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A Chat With, Indie, Interviews, New Music, Pop Punk

A Chat With : Dara Quilty of Apella

Apella have released their much-anticipated debut album ‘1963’. I had a chat with frontman Dara Quilty to discuss the details of creating the album, his love of producing and crafting songs as well as the lengths he went to in order to create the right atmosphere within one of the songs.

‘1963’ is an album Quilty has been working on for quite some time. The album kicks off with Apella’s debut track ‘We Met At A Party’ which was released in 2016 and ends with ‘Point Of View’ last year’s release (with singles ‘Graceful Dancer’ 2016, logic 2017, City Limits 2018 in between). It’s a passionate album depicting Quilty’s journey since Apella’s debut. During this time Quilty’s love for production blossomed allowing him to experiment, hone his craft, and become comfortable with his style in order to create the compelling and dynamic collection of tracks within ‘1963’

“It feels wonderful to have it out there. Obviously, the circumstances in which it has been released are different. Usually, you would release the album, with a good PR campaign, a tour straight off the back of the album with a radio station tour and a press tour, and none of that happened. I’ve been in studios, pretty much my entire, well not my entire life but I started recording professionally, probably with my first band Fox Avenue. I would have been maybe 20 years old. Even at that time I remember when we were in the studio I was glued to Joe Egan, he’s the engineer who I’ve continued to work with all the way up and through Apella. He owns The Nutshed in Clara County Offaly. Joe and I have become really close friends and he’s sort of been my mentor in the studio in many ways because his musical ear is just astonishing so when we were doing Fox Avenue I was glued to Joe’s shoulder, I never left the control room. I wasn’t the lead singer of Fox Avenue, so [ with Apella ] I knew I needed to be the lead singer, purely not to have to rely on another person, if that makes sense. So I did vocal coaching for four years. Sinéad Flynn is my vocal coach and she is astonishing. Actually doing vocal coaching is like therapy. Sinéad Flynn encouraged me to do these exams and now I have a distinction in musical theater and performance from the University of West London. I’m not a musical theater person. I didn’t grow up in musical theater, I have no background in it. But I was learning all these songs, and she helped me to sing and get better at singing because some people are naturally gifted singers like Gavin James. I’ve recorded Gavin James several times in radio stations. He is a beautiful singer. I’m not that.”

“The reason I went with Sinead’s plan to do these musical theater exams…. because…it was so far outside of my comfort zone. The exams are, you in a room with a man who is 110 years old wearing a jet black suit. He is pale as the sheet of paper in front of him on his table and he sits there at this desk with all these sheets, you’ve paid piano accompaniment 50 euro so he plays for you for the day. Then you have to perform, whatever six or eight pieces. There is nothing more uncomfortable in the world than being alone in this room. You’ve got to act out the scene of each piece and you’ve got to introduce the song, discuss the composer and discuss the meaning of the song, the characters, all this kind of stuff and he’s just looking at you. He doesn’t have any expression. Then after you’re finished describing, he goes. ‘Thank you’ and then the piano guy starts playing. One song I did was, “Oh, Why am I Moody and Sad?” from Ruddigore, which was Gilbert and Sullivan from like 1890 something. The point is, it’s so far out of my comfort zone….people have fears about public speaking, people have fears of flying. When I was younger, my biggest fear was singing publicly. I think the most vulnerable a person could be is to sing in front of people. I don’t know why. I just think it’s such a vulnerable thing and I was never a great singer, so I worked hard on my vocals.”

“Over the course of this record I could have used autotune and just sound like Kanye West, but I was doing the voice training and I was learning how to produce properly and use ProTools and the more I learned the more everything made sense. Ronan Nolan my drummer is perfect. He is the best at his instrument, and I have realized the importance of that now with my knowledge of production, ProTools, and creating a song, whereas when I was 21, I had no idea. When you go to record a song there’s an assigned tempo. Then there’s the loudest beeping noise out of the speaker and you have to play perfectly in time. You think you’re doing a good job and then the engineer says ‘no timing, go back to the start again’ and you’re like what!. I didn’t realize until I learned how to do it where you can literally see on the screen, Oh god that’s way out of time. So, I guess it was, probably a four-year journey. ‘We Met at a Party’ came out in 2016. The album was done by 2018, for sure, then it sat on my phone for two years and did nothing because I had this fear because I put all my own money into it, I paid for everything, independently. I won’t disclose the amount of money that I paid, but I could have put a deposit on a house…”

“I’ve had the great generosity of the Irish artists and community like Andrew Holohan, who has directed ‘We Met at a Party’, ‘City Limits’ and ‘Point of View’, even though we did it on a collaborative basis, but even still, you gotta rent cameras, lights, spaces… it was just so much time and investment. When it was finished, ‘We Met at a Party’ came out and that did well ‘Graceful Dancer’ came out that did better on radio. Then I was like, if I release this album, and I don’t become Brandon Flowers of The Killers overnight, I’ve failed, which is absolutely delusional. I think it’s just because I knew how much work I put into it but I didn’t do anything with it. We released another single, we did all the festivals, we toured Ireland, the UK, and all this stuff.”

“Obviously, now I’ve come forward. I had all this personal stuff going on in the background of my life. My perspective has just changed. I was in New York and my friend Aidan Cunningham runs a studio at there called Empire Underground and we reopened the album, and basically remastered the entire thing. Everything just sounded better and I made a decision… to put this out. All I want is this to exist. What is the point, If it doesn’t exist. There was a comedian I spoke to Mark Normand, he was a guest on my podcast and he said hey life is a catalog just keep adding to the catalog. Make a big interesting catalog and then die at the end. I thought God, he’s right, so I just wanted the album to exist. We completed the post-production in Brooklyn, and then I decided, with things going on with my mom, that maybe I can use this to help, or I don’t know maybe there’s something I can do or give it a meaning, or something like that. “

The album is named after the birth year of Quilty’s mother, who lives with Stage 4 Metastatic Breast Cancer. Apella have decided to give 100% of the proceeds from the sale of the album to The Marie Keating Foundation specifically to help fund the outstanding support services they provide to women affected by Breast Cancer. It’s a really moving gesture as Quilty funded the making and recording of the album himself 

“It’s the money of the sales and it’s important to be very specific with this because Spotify pay 0.00437 cents per stream. So I think you need to listen to ‘Point of View’ 250 times for me to make $1.00. I wouldn’t have got CDs or vinyls made if I didn’t partner with the Marie Keating foundation.”

“It’s my art. I was doing the album before my mom got diagnosed with cancer. This is all happening anyway. So, the reason that I’ve decided to go for 100% of the sales is because there would be no sales if it wasn’t for the Marie Keating foundation so it’s only right to do it this way. And it’s also, you know, it’s not a cancer album.”

‘1963’ is an exhilarating pop-punk album filled with wonderful indie nuggets and electronic blends especially in tracks such as ‘Buried You’. Quilty has a knack for creating catchy hook-filled melodies that ooze pop sensibilities and easy on the ear charm while packing in oodles of emotion. With Ronan Nolan laying down the deft drumming foundation notably in ‘New Things Get Old’ the album is jam-packed with rich vibrant tunes. This album is by no means a soppy, sad collection of tracks; instead, it is a refined display of instrumental prowess and meticulous musicianship.

“Yeah, it’s not written about sadness. All I wanted was it to exist in the world, and I guess if you can do something with it, why not and if this flops on its ass that’s okay. I’m comfortable with that now. Whereas three years ago, I would have had so much anxiety. But if this flops on its ass then it flops on its ass because nobody can take it off Spotify and Apple Music nobody can take the body of work away from me because it exists. But on Friday when it came, just seeing Apella ‘1963’ on Spotify and Apple Music I was so excited.  When it was published to Apple Music and you could see it but all the songs are grayed out and it said coming January 29th, I thought that was the coolest thing. I get excited by the nerdiest stuff. I mean I posted today, a behind the scenes video, like the recording of ‘New Things Get Old’ and it’s just Ronan and I in the studio. I love the creation of a song. My entire childhood, even now, I just love watching the creation of music when you produce a mix or you know how production works, you don’t listen to music the same way as a person who doesn’t. Much like a classically trained musician experiences music differently to someone like me who would be a contemporary musician…which is fascinating. So I put up this video because, technically you go into the studio, a Pro Tools session starts empty. Silence, and then layer by layer you fill that silence with instruments and you can do whatever you want. There are no rules, yes there are rules in music but technically you can do whatever you want.”

“For Apella, I started with music. There are some new songs that I’ve written. I’ve started with an idea or a concept, or an emotion and I’ve taken that to the instrument. So I’m going to the instrument with the emotion. I’ve never done that before. It’s a new way of writing like let’s say you’ve been through a breakup. I know it’s the cliche hit song. But you go to the song with the idea of the broken heart. This is what I’m writing about and that will have a different result. But with Apella, I would compose everything. There are co-writes and stuff on the album not that many two or three songs I co-wrote with other people. But yeah I would do it all in my home studio, there’d be MIDI drums on there and I’d record all the vocals and guitars and come to the studio with a session. Then, Joe Egan, who co-produced this record with me, his musical ear is unbelievable and because it was mostly Joe and I in the studio and Ronan there was never any arguments, tension or ego. It was like, if you can imagine a whiteboard and everybody’s trying to solve a puzzle and it’s whatever’s best for the whiteboard. Doesn’t matter who said it or who came up with it but if it’s the best thing for the board. It goes on the board. That’s what we applied to this record. I might have a part in and Joe would say, that’s not right, I think you can do something better. That happened for ‘Little Bit Less’, track 11. The middle section of that song was totally different then Joe said, This just isn’t right. I think you have something better, and he sent me home for the weekend. He gave me a U87, and I went home and rewrote the middle section and recorded the vocals, with the U87 in my closet. I came back to him with that idea… Actually, we never ended up re-recording. The whole middle section of ‘Little Bit Less’ wasn’t done in the studio… the vocals and everything were recorded in my bedroom.”

“There are ideas or something I didn’t like on a track like an idea Joe would come up with and I was like I don’t know if I like that. We’d all listen and Ronan would say I think, that adds a lot to the song and whatever was best for the song went on the song. Ronan is the most positive person to be around. He’s so funny and he lights up every room he goes into. There were days where Joe and I were doing vocal mixes or recording guitars, but you know they can be 12 hour days, some days, we would literally call Ronan, because he gets all his drums done in one take and a second take for alternative parts, he’s so good. But he would come down and just be funny and kick chairs over and tell us we’re pricks. Ronan actually sings an awful lot on this record. All the high stuff, all the falsetto. There’s a song ‘Deja You’ and if you really listen closely in the chorus, you’ll hear Ronan, way up in the octaves or the intro of ‘New Things Get Old’. All the high stuff is Ronan he’s a great singer. He’s an angel. He’s a choirboy, but then he provides a contrast because I do all the other harmony so it’s good to have contrast and vocal because the texture is different. My voice layered five times, it’s gonna have a similar texture, no matter how you treat it so Ronan singing adds something different.”

There’s a lot of heartfelt emotion within ‘1963’. ‘Graceful Dancer’,’Buried You’, and ‘Point Of View’ exude heart-stopping melodies and meaningful lyrics. However, for me, it’s ‘Shadows Of My Personality’ that is the standout tune. This snappy glistening 80’s-hued track shimmers like a radiant glitter ball with sparkling electronics and zesty guitar flirtations providing an uplifting bounce through jazz-esque keys and hearty production. Quilty discussed with me the influences behind these songs and the interpretation of lyrics.

