To anyone wondering what Doris Brendel has been up to since the days of the Violet Hour, Holy Cow, JJ tribute & Easy To Love, here’s a sample of some tunes written by yours truly in collaboration with Dave Beeson, guitarist & producer extraordinaire.

Doris Brendel’s lastest album ‘The Last Adventure’ is due for release on the 1st November on Sky-Rocket records.

FAULT:  What is the most challenging aspect of being a musician?
Doris: Anything that threatens to dent one’s ego! Music is such a subjective and personal matter that everyone has a different opinion as to what you should be doing, and how you ought to be doing it – and peoples’ opinions rarely match. Ultimately you have to do your own thing and hope that it appeals to a sufficient number of people. Writing and playing is the easy bit.

FAULT: Tell us about your musical background?
Doris: I was born in Vienna, capital of Classical music, and didn’t come to London until I was 12. My father is a concert pianist and my mother was an opera singer, so I was raised on a Classical diet, which wasn’t dispelled until I stumbled across a Beatles record. This completely changed my direction in music. Once in England I discovered so much more – Pink Floyd, Led Zep, Queen etc etc. I formed my first band that year and have been playing and writing ever since.

FAULT: Who has been your biggest influence?
Doris: No one in particular. I don’t listen to as much music as most musicians for fear that I’ll be overly influenced by any one artist, and consequently my style is multi-genre and contains influences of a miriad of half remembered snippets of songs. Similarly I’m rarely compared to the same person twice. Loosely I like alternative rock, some funk (rock on James Brown), some Celtic folk and admire good song writing in just about any genre. Too many artists to mention.

FAULT: FAULT loves the track Sorry, what is it about?
Doris: ‘Sorry’ which is on my previous album, was inspired by a guitarist I worked with (who shall remain nameless), who constantly cheated on his girl friend. He was rather cheeky and charming in an impish kind of way, and I imagined how he would try to talk his way out of it if he was caught. Naughty boy.

FAULT: Are you inspired by new music? If so what are you currently listening to?
Doris: Generally I rather sit down at the piano or with a guitar than put a record on. Weird I know. Of course I do hear all manner of music, but I’m no where near as knowledgeable as most of the musos I work with. Muse and Radiohead are still two of my favourite bands – both innovative and original. The new album ‘The Last Adventure’ does reflect more modern influences along with retro ones.

Doris with her father, The acclaimed pianist Alfred Brendel.

FAULT: We love your album artwork, do you have a creative input?
Doris: Good isn’t it? I have Tim Smith from Sky-Rocket Records to thank for that. He has specialised in art and marketing for the record industry for many years and it shows. I wanted something Storm Thorgerson-like – something vast and thought provoking. Tim came up with several fabulous ideas and it was hard to decide which one to pick. The photos on the other hand have to be enirely credited to Impressive PR – the director had a clear and definite idea of what she wanted and picked the photographer, stylist, hair & make-up people. Puppet on a string.

FAULT: What is your FAULT?
Doris: I’m pretty willful and do very much what I want – so everything probably! When it comes to vices – tabacco and chocolate. Not much of a drinker which spares me a plethora of faulty behaviour. I’m accused of being bossy and controlling (I call it confident and motivated – obviously). The messiness of my house is definitely my fault! (I could blame it on artistic temperament…). I figure having faults makes me human….

DORIS BRENDEL – THE LAST ADVENTURE – Release date: 1st November everywhere
Link: www.dorisbrendel.com