Post-Party Interview Electric Picnic

Post-Party Interview

Anyone concerned that they missed anything at Electric Picnic this weekend, you should be very concerned. It was a weekend that changed lives, broke records and even left me with sunburn that I’m putting down as a tan! But if the fomo is hitting hard right now do not fear, tickets for EP 2020 go on sale on Friday and Saturday which I will definitely be purchasing.

 As well as cycling 80km for charity to get into the festival I also was lucky to receive a press pass which let me behind the scenes at EP. I interviewed two amazing bands that I am betting to be selling out large the likes of the Olympia by next year. The first band I got to interview are from Dublin and Monaghen and are called Post-Party, they have recently been taken up by the trendy friendly manager Niall Morris who also manages Wild Youth and Ryan Mac. I met Mr.Morris, who eagerly requested I called him Niall, deep in the crowd at the Post Party gig. We were both delighted at the turn out and equally impressed by the gig.

I watched the gig on the Rankin’s Wood stage which was packed out and an absolutely unreal set which really got the crowd going. I was then ecstatic to get into the media tent to interview them. I sat and had a great chat with Matty and Colin about the divisive Irish music scene as well as making it onto the scene.

I first congratulated them on a really good set and asked their opinion on how they got on. Matty told me he was delighted with the sound even if there were minimal technical difficulties.

 “Even if there were a few problems with sound I was still delighted, that was our first time ever playing Electric Picnic and my first time at the festival! Myself and Keelan always said that we didn’t want to come to Electric Picnic unless we were playing the festival. My mates went to EP since fourth year but my parents were always a bit more strict so the only way I was getting here was by actually playing.”

The gig also had no shortage of Post-Party fans who knew every lyric without fail. This surprised me because they only have one song on Spotify, this means the fan base have been going to their gigs so often that they now know the words to their songs. I brought this up to Matty and Colin to see what their opinion was on the matter. Colin gave me the entire history of their relationship with their fans.

          “I was recognising faces today that have been with us since day one that I was literally face to face with in a tiny room one year ago. Now I feel so far away from them.” Matty agreed and added there were a few practical things they never thought about. “ Our leads were so short, at one point I went to run over to Colin and my lead just shot out of the guitar, I just wrapped the wire around me and went for it.”

I had done as much research as I could and found out that Post-Party started out as another band called Litehouse so I was interested to see how they transitioned. I asked what brought around the change. Colin was one of the original members of the band so answered the question.

          “I was doing my Leaving Certificate in Monaghan and all my mates were going to Dublin, we already had a name for ourselves as the cover band in Monaghan doing Arctic Monkeys songs, which we wanted to move away from. Our guitarist also moved to Belfast so we wanted to cut ties with it completely. Then the rest of the lads met in college” Matty also added, “In college they organise you by your full name, so I’m Matthew Anthony O’Reilly and Keelan was Keelan Anthony O’Reilly, so we said to each other even if we are the worst musicians in the world we have to form a band.”

The Irish music scene is starting to resurface internationally again with bands such as The Murder Capital and Fontaines DC making names for themselves around the world. One thing that these bands have in common is that they are Dublin proud. Seeing as Post-Party are a mix of Monaghan and Dublin I was interested to see if they seen themselves as part of that scene.

Colin who is from Monaghan spoke about his relationship with the capital. “I was studying primary school teaching in Pats in Dublin so I ended up basing myself in Dublin, Keelan and Peter lived together in Dublin and Matthew lived close by to them. We based ourselves in that house on Ash street. We do call ourselves Dublin musicians but we don’t dwell on it too much.” Matty agreed and added, while saying that it has nothing to do with the question I asked, “It’s so cool now and, it’s done so well, that the Fontaines and the Murder Capital take this love for Dublin and put it into their music, it comes across so well. Even though we’re from that part of Dublin that has the most character, the liberties, we want to have a sound that can come from anywhere.”

This June Post-Party released their first single onto Spotify, Love You Everyday, and is currently sitting on 55,773 plays, I was told that they were recording new material. After seeing such a powerful live performance I was keen to see what the band preferred doing with their time, gigs or recording. Colin surprised us all with his love for recording.

          “I personally enjoy recording more than gigs, there’s something about how calming recording is, it’s very chill. Whenever we do a live gig there is a demand for a lot of energy, but that being said today’s live show really gave me a huge buzz.” Matty then supplied very useful information, “My opinion is I don’t know” Myself and Colin burst out laughing. “When you’re in the studio there is such a creative atmosphere and Phil (the producer) is like your da and your brother and even that cool uncle. I really enjoy the recording process.”

The conversation then moved onto all the other amazing acts that are playing the Electric Picnic over the weekend and eventually Otherkin came up in conversation and their unfortunate decision to stop making music. I compared the career of Otherkin to that of The Strypes. I then asked if that is a fear as a band to see some of the best bands in the world come to an end. Colin believes that it is dependant on the sound of the band.

