ETSY DIRE STRAITS ALBUM HOW TO
But because we were a little older and had jobs and met a lot of ordinary people in our lives, we kind of knew how to handle, A) ourselves, and B) other people, which is really what it’s all about when a band starts to get to some size. If we’d have been 18 years old, I don’t think Mark or I, the both of us, would be around anymore. I say this in the book, and I really mean it. When I look back on it, it was pretty serious. The speed of change, when ‘Sultans’ came out, was really difficult to handle and so we had to really learn a lot very quickly about how to deal with the onslaught of attention that was coming at the band. “I wanted to really try and understand a bit more of what it means to put a thing like that together and hold it together, because it all started off incredibly simply.
Illsley hopes the book offers a revealing look inside Dire Straits and how the band’s worldwide success was achieved.Do it!’ And he wrote the foreword, so it is the two of us in a way.” ’ I said, ‘If you think it’s a bad idea, I’ll dump it.’ He said, ‘Omigod, no. I told him, ‘Look, I’ve been asked to do this book,’ and he said, ‘Omigod, why’d you want to do that?!’ (laughs) I said, ‘It gives me a chance to talk about you without you having to talk about yourself,’ and he goes, ‘Oh God…. It needed the both of us to find it a good idea. “I did say to the publishers that this was not going to happen unless it’s got the blessing of the partner in crime. Knopfler, who’s gone on to his own successful solo career, wrote the foreword for the book, and Illsley says his buy-in was crucial.So it gave me a chance to do a bit of that.” It gave me a chance to celebrate those people who wouldn’t necessarily celebrate themselves - Mark, particularly, who’s one of my best friends and is never going to blow his own trumpet. “It took a while to get started, but I really enjoyed it because I felt it was kind of a celebration, more than anything else, of what we did. Illsley says he was approached to write the book by a literary agent who heard him telling stories about Dire Straits during one of his solo concerts in England.“My Life in Dire Straits,” by bassist and founding member of the band, John Illsley.
In a Zoom call from France, Illsley, 72, says he was happy to have an opportunity to offer a look inside one of music’s most shrouded stories. And while there are dark moments and challenges, those are mitigated by an overwhelming sense that Illsley and his mates had a pretty good time. In its 300 pages, Illsley shares details both poignant and humorous about his life, the group’s formation and its ascent, starting with the 1978 hit “Sultans of Swing” and peaking with 1985’s worldwide chart-topping album “Brothers in Arms.” The book is populated with music luminaries and legendary events such as Live Aid. That changes with “My Life in Dire Straits,” the just-published memoir by John Illsley - the British band’s bassist, co-founder and, along with guitarist and frontman Mark Knopfler, its sole constant member. And none from the proverbial horses’ mouths. Despite its grand success - more than 100 million records sold worldwide, four Grammy Awards - there’s been little literature about Dire Straits.