“They are personal songs for me and everything is authentic. The thing about music and I’m not the first person to say this, but lyrics are open to interpretation and you find solace in them. I’m sure you have your go-to songs for when you have a sad day or when you’re going out or before a date because that song means something to you and you sort of applied the lyrics to your life.‘Shadows of My Personality’ was a big one for me. I didn’t realize I was writing that song about anxiety, until after it was finished. That song was actually called 80‘s song. That was the name of the session. Each song on the record I hadn’t had an idea of how I wanted to approach it from a production point of view. ‘Point of View’ and ‘Graceful Dancer’ are clearly balanced. There is room in the songs, the songs can breathe. ‘We Met at a Party’ and ‘New Things Get Old’, they are clearly, punk sounding, from my influences from Blink-182, Green Day, and ‘Deja You’ is indie ‘Buried You’ was quite The Killers, so there’s a lot of influence on the record and for ‘Shadows of My Personality’, I was like I want to write an 80’s song. I love The Cure and The Police so it’s literally a juxtaposition of those two artists. My favorite bit of the whole record at the moment is the pre-chorus of ‘Shadows of My Personality’ because of the guitar riff because it sounds so Andy Summers and I really liked it. I was writing about anxiety, and that was when we decided to put the breathing in. That song opens with breaths, that are to represent the panic and the panic attack. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to breathe in time to a metronome. It’s a lot harder than you think it is. It’s very strange but that was fun to do. You can hear it in the track now and that’s kind of an acknowledgment to ‘Close To Me’ by The Cure, because Robert Smith does a similar thing in ‘Close To Me’. I think it’s nice to pay homage to your musical influences, and it just made sense with the song. So no I’m not afraid. I think it’s important that the songs are real. If somebody interprets, a song completely incorrectly that’s their interpretation of it and that’s okay. “

After touring all over the country – opening for Twenty One Pilots, appearing at all major Irish music festivals including Electric Picnic, Indiependence, Castlepalooza and Sea Sessions, accompanied by UK tours with Keywest and Don Broco, Quilty moved to New York City to work further on his career. 

“I needed to get out of my comfort zone. You know, 13 years on air, very grateful, loved my whole career, Ireland, I love this country. It’s small, and the fact that it’s small, it’s amazing. You can get to know so many people you can gain experience. I have pretty much done every stage from the Three Arena to the Olympia, to the Academy to upstairs in Whelan’s, to the big outdoor stage at Oxygen. But I was always the guy from the radio. People always start out saying you’re on the radio, must be easy for you to get your songs on the radio. It’s actually the complete opposite, because I was on the radio people go we’re not playing him he’s on another station. Then personally I wanted to expand and actually see was I good. I’ve had success in radio sure I got awards but that’s in Ireland am I actually good. So, let’s go to New York where there’s 8.5 million people. New York’s unfortunately been hit so hard by COVID that every venue is closed and everything has stopped but I was lucky that I had a studio that I built that I was able to work out of and Aiden Cunningham, and his studio in Brooklyn, that we were able to continue our work together over there, which is great. It took a lot of consideration. There was obviously a huge amount of work for the visa and everything, but it was right.”

With ‘1963’ released Quilty tells me he has other exciting projects in the pipeline this year.  

“ I’m back in Ireland for a while, we’ll head back to New York soon. I’ve still got so much to do over there. I have a new show with MTV, that’s out now called Stan vs. Stan, which is pretty cool. They’ve made it the header of the MTV YouTube channel over in the US, and that was all done in the pandemic. Eight episodes of that show and thanks to my ProTools and production knowledge, I was able to do the voiceover, do the comedy and stuff and provide them with broadcast standard audio from my studio. I’m pretty proud of that. Stan vs. Stan you can watch right now on youtube.com/MTV. It’s their main push at the moment which is just pretty cool. They all exist together – music, radio and production it’s all in the one sphere.”

Apella have created a sublime, engaging and energetic album filled with fantastic anthemic pop punk bangers.The effort and love Quilty has for music oozes from each song and his crisp production, passionate songwriting and melody wizardry makes ‘1963’ a satisfying listening experience.

100% of the proceeds from this album bought on apellamusic.com will go directly to The Marie Keating Foundation’s Positive Living support group. 

Check out the Apella behind the scenes video for ‘New Things Get Old’ here https://twitter.com/i/status/1356197080704950274


Author : Danu

A Chat With, Interviews, New Music

A Chat With : Still Corners

Still Corners have released their fifth studio album ‘The Last Exit.’ I caught up with songwriter/producer Greg Hughes and vocalist Tessa Murray to discuss the new album, getting lost in the desert, and how The Good the Bad and the Ugly helped them hone their focus when they struggled to achieve their acquired vibe in the studio.

Photo Credit : Bernard Burmin

Still Cornors are a unique treasure. Their inspiration can come from anything and everything, and their free-spirited nature seeps into their songs, creating an intoxicating and luring sound that conjures a world of its own.

‘The Last Exit’ follows the hypnotic desert noir sound we have come to know Still Corners for; however, there is something more mystical about this album that completely consumes the listener into a world created entirely by Still Corners. This world is isolated, calm, and filled with subtle wild elements expressed through a unique and intriguing lens.

“We came up with most of these song ideas when we were in the desert.  We had a guitar and pen and paper and just wrote songs.  We drove around a lot, going down little roads, seeing where they went.  There are old buildings in ruins, old gas stations from the 50s with big signs falling down.  Strange sounds at night.  We love all that stuff so we wove it into an album.”

Talking about the inspiration behind the album Sill Corners explain: 

“We call it “desert fever”, it’s not a medical condition, it’s the sudden need to leave the city and go to the desert, it’s a desire for isolation.  This was the main inspiration behind the album.  The air, the animals, the heat, the ghosts, they all influenced this record.”

The atmosphere within the tracks feel vast and spacious. The pristine guitar, shimmering keys, and soft drums all seem to compliment this vast lonely space.

“A lot of ideas for the songs we thought of when we were out in the desert.  But we had to take that atmosphere back to the studio.  So I took a lot of photos and pasted them all over the wall to remind us of the feeling there.  Also if we were stuck for a part we would project on a big wall the Good the Bad and the Ugly and mute it and play music over it to help us zero in on the vibe.”

Not only are the musical arrangements mesmerising, but Still Corners are also known to have a sublime knack for creating suspenseful and mystical stories through their lyrics. In ‘The Last Exit,’ lyrics such as “I’ve been driving through the darkness, Got no destination in mind. And it’s a shame that I had to disappear. The last exit” is exceptionally impactful. The mystery and chilling loneliness in just these lines alone is superb. I wondered if they spend a long time crafting the lyrics to have that impact, or does it just come in a flow of inspiration

“Thank you.  It’s really a bit of both.  Sometimes I’ll be strumming guitar with Tessa singing over it and something will come out fully formed.  Other times we get stuck on a word or phrase.  When that happens you just leave it, it will come eventually.  Often the answer pops into your head while you’re busy doing something else, like walking or watering plants.  Your brain likes to overthink things, by doing a mundane task you can quiet it down a bit so you can access the reservoir of creativity better.”

The duo initially had the album written and ready to go but Covid changed a lot, including how it turned out. The pair found new inspiration resulting in this captivating version we hear today.  

“We trashed half the record and wrote 5 new songs.  The other songs were good but the pandemic laser-focused us and we were able to bring more to the table.  It made the album better.”

Tessa has a wonderfully smoky and haunting tone to her voice. I wondered if her vocal style was something that she had to develop to suit the band’s sound, or was it something that just came naturally to her?

“Thank you, I just sing and let whatever comes out come out, I’ve worked on it over the years, experimenting with various techniques but mostly it’s just a natural flow.”

‘The Last Exit’ blends various genres into Still Corners’ sound, adding new exciting facets and sounds for the listener to devour as each track unfolds. ‘The Mystery’ marks a more indie-pop tone in the album. It provides a lighter texture which boasts excellent jangly guitar and upbeat rhythms accompanied by chilling haunting elements while also showcasing the duo’s constantly evolving sound.

“We’re always trying new things and different ways to inspire.  We were driving around the Mojave desert and decided to deliberately get lost on a road.  I don’t recommend this to anyone by the way!  We thought if we couldn’t find our way back we’d just turn on our computer navigation to guide us back.  Well, we were out there for a few hours and thought yes, we are now suitably lost.  We had a sandwich and a drink and enjoyed the view.  When we got back into the car and turned our phones on, no signal.  We drove around a bit, no signal.  Now we’re getting a little worried.  It wasn’t until dark and a few hours later that we got back, it was scary as hell but we made it and thought let’s write a song about it!

The album draws to a close with ‘Old Arcade,’ a mellow track laced in lush, delicate instrumentation and rich, warm textures. I always find the last track interesting on an album. It can bring a journey to an end or provide a cliff-hanging glimpse of what’s to come. This song seems to take you off into the sunset on a nostalgic trip. I wondered what made the duo choose to close the album on ‘Old Arcade’ and was it a difficult task selecting the last song? 

“We had written the whole album but knew we needed something that would bookmark the journey the album took you on.  It had to have a certain vibe and feeling.  One day I was strumming and Tessa came over and was lying down on the carpet looking at some photos we had taken and there was one of an old pinball machine.  She just started singing over my chords, it was amazing really.  We recorded it and the next day when we were listening back to it we knew that should be the last song.”

Besides not getting lost in a desert, the duo gave some words of wisdom for anyone who wishes to start a career in music.

“There’s a saying that goes “that person worked 10 years straight and then they were an overnight success!”.  I think that sums up an artist’s typical career path.  It’s not always like that but most of the time when you look into someone who’s had some form of success you find they’ve been doing it for ages.  So you have to work hard but it’s fun work.  They say music chooses you, it’s really more a vocation or a calling than a job.”

For anyone who is utterly enamoured and obsessed with ‘The Last Exit,’ you will be happy to know Still Corners’ creative flow never stops, and they are already working on more music.

“We’re very excited to have this new album out and we have a tour planned in Oct 2021 so hopefully that will get pulled off.  We’re working on new music too”

Stream ‘The Last Exit’ below 


Author : Danu

A Chat With, Indie, Interviews, New Music

A Chat With : Keelan O’Reilly From Post-Party

If you’re looking for a feel-good indie band with a sound bursting from the seams with vigor, youthful adrenaline and lush melodies then Post-Party are going to be your next fix. By a chance meeting that completed the dynamic line up Post-Party formed in late 2018 in Dublin and have since built a reputation for their energetic live performances playing in various well-known venues across Ireland and the UK. 

I caught up with frontman Keelan O’Reilly to talk about the blazing new single ‘Being Honest’, the band’s writing process, and how dressing up as a female singer for a secondary school musical helped him overcome his stage fright.

“I guess, me and three of the guys have been playing music together for years. We went to school together and it wasn’t until we went to college that I met Matthew who was the final member of the band to join. Me and Matthew were in a class together and they were doing the roll call, and my full name is Keelan Anthony O’Reilly, and they called out on the roll, Matthew Anthony O’Reilly, and it turned out that me and Matthew had the same middle name and surname, and after class, I was confused about the situation so I approached him about it and we just started chatting. It was such a weird coincidence. After that we were like yeah we have to do something with this. This is a sure sign”

Post-Party have become known for their vibrant sound. Guitar and melody hooks seem to be an instantly recognisable factor in their songs and their high-energy indie is unsurprisingly blowing minds and gaining them fans with each show they play. New single ‘Being Honest’ follows this infectious recipe.

“ ‘Being Honest’, stemmed from a different song we had for years. I had been working on a song with the three lads, just working it through, practicing together. It came from a place of personal experience. It’s about the silly fickle arguments and things that happen when you’re in a relationship with someone. When Matthew joined we decided to rewrite it, and just finish the ideas that we had started on. When we got into the session together on the first day it became what ‘Being Honest’ is today.”

“ I guess a lot of the time the first melody you come up with is often quite strong and a lot of the time it does come organically. Sometimes things have to be reconsidered, and that’s all part of the process of writing the song but the first melody we come up with is often the one we stick with, and after that we get some feedback from people we trust, and see how we feel about it if it needs to be changed. We’re not gonna be too personally involved, we’re all able to be professional and decide if this works or if this doesn’t. So, yeah, that’s kind of the process.”

“You kind of build this bank of lyrics, and melodies, and it’s all in your head when you write a song. Then you decide maybe I’m not fully happy with this song, but you enjoy a certain part of the song, you’re going to keep that and you’re going to store that in your head. That’s where these organic melodies come from because you’ve come up with a melody, and maybe it doesn’t get used, and then in three weeks time you’re writing another song, and it finds its place and it just really fulfills that song, much more than it had in the original idea. “

The band have worked hard developing their music and building a fanbase through the live circuit. It is in the live scene where they bounce songs off the crowd to see how a song would translate with fans before they release it. This practice not only gains them new fans but also gives them confidence and helps the band hone their sound. So naturally with the lack of shows 2020 brought, it was a difficult time for Post-Party as they had to navigate through social media to find other ways of connecting with their audience. 

