Dire Straits was formed in 1977 by Mark Knopfler, his younger brother David Knopfler, John Illsley, and Pick Withers. They named the band after their financial situation. In 1977, they recorded a five-song demo tape and took it to BBC Radio London DJ Charlie Gillett, who had a radio show called "Honky Tonk". The band simply wanted advice, but Gillett liked the music so much that he played "Sultans of Swing" on his show. Two months later, Dire Straits signed a recording contract with Phonogram Records and in 1978 recorded their self-title debut album.
The album did not do well at first in the UK. However, after a re-releasing "Sultans of Swing" and it climbing the UK charts, they began a tour as opening band for the Talking Heads. This led to a United States recording contract with Warner Bros. Records and, before the end of 1978, Dire Straits had released their self-titled debut worldwide. They received more attention in the United States and landed at the top of the charts in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Their debut album eventually went top 10 in every European country.
Mark Knopfler, the creative force behind the group, began doing soundtrack work and the band took a brief hiatus. After the break, the group went back to the studio and record Brothers In Arms. The album became their biggest selling album and became the first CD to sell 1 million copies. In support of the album, they toured extensively during the next two years, playing 247 shows in over 100 different cities.
Knopfler continued to do solo projects and again the the band took another hiatus, this time for 3 years. They go back together in 1990 and a recorded a final studio album before disbanding for good.
Six Blade Knife is today Hump Day Retro-Closet track off their debut album. The song highlights Knopfler's slow hand fingerstyle guitar style.
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment