"Don't Stop. Live A Lot" by Dave Pepper
Review
Following the raunch of his most recent release from earlier in the month, "Rub Rub Grind", Dave Pepper is back with his new single "Don't Stop. Live A Lot" which came out today.
Just as his last song was in distinct contrast to its own predecessor, "I Need More Time", so this one takes a different course again: in fact it's interesting how Dave seems to be sharing an idea with Levi Washington at present in putting out frequent singles with very contrasting themes (though neither is quite up to Dave's old bandmate Daffod'i'll in terms of prolific releasing at the moment). Whereas Levi of course is also exploring a range of styles within his sequence, Dave is generally re-exploring his sounds of forty years ago as detailed in my previous reviews. "Don't Stop. Live A Lot" certainly falls within that strategy, though by itself it's certainly no bland exercise in nostalgia nor retro for the sake of retro. Inspired by the excitement of 1970s/early 80s Peppermusic, this is no pastiche of it. Rather Dave draws elements together which probably are best described as being there in his music during that broad time period but not necessarily at the same time. Hence there are snarly guitar hints of early 1970s hard rock spliced with keyboard playing which evokes his I and Courtiers of Fashion days. Taken as a whole, the feel sits somewhere in the territory of more poppy punk and post-punk.
That then is the music (and it's catchy for sure: you get the benefits of the experience of writing of someone who's been honing this for over four decades). The title pretty much speaks for the lyrics and I suppose it is a sort of companion piece to "Rub Rub Grind" in that it speaks to us of seizing the moment and making the most of life (and possibly both in their own ways also complement "I Need More Time" in respect of how to find a way to chart yourself through the vicissitudes of life and loss), though certainly not necessarily in the very specific way of that track. It is also I suspect likely to get a bit more airplay given it's less "adult" content.
