John Dorr profile picture

John Dorr

escapism

About Me

I started playing guitar at the rather tender age of 12 and began to write songs, weird little instrumentals and the like almost immediately. Like many guitarists my first influence was Kurt Cobain, soon after I progressed to Sonic Youth which in turn led me to the noise of The Velvets, Television and My Bloody Valentine. At the age of 19 I was awakened to the beauty of electronic music (by this I mean electronica, industrial and dance music) and nearly threw away my guitar, as my interests were being diverted to a more diverse set of instruments, (mainly percussion, tablas, drum machines and drum kits). However my path was diverted once again back to guitars and vocals by being given a copy of Grace by Jeff Buckley which led me to a whole new world of solo artists.
I am always interested in collabarations, the most notable one being my old band cosine, who released just one e.p "we used to dream about the future" (limited edition only)More recently i have been experimenting with looping guitar and vocals, from mass vocal harmonies to layering percussive sounds, drones and any other sounds i can make on my guitar, always within the realms of a good tune though.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 3/31/2006
Band Members:

Drone live at the vine
Influences: Jeff Buckley, John Frusciante, Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine, Velvet Underground,Television, Nina simone, Bjork, Ravi Shankar, Massive Attack, Portishead, Nick Drake, Tool, Mogwai, Sigur Ros, stone roses, hope of the states, godspeed you black emporer, lamb, beethoven, vivaldi, leadbelly, imogen heap, jesus and the mary chain, rodrigo y gabriella, tori amos, radiohead, joy division, pink floyd, beatles, Anthony and the Johnsons, Gary Lucas
Sounds Like: Manna is availble from Crash/Jumbo Leeds, Radar Records Huddersfield, Revo Halifax. Any store owners wishing to sell the e.p just contact me.
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

Coming soon, mailing list with free mp3s and vids

As soon as I can work out how to put the relevant form on myspace (if anyone can help me do this then please let me know) there will be a mailing list, with a slight difference...Alongside the news/gi...
Posted by John Dorr on Fri, 05 Oct 2007 05:58:00 PST

life played on Canadian radio

A couple of weeks ago the first track from Manna (life) was played on the Montreal station CISM. Many thanks to Melanie Lapierre
Posted by John Dorr on Thu, 09 Aug 2007 03:50:00 PST

review of manna (Steve Caleb)

An E.P from a new artist boasting an impressively articulate voice, Manna by John Dorr snakes into the ear and latches on in a haunting, rhythmic pulse. 'Life' builds from a fragile, self performed dr...
Posted by John Dorr on Mon, 16 Jul 2007 02:54:00 PST

The first two songs from "manna" posted.

Heres a taster of the e.p, Lif.e- e.p opener and my bloodline the 2nd track, they have very different messages and meanings, but i'm presuming if you are reading this you will have already heard the ...
Posted by John Dorr on Tue, 03 Jul 2007 04:31:00 PST

My bloodline played on bbc leeds primetime.

Ok so this last Saturday (30th June) I wake up at 5.45 a.m and make my way over to Leeds, down to the bbc building, to be interviewed by Shorjo Sarkar about Heckmondwikes free music festival alongside...
Posted by John Dorr on Mon, 02 Jul 2007 05:37:00 PST

Heckmondwike crown of lights festival

On 28th July there will be a festival in my home town of Heckmondwike, the crown of lights fest will be held in green park, right in the heart of the town centre. Line up so far includes myself, dboy,...
Posted by John Dorr on Mon, 04 Jun 2007 05:28:00 PST

Leave it all behind. Myspace exclusive, free download.

Leave it all behind is a demo that was recorded by Rick Knight in the hills above Halifax, about 3 years ago and was forgotten, until now. It is a myspace exclusive and free to download, in ...
Posted by John Dorr on Thu, 31 May 2007 07:38:00 PST

3 a.m to go on sound people compilation cd

My track 3 a.m will be put on a compilation cd to be brought out by Leeds based label Sound People amongst the likes of Micky P Kerr, Jameson Raid, Mark Morris (ex-bluetones) and many other great arti...
Posted by John Dorr on Sun, 27 May 2007 07:17:00 PST

Manna release date 16th july

The e.p is now complete, artwork and a preview listen to follow shortly, 16th july. Available on cd/digital download. If you would like to pre-order, just mail me.
Posted by John Dorr on Sun, 13 May 2007 05:48:00 PST

track listing confirmed

The track listing for the forthcoming e.p "manna" is as follows, 1. My Bloodline- e.p opener all vocal, the demo version is on myspace 2. Life- this track has me looping guitar to make ...
Posted by John Dorr on Sun, 18 Mar 2007 06:41:00 PST