Liverpool singer Dan Astles recreates the bus journey that inspired his new album

Singer Dan Astles is set to recreate the bus journey that inspired his new album.

‘The 21 Bus Home’ was the regular route taken by a late uncle who took his own life when Dan Astles was two, but whose legacy instilled a love of music that was set to influence the path of the Southport schoolboy.

And tomorrow Dan, along with family, friends, and fans, will remember Joseph Deans – or ‘uncle Joe’ – on a special trip that will go from the city centre to Walton Road near where he lived, and then back again into town.

Dan, 26, who now lives in Toxteth, says:

“We’ll retrace his journey, remember my uncle, and blast out the new album for people to hear.

“It will be an emotional day but also a fun one, and I’ve told everyone that no-one is sitting in silence. They’ll be joining in and singing and dancing along – or I’ll be getting off the bus because I can’t handle it!”

The specially-decorated Stagecoach bus will set off from William Brown Street in Liverpool at 12.15pm, driving to Walton Road and stopping off at The Thomas Frost Wetherspoons before driving back via Merseyview on the waterfront for a photo opportunity, and then on to The Bluecoat art centre in School Lane at around 1.40pm, where Dan will take part in a Q&A.

There’ll be a chance for fans to say hello to Dan at the stop-offs and even catch a couple of tunes from the album played by Dan and his band at Merseyview.

And, of course, anyone who happens to be around on any of the route when the bus passes will be able to hear songs from The 21 Bus Home, which came out last week, blaring out as it passes.

“I was trying to think of interesting ways to promote the album and the link to the bus journey made me think of this, so I got in touch with Stagecoach who have given me a bus for this unique listening party,” adds Dan.

“It’s going to be a laugh.

“I don’t think it’s ever been done before (probably for very good reason), but there’ll be about 45 of us on board on the top deck – including my grandad Joe who became a TikTok sensation when I persuaded him to write and perform his first song, Gerry’s Ferry – having a lovely day and creating more memories. It’s a mad idea but one I’m hoping no-one will ever forget.”

It was when he was hunting around in the loft of his nan’s Kirkdale home as a young boy that Dan discovered a bundle of his late uncle’s possessions, and they not only shaped the man he was to become but influenced the music he was to create.

Among the haul were records spanning from The Beatles’ White Album to The Velvet Underground, posters of every band imaginable, poetry, and gig reviews. Also within it was a mixtape that became Dan’s ‘musical education’ with music from Radiohead, The Beatles, Kate Bush and Abba, sandwiched with interludes of Jack Kerouac poems and radio comedy. 

“It was like he was saying ‘get on this Dan, you’ll love it’, and I decided to create my own mixtape with my original songs, directly inspired and informed by my uncle’s.”

His uncle’s mixtape was called Soundtrack For The 21 Bus Home, and it seemed right that that would be the title of Dan’s first album too.

“It will be great if people come along and say hello,” says Dan. “And they’ll be easily able to spot me.

“I’ll be wearing a special yellow hat and a hi-vis jacket so I’ll look like a cross between a bus conductor and a driver – but I don’t think it’ll be the start of a new career for me. I can’t drive for a start, so I’d struggle with that one!”

Dan says there’s been a lot of interest in his first and new album and the feedback ‘has been beautiful’.

“Hopefully it’s the start of a great career making music and records. I’m 26 now and I’d like to make two more albums before I’m 30 … so I need to get moving.”

Follow Dan on Instagram.

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