Q&A With Delorentos

Delorentos have been a staple of the Irish music scene for almost ten years, but in many ways their musical journey is only just beginning. Their recently released fourth studio album, ‘Night Becomes Light’, has been met with critical acclaim. We spoke to Rónan and Ross about missing Dublin, dangerous gigs and freaking people out.

You’ve just signed a record deal with Universal Music, congratulations! Were there big celebrations when that was finalised?

RONAN: There was a little celebration. It really feels like just the beginning of the journey. With our previous albums we were desperately driving around Dublin dropping off copies of our album into shops, we did everything ourselves. It’s amazing now that we can focus completely on the music.

 

Did the label approach you?

RONAN: We had interest from labels all the way through our career, but particularly after the ‘Little Sparks’ album, there was more interest than ever. We recorded the album ourselves around February, and our manager Dan spread around early mixes. Universal got back to us very quickly. Their enthusiasm coupled with ours is something that really excites us.

 

Why was this the right time to sign, and not before?

RONAN: For me, after the experience of the last album and touring internationally, you realize that having support is so important. We don’t just see it as getting signed, it’s more about the help and support that comes with it. It’s strange that that’s a new thing for us!

 

Do you think the mood of your new album, ‘Night Becomes Light’, reflects the big changes behind the scenes?  The album could be perceived as sounding more mature than previous work.

ROSS: A lot of people have said that, I don’t feel any more mature!

RONAN: We worked with Rob Kirwan (producer) again on ‘Night Becomes Light’ and he has a very relaxed approach, while also being very professional. With ‘Little Sparks’ we decided that Delorentos was going to be full-time for us now, so it was important that the band was an outlet for our creativity.

ROSS: There was more of a focus on song-writing as opposed to jamming. It was less about musical motifs or riffs, more about each song having a strong foundation lyrically.

RONAN: We became more confident in our own ability as musicians, and we trusted each other and Rob, so we were happy to leave parts unfinished until we went into the studio. We decamped to Grouse Lodge and brought everything and anything interesting that made a sound, and worked through the songs. The spontaneity was different, because before we were always a bit mental with how intense our preparations would be. That can be detrimental. So we’ve learned to let go of being so judgmental about what we do before we’ve done it. And we decided, let’s worry about playing the songs live when we need to.

ROSS: Which is now and we’re really worried! [Laughs]

RONAN: We’ve been taking a few more risks and enjoying the creative process. It can be scary because you don’t know what the album is going to sound like at the end, but it’s about being comfortable with being uncomfortable. That’s why we’re so proud of how it’s turned out. It’s as much a revelation to us as it is to everyone else.

 

Do you think being signed will change the way you write and record?

ROSS: It will definitely give us more purpose and structure.

RONAN: Creative freedom is great but you do need deadlines too. A lot of great art is abandoned and never finished. You need structure. We’re always evolving in how we write anyway, with each new album we’re trying something new. Ross has a home studio now which means we can try out new things by ourselves. So we have no idea what our new stuff is going to sound like. It is scary, but that’s what living is. With touring you sometimes feel like you’re on this treadmill, spending a lot of time in the van, sitting in a dark venue or dressing room for a few hours. Now we’ve been really lucky to travel a lot, all over Europe and the States. Those experiences make you want to see more and do more. It’s really important, as creative people, to have inspiration to write. Now when we’re away we’re conscious of going to see something even if we don’t have much time. Kieran (lead singer) is always great at that, he’s like a tour guide with his umbrella going, “this way!”

 

You’ve become known for the creative way in which you release you albums, like when you published a magazine documenting your unusual tour of Ireland to go with your ‘Little Sparks’ EP. Do you think bands these days need to be quirky like that to get ahead?

RONAN: I think you have to be genuinely inspired by that kind of thing to make it work. When we released ‘Little Sparks’, all the record shops were closing down, and that was depressing. We didn’t know what to do because we always do in-store performances when we’re launching an album. We all felt like we needed a lift, so we thought, “what’s the maddest thing we could do?” and then we did it. So we borrowed Ross’s Dad’s campervan and basically destroyed it…

ROSS: We have some really creative and artistic friends. Together we went around collecting different types of paraphernalia, until we basically had the contents of a shop, and we travelled around Ireland setting up little stores and gigging. The shows were all in different derelict spaces. One place in Cork was so bad that there were builders and cones all over the place, we wondered why they let us in at all.

RONAN: There’s a massive hole in the ground there, yeah, it’s fine!

ROSS: Then the next week we were in Galway in a closed-down hairdressers, with all the sinks still installed. It was mental because every gig was really different, we really enjoyed it. All our previous gigs were over 18s because alcohol was served, but this meant that we could have families in which was great. All the kids trying out the drums and the glockenspiel.