“Yeah, our favorite part of this whole thing is the live scene, and that’s been from day one.We just love playing music together in front of a crowd and an audience. It’s really thrilling, and just so exciting. That was one thing that we wanted to maintain when we are writing. So we always consider ‘how can we make this full of energy, how can we make this something that a crowd would enjoy’. It’s become very central to our sound, because we focus on making our songs youthful and dancey”

“ We started writing songs and playing shows before we recorded anything. So, we released ‘Love You Everyday’ in 2019. We had a full year of just playing shows before that. It was looking at the reactions from the audience to our sound, that would enhance our ideas on what was good and what wasn’t. That’s where the feedback comes from on the writing, you can tell straight away if a song is working once you play a live show. It was a perfect opportunity to be able to hone in on sounds, and energies, especially for that first single ‘Love You Everyday’. That’s something that’s been super important to us.”

“We see a lot of familiar faces. We have really supportive friends and extended kind of Post-Party family so it’s really cool. That’s one of the best feelings in the world and especially when you haven’t released a song and people are recognizing it from being at other shows and stuff, that shows that people actually really enjoy what you’re doing and engage with what you’re doing.”

“ It was upsetting to lose the live side of everything because it’s very motivating being able to play in front of a crowd and have an audience listen to your music. So it even takes away an aspect towards the writing of the music as well. But, especially, with the loss of live music, you know we would have hopefully been playing a lot of festivals over the summer had COVID not been around, but unfortunately now, we didn’t get that opportunity. But we’re optimistic for the new year, we’re optimistic for 2021 and we’re just gonna have to push the music without the live. It’s gonna be very different. It’s a different scenario. And it’s challenging but I think it’s achievable.”

“ We definitely had to take a different approach. I was chatting to Matthew, our guitar player in Post-Party about this and we were saying, after releasing ‘Being Honest’, we would have played a live show, to launch this single. So…we definitely had to reconsider how we went about promoting the song. Last year TikTok was the platform that really took off over lockdown, and even setting up a TikTok page, which we just did two weeks ago,to help promote the single because there’s a lot of organic growth on the social media platforms with everyone being at home. So we really had to consider how to engage people through social media, rather than through the live scene. It just takes a lot of thought and processing how you can achieve something like that. “

“It’s definitely a learning curve, and it was something that we hadn’t really expressed ourselves in enough probably. Last year gave us the opportunity to learn how to use the platforms that are available to us”

“It’s quite a competitive marketplace. You’re competing with your peers. I love all the bands that I follow on Instagram or Facebook or whatever, but you’re essentially competing with those artists. There’s only so much music that can get heard by so many people. It’s a challenge, it is very daunting but I think last year a lot of people have learned how to navigate it.”

Post-Party have taken the uncertainty in their stride and created cracking tunes and an impressive music video during this time. The music video for ‘Being Honest’ sees the band performing the track while some bullies set their sights on terrorising a teenager. Featuring a heroic janitor and a nail biting badminton game, the band provide an entertaining visual (along with some fun bloopers on their facebook page).

“Yeah, it was a very cool concept and our bass player Colin actually came up with the idea. He directed, acted, edited, he did everything possible to contribute to the video. He really knocked it out of the park. We tried to capture that energetic, fun feeling that we strive towards, and I think the ideas that Colin formed were perfect for capturing that energy and vibe.

“ If you’ve seen the bloopers. There are about 1000 takes of the guys laughing at each other. It was so hard. I think one of the bloopers Colin literally says in the background that it’s impossible…but yeah, at the same time, it was so fun and that’s the main thing”

Being the frontman of a band can be a daunting task. You have to express the song’s emotions as well as carry the band’s message. However Keelan does this with a confidence and charisma that highlights his passionate velvety vocals. Keelan explained to me the moment he found his confidence.

“Yeah, it’s definitely something that I’ve learned. I remember the first time I played in front of an audience, and it was the scariest thing ever. I had really bad stage fright when I was younger, I did a musical in my secondary school, and I performed as a female singer. I had to get dressed up in a dress and high heels and everything. It really just put me in the spotlight and I had to adapt. I think that was the moment where I realized,I don’t actually have to be afraid of stepping out in front of an audience and being myself or whatever, even though in that particular moment I wasn’t.”

“It was a great experience. I really enjoyed it and it gave me an idea of what it was like to perform and the enjoyment you can have on stage.”

Post- Party have played venues such as the Roisin Dubh in Galway, sold-out headline Dublin shows, toured Ireland, performed at Electric Picnic and Indiependence as well as  supported the likes of Miles Kane and The Sherlocks.The band soaked up as much of the experience to see how they can improve their own shows.

“You learn stuff, yeah 100% you learn stuff from every live show you go to. So going to any concert as a musician and as an artist you’re constantly taking mental notes in your head about what you enjoyed about the performance, or what that certain act did that blew you away. We never got any advice from Miles or The Sherlocks or any of the lads. They told us they loved the music, so that was a good thing. I guess just watching Miles Kane, he’s an amazing performer. He just pulls the crowd in and they are in the palm of his hand for the whole concert. As an artist, you would be analyzing what he’s doing to make the crowd so engaged. I myself went and saw The 1975 in 2019 and one of the things I really loved about the show was the lights aspect and the actual stage setup. It was something that we were really motivated by. It’s something that we’d love to do in the future. It was an insight into what the possibilities are for live shows, etc.”

Post-Party has set the bar high.‘Being Honest’ is a great track to start the year. I wondered what the band has planned to tantalize our ears for the rest of the year. 

“We spent the last year writing, so we have loads of new material. We’re super excited about it. We’ve got some new tunes in the pipeline, and we’re hoping to see if maybe at the end of the year shows come back. It’s all playing it by ear at the moment. We’ve got some stuff we’re really excited to share. For the moment we’re just focusing on ‘Being Honest’, promoting the song, and we’ll see what happens in the next few months.”

Post-Party is a band to keep an eye on.Their heartfelt energetic tunes are irresistible and laced in emotive feel good indie.Teamed with deft lyrics and guitar hooks flying at you from all angles, it’s difficult to resist this band’s infectious sound. From strong bass lines, blood pumping drums and blazing guitar lines to warm vocals and sweet melodies Post- Party are charming the ears of all who hear them. 

You can follow Post-Party on their socials below

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/Post.Party.Music/

Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/postpartyband/?hl=en

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/PostPartyBand

Stream ‘Being Honest’ below


Author : Danu

A Chat With, Indie, Interviews, New Music

A Chat With : World’s First Cinema

Following on from the unveiling of their singles ‘Can’t Feel Anything’ and ‘Red Run Cold’ in late 2020, fast-rising duo World’s First Cinema tease what’s to come from their debut EP with their new offering ‘Cold Sets In.’

I caught up with the band to chat about the new single, their brave decision to start a band in the middle of a pandemic, and what we can look forward to from the EP. 

Fil Thorpe and John Sinclair began releasing music as World’s First Cinema last year in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. This difficult task meant the band had to engage with their audience differently, considering live shows were not an option anymore, and live streams can be challenging to arrange. 

“It’s so hard to say for sure, but it’s tough not to imagine what it would’ve been like to release in a world, not under a pandemic. I don’t think it helped as much as it harmed our release. In our opinion, live streams are a really, really tough venue to force people into. They are killer for established artists, but we’re in these critical moments of building our project from scratch and establishing a very specific theme. It just hasn’t felt right for a live stream yet.”

The duo combines expressive orchestration with melodic pop vocals and unique rock production to create an utterly compelling and emotive sound. Within their tracks, the band creates incredible cinematic builds filled with explosive hair raising crescendos and sublime melodic flows. It is no surprise the inspiration that sparked the duos sound is movies.

“Thank you! We work hard to get that sound out of each and every cut. We originally met to make music for film, but it was immediately clear that we had something more on our hands. It was so fun working together that things really just spiraled out of control. We want to put the theater back into popular music. That’s where that explosive energy comes from. We both have such different backgrounds, but they combine in that unique way. A lot of soul-inspired vocals and orchestral strings, blending with Fil’s completely epic rock/EDM production. We both play heavy parts in writing and production, so the two halves blend almost completely. “

A remarkable aspect of World’s First Cinema is the band’s use of strings which glide and swoosh through the tracks with an elegance that highlights the surging and sometimes dark electronics. A wonderful example of this is ‘Red Run Cold.’ The violin has become a vital element in the duo’s songs

“Strings just fit too well with the sweeping, cinematic palette we wanted to work with. And John plays violin. So it was a natural fit. “

World’s First Cinema recently released their new single ‘Cold Sets In,’ a tender track showcasing clean cinematic production and refined heartfelt musicianship. The song’s emotion can carry you away into a world entirely created by the duo as they discuss emotional themes through the medium of majestic arrangements.

“Cold Sets In” is inspired by shared turmoil. The song explores how such heartache can bring you closer to loved ones. Through the lens of pain, we watch how starting over can become the most impactful part of a relationship. Strife can shepherd in both meaning and perspective as its silver lining.

One of the coolest things about our process is that we start every cut with a pretty open mindset. It could go anywhere – we know what we like, and what fits in the world of World’s First Cinema, but each song gets to sort of write itself. Love that.”

The track follows on from World’s First Cinema’s singles ‘Can’t Feel Anything’ and ‘Red Run Cold,’ which were released in late 2020, and have since amassed more than a million streams, with the latter topping the billing on Spotify’s Pop Rock Shot playlist since their release. Excitingly the duo have an EP planned for this year

“We do – can’t say too much, but it’s coming in a matter of weeks. It’s meant to lay a foundation – setting the stage for what’s to come from World’s First Cinema. “

Both Fil and John have a lot of experience in the music industry. Fil was a founding member of Neck Deep, the multi-award-winning rock outfit that also cracked the #2 spot on the US album charts. John (alternatively known as Saint Claire) has previously collaborated with Macklemore on his 2017 single ‘Excavate’.I asked them for some words of wisdom for an emerging songwriter and producer who wishes to pursue a career in music

“Don’t be afraid to pivot and change. You really have no clue what can come next, if you let it.”

World’s First Cinema are a genre-defying and exciting duo to keep an eye on. The deft musicianship, skillful production, and emotion they pour into their songs is impressive and makes for one hair-raising listening experience. I’m looking forward to this mysterious EP they have planned to release this year.

You can stream their new single ‘Cold Sets In’ below


Author : Danu

A Chat With, Desert Rock, Indie, Interviews, New Music

A Chat With :The Howlers

Since forming a little over a year ago, London’s desert-rockers The Howlers have quickly identified themselves as one of the UK’s must-see live acts. I caught up with frontman Adam Young to discuss the release of their upcoming EP and their UK tour set for the Spring.

The London-based three-piece have become known for their old school, gritty, desert sound reminiscent of Spaghetti Westerns. Their tracks feel like they could be the soundtrack to a Sergio Leone movie with an indie rock twist. Even their fashion sense reflects their musical style. An impressive impact to have for such a young band and movies is where this sound originated from.

“I don’t think it was a decision we made, it was natural to us. It was something that we were drawn to. We were all drawn to the iconography of the fashion and things like the 60s and 70s, and you know, spaghetti westerns are just comical and hilarious. It’s just the pageantry. When you watch a film like that, you know, that was filmed in the 60s and 70s, and it’s badly synced up with how the audio and the film is, and the story is rubbish. It’s almost like a parody of life. We really like the film scores from those movies, you know, Sergio Leone movies and Ennio Morricone soundtracks. They are just so emotive and we, as a band use our music to express how we’re emotionally feeling. We try and stay away from politics as much as possible because we think, every band at the moment thinks that to be a musician, you’ve got to be angry at the government. We’re all angry at the government, but people need a little bit of hope. So singing about, how we deal with our mental health or how we’ve gone through some of the most horrendous things we would never wish on anybody, I think is a refreshing take on it and so I guess it naturally falls into a sound that no one else is doing. Plus it’s pretty cool, to create an atmosphere on stage is a very hard thing to do. Everyone can go up there and jump around like they are at Wembley Stadium, but to create something that is emotive… bands like The Murder Capital, they do it amazingly well. They get on stage and express emotion in a very visceral way and I guess we’re trying to do that in a slightly different way.”

