Our Story
Mark Daynes and John Love met at college in 1993 and started writing songs together almost immediately. There was a natural division from the start: Mark had an instinct for words, ideas and melody, while John gravitated towards chords, arrangements and the musical side of the songs. Between them, something clicked.
What began as two friends writing for the sheer enjoyment of it soon became a serious creative partnership. Songs accumulated quickly — scribbled lyrics, half-finished ideas, cassette demos and late-night recordings — and before long, a growing catalogue was taking shape.
A lot of those early songs were written and recorded at John’s grandad’s house, where a basic home studio had been pieced together from tape machines, a four-track recorder and whatever other equipment could be found. It wasn’t glamorous, but it was where many of the songs first became real.
By the mid-1990s, the writing had developed into Curl, an original indie band with Mark on vocals and John on lead guitar. Curl gave the songs another life — rehearsals, recordings, gigs and the experience of hearing material that had begun in a bedroom or on a cassette suddenly being played by a full band. The band’s recorded history includes The Search for Mr. X, Sleep & Recover, Mass Identity Crisis, Discord and Stars & Laybys.
And there was plenty of life happening around the music. The songs absorbed all of it — friendships, relationships, mistakes, optimism, heartbreak, humour and the feeling of being young enough to believe that anything might happen.
Although life occasionally took the two writers in different directions, the songs never really went away. The partnership continued, the catalogue kept growing, and older material remained there, waiting to be rediscovered.
Today, the Daynes/Love Song Catalogue brings together more than three decades of writing — from the earliest cassette demos and handwritten lyrics through to later studio recordings and newly created demos.
The purpose is simple: the songs were never meant to sit in a drawer.
They are here to be heard, interpreted and, where the right opportunity comes along, recorded by other artists.
More than three decades of songs. Still writing. Still looking for the right vibe.