RONAN: We had really good craic doing it which is so important because you have to enjoy what you’re doing. This album release has come very quickly, especially since we started working with the label, so we haven’t got time to think about anything mad like that yet. Already the video for ‘Show Me Love’ was a huge departure. We should probably never be in any of our own videos again because it’s clearly the best one. It feels like a work of art in itself, it’s so beautiful. It was shot in Valencia where the director was based.

ROSS: We were referred to him by We Cut Corners. We gave him the song and he basically turned the whole thing around in two weeks, from the concept to filming.

RONAN: He said that the mood of the song facilitated movement, and that he had a female dancer friend that he’s always wanted to put in a video. So it went from there. You could take so many stills from it – I must put one of them up at home actually. The imagery is really striking.

 

Your new album has a lot of references to Dublin. Do you miss home when you’re on tour?

RONAN: You definitely appreciate it a lot more when you’re away. We’re all from the city and have a strong connection with it, and that’s filtered into the songs. ‘City’s Still Warm’ and ‘Dublin Love Song’ are quite overtly about Dublin.

ROSS: Even ‘Six Months to the Day’ has a strong Dublin influence.

RONAN: And even ‘Show Me Love’. I noticed for the last few years in Dublin a lot of people have been walking around with their heads down. So I thought, if you have the opportunity to give somebody a smile, do it. Sometimes I set myself little challenges, like making eye contact with as many people as possible. I’m probably freaking people out all around Dublin! [Laughs] I mean if you’re having a shit day and you’re ordering coffee and the server is nice to you, the impact of that is massive. So even ‘Show Me Love’ which isn’t overtly about Dublin, it’s still reflective of my feelings about the city. Living in a city is a mad thing, sometimes you feel very connected to it, and sometimes it doesn’t feel right at all. But we do feel very privileged to be Irish. I know things are difficult, but we feel lucky to be in this part of the world.

 

And you’re touring soon?

RONAN: The tour starts in Cork on the 24^th of October. It’s the biggest national tour we’ve ever done, and it’s been a while since we’ve gone around the country so we’re really excited. We finish in Dublin in Vicar Street on the 12^th of December. It feels like a bit of a reunion. We can’t wait to see people and experience the songs with them. Because they’ve just been ours until now, but now they’re everybody’s!

Delorentos’ new album ‘Night Becomes Light’ is available on iTunes now.

Q&A With The Henry Girls

Donegal sisters The Henry Girls grew up in a homeland so rich with music that an exceptional talent as performers and instrumentalists was always inevitable. Still, the extent of their intuition for harmony and composition never fails to surprise and delight. We spoke to Karen, Lorna and Joleen about famous connections, feeling star-struck at ceremonies and gigging in the Sahara Desert.

So, how did you come to be known as The Henry Girls?

KAREN: Our surname is McLaughlin, and we’re from a peninsula of Inishowen where there’s a lot of McLaughlins, so everyone has a clan name. We got Henry from our grandfather and his father. So the whole family –uncles, aunts, cousins – are known as the Henrys. We’re all girls in our family so we were always referred to as the Henry girls, and it just stuck!

 

You’re obviously very close as a family. How do you separate your working life from your family relationships with each other?

KAREN: Well I’m married with three kids and I live in a different town from the girls. My kids are all small and at school soI have a hectic lifestyle outside of the band. We get together for family occasions, Sunday lunches and birthdays, that kind of thing.

LORNA:I teach two days a week and Joleen teaches three days, so we’re not 100% full time with The Henry Girls. We’ve all been in and out of different bands too, which is the norm up in Donegal, everybody knows everybody! So there’s lots of different things going on.

 

Your childhood was filled with music, so you must have a natural affinity for it. Have you had any formal training?

LORNA: We’ve all got music degrees! We’re all Grade 8 piano players…

KAREN: I’m actually only Grade 7… poor in comparison!

 

Over the years you’ve collaborated with some important Irish musicians such as Donal O’Lunny and Moya Brennan. Which collaborations have been the most memorable?

LORNA: Getting to do backing vocals for Mary Black was great. She’s legendary. We were on three songs from her album, Stories From The Steeples. One was a duet with Imelda May, so we did backing vocals for both of them! That was really nice, when we heard all of our voices together we were chuffed.

 

Is there anyone elseyou’d like to get the chance to collaborate with?

JOLEEN: Hozier!

LORNA: Bruce Springsteen!

KAREN: It’s nice to work with other types of music, completely different from what we do. We’ve performed with musicians from different countries, we actually worked with a kora player from Ghana! So it’d be nice to do something else completely out there.

 

Between this year and last year, you’vetoured in America and all over Europe. What’s been the reaction to your style of Irishmusic abroad?

KAREN: We had a really good tour in the States, we’ve been invited back everywhere so that’s good! I think people can really connect to the music, especially on the East coast; there are a lot of ex-pats there, and people are interested because we’re Irish. Also we aren’t your typical Irish folk band, and people seem to like that, because you can take whatever you want from it. In Germany it’s going down quite well, there’s a record label distributing our stuff there.