Snugly wrapped within this western – esque indie rock sound is the band’s emotive lyrics. The listener gets a glimpse of the pain and emotion Adam is working through. In particular ‘In My Apologies’ captures this perfectly.

“When it came to writing lyrics. Up until the more recent tunes that we’ve written which haven’t been released yet, they are being released in a couple of weeks, couple of months. I used to write by myself, I’m on the autistic spectrum, I have dyslexia and so how my brain works is a complete mess. I use songs as a way of expressing how my mind is just absolutely crushed or, you know, it’s quite a lonely place to be sometimes, and the boys often say that I pulled songs like ‘My Apologies’ and ‘County Lines’ out my ass. They just come out of nowhere but I just sort of walk into a room and go, what do you think of this I wrote this last night, and it was just one of those things.”

“Our songwriting, especially now, for the new material, we’ve taken the songwriting I had and was doing, and the rest of the boys have got involved as well and now it represents all of us and it is miles better. So, with ‘My Apologies’, I wrote that song the day before we recorded it in the studio and, I recorded it in one take. The lyrics came from a time in my life where I was realizing that I wasn’t happy and I met someone that changed my perspective of it and I gambled everything to chase that feeling. I wanted it to be quite raw. There’s a track that we’ve recorded that is as dark but I don’t know, sometimes I find it really hard to talk about my songwriting and art. I like for people to be able to just listen to it, feel moved in their own way. I think that’s quite important to let people understand our music differently.”

The Howlers have gained widespread praise from radio royalty, including BBC 6 Music’s Steve Lamacq, KEXP’s Cheryl Waters, and BBC Radio 1’s Jack Saunders, Sophie K, and  Huw Stephens. In under 10 months, all 3 of their singles debuted on BBC Radio 1. It’s a fantastic achievement for an unsigned band to get such recognition. However, it wasn’t easy. The band had a tough time and a lot of fast learning to do within the industry.

“Yeah, unfortunately, because we had a bit of success that obviously attracts the more horrible people in the industry and we’ve been through a lot. People took advantage of that and we’ve just recently got back to ourselves. We built a team around us now, the most amazing individuals. The achievements we have with no major label backing, you know, it is amazing, but we’re always striving for the next thing. We’re not egotistical, we don’t go ‘yeah we’ve had this, we’ve made it’. It’s almost like, ‘we’ve got it that’s good, let’s go bigger.’ We will put in a good show and we’ll come offstage and we’ll beat ourselves up for like 10 minutes going ‘Nah that’s rubbish’ and that’s how we keep moving forward. Some of the best shows we’ve ever played, some of the shows where we got some of the best opportunities we’ve ever had, we came off stage and were depressed for like 10 or 15 minutes. It was just one of those things where I think as a band we appreciate everyone’s time. We want to keep giving people something that they appreciate and the same with radio and stuff, it’s nice to have that recognition. “

Since the beginning of 2020, The Howlers have been working on a series of records with Theo Verney (Traams, Fur, Egyption Blue, Pip Blom) and Tarek Musa (Spring King) producing and mixing as well as Third Man Records (The Black Keys, YAK, Jack White) conducting the Mastering. This collection of tracks sees the band deal with some heavy topics through the wonderfully expressive musicianship the band is known for. 

“To understand it a little better. I lost a family member to COVID-19. We dealt with it the only way we knew how to, which was to lock ourselves away in a North London factory, a windowless room and we just spent 9,10 hours a day in that room just writing music together expressing the grief and the emotion and helping us go through that period. It just happened to be at the same time that the Black Lives Matter protest was going on. So, we would go to and from the studio every day to sirens and chanting and people queuing outside shops in masks. It was this time when we realized we were going to be who we want to be and we just tore up everything and went ‘let’s be ourselves, let’s get back to being who we are’. We were already close anyway we’re unbelievably tight both as musicians and more like family than friends, we’re like brothers to each other, and the new tunes represent that. It is the first time that Cam helped with songwriting in terms of lyrical content. He writes poetry and I said let’s use some of your poetry. Let’s get it in there. It’s the first time that we worked on every bit of a song together. We are unbelievably proud of what we’ve done.”

“It follows the same line, what we’ve done before, same sort of sound, that desert-y sound. It has gone a little bit more, West Coast. So, you know bands like the Allah-Las, Night Beats, Black Keys, things like that. We’ve just gone, ‘you know what, f*ck it let’s just do our thing’ and from the demos that we created, we managed to get this team around us, which is unbelievable. I still pinch myself and go how the bloody hell did we get there. The tracks were mastered and worked on by Third Man Records in America and it was the same guy who did Jack White’s debut album, The Black Keys’ albums, The Kills and he’s working on our records and that’s amazing. So yeah, I think people are gonna like it. It is miles better than what we’ve done before. So if you like what we did before you can’t, not like it.”

With no live gigs 2020 was a challenging year. However, The Howlers have scheduled a UK tour this Spring. The prospect of seeing The Howlers live I’m sure has excited many, considering the band is at their most raw and compelling in a live setting. Although it’s difficult for Adam to be hopeful for the shows to go ahead.

“I mean, it’s definitely getting postponed. So, yeah, it WILL happen. When it will happen I don’t know, it’s probably gonna get postponed to the end of the year. All the tickets will remain valid because I think it’s right to honor the people that supported us when we really needed them to, but we’ll see. We are known as a live band and I’m buzzing to get back to it”

Adam explained the difficult times the band had within the industry with people mistreating them. It is a scary journey sometimes for a new band to find their feet. Budding artists don’t know much about management or the industry and that does leave them open to people taking advantage. From his experience, Adam gave advice for anyone who might like to pursue a career in the music industry.

“As a band, we’re not stupid. We’ve all studied music and we’re very clued on. Unfortunately, we have been through some stuff that made us very vulnerable and people took advantage of that and as a result, we’ve got ourselves out of those situations and now we’re back to what is important… us. My advice for an artist is, you don’t always need to have the big goals that people strive for like a label or a publisher or anything like that sometimes you can do things on your own. We’re very fortunate that we’ve got a really good publisher behind us and that’s all we need really at the moment. Be prepared for it to be shit. You know, we’re sold this Hollywood dream that it’s champagne and cocaine and it’s more like pot noodles and cans of coke. That’s literally it, it’s one of those things, but it’s the best experience you’ll ever have and it’s the best job in the world. I’m very fortunate. It comes with tears and breakdowns and unbelievable happiness and frustration, but at the same time, I wouldn’t change it for the world. So, yeah, I just advise people to know what they’re entering into, realistically.“

The Howlers create intoxicating tunes bursting from the seams with emotion. Blood, sweat, and tears go into every song to make the blistering, infectious desert-soaked sound we have come to love from the band. The upcoming EP is no exception. After listening, I was blown away by the band’s proficient musicianship. Keep an eye out for the upcoming EP. It’s a doozy.

Hopefully, the bands live dates can go ahead if so you can catch The Howlers Live at 

MARCH

18 – YES – Manchester

19 – Rough Trade – Bristol

20 – The Lexington – London

27 – The Rossi Bar – Brighton

APRIL

01 – Edge Of The Wedge – Portsmouth

03 – The Sunflower Lounge – Birmingham

06 – Oporto – Leeds


Author : Danu

A Chat With, Interviews, New Music, Singer/Songwriter

A Chat With : Shiv

I caught up with Kildare-raised singer-songwriter Shiv to talk about her recently released debut EP ‘Me 2 Me’. Shiv who is now back in Ireland for Christmas tells me how she crafts her songs, what sparked her to venture into a career in music and her new found joy for the family chaos Christmas brings.

“I think everyone’s really looking forward to the craziness because it’s been such a dead year, and coming up to Christmas you have time to relax, but it can also be fairly stressful and busy but I think it’s a welcome busyness this time around for a lot of people.”

Shiv has released her debut EP ‘Me 2 Me’. She wrote, produced and recorded her six-track debut EP during a year of self-discovery. However for Shiv the crafting and sculpting of this EP was more nerve-racking than the process of releasing it into the world.

“I think I had all my nerves when I was making it, if that makes sense. While I was doing it I was really apprehensive and really anxious and overthinking every lyric, every chord. But once I made the decision to release it and once I had the first single out of the way, I was happy. I’m happy with the EP and, obviously, I want people to like it but I was comfortable in the fact that I was happy with it myself. So I think that really helped, taking the time to sit with it way before the release.”

The EP is a great collection of tracks saturated in R&B and Soul with tropical elements peppered on top. Shiv explained being exposed to various genres has helped craft her sound.

“My dad used to play such a variety of stuff when we were growing up so I think that’s where the influence comes from musically. In terms of songwriting process. I like to come up with lyrics first.I try to write poetry as much as I can and then sometimes those poems turn into songs, but usually if I have an idea I want to get down or if I hear a word that I think will be really cool or phrase that I think would be really nice in a song I try flesh it out. Then I get down to the piano, play a few chords, see what sits right, see what melodies come out. From there then, it kind of flows. I’m lucky enough that I do have an idea of production and it’s easy enough to translate the ideas that I have in my head into a real song so yeah that’s usually the way it goes.”

Shiv shows her deft lyrical capabilities within this EP. She presents intimate and honest, accounts on a variety of themes from anxiety and longing to loneliness. I wondered if this feels exposing, releasing these personal thoughts into the public and are these feelings and emotions just as raw performing the songs now.

“Yeah, absolutely. I think that was part of the struggle as well being so vulnerable and so honest is quite a scary thing. You’re letting people into your mind and letting people see your flaws and your insecurities. I suppose it’s just part of being human as well. I feel that’s the best way to connect with people, if you are your most authentic self that translates and that’s what makes people connect to whatever you’re doing, people can sense the authenticity. But yeah, it’s definitely a nerve-racking experience especially during the writing process. More than post writing. It can get easy being caught up in your head and be like, oh, should I really be saying this should I really be exposing this part of myself. But all in all it’s such a rewarding thing and such a freeing experience because you know you are being true to yourself and expressing yourself in the most honest way that you can.”

“I guess it’s a processing thing I suppose. If you write a song about something and sing about something it is kind of, a relief. It’s like you’ve freed yourself from that in a sense, and obviously it’s never going to be perfect and the emotions are still going to come up but I guess it’s a way of processing the emotions so they’re not as raw. You know when you’re kind of anxious about something or overthinking something and it’s always in the back of your mind and it’s never really resolved, I feel writing and releasing songs, for me anyway gives things like that a sense of resolve. Then performing them afterwards, I think it’s easy to go back into that frame of mind. I can put myself back to how I was feeling but it’s not something that is overwhelming it’s not bringing me down or bringing me back to that point. I can still feel free.”

The instrumentation Shiv uses is light, bright and almost bouncy which creates a wonderful contrast to the emotive lyrical content. Shiv’s songs unfold and blossom almost naturally.

“I find it hard to picture in my head, what exactly I want something to sound like. I follow a feeling, when I’m producing stuff so even from lyrics, that shapes what chords I’m gonna play. The chords shape the melody and then the melody shapes everything else, so it fits in together, not necessarily all at once. Each song encompasses the whole feeling of my emotion, if that makes sense. Each song is a representation of whatever feeling I was trying to convey, just in my own way.”

Shiv has a degree in psychology which has helped her understand her feelings and emotions. This has aided her to express a true and organic version of herself within her songs.

“Yeah I did. I was going into educational psychology and then when I didn’t use my degree I thought it was a waste, but psychology is one of those things… it’s people you know what I mean and that’s a lot of what life is about. It’s aided me in that sense for sure. I’m definitely, for being able to process emotions, being self aware and being able to be real with myself and talk through things with myself…which is what songwriting is for me, it’s the talking through things. That background in psychology has helped me understand feelings more and be able to translate them from just a vague abstract feeling in my brain to a physical manifestation of it via lyrics and music.”

I wondered if the change in career from psychology to music was a difficult decision. There is so much uncertainty within a career in music and to take that jump is a brave decision.

