For The Sake Of The Song : The Volares “Down To The Lane”

There are some songs that just hit the spot. Songs that one instantly adores and that have an almost profound effect on you and that you keep coming back to year after year. It’s been nearly thirty years since I first heard this song, and it sounds as fresh and wonderful now to me as it did when I first heard it.

It was all thanks to the amazing Bob Harris, who somehow managed to get hold of the debut album of a band called The Volares and on 12th June 1999 he played Down To The Lane on his late-night Saturday evening show, sandwiched between The Spencer Davis Group and Counting Crows. I remember being almost hypnotised by the incredible feel of the song: slightly mystical, jaunty and with some great guitar work and a tune to die for. There was a very distinctive, almost Ronnie Lane-type feel to it. Little did I know then what the background to this track was and how insightful that idea was.

Instantly I went out to buy this album, and I was intrigued to read the sticker on the cover. Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads said, “The best debut album I’ve heard in over ten years – intensely beautiful”. Ian McLagan said, “A refreshing blast of catchy melody not heard in these ears for years”.

In writing this, though, I needed to find out a little more about this mysterious band. In the years after first hearing the track, I’d tried to do so without success. So further detective work was needed. Amazingly, I found a relatively new Bandcamp page on the band and found they’d released another album, Godvertising, in 2005. I was also able to get in touch with the band, and I was lucky enough to liaise with one of the three main members, Dare Mason. He very kindly chatted with me and helped paint a fascinating picture about this incredible band.

The Volares consisted of Bucks Burnett on vocals, rhythm and lead guitar, Paul Averett on vocals, rhythm and slide guitar, and Dare Mason on vocals, keyboards, guitar, drum programming and bass. The album was recorded in England during four ‘pleasure trips’ from November 1984 to April 1998. Bucks Burnett was the heartbeat of the band and was, by all accounts, a phenomenal person; eccentric, warm, witty, talented and entirely unpredictable. Prior to his sojourn in The Volares, he had had quite a career. He was Tiny Tim’s manager for many years at the end of his career and released Tim’s last album; he worked for CBS Records in the publicity/advertising department; he ran a second-hand record store in Dallas called 14 Records; he ran an 8-track cassette museum in Dallas; he’d staged a festival in Dallas dedicated to Mr Ed, the TV talking horse; and he became Ronnie Lane’s assistant at the end of his life in Texas, when he was suffering from MS, or as Burnett termed it; he was his “butler“.

Burnett was the sort of person who once you met you never forgot, and he was loved and adored by so many people. Burnett had come to the UK, met Mason and got on really well with him musically and spiritually, and he invited fellow American and ‘bandmate’ Averitt to join them in the UK, and the band were formed. Whilst here, the trio, with Burnett always at the core of the ‘shenanigans’ that ensued, had an incident-filled time.  Mason recounts a typical Burnett story:

‘Bucks and Paul, and I had a day off from recording our album. So we said, “Oh, let’s just go and have a drive. We’ll head west”. And Bucks said, “Oh, why don’t we call in at George Harrison’s house? We’ll have a look at George.” So we had a look at George Harrison’s house, you know, drove past his home. And I said, “Well, where should we go now?” And he went, “Oh, let’s go to Swindon. Andy Partridge lives in Swindon.” I went, “Oh, well, okay then.” And he knew the address, because he’d spoken to Andy Partridge for some reason. And he found the address, and we parked outside, and he said, “I’ll just go and say hello.” I said, “No, no, we can’t do that. That’s Andy Partridge!” Before I knew it, he got out of the car. He was ringing the bell. Andy Partridge answered the door and Bucks said, “Well, I’ve spoken to you a couple of times on the phone, do you remember me?” And the next thing I knew, we were sitting in Andy Partridge’s front room, being played the latest XTC album from beginning to end, sharing glasses of red wine!’

The debut Volares album was recorded in quite difficult circumstances, and whilst the production was not quite to the standard they had hoped for, the songs sound incredible, in particular Down To The Lane. Mason feels that although he never admitted it, Burnett was challenging the spirit of Lane into this song and it certainly sounds like it.

The Night We Taught Ourselves To Sing was released in 1999; Burnett paid for the vinyl release. It was a limited edition run of about 100 copies, and it was also released on CD and 8-track cassette! The album cover was designed by Martin Sharpe, who was responsible for the design of Disraeli Gears by Cream.

The band recorded a second album in 2005, Godvertising, and one of Burnett’s many musical chums guested on the release: Ian McGlagan. Frustratingly, that was the recorded career of The Volares over. Burnett sadly passed away some years back, but the memory of this truly exceptional man lives on through his music, and specifically the band’s debut album, which is really worth checking out. The sounds created are very much influenced by Led Zeppelin and everything Ronnie Lane created.

And Down To The Lane is such a special, special song. This album was made with no management for the band, and they didn’t have a record label. But thank goodness we can now revel in its musical glory and, on a purely personal level, I so hope a new generation of music lovers can appreciate this song and its accompanying stunning album. It’s an absolute treat.

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