 

So it’s definitely not just an Irish thing!

KAREN: It’s actually probably even better received abroad!

LORNA: I think outside of this country Irish trad music is seen as a bit exotic, whereas at home there are so many musical Irish families that nobody bats an eyelid. The response here has been great too, though. RTE have been really supportive, they’ve been playing our stuff a lot and getting us on the radio.

 

Could you pick out any favourite gigs over the last few years?

JOLEEN: That’s difficult! We launched our album at An Grianan theatre in Letterkenny in February. It was great because most of the people that played on the album were onstage with us. We had a choir, a brass section, including Karen’s husband! Drum kits, percussion, and guitars… It was big band!

LORNA: We even had dancers! A few years ago we played at The International Nomad’s Music Festival in the Sahara Desert, that was crazy. Wedrove for about 12 hours from Marrakesh into the desert, so even the journey to get there was amazing. To be in the village in our little bivouacs was something else.When I was on holidays in Marrakesh I went to the festival myself as a punter and I loved it. We sent the musical director some tunes, and he liked them so he had us out to play. Karen was actually pregnant at the time. Then last December we went on tour with Dervish in Austria, and we played in a cattle mart at the bottom of the Alps.

KAREN: Oh yeah, It was a very modern place with an amphitheatre area. We played in the area where they bring in the cows. It was really lovely though, with the Alps all around, and the acoustics were great. But it was smelly around the sides. There were a lot of cow jokes!

LORNA: We also played a double-header with the West Cork Ukulele Orchestra in the Mitchelstown caves, about half a mile under the ground, which was pretty special. Good craic!

 

You’re obviously no strangers to experimentation. You were nominated for an IFTA for your work on the score of A Shine of Rainbows. How did that come about?

LORNA:We had our own trad session every week at home for years, and one week we were playing in the pub and the producers of the film came in and decided ourswas the sound they wanted for their film. So we didn’t go looking for it, we were really lucky. It was like a fairytale story. They wanted to keep it authentically Irish, and because we play more than just traditional music in our own sets, we had to consciously keep it within that genre.

KAREN: We watched some of the rushes of the movie to come up with ideas. It made you think about how music can change a scene. Every time we moved the music around the atmosphere would change. We worked with an orchestrator in LA on it. It was a great experience, we’d love to do something like that again. It was great hearing it all filled out with the strings and the orchestra sound.

LORNA: The icing on the cake was getting to go to the IFTA ceremony. It was weird looking around and Colin Farrell was walking by, there’s Juilette Binoche, Jon Voight, Saoirse Ronan… It was like being at a wedding because you knew so many faces. Everyone was at round tables and dressed up fancy, it was a bit surreal!

 

So your fifth album, Louder Than Words, was released earlier this year. What sets it apart from your previous work?

KAREN: On Louder Than Words and our last album, December Moon, we worked with a producer from Scotland, Calum Malcolm. We produced our first three albums ourselves and worked with all local people. Those albums were good but they didn’t get as much radio play. So for these last two we saved up and went to Calum. He worked with Blue Nile, Lau, Deacon Blue, Simple Minds, Wet Wet Wet… He’s a renowned producer! He came to Donegal to work with us on Louder Than Words, so that meant we could have a lot of extra guest musicians and friends play on the record, like the Inishowen Gospel Choir. This one feels a bit more homely.

 

Is that why you talk about ‘turning professional’ in 2010, even though you’d already released three albums?

LORNA: It is. In 2010 we got commissioned to work with a bluegrass band from West Virginia, and that was our first serious collaboration that we invested a lot of time in. Then we toured around Ireland for the first time, and it opened our eyes because we had spent most of our time in Donegal. We’d been playing at weddings, doing local things. So we’ve been travelling a lot since then, and it’s made a big difference.

 

You’re touring Ireland with Clannad at the end of this month, which must be a dream come true!

KAREN: It was great to be asked to be part of it. Moya Brennan’s daughter is doing support for some of the UK tour, and a band called The Young Folk. We know Moya quite well, she’s a great promoter of new acts and young musicians. She’s always trying to help you get yourself out there. So it’s great to be under her wing. So we’ve got five nights all around Ireland, in somelovely venues. We’re really looking forward to it, Clannad are lovely people!

 

The Henry Girls set off on their tour as support for Clannad on October 29^th. They play the Olympia on November 2^nd.

Q&A With Bobby Ahearne Of No Monster Club

The Dublin music scene is growing more diverse with each release, and it’s become a cliché to say that a band’s sound is hard to describe. However, you’d be hard pressed to find a project with a noise as distinct and new as No Monster Club. A mish-mash of gritty confrontation, surfer vibes and fuzzy recordings, the lads are caving a musical path entirely their own. We spoke to frontman Bobby Aherne about his upcoming tour, children’s theme tunes and exploding vans.