“It was a process. Music has always been a part of my life. Like I said, my dad used to play so much music for us growing up and my mom used to sing with my sister and I a lot. I sang all the way up through school, I was in choirs and I sang with a couple of my friends. It was always something that I had and something that I always came back to, but I never really thought of it seriously as a career, just because it seemed unattainable. It was one of those things that you know, only one in a million really makes it but I guess the model changed for the music industry and it became more of an achievable goal. I’m so lucky and grateful that I have a family that really does support,they are so supportive. It just made it easy then to see that goal as something that I could possibly slide into.”

“How I really got started was my sister was getting married, and I was her maid of honour. I was meant to make a speech for the wedding. Public speaking is just not really my thing. I was not very good at it so I said instead of that,I can write a song maybe and see how it goes. So I wrote her song, which I posted on YouTube and I ended up getting scouted by this management agency in Dublin. That gave me the drive to start seeing it as more of a concrete possibility. I started off timidly and I approached it as though it’s still a hobby and slowly it began becoming more real and more solid as I progressed and transitioned into being a full time musician, which is something I never really thought I would be doing. So it was just a process, it was something that’s always been with me and then just ended becoming more and more of a theme in my life .”

Shiv explains it wasn’t an automatic or spontaneous decision to change career and because of this, the change in career was easier to process.

“Exactly, yeah, it made it easier to digest and be serious about it and get used to the idea in my head that, I’m a singer now, you know. If I just made the switch I don’t think I would have been able to have as much time to figure out what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it. I possibly would have ended up giving up before I could even get ahead because I wouldn’t have been secure in what I was doing.”

Choosing to sing at a wedding rather than deliver a speech is not the decision most people would make but Shiv was always comfortable with her own voice.

“It was something I always did. I was…I don’t know eight or nine, and there was this scene in my town it was called Shepherds Watch and it was basically a Christmas Carols sort of thing. I was singing, as part of a choir and then one of the organisers came up to me at the end of practice and was like ‘oh you should do the solo’. I was like what !, obviously I always enjoyed singing, my mom used to sing with us, as I said, and it was just something that I always had but I didn’t really think I was talented at. After I did that solo and I loved it so much, I loved the performance aspect of it. It developed into something more serious for me.I could recognise that it was something that I was good at and something that I really enjoyed doing.”

I was interested to know of Shiv’s experience with DJing and how this aided her production skills. She explains how DJing gave her the foundation she needed to produce her own songs.

“Yeah, absolutely. I did DJing for a while as it was a great way to make money. It was also a lovely way to be able to express myself in a musical form that’s not necessarily singing because I didn’t think that was a real option. So it was a really nice way to get a sideways door into the music world and made me feel I could teach myself or learn how to produce because that falls on the more technical end of music, I just played instruments, but I didn’t really know that much about production. DJing was definitely a nice stepping stone”

Shiv has also travelled quite a lot while she was creating this EP, travelling from Paris to Mozambique and this travel gave her the space and time she required to tap into her creativity. 

“Yeah I think so, when I went to Mozambique…my parents live over there and it was just around the time when I was starting to consider taking music seriously. I had written one or two songs but there was nothing that I felt confident enough to release. I was in Dublin and I was working as a waitress and doing the mid 20s thing of you know; working, going out and kind of the same thing over and over. So, my parents said take a break from work come stay with us and see what happens, give yourself six weeks, completely immerse yourself in music and just see what comes out. So I had the six week period of just writing…it wasn’t even necessarily a case of wanting to experience Mozambique or particularly to do with the country or where I was, but it was just the opportunity to get familiar with how I wanted to represent myself I guess musically. So yeah, that was that and then Paris. Yeah, Paris has definitely been an influence. I moved there last year and just having different environments and seeing different things and being around different people. It makes your brain, see things in a different way and think about things in a different way as well. I think it’s really important to take yourself out of your usual environment because it allows you to let different things come out. So yeah, I feel travelling definitely was an influence and driving factor”

The ‘Me 2 Me’ EP discusses anxiety, especially ‘Letting You Go’. It’s a personal note to Shiv to release the overwhelming grip of deep-rooted anxiety. I wondered if she had that anxiety travelling, and how she overcame it. 

“Yeah I did. I guess I’ve always been an anxious person. I do feel as a general rule our fast paced way of living doesn’t allow for you not to be anxious. After I’d released my first couple of songs, I hadn’t really been expecting anything to come from them and I was just excited and was like I just need someone else to hear them. They surprisingly got a really good reception, and that was amazing. But in another sense it was also crippling because before I was just writing for myself and I didn’t have any expectations. Whatever I put out was what I put out and it didn’t really matter because if no one heard it I’d be in the exact same position that I was before. But after I put out my first couple of tracks I felt a bit more pressure and I felt I had something to prove and that’s where it came out, when I tried to create….because I didn’t feel as free as I did before. I felt a bit more in my head about things and oh you know if I make this then it’s not really like this song that people seem to like, maybe I need to make more of that. So yeah, that’s where that came from. Writing the songs helped me work through that because I guess that’s what a lot of them are like, the EP is essentially a diary entry from me to me.”

I asked when we can finally get back to doing shows again, what can people expect from Shiv’s live performances.

“I’m still working on what I want to do. I do want to incorporate some live looping and stuff like that into my shows but at the moment, my setup is with the live band, which is great. It’s so lovely to have other people to bounce energy off as well.”

Shiv’s path to music is an intruiging one which has allowed her to indulge in her creativity and experience different countries and cultures. I wondered what advice she would give to anyone who wants to pursue a career in music.

“Take the time to familiarise yourself with the different technologies that exist. It’s so much more accessible now than it used to be a couple of years ago. Get familiar with GarageBand and that kind of production stuff, so that you can support yourself and move yourself through music without having to rely or depend on anyone else. Invest in a microphone so you can get your own demos going and mess around with stuff and just feel free to create. Also just be patient with yourself, that’s a big thing that I’ve taken away from this last year. Just be prepared that possibly not everything is going to be perfect, not everything is going to be amazing and that’s just part of the process. Be comfortable with failure and expect the failure and not to judge too much… try not to judge it and allow what’s going to come out, come out.”

Shiv has some exciting thing coming up next year so stay tuned to her socials

“Next year I have my first headline show, that’s going to be in April. I’m really looking forward to that and then I’m hoping for an album, that’s my aim. I’d love to have an album before the end of 2021. Hopefully when things get back to normal I’d love to be performing and possibly a tour but, who knows it’s difficult to say for sure what’s gonna happen in the next few months.”

Shiv creates deeply emotive and passionate tracks surrounded in lush tender soundscapes. Her ability to touch the soul with her silken voice and heartfelt lyrics is mesmerising and marks her as an artist to keep an eye on. Along with her charming persona and magnificent production skills there is something very special about Shiv. 

Stream ‘Me 2 Me’ below


Author : Danu

A Chat With, Interviews, New Music

A Chat With : Mal Tuohy from The Riptide Movement

I caught up with Mal Tuohy from The Riptide Movement to talk about their latest release ‘Turn on the Lights’ which is featured on the current Guinness campaign #KeepTheLightsOn. After some chat about our preparations for Christmas and the new vaccines being rolled out we discuss how the track was written and what brought about its use for the #KeepTheLightsOn campaign. 

‘‘We got contacted by someone from Guinness, they were telling us about the campaign that they had planned and that our song was perfect for it. They talked us through the campaign highlighting all the pubs and in particular the family pubs around the country that have been affected by the COVID restrictions and have been closed down.They wanted to do a campaign that was uplifting and they thought our song was perfect for it really, which we agreed with. The song itself, taps into that feeling that everybody has had this year where everything has been shut down and everybody’s at home and haven’t got to see their families and stuff and I think that whole message of turn on the lights, is a really uplifting message that was perfect for the Guinness campaign and perfect for the times we are in. It’s funny because we recorded that song four years ago and we released it this time four years ago. We all thought it would be a great Christmas song and it never really took off when we released it, not like other songs on that album, ‘Elephant In The Room’ really took off but ‘Turn On The Lights’ didn’t. I’m a big believer in timing and this song is more relevant today than it ever was, even the video for it is as well. The video was made around Christmas time four years ago. This time four years ago, it was shot around Dublin, and it highlights Dublin at Christmas in pre-COVID times. So it’s nostalgic to look at it now and it actually makes more sense now in a mad way than it did four years ago,”

The fact that ‘Turn on the Lights’ featured as part of the 2016 ‘Ghosts’ album shows how timeless the track is, as well as showcasing sometimes, all a great song needs is time to grow legs.  

“Definitely, yeah, and the great thing with that song is the journey it took as well because with the song there’s a few other writers involved, it was not only just the band. I was on a writer’s retreat five years ago with an English writer who invited me to it, Kat Williams ( Kathryn Williams ). Basically songwriters spend a week together and write songs and one of the songs Kat was showing me was this song called ‘Turn On The Lights’ and she was showing it to me on the phone. It was actually called ‘Same Time Every Year’, I think that was the original song and I thought it was great. We had kind of forgotten about it and then she came over to support us for a few gigs in Whelan’s back in December 2015 just before we went to Texas to record ‘Ghosts’. She showed us the song again and all the lads in the band loved it as well. When we were doing the album out in Texas, we were putting all our ideas together and the whole album was taking shape. Ted ( Ted Hutt ), our producer, asked us, had we any other ideas that could tie into the whole feel of the album, and we said we’ve got a song that was written by three other writers that we like. We showed him the phone recording, and he loved it. So what we did then is we rearranged it, and we added our own bit to it as well. So we kind of wrote it as well with them. So, all in all, there’s actually eight writers on the song. It’s brilliant, and it’s great because we’ve never done that before, had so many writers on one song, and it just happened organically and we had the Suso Gospel Choir sing on it. We recorded it all in Texas, and we got the choir to sing on it in Windmill Lane Studios when we got back from Texas. We put out the song four years ago and there was no real interest in it. Here we are four years later and it’s used in a Guinness ad. It’s great.”

The Riptide Movement are pretty good at Christmas songwriting. Last year the band released ‘All I Ever Wanted’, a heartfelt Christmas tune laced with luscious melodies. It’s not easy to write a Christmas song. It can be difficult to create the right recipe of atmosphere, heartwarming feeling, sense of sad/jolly undertones and inner reflection. However the band have achieved this. I wondered if they find it easy to write a Christmas song.

“No, not at all. With “Turn On The Lights”, it was definitely a Christmas song. The first original version of that song from the phone recording that was the idea – trying to make it home for Christmas because there’s a line ‘There was a place for me, an empty chair waiting for me to take it’ – so it’s that idea of trying to make it back for Christmas and if you don’t, there’s going to be an empty chair around the table at Christmas and then it’s that idea as well when we lose loved ones there’s always an empty chair around the table where, that loved one used to sit for Christmas dinner. That song was always like a Christmas song. We have to give credit for the lyrics to Kat Williams, Joel Sarakula and Josh Kumra, brilliant songwriters in their own right. They are singer songwriters so their craft is lyrics and they wrote a majority of the lyrics for the song.”

‘All I Ever Wanted’ it’s like a day in the life, kind of a song. It just happened to be on Christmas Eve on Grafton Street, it wasn’t set out to be a Christmas song. It was just depicting the day if that makes sense and it happened to be Christmas Eve. So we didn’t actually sit down to write Christmas songs, it just happens”

Everyone finds something different that hooks them into a song, whether it’s a melody, riff or beat and for me, with ‘Turn on the Lights’ it was how the band ended each line in the verse with a sort of dramatic dum dum part in the instrumentation.

” It was actually one of the toughest songs to record. When we were doing the whole album it took the most time because of the timing, it’s not a 4/4 timing, it’s an off beat time. Even where the vocals start and where they end, they come in at times where, for me anyway, where I would normally put the phrasing in, if that makes sense. A lot of that would come down to Ted, the producer because he had a vision for the way it should sound, and I think Ted should really take credit for the way it sounds and that’s really cool that your ear was drawn to that so he’s gonna be delighted to hear that.”

I wondered did Mal find it difficult to sing ‘Turn on the Lights’ considering the arrangement is not what he is used to.

