Rob Dickinson Gets A Second Chance With Fresh Wine For The Horses

It's been eight years since the break-up of British shoegaze band Catherine Wheel. But the group's former singer, Rob Dickinson, has been given a string of second chances.

Dickinson's Fresh Wine For The Horses solo debut was originally released in 2005, but he'll reissue a new version of it along with a bonus disc titled Nude that features six re-recorded Catherine Wheel songs. Universal Music Canada will have the album in stores on June 10.

Dickinson wasn't entirely happy with his first try at a solo record. He thought that parts of it were rushed and he experienced problems with former label Sanctuary Records, which he felt didn't promote it enough. But Universal Canada president Randy Lennox fell in love with the record, which led to the new relationship.

"Having a second crack at it is a rare opportunity to embrace it and make it as good as we can," says Dickinson. "This time we're putting the record out all over the world, which is hugely important to me, and have another try at getting it in front of people to make their minds up about it, which is all any artist could hope for."

Dickinson was at first reluctant to re-record Catherine Wheel songs and questioned his ability to bring something new to the tracks, especially in Canada, which was one of the band's largest markets. But he's now proud of his efforts.

Dickinson also stressed over re-recording some of his Fresh Wine songs and wonders how they'll go over with his audience.

"We live in revolutionary times in the music business," he says. "All bets are off when it comes to albums being talked about.

"We're getting to the idea of just one or two songs representing artists these days, and people not having the attention span for full albums. I just hope there's some life left in the old dog here, so an artist can actually have eight to 12 songs which work as a complete piece and you get some idea of their world, and hopefully that won't go away too quickly."

During the five years between The Catherine Wheel and his solo debut, Dickinson moved to Los Angeles, designed cars and collaborated with other musicians. He's getting back into both things again. He's working on a prototype of a Dutch car and has recently worked with DJ BT, Journey's Steve Perry and Neverending White Lights' Daniel Victor. He's even considering collaborating with his cousin, Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson.

"I don't know how we could do it, but we've talked about maybe doing something in the future," says Dickinson. "He's always been very supportive and very important in getting Catherine Wheel running a bit in the early days, so I've got a lot of respect for my cousin."

Dickinson will be at Toronto's Music Hall on Saturday. He'll perform a solo acoustic set before joining Neverending White Lights for some songs.