 

No Monster Club started as a solo project, before you were joined by Mark Chester and Paddy Hanna. How did you meet the lads?

I was a big fan of a band called Grand Pocket Orchestra, I used to go along to all their shows. Then when they recorded their album they realised they couldn’t perfectly reproduce the sound live so they asked the guy that went along to all the gigs if he wanted to play extra keyboards, and that was me! So I started playing with them, and they started playing with my band as well. Then Mark started his own band, Ginnels, and we played in that too. So we’re in a few bands together.

So who has writing duties in No Monster Club?

I write all the songs and come up everything. Every second album we do is as a band and then the next one is a solo record. Not because I’m fed up with them or anything! [Laughs] It just happens that way. The name No Monster Club does imply that there’s one more than one person. So it would be difficult for me to play a solo show, people would be wondering what kind of a weird club it is!

How does the sound change when the guys play with you?

When it’s the three of us it’s the traditional three-piece power pop set-up. It’s a bit more punky. More gang shouts, and everything is faster and louder. Then when I do stuff on my own my songs are usually based around keyboards or acoustic guitar.

A lot of your songs are very short, is there a reason for that?

Well when Paddy is drumming he’s really expressing himself, he really beats the shit out of those drums. He tends to gallop to the finish line, there’s no letting up for a second. So what perhaps should be a four minute song turns out to be two minutes because of how fast we play it! Then also I don’t like repeating ideas in a song, I like playing everything once and finishing it as quickly as possible. So if you like the chorus, you can go back and listen to it again, rather than us having to play it three or four times. And then if you don’t like the chorus, you can just go onto the next song! We like leaving some work up to the listener. [Laughs]

How do you usually approach writing music?

I’ve got a lot of children’s theme tunes from the seventies constantly looping around in my head. When variations of them pop into my head at different times, I sit down at the next possible opportunity and try to spin it into a song that doesn’t sound like the Famous Five theme tune, or something from Rupert The Bear, or Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!

Your sound is pretty lo-fi, and you release your albums on cassettes. What do you find attractive about old-school media?

Well CDs seem to be on the way out and we’ve released a couple of things on vinyl but when you’re turning over stuff as regularly as I am, it makes more sense to put it online and on tape. By the time the vinyl gets made you’re ready to release the next thing, so it’s easier just to put them on a tape and get them out there!

Your tape ‘Posthumous Hits’ has 48 songs! Are you stockpiling songs between releases?

With that release I had a lot of recordings and I hadn’t really thought about what they were going to be for. Then a Chicago label, Already Dead Records, sent me a message and asked if I wanted to release a tape with them. They said the longest the tape could be was 90 minutes. So I said, give me a couple of months and I’ll fill all 90 minutes, because leaving any blank space would be a waste! So that’s how that it ended up adding up to 48 songs.

Before No Monster Club, you were in a band called Dublin Duck Dispensary. What happened to that project?

Well, that was also just me, and I was helped out live by two friends of mine, Eoin and Karl. Eoin went to college so we weren’t able to play anymore. Then I started thinking that maybe people weren’t taking it too seriously because of the name. I think people saw it as a joke, and although it kind of was a joke, I thought that having a better name might help. It was a very enjoyable name to make, though! Who knows, maybe if I hadn’t changed the name I could be on Top of the Pops now!

Since No Monster Club was formed, you’ve collaborated with some cool people. You did a split record with Panda Kid in 2011. How did that come about?

Panda Kid is this crazy Italian guy, he’s brilliant. I think he just emailed me out of the blue and asked me if I wanted to release a split with him, in half Italian, half English. And once I figured out what he was talking about I was well up for that! So we released that together on an Italian label, and then he came and played in Ireland after that. It was like a foreign exchange programme. He’s my big Italian brother!

Is there anyone else you’d like the chance to collaborate with?

We’ve played some shows with The Polyphonic Spree, and Tim DeLaughter is super. Every project that he’s ever been involved in is just fantastic. So he’d be a match made in heaven!

Who would you consider your biggest influences?

A lot of American garage-pop from the past ten years has been a big influence. Somewhere between that and childish bubble-gum pop from the sixties and seventies, I try to find a middle ground. So it’s like, if the Teletubbies were put through a blender, with a toaster, and someone got an electric shock because they were trying to make a smoothie in it… That’s where our sound lies!

You’ve got a tour coming up with M.SORD. You played with him last year in the States, what was your favourite experience from last year’s tour?

Yeah, we really miss him! We spent the tour in a van that had a license plate that said ‘I LOVE SLOTS’. Then after spending a month in the van, we arrived back to Ireland and M.SORD sent us a photo of the van. It was after exploding in the snow, and it burnt to a crisp! So I suppose the best memory of the American tour was that we made it home alive! We had a fun time in that van, a lot of friendships were made in it. We’d never met M.SORD before and he was a real enigma, a very mysterious man. At some point we cracked the mystery and we opened up a vault of all sorts. He’s like a spirit animal or something, but also a real man.

