Richard Davies & The Dissidents - High Times & Misdemeanours (2025)

Four years on from their widely-praised debut album Human Traffic, West Country rockers Richard Davies & The Dissidents return with their second album High Times & Misdemeanours; their first release on Gare du Nord Records.

After years as a collaborator, gun for hire, and band member – most notably with London bands The Snakes and Tiny Monroe – in 2020 guitarist Richard Davies embarked a solo adventure with the unveiling of Human Traffic.

That first album as featured artist, lead vocalist and principal songwriter, went down a storm, even finding itself included – alongside the Stones, Deep Purple and Idles – in the Spanish national daily El Pais’s Is rock dead? 18 recent albums prove it isn't
listing. Unfortunately, world events restricted the Dissidents, among whom numbered Tim Emery (Case Hardin, Last Great Dreamers) on bass guitar and Chris Cannon (Mega City Four, The Snakes) on drums to a handful of live appearances.

High Times & Misdemeanours marks the second coming of Richard Davies & The Dissidents bringing fresh anthemic, emotive and street-savvy doses of blue-collar rock’n’roll in the spirit of the Heartbreakers and The Pretenders, all produced by his Snakes bandmate Simon Moor. It takes up where Human Traffic left off, with Richard’s sneery vocals, accompanied by trademark tight-but-loose riffs and Neil Scully’s piano snaking through more prime cuts of the Dissidents’ patent ‘Countrydelic Rock’n’Roll’.

Richard began his career playing guitar for indie band Tiny Monroe in the 90s, recording several singles, an EP and an album for London Records, touring with Radiohead and Suede and appearing at the Glastonbury, Reading and T in the Park festivals along the way. He then recorded three albums with The Snakes – Songs From The Satellites, Sometime Soon and The Last Days of Rock‘n’Roll - as the band became major players on the UK Americana scene, picking up mainstream national airplay from the likes of Bob Harris and Mark Lamarr.

A gifted guitarist, Richard is also a integral component of Marc Valentine’s live and recording ensembles, having previously performed with Peter Perrett and Glen Matlock.

Richard Davies - lead vocals and guitar
Nick Beere - guitar and backing vocals
Tim Emery - bass , mandolin, and bass VI guitar
Neil Scully - keyboards
Chris Cannon – drums

Caroline Blake – backing vocals (tracks 3 & 4)