” Usually a lot of our songs I would write them, so the phrasing, and where the vocal comes in and goes out would be my natural rhythm. The way I just naturally sing it or naturally come in at certain parts where it feels right. So, this song was a real challenge for me because it was on a different timing and it was the way Ted envisioned that it should be. When I was in the studio trying to drop the vocals it took a long time for me to drop them because my instincts were telling me to come in at different parts, and I had to restrain myself from doing it. I suppose when you’re making an album, writing an album, and recording it, you don’t really have the benefit of having played it live for three months or six months… so it did. The songs are new, and it takes time to find the flow of where everything is supposed to bed in.”

Last time I spoke to Mal he mentioned that next year will mark The Riptide Movement’s 15th year as a band. I was delighted to hear they have some big plans ahead with or without a vaccine.

“We’ll probably start planning for shows later in the summer, I imagine. In terms of playing live we have to base it around the vaccine being rolled out so we will probably play it by ear next year and see how that pans out instead of booking and that might not go ahead. But that’s only one part of it. We’re doing stuff with the National Symphony Orchestra so we’re gonna be releasing some of that next year…We’ve some cool ideas around the 15 year anniversary of the band being together.. As I say, we’ve done some stuff with the National Symphony Orchestra which sounds really cool and can’t wait for people to hear that. We’ve done two songs with them so far and they’re rearrangements of our songs with the Orchestra, it just sounds beautiful. So it’s stuff like that and releasing behind the scenes stuff from albums that we made over the years. It’s gonna be a lot of focus on that for next year. In terms of gigs that will come secondary based around how things are going to roll out next year and if we’re allowed to go back to the way gigs were.” 

We are all looking forward to the return of live shows but I couldn’t help but think there must be some consequences or casualties to this year. I asked Mal if he thought the industry will actually come back to the same level as it was pre- Covid. Will we have the same venues we had in previous years or will a few talented bands and artists not survive the strain of this year. 

“I’d say there will be to be honest, some bands and some artists might move out of the industry because it’s a tough industry to make a living in anyway. But in saying that you are always going to have art and you are always going to have artists and you are always going to have musicians that want to play, and want to release albums and the same for venues. I think the idea of a venue is going to change from this whole COVID experience. It’s not just going to be your standard venue – a stage, a large room and a bar. I think people want something more. I can see gigs moving into nice spaces like churches and heritage buildings and different venues that are exciting for the punter as well. But I imagine some venues won’t be here after all this, but other ones will open up and it will be an evolution of the whole industry.”

” I think once COVID goes away it will definitely go back to normal, go back to mosh pits and full rooms, there’d be no reason not to because there’d be no threat of people getting sick. I imagine next year, they’d be just rolling out the vaccines and we will still be practicing social distancing until we get past COVID but I reckon, maybe 2022 will be a throwback to the oldest type of gigs with packed rooms and mosh pits.”

‘Turn on the Lights’ is a heart-warming and passionate single that seems to have been written ahead of its time. It’s uplifting and tender message expressed through evocative lyrics makes the track a timeless Christmas gem.

Watch the video for ‘Turn on the Lights’ below


Author : Danu

A Chat With, Indie, Interviews, New Music, Singer/Songwriter

A Chat With : Moncrieff ‘Class Of 2020’ EP

Having been featured on a host of 2020 hot lists and named as one of Her.ie’s ‘Ones To Watch’ for 2020, Moncrieff has had a monumental year. Now he is set to release his second EP ‘The Class of 2020’, which is out on December 11th. I caught up with Chris Breheny aka Moncrieff to talk about the new EP and his slight shift in musical style. This EP, like all of Moncrieff’s collections to date, express his journey through life so far through the medium of music as he navigates being in his 20’s during Covid 19 while at the same time providing the listener with catchy, witty lyrics and showcasing deft musicianship in the process.

In true Breheny manner our chat meanders through many topics, from Christmas plans to EP track titles and then ventures into many tangents from there as we discuss how people are coping mentally with the Covid crises, the gym and the dangers of doing a workout beside the kitchen fridge.

“The first lockdown all the gyms were closed for however long so we just started doing runs and stuff like that.That was really good and then the gym’s opened back up, I did a bit in the gym. I stopped running. And now I’m just like, I’m just so unfit. I’m doing this circuit thing at home, I’ll do like 10 minutes and then I’ll do this pull up or push ups. It’s just not the same, when you go to the gym, you’re going somewhere to get something done. But here it’s like you’re in your kitchen. It’s close to the fridge.”

Breheny’s debut body of work ‘The Early Hurts’ EP featured lead track ‘Like I Do’, this debut radio single (released in Sept 2019) received extensive airplay across national radio racking up nearly 12 million audience impressions and 5 million streams. The success of the single and EP led to Moncrieff selling out his first headline show in Dublin in less than 3 hours. His growing reputation also landed support slots touring with headline Irish acts Picture This and Walking on Cars. His new EP ‘Class of 2020’ shows a different facet to Breheny as an artist. The EP was co-produced by Breheny and his friend Toby Scott who has a home studio in Brighton. The result is a collection of songs unconfined by genre that captures the zeitgeist of an ever changing musical and cultural landscape. However one theme that keeps popping up in Moncrieff’s lyrics is how Breheny is terrified to die. In ‘F*CK It – Dance’ (strong in the running for my favourite track on the EP) he contrasts an upbeat, vibrant soundscape with dark lyrical undertones. This mesmerising song is the result of a crazy lockdown.

“Basically, I had a very weird lockdown. I ended up getting close with a friend of mine. She’s a very good friend of mine and I was like, ‘this shouldn’t be a thing’ and she was in agreement. Then things just got really weird, she kind of, got feelings, I thought I had feelings…maybe just not as much as was on her level. Basically long story short, that song, I was right in the middle of it,..writing this song and was kind of, inspired by her.”

The lyrics in this EP are particularly well crafted, highlighting Breheny’s lyrical prowess and songwriting ability – phrases such as “this 2020 depression” can be interpreted many ways, for example, the obvious depressive mental state the world has experienced with isolation and loneliness due to Covid but also a financial depression for many people, especially musicians.

“They take time but the lyrics are always good lyrics. I always have certain phrases stuck in my head for weeks at a time. I have a couple of phrases running in my head and sometimes they’ll fit into a song. I was really worried about putting in 2020 depression because it then frames the song and that year. I’m like, ‘How will that feel in five years’ time when people listen to it?’… I was gonna put in something like “this 20 something depression”, but I just feel this year is such a weird year that it deserves to be named. Each song was written in 2020, and was written during lockdown. It’s been written about the year so there’s no better time to release the EP other than now.”

It all started this year with the release of ‘In My Room‘ however on ‘The Class of 2020’ EP ‘In My Room’ is the last track on the EP. 

” I just liked it as a demo. I always like having a demo at the end. It almost feels like, on CDs where the album the last track would be super long, you’d have to skip forward like a minute of silence and then there’d be the secret track. So yeah, it’s just that kind of idea.”

The songwriting is candid as Breheny expresses through his lyrics what he was going through emotionally and physically. Again in ‘imsadandhorny’ he places dark and honest lyrics into an upbeat and extremely catchy tune. 

” Yeah, both the last two tracks I produced myself so I wanted to make it like a Selena Gomez type record you know what I mean, like super pop. The melodies are all super pop, but I wanted to inject this overwhelming existential thing in there for the laugh”

“They do feel like singles. But, yeah, producing was painstaking because I’m so slow, but I had a lot of time to produce them”

The EP reflects on a difficult year through the eyes of Moncrieff as he ruminates on feelings and emotions a lot of people have had to cope with however within this EP he digs deep and finds himself looking at how he is living his life and spending his time, The experience has been an eye opener for him.

“Yeah, definitely to a certain degree, it should be an eye opener. If you let it go by, and it doesn’t teach you something about yourself, you certainly missed out. You realize what’s really important when your whole world is brought to a standstill. Anybody going to college doing a degree they have no idea why they are really doing it, they just did it because their parents thought it was a good idea, and not really living up to their own standards. When they realize you could be going to college for a job that could come to an absolute standstill just because of a virus, then you have to really look at how you’re spending your time and what sort of person you want to be.”

”Having none of those distractions (social media)  you really have to be cool with being on your own. It’s been a tough year but you should try use it as a learning experience to find out more about yourself and what’s important to you.”

I’ve met Breheny in person and he is a charming and charismatic person. I was surprised to hear how tough he is on himself at times on the EP. 

” I guess the side I put out in public is quite extroverted, upbeat and happy, but I don’t really talk. I need to be able to talk more when I’m having trouble and stuff. When I’m going through tough times I don’t bring it to anybody and that’s a really bad thing. My music is where I get it out, that’s where I need to get that kind of stuff out in some way.”

Each song on ‘The Class of 2020’ is catchy, vibrant and polished. When I first heard the EP as a whole I thought it would sit very well with an American audience. I wondered if Breheny had his sights set on America.

“Most of my fans on Spotify are from the States. I’ve 10 times as many followers on Spotify in America as I do in Ireland. The dream is to move to LA and be signed out there. I don’t want to go to LA and be like scraping and trying to like…I’m better doing what I have here. It’s going well and not like super super struggling, but if I go to LA without a proper deal or whatever things in place, it’s going to be a really difficult time. But America is the dream.”

Speaking of America our chat ventured onto the infectious The Fun Boys Three’s snippet of  “it ain’t what you do ( it’s the way that you do it)” in his track ‘AMERICA’ and how it made it’s way onto the song

“That actually wasn’t my idea. I write with a guy called Paul Harris, I had the actual instrumental made, which is the beat that I made. I brought that to my mate, and next thing I know, we’re like, we could do this, and…. it just turns into such a sarcastic, like, weird vibe, and it just worked out. If that song went to Imagine Dragons, that’d be a f*cking hit.”

Though the songs take a different slant on the Moncrieff style, Breheny maintains the velvety soul tone of his voice, especially in ‘AMERICA’. The satirical side is quirky and very witty but his vocals never compromise on quality and richness.

 ” It was a weird one, because you want it to sound laid back and kind of, weird and cool but you don’t want to rap at the same time, you’re still a singer, you know. At first, I’m using auto tune as a kind of effect like an artistic thing. Auto tune is kind of the done thing in pop now.”

With Covid and lack of shows the whole promotion of a new EP is different but Breheny is getting the hang of it and creating mesmerising content, although understandably he is missing gigging terribly. 

“Yeah, not ideal. I miss gigging. The songs are designed for when you’re allowed back into a venue without a mask without social distancing and you just want to let loose, having been deprived of a gig. When I do the songs live for the first time properly I’m just gonna go mad, just run down the venue for no reason. Promoting has been weird because, the fact the promoter can’t tour, can’t go into a radio station and then the fact that you can’t make any money from touring. All the videos I’ve done this year have been like 500 pounds ( Sterling ) or less. That is insanely cheap and they’re all independent, indie, low budget music videos. People haven’t gigged, all my money comes from gigs. People think ‘Moncrieff is getting radio play and stuff in Ireland” – that’s all cool – but at the end of the day, it’s me and my manager, no buffer, no label, no nothing, just music that people connect to and my own wallet.”

Breheny has suffered literal pain for his art creating videos where he is hanging upside down in ‘PLAYLOUD’ and hanging from a clothes rail in ‘AMERICA’

“Clothes rail was way worse than hanging upside down. I thought it was gonna be super chill,  I had to do the photo shoot and video shoot in one day.The video shoot was done in like an hour, whereas last year it was like three days and by the end of that hanging upside down, I felt really unwell.Then I had to do another shoot and my face is all pale and s**t. But the America one I didn’t think was gonna be that bad. It was just gonna be – get some rope, make a loop at the end of it, put myself into the loop and cut a hole at the back of my jacket and have the rope out through the back. I was going to get some towels or some sponges and wrap it around the rope so that when I hang out of it, it wouldn’t be that painful. But, oh my god ! – it was so f***ing painful. We couldn’t even do a full take of the song. We actually did it in 30 second stretches and put a box underneath me to stand on, in between. It was just so bad, so yeah no more hanging. Next time I’m just gonna sit down with a cup of tea.”

 I wondered what Breheny had planned for the coming months.