You’ve shared on your Facebook that you’ve got some free dates on the tour, and you’d consider any gigs offered. If you could choose any Dublin venue to play, which would be your dream one?

That’s the way we did it in America, we played everywhere and had a lot of fun. We played in basements of houses, a weird jazz club, and on children’s television in Chicago. So that’s the way we’d love to do it in Ireland. So I’d say, ideally somebody’s living room where their parents are away for the weekend would be the dream venue!

You’ve got a new album out soon, have you got any information about that?

I don’t know what it’s called yet, but it’s coming out on the 25^th of January on Mirror Universe, a New York label who have released Washed Out and Toro Y Moi, a lot of bands that went on to bigger things. It’s one I did on my own but it’s not an acoustic album, it’s got millions of things going on. I probably put more time into this one that anything before, and I’m pretty proud of it.

Can’t wait to hear it! Will there be a cassette?

Of course! There’ll be a cassette and a CD, the CD will be on Popical Island over here, so you’ll have a choice of the two.

No Monster Club and M.SORD kick off their Run With The Night Tour with a BYOB show at The Pop Inn on November 7^th.

Q&A With Paul Kiernan Of Booka Brass Band

Following the success of Booka Brass Band’s pair of Button Factory shows in October, trumpeter Paul Kiernan is on a high. We spoke to him about the pressure of playing a sold out gig, collaborating with Irish music heavyweights, and recording in studio for the first time.

 

Well done on your Button Factory shows! How did they go?

They were amazing. It was a great experience getting to play in front of such a good crowd, everybody seemed to really appreciate the music. Both nights were really enjoyable, especially with all the different performers each night.

 

The first night was sold out, did that put any pressure on you?

No, we love that kind of thing, knowing that people really want to hear us gets us more excited and makes us want to perform even better. I suppose we deal well with the pressure.

 

Your debut show was in the Button Factory, too. Is the venue special to you in some way?

It’s just such a nice place to perform, the sound is always great there, and the room size is great. The staff we’ve worked with were always really good, and when we were booking the venue it was just really easy to do, we got on really well with everybody. And it’s central, and everybody knows about it, so that’s a big thing. For our first show we were afraid that Button Factory would be way too big, but we didn’t realise how many people would have come to the gig! To have our debut show sell out when we didn’t imagine being even close to it was the best thing ever. Then to do it again, and to play two shows this time, was even better.

 

You had lots of guest artists join you for the recent Button Factory gigs, including We Cut Corners and Paul Noonan. How did those collaborations come about?

We usually approach all of our collaborators ourselves. It’s usually because we really like their music and what they do.

 

You’ve also collaborated with some other big names like Lisa Hannigan and Jerry Fish. What’s been the most memorable collaboration you’ve been involved in?

It’s hard to say because every single one of them has been really special. Each performer obviously has a different vibe. One of our favourites would have to be playing with James Vincent McMorrow at Electric Picnic over the summer. We put a lot of work into those arrangements, and to play in front of such a huge crowd was amazing. I think there were 10,000 people in the tent for his gig! Then he came along to our gig in the Little Big Tent and performed ‘No Diggity’ with us, which was really cool! Jerry Fish is such an energetic performer, and we got to perform with him a couple of times which was just class. Lisa Hannigan’s voice is amazing too and to do something with her and her ukulele was really cool as well, and she’s such a nice person. Hannah Grace would be another big favourite. Her voice just blew us away. We’d heard her before, but not live, and when she came out all of our faces just dropped, and I think some of the crowd’s, too! Nobody could believe her voice. All of the artists this year have been great.

 

Is there anybody you’d like to collaborate with that you haven’t got a chance to yet?

We’ve got a good few people that we’re planning on approaching. We’re planning some sort of tour and maybe another big headline show for next year. All will be revealed!

 

It seems like you’ve been gigging non-stop since you formed in late 2012. Has all that experience changed the way that you perform?

Yeah, definitely. Our first summer together we had a residency in Whelan’s which really helped us to know how to act onstage. We were so timid back then, we’d stand still for the whole gig, even in front of the smallest crowds. We’re so energetic onstage now that it’s hard to imagine how we used to be. There’s only four members from the original band in our line-up now, so half of us were acquired along the way and we’ve developed from that. We’re really enjoying playing with each other, and we connect well on stage, we know what everybody’s going to do next because we communicate well. We spent pretty much every day of the summer together so I’m surprised we’re not sick of each other by now!

 

Touring must be difficult with all the equipment you guys need on stage?

We actually have it pretty easy compared to bands with guitars and basses and keyboards! I went into rehearsals in Temple Lane Studios with a different band a few weeks ago, and they had to set up all of their amps, guitars, pedals and all this mad equipment, and make sure the levels were all right before they start the rehearsal. We just go in, put the sousaphone through the PA and set up the drums, and then we’re ready to go! All I have to do is take the trumpet out of the case and it’s ready to play.