“We have a bit more of a pop/radio type of sound but I think Otherkin have a sound that wouldn’t be as commercially popular, but would that really effect ticket sales that much? These days it’s a lot more about being popular  and having money, it’s about how other people have an image of you. It is a definite fear though to answer your question.”

The conversation lead to successful artists who made it through radio plays and I mentioned Sam Fender. Matty instantly turned into a fan-girl as he just kept saying how tall Sam is which had me in stitches, but turns out Matty is such a huge fan of Fender that he even has a very impressive tattoo in homage to the solo artist. Then Colin requested that Matty tell a story involving Sam Fender and Lewis Capaldi.

          “There’s a spat developing between Fender and Capaldi and between their fans, one side saying the other is shite and vice versa. But we were playing down at  Indi (Indiependence Festival Cork) and we were playing the same day as Lewis Capaldi. He finished his set and walked through, I was cans deep at this stage, I ran up to him and got a picture with him but then asked if he wanted to see my Sam Fender tattoo. In the end I was on his Instagram story. But it was the next day on Twitter everyone is sending me stuff from fan accounts saying who is this Sam Fender fan because they are so similar.”  It wasn’t until they said it but, Matty is terrifyingly similar to Sam Fender I can’t lie.

          We began to wrap up the interview and discussed who we were going to see this weekend. I cannot emphasise enough the genuine kind nature of this band. Love You Everyday has quickly become one of my favourite summer songs this year and has found its way into many of my playlists due to its easy listening abilities. I seen a lot of bands at the Picnic this year but I was surprised how well their gig stuck with me. Their professionalism and quality of sound really broke through on the Rankin’s Wood stage that Saturday. I cannot recommend them enough if you love the Irish pop scene. It wont be long until these guys find themselves headlining venues like The Olympia. Catch them quick!

          I would like to  thank Matty and Colin for their time on Saturday evening and congratulate Peter and Keelan and the band for an amazing gig. I wish them the best of luck in the future. Go listen to their debut single on Spotify Love You Everyday.

Tadhg Kelly & Mark Allidine - 'Train Tracks' EP Interview

Tadhg Kelly and Mark Allidine, two local lads from Skerries in North County Dublin, on the 29th of May released their debut EP, 'Train Tracks'. Recorded in Temple Lane Studios in the heart of Dublin's City Centre, this laid back yet emotionally hard hitting release was written by Tadhg, produced by Mark, and has been in the works for the guts of two years.

Below you can listen to the almost hour long interview that Darren McNulty did with the pair, where they discuss every track in detail, their motivations, inspirations and what they plan to do next. Editing it I noticed the two lads are very humble throughout the entire interview, and seem very proud of what they've created, which they should be! 'Train Tracks' is available to stream everywhere right now, and I'd highly recommend you give it a listen. Enjoy the podcast!

Josh McClorey Interview

Interview with Josh McClorey

On the 31^st of May I went behind closed doors with Josh McClorey previously from The Strypes. The Strypes started in 2010 and quickly found fame as blues rock enthusiasts and were widely admired by big names from Elton John to Slash. After their split in 2018 Josh decided to start his long awaited solo career for himself. Josh is currently doing gigs in Ireland and in England and he was very generous to let me interview him before his first solo gig in Whelan’s and only his second gig alone. We sat down and talked about the struggle of teenage fame, the life and relationship with The Strypes, the split and what we can expect in the future.

Was there a struggle becoming famous from such an early age?

“In retrospect maybe but not at the time” Josh confesses, “We were 13 or 14, I was 14 on The Toy Show. I definitely did not feel it at the time, but as time went on we could start to feel it. It was a very unique position, people often say we were too young but I don’t think so, it ran its course the way it was supposed to run and I think for the four of us it was a great experience to travel the world and do what 90% of kids never get to do. I think we did feel the pressure, to answer your question, but as it progressed towards the end definitely.”

How did the relationship between you all begin?

Josh was extremely open to discussing The Strypes even though the split was still quite recent, only six months later. “We were best mates, like, I knew Evan since I was born and I knew Pete and Ross growing up, we were so young so that’s everything we were doing, playing music together was so special.” The career of The Strypes stretched over 8 years so I was keen to find out how their relationships were affected.

“I think pretty naturally for any four lads who spend seven years in a van together, five people really if you include Niall, our manager, realistically that is not a normal relationship to spend 24 hours with each other. I think we have a very strange relationship, like we were all just at the Rocketman premier, so we all hung out at that, it’s weird at the minute I’m not going to lie it is strange it’s weird to spend ten years with a group of people to then suddenly their not part of your life anymore. We’re all dealing with it differently, it’s a new experience when we meet each other, I think not enough time has passed. I had a great conversation with a group of friends recently. I can’t talk objectively about the Strypes right now because it is too soon, I am also too young to understand what it really was. The difference now since November in how I feel has drastically improved. I think you’re so in the moment about it all the time that you forget to take a bigger picture of it all. So now I’m looking back saying, oh, we done this and we done this, like everything in life the further away you move from it the more rose-tinted it becomes.” It was clear that Josh has a difficult love for The Strypes, the relationship between them all is currently in a strange position. I then was eager to see if we could expect some form of reunion in the distant future or is it something we can never see again.