” I am back in Ireland right now so I’ll be at home writing. I’m looking forward to January to be honest because I have a writing camp scheduled. I’m going to be writing with Pat ( Walking on Cars ) and Conor O’Donohoe ( Wild Youth ), I’ve been writing some stuff with him lately and that’s been really cool. I want to get as many cool writers in Ireland as possible and then rent a house in Dingle for a week, and just go there, set up a camp and write during the day. Then just like, I don’t know, play Xbox at night. I’ve got a couple of live stream recording things. Then, I’m planning a load of tracks for release next year. I’ve got a bunch of tracks coming next year that I’m really excited about. I’m trying to save up my money to release those as well. I’m like, I gotta do a video for that song. I can’t get takeaway this weekend.” 

Breheny is a talented songwriter and musician. It’s exciting to see him push boundaries to create music that is universal, fun and honest. His deft melodic prowess and witty character make each track a joy to listen to. Moncrieff is one of the most exciting artists to watch as he develops his sound. Each release is more compelling than the last. ‘The Class Of 2020’ is set for release on 11th December but until then check out his recent single ‘AMERICA’ below


Author : Danu

A Chat With, Indie, Interviews, New Music

A Chat With : Suren from Bombay Bicycle Club

Bombay Bicycle Club have announced details of their new live album, ‘I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose – Live At Brixton’. The album was recorded on 8th November 2019 at the band’s sold out Brixton Academy show, celebrating the 10th anniversary of their debut album. It will be released on 11th December via Mmm… Records + Caroline International. I caught up with drummer Suren de Saram to talk about the new live album, Bombay Bicycle Club’s  three year hiatus and the music wizard Jim Abbiss. 

‘I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose – Live At Brixton’ is set for release during a time when no one can see shows. It is quite a blessing to a lot of people. It’s a moment in time that people can remember how great it was as well as hopefully look forward to the return of shows. Suren explains it was a special moment for the band as well.

“We did play a very short run around the UK at the end of last year, celebrating the 10th anniversary of our debut album. We sometimes occasionally record our shows. We usually do, just to afterwards make notes to see how we can improve with that kind of stuff. I think we recorded a couple of nights on our tour, one of which was the Brixton gig. At the time we didn’t record it specifically with a view to putting out a live album, but it turned out to be a really special night for us. Listening to the recording afterwards we were all really happy with what it captured. It did capture exactly how we see ourselves as a live band, that kind of raw energy that personally, I’m not sure we’ve ever fully captured on one of our studio albums. So basically we were so happy with the recording and then, started talking about releasing it and you know with the way everything’s gone, this year, seems like a great time to be putting out a live recording to remind everyone what a gig actually is. That’s basically how it came about.”

Bombay Bicycle Club were due to embark on an extensive European and North American headline tour and numerous festival headline appearances this year. This live album is a really great way for fans to experience the bands wonderful sound. After returning from a three year hiatus the band were not expecting to have to take another year off.

“Yeah, absolutely. it’s been a difficult year. It’s been a super difficult year for literally everyone but I think it could have been worse. We came back from a few years hiatus towards the end of last year. We managed to do some gigs, end of last year and we managed to do a UK tour, at the start of this year, after we released the last album. It could have been worse, we could have just announced our comeback and then immediately, the pandemic and gone into lockdown right away so at least we managed to do some gigs. Yes, it is a real shame that the album campaign got cut short after two months.I think we were just getting to grips with exactly what was going on and I don’t think we were really in the right headspace to be writing new music but now we are getting our heads down and we figure the best way to use this time is just to start writing new material which hopefully we’ll be able to get out spring or summer next year. Then we’re trying to reschedule some festivals and the headline gigs that would have happened this year, for the end of next year, because we’re a bit hesitant to do it earlier than that. So, hopefully new music at some point next year to help propel those dates for a second offer next year.”

Upon its release in 2009, ‘I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose’ was met with acclaim and cemented a barely-out-of-school Bombay Bicycle Club as key players in a thriving indie music scene; an unpredictable new act and a rapidly rising one too. I wondered what comes to mind for Suren when he thinks back to that album and its making.

“When I think of that album I think of very hectic live shows, with our mates when we played in London obviously not so much around the rest of the country but we just had our mates jumping up on stage shaking tambourines completely out of time and essentially ruining the gig a little bit. I think of that time as being like a crazy ball of energy, I suppose and yeah obviously over the years, we’ve I suppose, refined ourselves a little bit, especially our live shows, it’s changed quite a lot. So yeah, I think of that time as just a little bit hectic. A lot of sweat. Just generally a little bit messy, you know, in a good way.”

The band have come a long way since then and yet tracks like  ‘Always Like This’ is still an undeniable live favourite, however the band never felt the pressure from that album’s success.

“It’s interesting because I don’t think we did at all. That album debut holds a special place in a lot of people’s hearts and I think people have come to really love that album, but upon releasing it, it’s not like it completely exploded. I don’t think any of us thought that was the album that sort of broke us, if you want to put it that way.The whole career of the band – album to album – has been like a gradual build. So, No, to be honest, we didn’t feel much or any pressure really to follow up that first album. We did quite a smart move releasing essentially an acoustic album as our second album. After releasing that no one really knew what to expect from us. We kind of gave ourselves, complete creative license to come on and do whatever we wanted after that. So, to answer your question, no it didn’t feel like any pressure. I see that first album as being a bit more of a slow burner and people have connected with it as time has gone on. “

The band had been developing and crafting their sound with each album release gaining momentum so when they decided to take a break it was quite a shock to people. It was a brave decision to just stop the band. I wondered if there was anxiety around what the consequences could be. Everyone’s mind can panic when you have been doing something for so long, the fear of being alone, trying to do something else or even that if you return to the band it won’t be the same.I wondered how Suren coped with this or if he had any worries at all.

“It was a mixture of things, there was definitely some anxiety for sure. Looking at it from the outside it probably looked like a very strange time to put a stop to the band temporarily. When we decided to go on a break we didn’t know what the future would be at that time, we had no plans to ever get back together again. For all we knew that was essentially it as far as the band was concerned. Yeah, looking at it from the outside, it probably seemed like quite a strange time to put that stop to it. The last album, before we went on a break, ‘So long, See You Tomorrow’, was nominated for Mercury Prize, Novello Awards, it definitely reached the biggest audience of any of our albums up to that point. It went to number one in the UK aswell.So, yeah, that album was amazing for us. But then, from the inside, we just needed time, we needed to experience life outside the band really once we finished touring that album. We started the band when we were in school. We went straight from finishing school into doing the band and the four of us had never really lived life without the band. So we thought it was really important for us to grow individually, a couple of the guys were clearly itching to release some of their own music, which they did. Personally, it took me a little time to adjust to the band not being there at the start of the hiatus because obviously you know it’s a big part of your life and identity so to suddenly not have that felt pretty strange. I eventually fell into the mode of working as a session musician playing with other artists which at the end of the hiatus can look back on that and think those years were super beneficial for me personally and I think it’s the same for everyone in the band, we definitely grew as individuals. We have come back, much more mature with a refound energy, enthusiasm and love for the band.”

The live album follows the release of the band’s fifth studio album, ‘Everything Else Has Gone Wrong’ earlier this year. The album peaked at #4 on the UK album chart and garnered widespread acclaim from fans and critics alike.‘Everything Else Has Gone Wrong’ is a great title especially for all the madness that has gone on this year however when you delve deep into the albums themes one realises the title is timeless. It reflects something everyone has experienced at one time or another, finding comfort in something when everything else has gone wrong.

“It was the title of one of the songs on the album and when we were brainstorming – it looks like a morbid album – to us it’s actually a very optimistic and positive title to do with having music as that kind of solace and escape from anything and everything really, whatever’s going on in someone’s life, or our lives collectively. It did turn out to be weirdly kind of prophetic, which is very relevant. Obviously we didn’t see any of this coming. We just liked the idea of music being that escape that we all have whenever sh*t hits the fan.”

Bombay Bicycle Club merge a lot of styles on ‘Everything Else Has Gone Wrong’ but what stood out to me is the album is a slight return to the more guitar heavy days with some electronic flurries. I wondered if revisiting ‘I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose’ influenced the creation of the new album in anyway

“It’s more to do with the album “So Long, See You Tomorrow”  Jack ( Jack Steadman ) he’s the main writer and singer in the band, a lot of the stuff that got introduced sees that kind of heavy use of sampling. Then if you go and listen to the album that Jack made as a solo artist under Mr Jukes. he really goes off in that direction. So I think Jack kind of got that out of his system so to speak with “So Long, See You Tomorrow” and with the Mr Jukes album. Then, when we regrouped, we started writing..and they were just naturally more kind of guitar focused. I think we quite like the idea of going back to our roots a little bit, we went off on various tangents over the years. Yeah, I quite like the idea of returning home, so to speak.”

Seen as it’s 10 years since the bands debut album. Suren tells me what advice he would give his younger self embarking on his journey with Bombay Bicycle Club

” I think we were quite smart in that we took our time with things. I know that sounds crazy because we recorded our debut when we were 18 and recorded EP, when we were kind of 16/17 but we consciously stayed grounded and did not allow ourselves get carried away. We waited to sign a record deal, until after we’d finished school when we were 18 and as I say, everything has just been sort of a gradual build at least that’s what it felt like to us over the years. There was never a moment where we signed a huge deal and were all looking at each other being like, ‘come on, this is it guys, like gonna smash it’. We’ve never had that moment, like never you know, had a number one single where we were like, ‘yeah, this is gonna break us’, Even “So Long, See You Tomorrow”  that got to number one in the album charts, we’ve just taken everything in our stride, and any success that’s come our way we’ve felt like we’ve earned it, I suppose, and very grateful for it.”

“So what advice would I give – I’d say just take your time. There’s no rush, stay grounded. Don’t get carried away. Don’t get caught up in your own hype. Just work on honing your craft, becoming the best musician you can be in terms of the instrument you’re playing, or in terms of songwriting. Some of the earliest recording sessions when we were working with Jim Abbiss, he’s the producer, he’d just done the debut Arctic Monkeys album, just after the time that we were with him when we were 16. That was a real learning curve.It was a really interesting experience. Our first day he was like ‘ What on Earth have I got myself into’ because we’d never been in the studio before. We kind of let nerves, get the better of us. But, yeah, in hindsight that was a very valuable learning experience. So, yeah just take your time to learn your craft and there’s no rush, basically.”

A lot of young bands when they’re starting off they think when they are going into a recording studio everything is going to be natural. To know that Bombay Bicycle Club were a bit nervous going in is something that will give budding artists a lot of comfort.

“Yeah, absolutely. I think we have those recordings lying around somewhere when we were 16 with Jim first. We set up in the room and we ran through a few songs, initially just to show them to him and…in the end they are like a complete mess. It’s four very over excited and nervous kids and he had to whip us into shape very quickly just in the space of a few days. Obviously in the space of a few days you don’t change drastically but yeah he really used that time to kind of kick us on, and to work on what we need to work on.”

‘I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose – Live At Brixton’ is a real gem which showcases a band without boundaries. Bombay Bicycle Club can take three years off and return fresher and more dynamic than ever. The album captures the magic and raw psychedelic indie sound of the band superbly. It the perfect album to tantalise the senses and ease the cravings until the next blast of Bombay Bicycle Club shows

‘I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose – Live At Brixton’ is set for release on  11th December

Author : Danu

A Chat With, Interviews, New Music, Singer/Songwriter

A Chat With : Rory & The Island

I caught up with Irish singer-songwriter Rory Gallagher aka Rory & The Island to talk about his new single ‘When The Lights Go Down (Valhalla)’, touring and those fun facebook live streams.

Presented through wonderfully rich and warm musicianship  ‘When The Lights Go Down (Valhalla)’ is a passionate track which talks about the battle of keeping a sustainable career as an artist in a difficult industry. This theme is relatable for so many artists at the moment, but for Rory the track talks about his feelings after finding an exciting new chapter of his live crushed by the pandemic. The opening of his new music venue ‘The Wildcat’ in Edinburgh never reached its official opening night on the 21st March. 