 

Do any of you guys have classical music training?

We’re all from a classical background. Myself, David and Ronan are actually studying classical music performance in college at the moment, and James is doing a jazz masters. Then the rest of the guys are studying courses that will actually get them jobs!

 

So does that mean you all chip in with the scoring of each song, or does that role fall to specific members?

It’s all shared between us. One or two of us will come in with a specific idea, and it will go from there. Then we’ll put a drum line or beat to it and jam it out, and we give each other suggestions. I like the structure of our song writing because everyone has an input.

 

How do you pick the covers that you include in your set?

We just have to like them! If they have a good chorus, people can respond to them pretty well. It’s all about getting the crowd to interact with us.

 

I’ve heard that you’re recording an EP at the moment?

We’ve actually finished recording and we’re in the middle of mixing now. Because we’ve been so busy with the Button Factory gigs we’ve had to put it to the side, but we’re looking at it again and getting it ready now. One of our new tracks called ‘Nute’ was played by Nialler9 the other day, and it will probably be the main track from the EP. We don’t know exactly when it will be ready to go out to the public, but it’s nearly there.

 

It must be strange to be in the studio after gigging for such a long time, do you have to adjust how you play to suit recording?

We have to make the songs sound like how they do live, which is hard because we’re missing the crowd’s reaction in the studio. It’s a different kind of art. Listening to stuff on an iPod or a phone, you’re not experiencing the live side of it, so we do have to take that into consideration when we’re in the studio.

 

Will there be any covers on the EP?

No covers, all originals!

 

Check out Booka Brass Band’s new track ‘Nute’ on their Soundcloud while you eagerly await the new EP, or catch them supporting Hypnotic Brass Ensemble at the Sugar Club on December 6^th. 

Q&A With Acrobat

Acrobat is a four-piece indie rock band based in Dublin, and they’re on the up. Since forming last year they’ve already supported Bastille, Mumford and Sons and Miles Kane. The Acrobat lads are quickly getting to know the Irish music scene. We chatted to Mark, Naoise and Jacob from the band about stadium ambitions, unexplainable logos and cool snakes.

You’ve just played Hard Working Class Heroes. How was it?

MARK: Great! We playedMeeting House Square on Saturday, it was a great crowd and a great stage. I know there were some complaints about the sound, but it sounded great to us!

NAOISE: The onstage lighting was brilliant, and the architecture of Meeting House Square was cool. Out of all the venues, that and the Button Factory were probably the best to play, so we were really happy to be there.

MARK: They should consider putting on gigs there all the time, it’s in a great location in the middle of Temple Bar.

JACOB: Yeah, and they should scrap the curfew!

Una Mullally from the Irish Times recommended you as the ones to watch at the festival. Did that put any pressure on you?

MARK: Not at all, it was very nice of Una to mention us, and we appreciate when anybody mentions our music like that. For us it’s not about pressure, we just do what we do.We want people to react to our music and get involved with it, so the more people that can do that, the better!

Did you get to check out any other bands at Hard Working Class Heroes?

NAOISE: I did, I went to see Val Normal on Thursday, I Have a Tribe, Dott and Ghost Estates on Friday and on Saturday we stuck around for Elaine Mai and Fight Like Apes. They were great! They did a great cover of Edge of Seventeen by Stevie Nicks. A bit different, but very cool.

Aside from the bands that played the festival, are there any current Dublin bands you admire?

MARK: I love Raglans, their album is cool and they’re great live too.

NAOISE: Any Dutch-Indonesian bands that you’d like to include, Jacob?

JACOB: [Laughs] Nah!

You supported Bastille last year, and they were still quite a young band when they became successful. Did they give you any tips?

NAOISE: I think if we learned anything from them it would be to write one really good song! [Laughs] That’s why they are where they are now. Obviously the rest of their album is good but they did lean heavily on that song to become successful.

MARK: It is a really great pop song, it connected with people on a massive level. I think the way people listen to music and hear about music now means that if you have a song like that, it happens very quickly. Then it becomes about making sure you have the live show to back it up, and an albumready, so you can bring it to the next level.

What would you consider your favourite gig so far?

MARK, NAOISE & JACOB: Electric Picnic!

NAOISE: The stage and the sound were great, the vibe was just fantastic. We played Indiependence and Castlepalooza a few weeks before and they were great too, but to play Picnic with all the other bands on the bill was really special.

Are there any venues in Dublin that you haven’t got a chance to play yet, but you’d like to?

NAOISE: We’ve done the Academy, the Olympia, Whelan’s… So I guess the 3Arena? Or the O2, or the Point Depot, whatever it’s called! The Ambassador isn’t open anymore but that was a cool venue.

MARK: There are lots of great venues in Dublin now. It used to be just Whelan’s, but now there’s loads of places that have really good sound systems and set-ups specifically for live music.

