Daniella

Album: H.M.S. Fable (1999)
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Songfacts®:

  • Shack is an English band formed in 1987 by Mick Head and his brother John Head. They were both previously members of The Pale Fountains, a great "lost" band revered by Echo and the Bunnymen's Ian McCulloch.

    Shack's lineup has gone through some changes over the years, but the core members have always been Mick Head and John Head. Mick is the primary songwriter and vocalist, while John contributes as a guitarist and backing vocalist. The other members of Shack have included various musicians who have joined and left the band at different times.

    This song is the closing track from their third album, H.M.S. Fable.
  • The Shack band members were struggling with drug addiction at the time of writing H.M.S. Fable. The lyrics delve deep into the darkness, unflinchingly exploring themes of addiction, poverty, and utter despair. "Lend's Some Dough" echoes the desperate plea for cash to feed the insatiable hunger for a heroin fix. "Streets Of Kenny" takes us on a haunting journey through grimy alleys where the search for drugs yields nothing but despair. "Daniella" is a concoction of twisted reality and fevered fiction, an introspective trip into the subconscious mind.

    "I'd just come out of a heroin detox and it was like somebody had pulled the plug out of the sink - the songs were just gushing out," Michael Head told Uncut magazine of "Daniella." "I was, probably for the first time grieving the death of my mum. A lot of guilt, lot of everything, really. So, there's a lot going on in 'Daniella.'"
  • Shack split up in the early '90s but got back together after their much-delayed album Waterpistol was released in 1995 and got a great reception. H.M.S. Fable was their next album, released in 1999 via London Records.
  • Captains of the production ship, Hugh Jones and Youth, steered the recording of H.M.S. Fable at Rockfield Studios in Wales and Olympic Studios in London. The result was one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the year. H.M.S. Fable sailed to #2 on both the NME and Uncut critics' polls for the best albums of 1999. And the success didn't stop there. It peaked at #25 on the UK albums chart, Shack's highest placing.

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