Ian Danter, the acclaimed hard rock songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, will release his third solo album, Rule Of Three, on 20 May 2022. Rule Of Three finds Danter, football commentator on talkSPORT radio and a regular Planet Rock presenter, taking a more collaborative approach.
“Rule Of Three feels different to my first two albums,” Ian told MetalTalk, “for the collaborative effort alone in terms of songwriting and construction. But sonically, I think Tim [Hamill, producer] has captured a rawer, more aggressive sound to the instruments. As a consequence, this album feels direct and unambiguous in its approach.”
Danter began recording in July 2019 at Monnow Valley studios in Monmouth, South Wales, recording all instruments and lead vocals, as with his first two albums. Following the Covid-19 pause, the recording was completed in mid-2021 at studios in Blackpool & Llanelli.
Rule Of Three contains several new songs plus co-writes with Ian’s long time friend and former Shotgun Wedding bandmate Gray Ettrick. “The inspiration for Rule Of Three,” Danter says, “came from revisiting some collaborations that Gray and I had when writing songs in the ’90s.
“He always has a stash of great riff ideas that he’s adding to, to this day and listening to some of his recent ideas fired my imagination to compose new songs and dust down one or two old tracks that never got released.”
Ettrick’s punchy riffs stand out on songs like One Over The Eight and Route Of All Evil, which blend well with Ian’s inventive melodies and lyrics. “Lyrically, I’ve once again tried not to stray into the clichéd rock stereotypes of girls and sex,” Danter says, “but one or two songs are meant to have that sense of fun and joie de vivre like One Over The Eight or I Was There, whilst still being lyrically stimulating.”
Special guests play guitar solos throughout the album, including Ettrick, Wayward Sons’ Sam Wood and Chris Buck from Buck and Evans/Cardinal Black.
Jon Sudbury and Glenn Quinn, Ian’s guitar cohorts from his theatre rock project Leather And Lace, also appear, with Quinn contributing a co-write on the epic track Generation Z. The Keith Laurent penned I’ve Got A Problem dates back to the band he and Ian formed as teenagers back in Birmingham during the mid-’80s.
That Ian chose to record in Monmouth, South Wales, was a decision to engage further with his past. “It was a real thrill to return to Monnow Valley,” Ian says, “to record my drum parts at a legendary place I had not worked in for a quarter of a century. Similarly, to then complete the album and mix it with the wonderful Tim Hamill at Sonic One in Llanelli, a studio I had never worked in previously, was hugely rewarding for me in getting the sounds and the vibe I could hear in my head.”
Rule Of Three is tentatively set for release on CD-digipak and online on 20 May 2022.
