Mark Knopfler has spoken about the chances of ever performing as part of Dire Straits again. The musician, who formed the band with brother David and friends John Illsley and Pick Withers in 1977, said it was unlikely he would play as part of the group again.
Knopfler said the group eventually became too big and lost its feeling of intimacy. Dire Straits, which has been through a number of changes to the line-up over the years, enjoyed global success with hits such as Brothers In Arms, Romeo And Juliet, and Sultans of Swing before disbanding in 1995.
Knopfler still works closely with band member Guy Fletcher, with whom he recently collaborated on a charity single for Teenage Cancer Trust, but said it is unlikely they will perform together again as Dire Straits.
He told BBC Breakfast: “I don’t think so for a number of reasons, one of them being that I’ve built my own studio, which I really love and and I haven’t had a bad day in there. And it’s given me the chance to really push. I mean, this last album, I have done far too many songs…”
He added of a reunion: “I don’t think so. I love Dire Straits and I loved doing all that but what I wanted to do was just to expand and work with different players and have a bigger line-up.
“The last time I had the band in, and that’s the high point for me, I would probably have had about six or seven guys. Bigger than the little four-piece that was stripped down when we had it, and that was great, I loved it.
“I had an absolute ball for as long as it lasted, until it got so big that I didn’t know the names of all the roadies, it was just getting big. It got so big, we were actually leapfrogging stages, and that is what you have to do when you get to a certain scale.”
Knopfler assembled more than 60 performers, including Bruce Springsteen, Ronnie Wood and Eric Clapton, for a special recording of Going Home (Theme From Local Hero) for the Teenage Cancer Trust. Contributions from some of the world’s greatest guitarists, including David Gilmour, Slash, Sir Brian May, Joan Armatrading and Pete Townshend, were edited together by Fletcher for the nine-minute charity track, which also raised funds for Teen Cancer America.
The Who frontman Roger Daltrey, honorary patron of the Teenage Cancer Trust, added harmonica, while Sir Ringo Starr added drums along with his son, Zak Starkey, and Sting featured on bass. The track was released under the banner Mark Knopfler’s Guitar Heroes. Knopfler is releasing his new solo album, One Deep River, on April 12.