JACOB: Croke Park!

You played Arthur’s Day last year, and this year you’re playing Doyle’s for Guinness Amplify. What do you think about the idea of Guinness Amplify?

MARK: It’s great for original bands to have an outlet to play their own music. A lot of the time pubs and venues will contact bands and say, “why don’t you guys play an original set?”, but then it turns out they want you to do it for free. The great thing about Guinness Amplify is that Guinness approach the pubs and tell them that they’ll finance it. For publicans to pay for bands they need to know that it’ll get people through the door, and new acts might not be packing out the place just yet, so that makes pubs worry about having to pay them. As much as every band wants to play live and get their music out there, it’s great to be able to say that your costs are covered. Guinness are showing a firm commitment to supporting new live music and younger bands, and I think that’s great.

NAOISE: We did a Guinness Amplify gig earlier in September in Horse Show House in Ballsbridge, and it went well.

MARK: It was an outdoor gig at the end of summer, the weather was really good and it was a Friday evening, it was a great vibe!

With a drummer that has a fascinating heritage, identifying as Dutch-Indonesian, you’re not an entirely ‘homegrown’ band. So how did you guys get together?

MARK: ‘Homegrown’ is an interesting idea. There’s so many musicians here who aren’t originally from Dublin! Naoise and I played together for years in different bands, and we started looking for a drummer to make up a three-piece. So we found Jacob busking on Grafton Street! Then we added Conal, our guitar player, who couldn’t be here today so we can bitch about him! [Laughs]We were friends for a long time, we met at a gig that both of our bands were playing, years ago. We stayed in touch, so it was great when we found ourselves looking for a guitar player and he was around. We recorded an EP literally a couple of weeks after we got the full band together in May. Is there any other cool story we could add in there to make us sound more interesting?

JACOB: Ehh… I was thrown out of my country and a voice came to me to tell me to go to Dublin to join a band… Will the authorities read this? [Laughs]

Your new EP will be released at the end of October, just 6 months after your debut. Why have you decided to release another so soon?

NAOISE: The songs on the last EP were songs that myself and Mark worked on together. When the other two lads joined the band we were eager to get writing again with Jacob and Conal involved.

MARK: I can hear a big difference between the two EPs because of Jacob and Conal’s influence. I think there’s a real step forward in terms of the song-writing and the sound.

You just released a video for ‘Not Back Down’. It starts off very beautiful, and ends up getting a bit weird! What is its meaning?

NAOISE: So… The two main characters in it are having a dinner party-

JACOB: His lordship and her ladyship…

NAOISE: And our role is the hired entertainment. And with the name of song being ‘Not Back Down’, we were trying to say that we would play our own way regardless of what was going on in front of us…

MARK: That’s a really good attempt by Naoise to explain a video where we basically said, “It’d probably be cool if we had snakes! And set a fountain on fire!” [Laughs] I wouldn’t read too much into it or how much it relates to the song or its message. I think there’s a much stronger message in the song itself than in the video, and they don’t necessarily collate. We just wanted to make something that was fun. And when everyone starts jumping around… There was a lot of alcohol taken at that point! The fact that we could still play guitar was a pretty good achievement!

I want to ask about your logo. What’s it all about?

MARK: Well Joanne, what’s it about to you?

I was thinking maybe it’s a gymnastics bar? Because you’re Acrobats and all that…

MARK: That’s a new one! We’ll add that one to the list! We’ve been asked if it’s a burning cross before, too…

NAOISE: It was designed by a friend of ours, as part of the font for our band name. Jacob actually designed the new EP, and when we were putting it all together Jacob picked it out for the logo.

JACOB: I wanted the logo to be something that people would remember, and I think it’s a strong symbol.

So my last question for you is, why ‘Acrobat’?

MARK: What’s in a band name…

NAOISE: Ask many bands what their name means and they won’t be able to tell you. I think our top priority was that people could spell it!

Acrobat’s ‘Flux’ EP is out on October 31^st. Preorder the EP from iTunes now and you’ll immediately receive the EP’s first single, ‘Not Back Down’.

Q&A With Rosie Blair Of Ballet School

Ballet School was formed when singer Rosie Blair discovered a talented busker working a Berlin U-Bahn station. The Cocteau Twins-channelling guitarist was Michel Collet, and when the two spoke, they immediately knew that they would form a band. When the pair encountered drummer Louis McGuire, Ballet School was complete. Three years on, the band have just released their debut album, and are currently headlining venues across the UK on a British and Irish tour. We caught up with singer Rosie as she travelled between shows.

You’re originally from Antrim, and you went to college in London before you moved to Berlin, so you’re used to travelling. Where do you call home at the moment?

Because we’re on tour and travelling a lot I don’t actually have my own apartment at the moment which is weird. I’m actually moving back to Belfast in December. I can’t wait to move back to Ireland, I miss it a lot.

What do you miss most about Ireland?