” Yeah, myself and my wife, we moved our family over from Donegal last year, because we got a lease on a music bar in Edinburgh city center. We were going to open up the Wildcat live music bar and we were really excited. We got it painted, got in a PA system, stage lights – we had everything all set, ready to go and right beside the King’s Theatre in city center as well so it was great location.Our opening date was for the middle of March of this year, and we never got to see it because of the pandemic outbreak but we kept paying the rent, it was being frozen held back and everything but we were trying to keep it going as long as possible and it just got to the point, in the summer where we went,this could be a year, a year and a half, at least. So we just handed the keys back. I remember we had to go in and collect a lot of our stuff and some personal things and just that thing of switching off the dimmer lights and looking back at the bar going “Damn it, you know, we were so close”. It’s never easy when the lights go down and it’s like a double meaning as well because it’s when you’re finished a gig in the theater or stage and the stage lights go down, just that feeling, that one second in particular, you know…We’re definitely not giving up yet and that’s the chorus of the song as well, ‘I see Valhalla in the distance’, you know which is like heaven for warriors, but I never actually say I’m going there. It’s in the destination but I’m not giving up.”

Rory takes a laid back 90’s vibe and vintage folk rock stance on the instrumentation which exudes a sense of comfort and warmth. I was intrigued by the slick guitar work on the track.

“Yeah, I just wrote the basic structure of the song – acoustic and vocal. It is very 90s. It has that Neil Finn almost vintage Crowded House warmth to it. I just felt that warmth was needed and there is a bit of Neil Young influence there as well. I thought I’ll just play the drums and bass and I’ll just multi-track to myself in the studio, put it down really basic at first, and then take it from there. There’s no point in getting involved in a big fancy production thing here just make it, as you say, kind of like vintage folk rock, and then it just seemed to suit so well. It’s funny you mention the guitar line because that’s the one thing I was thinking of dropping out of it because I thought it was non experimental. It’s just playing the actual vocal melody on the guitar. You’re always kind of like, ‘oh god has this been done to death’. But I decided it’s actually such a catchy little melody that works, you know. “

“It’s such a natural thing. We were gonna go much deeper into production when simplicity just seemed to be the way to go.”

Rory’s music writing process changes from song to song and he has experimented with his writing techniques to flesh out his style.

” One of the songs I wrote was about a New York/Donegal gangster called Mad Dog Coll ( Vincent ‘Mad Dog’ Coll ). It was based on true events from the 1920s during Prohibition in the USA. So I just sat down and wrote basically a poem about his life. That was one that I would have done the lyrics first but then other ones like this one I think I wrote that when I was tapping my knees. Sometimes it’s just so handy having a phone because you just grab the phone and hit record in the little audio section. I’ve got so many things with just 30 second splices like that. A lot of the time, I’ll come back to that 30 seconds maybe two weeks later and then, add to it and sometimes you get lucky that you get a complete song from it. That’s really the two ways that I would go – it’s either 30 seconds, or one minute, if I get lucky a burst of inspiration straight onto the phone and work on it later, or else I’ll sit and write, try and complete an entire lyric but that’s probably my plan B that’s much more difficult I find.”

Oozing folk and country tones Rory has a unique and diverse voice. However in ‘When The Lights Go Down (Valhalla)’ he exudes a more rock tone. Such confident vocal ability has not gone unnoticed, however he explains vocal confidence is something he built up over time.

” No, I’ve never been confident with my voice and even in the studio I hate hearing it back. I’ve always got a nice response from people and I’ve been doing the Facebook Live thing every Saturday night and it’s got good viewers and people just going ‘oh, I love when you sing this song’ so thank God those people are there because if they weren’t I probably would have stopped singing when I was 19. I just never felt comfortable with my own voice and I probably should have taken lessons but I never did and it’s probably that thing of craft you know when you’ve been doing it so long. I’ve been playing in the pub since I was 15, and for certain bands, you might have to learn a Nirvana song and then you’re playing in a bar and somebody at the bar’s favorite song is by Willie Nelson. That’s where all that would come from and it’s just you constantly learning different styles and hoping that you’ve maintained your own way of singing.I always try to keep my own accent and find my own meaning of the song. So I rarely would ever sing something that I don’t feel, you know. “

Rory has managed to break a world record by becoming the first solo artist to fill the entire eight-hour time slot given by Facebook live. 

” Yeah, well speaking of Wi-Fi, I tried it twice and the first time I got six hours into it the Wi-Fi cut out. Can you imagine that. So that was, like ‘operation don’t smash everything in the room’. But then the second time I tried it like two or three weeks later and managed to get through it and that was great. I didn’t actually end up as hoarse as I thought I would. I’d been doing the gigs for maybe 25 weeks in a row at that stage and just wanted to make it interesting and just start getting a little bit of a buzz going and kind of go right Facebook’s got an eight hour slot. I’m going to give it a go. And there’s that intriguing thing from your own point of view – you kind of go, ‘Am I gonna make it? So yeah it was great but the actual world record, the online world record I think is something mental like 24 hours of videos on YouTube and the actual solo gig was done by a French rapper/producer. I think he did it in Paris and that’s 28 hours, so they’re kind of untouchable swans.”

” You just make it interesting for yourself and you’re seeing people’s comments coming up on the screen as well so you’re interacting with that and sending stuff back to them and I wrote every song that I know. So, I think I wrote, like 210 songs and just put them all on sheets on the wall – the biggest set-list I ever wrote out. I just went through them all and I think I only repeated about six songs which is amazing.I actually enjoyed a lot of it. “

Rory was previously part of the band The Revs but independently earned himself 8 top 30s, 2 top 10s and a number 1 single in the Irish charts, as well as performing all over the UK and Ireland supporting the likes of Ocean Colour Scene, Feeder and Alabama 3. I wondered was it daunting going solo.

“It’s weird, after The Revs I moved to Lanzarote because I fell in love with a girl over there who is now my wife, that was in 2006, and I had no money. So, I had to go back and just start playing the pubs again. That was daunting you know where I’ve gone from like doing one hour sets in Europe, Australia and UK with The Revs and having to go into a three hour set of like 90% cover songs, and I had this fear that people down there will be shouting up failure and loser and, and it was probably even worse than that because nobody knew who I was. It was just basically starting from scratch again and built up a whole new thing and I always maintained that even from the age of 15 that I always tried to play my own music in the set, to the point where I’m playing 60% original music which is unheard of in Lanzarote, a holiday resort. So I ended up building up a completely new type of following and I went under the name Rory & The Island, so it was easier to Google, because going under the name Rory Gallagher was just a disaster with the blues legend. Florence + the Machine and Noah and the Whale were quite big at that time so I said well Rory & The Island is nice because I always liked the image of the island for escapism which it was for me. I liked the term Island from the book and from Island Records and when that was set up for Bob Marley. I just like the name Island basically. “

” What was probably daunting as well when you start up your Facebook page, you know, this was in 2010, and I had to start up Rory & The Island and it’s at zero. Then at the end of the week, you’ve got 81 followers and that stuff’s quite tough because you go ‘oh my god I had a top five album and I played Slane. How can I have 81 followers?’ – this goes on in your head with your ego, you know. So I just kept at it and every week grew it up and at the moment now it’s I think 27,000 after 10 years and a lot of them are so loyal it’s just brilliant. It’s very real as well because it just grew so natural but yeah there were a lot of daunting moments. I remember, Ocean Colour Scene and just thinking God I wish the two guys were here and we could play electrically, crank it up and really get this crowd going and then you’re just having to walk out with acoustic guitar in the Olympia before Ocean Colour Scene. Little moments like that, they were daunting. We had such a long slow wind down in The Revs like the last two years were just really tough because, we started off flying and we were doing Slane and Oxygen festivals and we got top 30 single in Australia, all in the first two years and then hit a brick wall and just started to decline. So in a way it was nice to break away for a while, to be honest.”

This allowed Rory to learn more about his own style of writing. It also allowed him to build and craft his own sound. 

” With The Revs, it was trying to make it as much of a democracy as possible so there was always that one third input from each member. You could arrive with a really good idea and after three hours it just wasn’t working with the other two guys and they would scrap that whereas, with the solo stuff it’s much easier, and probably much trickier in its own way because you’ve got enough rope to hang yourself. You can do whatever you want, you would release some of the stuff and then a month later you go ‘Oh my god ! Can I delete this from YouTube’ “

” Yeah, it’s nice to have yourself completely to blame for everything, if that makes sense. You can build up a lot of resentment, especially when you’re younger and there’s ego. You have enough rope to hang yourself so if you put something out, it’s a disaster, you put your own hands up and that’s it. So, yeah, there’s advantages and disadvantages to both things really. Rory & The Island project has been so much more acoustic based, a lot more percussion, bongos, kind of sunshine influence from Canary Islands, using small Spanish guitars and just trying to make it feel warm. Whereas The Revs was hard indie rock, so total contrast you know. That’s the thing after seven years in The Revs, you know even John (McIntyre) the electric guitar player, he hasn’t really played electric guitar much since. He plays with his wife Zoë Conway and they do brilliant interesting Trad Irish stuff. I think after a decade of really loud music and if you haven’t cracked it in the way Metallica or these guys have, you sometimes don’t really want to hear over-driven electric guitar for a long time. When you’ve heard it five nights a week in loads of different clubs all around the world, it’s just like a ringing. You get this ringing in your ear from electric distorted guitar and cymbals, and it’s just a relief to hear the natural sound of wood, acoustic guitars, things like that again. Then you can go full circle where after a couple of years of just acoustic you go ‘it’s time to plug in again’. “

2019 saw Rory return back to Ireland and extensively tour, filling out rooms around the UK and Ireland with his London show at The Dublin Castle selling out within 48 hours of going on sale. I wondered how he has been coping with this lull in shows.

“It’s been very weird. I’ve always suffered a little bit from anxiety. So, even though it was the worst in the world that hour before a gig, once I was 10 minutes into the gig, I was probably happier than I would ever be because I felt comfortable on stage and you could let loose. I was doing that five nights a week at minimum in Lanzarote so it was always there. You could have a bad day and you didn’t feel like the oxygen was flowing right in your system or whatever and then you would get that nervous thing at nine o’clock.Then you start at 10 o’clock, and you feel great at quarter past 10 and that carries through until the following afternoon. It’s weird to get into that addicted to applause type thing where you are just living for live music. For that to stop, for me, it was really difficult to be honest, especially losing the live music bar. So from recommendations of people that went ‘Why don’t you try the Facebook live gigs’ I started that and it’s been saving grace really every Saturday – something to look forward to. It’s not the same buzz at all, not the same energy because you just finish your song, and it’s like a musician’s nightmare. You play the final chord and it’s just silence..You just get used to digital interaction. “ 

There is a lot of pressure on artists now and the music industry can be competitive at times which can be overwhelming but Rory has some words of wisdom for artists looking to pursue a career in the music industry.

” I would say hold on just to see how the vaccine is gonna work first. Let’s just take it from there first. Then after that I would say always try and keep the love of it and always make it fun. It can get very stressy and it can get accidentally competitive if you start competing against other bands in your city. If you’re going to get into music, you’re going to get into it because you’ve obviously built up a love from listening to it. Just keep that initial buzz. I remember, when I was 14 or whatever in your first band and we would complete something by Iron Maiden. We just all looked at each other and tried not to hug you know, just that amazing feeling of ‘that’s what music should do’. Even though most musicians always try and deny it, it’s a big thing – a lot of the time your music is there to lift the soul. If it’s not doing anything for your own soul it’s not going to do anything for anybody else’s so you always have to be wary of that as well. “

Very wise words indeed and very much appreciated.

Rory creates passionate tunes which ooze emotion. His charming, mesmerising persona radiates from each of his tracks through heartfelt songwriting and rich musicianship. If you want to hear more of the antics Rory gets up to on his facebook live streams they are on every Saturday. Rory plans to record more tunes in the New Year. I am very much looking forward to hearing more music from this talented artist

” I’m gonna maintain these Facebook Saturday night gigs to keep myself going anyway and I’ve started writing again and got a buzz from that.I’m recording another single in January and going to put that out, hopefully in February and take it from there.”

Stream ‘When The Lights Go Down (Valhalla)’ below 


Author : Danu