David Westlake

David Westlake is an English singer/songwriter. He led indie band The Servants from 1985 to 1991.

History

Westlake formed indie band the Servants in 1985 in Hayes, Middlesex, England.

The Servants appeared on 1986’s NME-associated C86 compilation, and the band was from 1986 to 1991 the original home of Luke Haines.

Haines describes David Westlake's first solo album, 1987's Westlake, as "a minor classic".

Westlake's second solo album, 2002's Play Dusty for Me, was released in a limited issue that quickly sold out but was never re-pressed. Captured Tracks reissued Play Dusty for Me in LP format on Black Friday, 2015.

The Servants

The Servants' Small Time album was well received on its 2012 Cherry Red Records release, more than twenty years after its 1991-recording. The belated release followed the inclusion of 1990's Disinterest in Mojo magazine's 2011 list of the greatest British indie records of all time.

Westlake and Haines played together for the first time in twenty-three years at the Lexington, London N1 on 4 May 2014. Westlake and band played at an NME C86 show on 14 June 2014 at Venue 229, London W1; the show marked Cherry Red Records' expanded reissue of C86.

As chronicled in an interview in US music magazine The Big Takeover (issue 53, 2004), Belle and Sebastian frontman Stuart Murdoch was a huge Westlake fan and tried to locate him in the early 1990s in hope of forming a band with him, before launching Belle and Sebastian in his school class instead.

David Westlake is a solicitor and he lectures part-time at Brunel University.

Discography

Albums

• David Westlake, Westlake (Nov 1987, Creation Records, CRELP019 [LP]; reissued on CD by Sony in 2004)
• The Servants, Disinterest (Sep 1989, Paperhouse Records, PAPLP005 [LP]/PAPCD005 [CD])
• David Westlake, Play Dusty for Me (Jun 2002, Mahlerphone, CDA 001 [CD]; reissued Jul 2010 Angular Recording Corporation ARC 018 [digital])
• The Servants, Reserved (2006, Cherry Red Records, CDMRED297 [CD]) (compilation)
• The Servants, Youth Club Disco (2011, Captured Tracks, CT-111 [LP]) (compilation)
• The Servants, Small Time/Hey Hey We're The Manqués (Oct 2012, Cherry Red Records, CDB RED 535 [2CD]; reissued Dec 2013, Captured Tracks, CT-185 [2LP])
• David Westlake, Play Dusty for Me (Nov 2015, Captured Tracks, CT-220 [LP]) (reissue)

Singles

• The Servants, "She’s Always Hiding"/"Transparent" (Mar 1986, Head Records, HEAD1 [7"])
• The Servants, "The Sun, a Small Star"/"Meredith"/"It Takes No Gentleman"/"Funny Business" (Oct 1986, Head Records, HEAD3 [12"])
• The Servants, "It’s My Turn"/"Afterglow" (Sep 1989, Glass Records, GLASS056 [7"])
• The Servants, "It’s My Turn"/"Afterglow"/"Faithful to 3 Lovers"/"Do or Be Done" (Sep 1989, Glass Records, GLASS12 056 [12"])
• The Servants, "Look Like A Girl"/"Bad Habits Die Hard" (- 1990, Paperhouse Records, - [7"])

Videos

• David Westlake & Luke Haines, "It's My Turn" (2014)
• David Westlake, "Everybody Has A Dream" (2014)
• David Westlake, "The Sun, A Small Star" (2014)
• David Westlake, "Say When" (2001)
• David Westlake, "Even If" (2001)
• David Westlake, The Lexington, London N1 (2012)
• The Servants, "Look Like A Girl" (1990)
• The Servants, "Who's Calling You Baby Now?" (1988)
• The Servants, "The Sun, A Small Star" (1985)

External sources

• Derek Sozou, David Westlake site
• Luke Haines, Bad Vibes (London: William Heinemann, 2009), 5-10.
• Luke Haines, sleevenotes to the Servants' compilation Reserved (Cherry Red Records CDMRED 297, 2006)
• Luke Haines, sleevenotes to the Servants' album Small Time (Cherry Red Records CDB RED 535, 2012)
• Jack Rabid, review of David Westlake's album Play Dusty For Me in The Big Takeover, 17 Jan 2011
• John Peel session information
• Janice Long session information
• PhD