I miss the people, that’s probably the biggest thing. The more I travel the more I realise just how good-natured Irish and Northern Irish people are; they have a very good way about them, which is very unique. I think we take it for granted when we’re at home, but it’s really quite rare I suppose. I’ve noticed that in Northern Ireland people sort of take care of each other in a weird way. I miss the food too, and the smallness of it, I really like that. I remember when I was a teenager I couldn’t wait to get away and I thought I was so mature, and now I realise just how good I had it at home.

Do you think growing up near Belfast influenced your creativity at all?

I never really formally studied music, but I was always interested in Irish trad and Sean Nós, but I probably would have still been interested in it even if I wasn’t from Ireland, because I am curious about different singing techniques from all over the world. Loads of kids in Belfast are interested in going out to see bands, and the crowd is always really intense an appreciative. I suppose that gave me a good feeling about the possibility of playing music and being in a band.

Are there any Irish artists that have had a particular influence on you?

A lot of local bands like Girls Names and Duke Special, they formed around the time I was living in Belfast and they’re great. I also love Rachel Austin, we used to be great friends but I haven’t seen much of her since I moved to Berlin. Some of the local bands up there are really great. Then in terms of bigger artists, I always thought the world of U2, they’re a great band. Even though they do need to fire their marketing team! I have a real respect for any band that manages to write three classic albums in a short space of time; October, The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby, all three are fantastic records. Every time I sit down to try and write I have a lot of respect for people who can do that, because it’s really difficult! And to keep a band together for that long is admirable too. So I can forgive their various insensitivities and tax evasion and various other crimes because they write such good songs!

You’re based in Berlin for the moment, and it’s a really creative city, with the nightclubs in disused power plants and old hospitals and such. Do you think your surroundings influence the music of Ballet School, and the way it can be quite lo-fi?

To tell you the truth, I think the way I was writing and singing was already set before I came to Berlin. It came out of a whole myriad of different influences that have accumulated over years and years of listening to music. But the one thing that Berlin did facilitate was that it gave me the space and the time to cultivate my own little thing, because it’s so cheap to live in Berlin that you can afford to concentrate on your own thing. It wasn’t as if I sought out the fabric and culture of German society or I was aiming to form a Krautrock band or to become the new Kraftwerk or anything like that, and I wouldn’t say we have a particularly German sound. We stayed in Berlin because the cost of living is so low that you spend more time on your work, and I think I needed that. I needed to be able to just get in the zone. I’ve noticed you can’t really do that in the likes of New York or any of the other big cities because for one you probably have to work a couple of jobs to survive, and also the social life is so intense and you end up being absorbed into that if you’re not too careful. I suppose Truman Capote was a bit of a Scene Queen as opposed to a writer so you can make it work, but I’m a bit more introverted than that.

You’ve just released your debut album. Do you usually write on your own, or is it a collective effort?

Usually the demos are like a sketch, there’ll be chords and a beat, a very basic bassline and a melody, and lastly words. Michel writes guitar chords and phrases and he layers sound electronically and processes his guitar sounds a lot. Louis is also a producer and beat maker, and he’s also a really good singer. Between the three of us we take each idea as far as we can and try to make every song as catchy as possible. We always have choruses and try to create as many ear-pleasing moments as possible in the arrangement. So that’s our motivation to make pop music.

This album was your first release on the Bella Union label. Why did you think this year was the right time to sign to this label, and why did you pick this label in particular?

They’re a great label and they only sign bands that they really love. Simon Raymonde, the guy that owns the label, he’s an artist before he’s a business person, and he really knows what artists want in a label because he can draw on his own experiences from over the years. We feel like we’re in safe hands with him. For us it was a very natural choice. I feel really comfortable there, more so than I would in at the deep end in the mainstream side of the industry where it really is all about numbers. You’ve got to have a very thick skin to handle that kind of pressure, and I’m probably a wee bit too sensitive for that.

For the next two weeks you’re playing shows pretty much non-stop, and you get to come home to play two gigs. Will these be your biggest Irish shows to date?

They will, apart from when we played Body and Soul festival in the summer. I’m just hoping lots of people get out to the shows and we get good numbers because it’s our first headline show, so we will be nervous about it.

How does the gigging scene in Ireland compare to that of Berlin?

You couldn’t even compare the two. Over here there’s a bigger culture for live bands, and I think there’s a lot of rock in the Irish local scene. There’s definitely not as much of that in Berlin, it’s more dance music oriented.

Are there any Irish venues that you’d like to play, that you haven’t got a chance to yet?

It would be so cool to play the Ulster Hall. It’s so iconic and it’s got such a history. I really don’t mind where we play, there are so many random places on the local circuit. There’s loads of wee hole-in-the-hedge places around the country that we’d love to get into!

If hedges aren’t your thing and you’d rather see Ballet School in a nice modern venue, catch them at The Workman’s Club this Friday, November 21^st.