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AN emerging Bahrain-based band Night Dippers is set to release four new singles this summer, inspired by a spectrum of emotions and experiences ... from love to a casual night out.
Offering an eclectic mix of influences from blues to punk, and rock and roll to country, song writers and vocalists Alex Craine, who is also on bass, and Alex Longden, on guitar, along with Matt Cowley on drums, are set to present Lost Boy, On The Road, One Minute 47 Second Love Song, and Cyber Stalker, two of which are currently being mixed and mastered in the UK and will be released next month.
All three band members work day jobs but share a passion to create music in their off time.
“Lost Boy is about meeting mysterious women,” Craine told GulfWeekly. “I took my own mysterious woman, my wife, (smiles) and we visited a legendary bar – Johnny’s Bar – in Greenwich Village, which is famous for having a fantastic punk rock juke box. The song is based on that night out in New York but fictionalised a bit and Alex (Longden) came up with the music for it.”
Night Dippers’ creations are collaborative - whether it’s the tunes or the lyrics, and while there’s no set formula, Craine and Longden try to meet at least once a week to exchange ideas and play. Drummer Matt usually adds his beats later.
On The Road, set for release next month along with Lost Boy, brings to life Craine and Longden’s shared experience of coming home to family after a long time apart. In the past, they have both held jobs that entailed being away from home. One Minute 47 Second Love Song and Cyber Stalker will follow in June and have equally interesting back stories.
“My wife said to me, ‘why do you never write love songs’, so that was the answer to it,” Craine said about One Minute 47 Second Love Song.
After years of playing covers, the bass enthusiast felt he needed to take his passion for music to the next level, which is how he got into song writing eight years ago. Craine’s words are influenced by stories and television shows, among other things, and while they might be inspired by his personal experience, they are often fictionalised, like on One Minute 47 Second Love Song, which is about somebody who finds himself getting in and out of love often.
“I came up with a bass riff one day and shared it with Longden who is now working on the guitar part and we will soon get together and record Cyber Stalker,” the artist and chief executive officer of Bahrain Financial Harbour added.
The Saar resident, who has been part of many bands since his teenage years, including Dubai-based punk rock ensemble Gone Rogue Dxb, met Longden through a work acquaintance. Together they decided to collaborate on their love for music and Night Dippers was formed in November last year.
“I was having my annual health check-up, and my doctor prescribed a quick blood pressure test. When I went to show my reports, he told me I was a night dipper – I thought that’s a great name for a band but had no idea what it meant. I later found out that when you sleep, for some people their blood pressure climbs, which is not good, and for some their blood pressure dips and doctors call them night dippers,” Craine revealed.
Last year, Night Dippers released two singles Whole Again and Half Life. They are determined to record at least one song a month and have 10 roughly demoed songs in the pipeline.
While they are more of a ‘recording project’ for now, the artists are open to new ideas of showcasing their work. So, is a gig on the cards anytime soon? “Never say never,” quipped Craine.
Night Dippers has around 20,000 hits across platforms from more than 26 countries including the UK, US, UAE, Dominican Republic, and India. Their work is available on Spotify, Amazon, iTunes and YouTube, among others.
For more details, follow @nightdippers on Instagram.
