Scottish shows which, like the England tour dates, were a great success and great fun. So overall, 2023 has been a good year despite the challenges of the previous few years.
FT: As well as making music, you’ve become well known online for your barbequing skills. Might this be the year we see a Dave Arcari cookbook?
DA: Haha…well, you never know!
I love doing barbecue – brisket, pulled port, chicken ribs etc. – and I’m also kinda obsessed with making pizza. It’s taken a few years to perfect my poolish (a kind of pre-ferment) high hydration dough. Put these together with my love of Asian – particularly Japanese – and Mexican cooking and we might have the foundations for a cookbook. Oh, maybe Msome Italian too – homemade pastas, ravioli… Margaret says I’m obsessed!
I did do a livestream series called Cooking up the Blues a few years ago…I can see it coming!
FT: When I listen to your music I hear Lead Belly, Elmore James, Lightning Hopkins, and many of the classic blues artists. Who would you say your main musical inspirations are?
DA: Man, that’s cool.
I love all these artists and they’ve all had some kind of influence. From the blues side of things my main inspirations are Blind Willie Johnson, Mississippi John Hurt, Buck White with a scattering of John Lee Hooker and Junior Kimbrough. Although not particularly obvious from my music there’s also influences from Johnny Cash, Gene Vincent, early Elvis and a raft of others.
FT: You return to Belfast on the 13th of January to play The Guinness Blues Café in The Deer’s Head. This is a new venue for you and potentially a new audience. For anyone who hasn’t seen you before, how would you describe your live show?
DA: A nice quiet acoustic boy from Glasgow…. ‘Erm, okay, maybe not quite. My music is influenced as much by trash country, punk and rockabilly as it is pre-war Delta blues – expect a combination of these styles all thrown in a pot together performed mostly on bottleneck guitar with some regular tuning guitar thrown in for good measure.
I’ve been described as “a heady combination of Johnny Cash, Billy Connolly and Lemmy (Motörhead)”…I don’t know if that’s quite true, but I like it!
FT: When not making music and barbequing you spend your time paddle boarding on Loch Lomond. What attracted you to that and has it made you appreciate the landscape around you more?
DA: We moved from Glasgow City Centre to our wee place on the eastern shores of Loch Lomond 14 or 15 years ago. I could neither afford a boat, nor the time to make any use of it…but not to enjoy the water living on Loch Lomond would be a crime.
I’d seen the odd paddleboarder on the loch while out walking or cycling and thought it might be fun. A local pal had got started on a paddleboard and invited me to go with her one wet, windy November day a couple years ago. I spent most of the time in the water other than on it, but a black Friday sale later and some determination and I was all in.
We’re lucky to live in such a beautiful area and it’s easy to enjoy on foot or bike…but the quiet and peacefulness of paddle boarding makes it all the better.
FT: What are your plans for 2024 and how’s the tour diary filling up?
DA: The Out to Lunch / Belfast City Blues Club show is the first show of the year (not including the New Year’s Day garden concert!) then there’s a wee three-date run of England/Wales shows (Newcastle, Barnoldswick and Brecon) in February. My pal Trevor Babajack Steger is coming up to play a few Scottish dates with me in March, including our local village hall (where the ‘Live at Memorial Hall’ album was recorded).
At the start of May I play the main stage at Bonfest (a global celebration of Bon Scott and AC/DC in Kirriemuir, Scotland where he was born) then another real – Andres Roots from Estonia – is coming to be my guest on a run of Scotland shows. There’s a couple of festival dates confirmed for the summer including Kymi Kantri festival in Finland and the Great British R&B Festival here in the U.K.
I’d hoped to get back to the USA this year but I’ve kinda run out of time go plan and book stuff, let alone get my visa application underway so it’s looking like it’ll be next year.
FT: Thanks for your time and see you in the Deer’s Head on the 13th.
DA: Thanks man – looking forward to seeing you.
The Out to Lunch Festival in association with Belfast City Blues Festival presents Dave Arcari in The Deer’s Head on January 13th Tickets via cqaf.com