“Objectively I don’t think I can answer that question, but, I’d like to think that if we were all in the same pub in Cavan, that maybe we could get up and do something casual without stressing about it. I can definitely see that happening.”

I then moved my questioning to the future of Josh McClorey music and his solo work. Josh performed one gig in Cavan before that night in Whelan’s. This was his first ever solo performance so I asked how it felt to perform on his own.

“It was very different man!” Josh laughed, “It was cool though, yeah so basically I got booked for Sea Sessions this year and this gig came about, I was delighted to have two class gigs lined up, then I was thinking it would be great to do a local gig as well. Then the Cavan Arts Festival came around so I decided it would be a good idea to do a gig in front of my friends and family and it went really well. I feel better after doing that one now, I feel slightly more organised.” I couldn’t find his music anywhere online so I was curious to find out what type of material he was going to be playing.

“It’s very different, it isn’t the Strypes. I’m  a big Frank Ocean fan and St.Vincent so I’m taking more inspiration from them rather than being inspired and writing like The Beatles or The Rolling Stones. When I was 16 I was introduced to hip-hop and a load of new artists that I had never heard before, most kids listen to current stuff and as they get older they get introduced to the likes of Chuck Berry but mine was completely inverted, I remember clearly when I was 16 someone showed me Jay-Z and being like, oh sick there’s this other world of music that I have never heard before.” This shocked me a bit and also reminded me of what Elton John had said about the Strypes that they have the knowledge of rock and blues in 16 years what took him 65 years to learn. I reminded Josh about this quote and to pass it off like it wasn’t true Josh joked, “Ah I think that’s Elton John talkin’ shit to be honest”.

“There were a lot of things that I couldn’t get from the Strypes and now not only am I writing my own material I am also able to sing, this doesn’t take away from Ross, he was amazing but I really wanted to do this for a very long time.

This project is clearly something Josh wanted to do for a while so I wanted to find out what exactly he was trying to gain out of it.

          “I think it’s for myself, I know that’s such a footballer answer, I’m just glad we got the three points, but I’m just really happy with this music, even if five people here like my music then I’m cool, the fact I can play makes me happy. I’m also doing other stuff now, and without being too Disney Channel I love doing my own thing, telling my own story and write personal songs rather than songs for other people. For the first time in a while I can relax and just chill out.” It was clearly a lifelong dream for Josh which made me curious as to how long he had been working on  this new material.

          “It’s been a while, about a year and a half, we were all anticipating that we might finish the band in a while, so I was with the band for the year while I was writing my own material but I’ve been working on my own material properly for around six months. It’s stuff I can play with my friends that previously, they wouldn’t have played along to, I think that the Strypes stuff my friends couldn’t do that. It’s nicer for me to be more relatable to my friends, the ultimate goal is to just write what I feel and express how I’m feeling and hopefully it rhymes.” I laughed and asked if we can hope to hear any EP’s this year.

          “I think we’re going to take our time, it’s just easier, we don’t want to rush things, I think the plan is to release a few singles over the summer. For now we’re just trying to figure the live set. I’d rather do it right in two months then release stuff that is wrong now.”

It seems like Josh has set himself a bright future and is no doubt sailing through his solo career, I am a big fan of his work past and present and I’m also happy to see him in a good place for himself. Thanks to Josh for the interview and also thanks to Niamh Finnegan who took a few shots for the blog!

Please like and share and follow me on Instagram @the_art_of_rockin  

  

RuthAnne Interview

Interview with

RuthAnne

I have interviewed a lot of Irish artists over the last six months, from Aslan to Wild Youth everyone has been so good to allow me the opportunity to interview them. But I was so surprised to see how eager and polite RuthAnne was for our interview on Saturday night. I was brought into a small box room in the greenroom in Whelan’s. This was my first interview in Whelan’s but not my first gig. Walking in brought back memories of seeing the Strypes in their prime headlining the venue. I set myself up on a bench in that box room and prepared for my interview with RuthAnne.

RuthAnne has written songs for many different successful international artists such as, Work B*tch by Britney Spears and Slow Hands by Niall Horan, along with many others. With an already amazing career I had to find out where it all began.

Where did it all begin for you?

RuthAnne burst into a response. “People tend to ask, how long have you been in the music industry? I feel like I have been in the music industry since I was 17 when I won the Jacob Song contest, when I wrote that Jojo tune. But I know I have been in it since I was 7. I was freakishly writing songs from that age, even when people asked me while I was growing up, what do you do? I would always say I am a singer-song writer. Whether I was getting paid or not this is what I was doing. I was obsessed from such a young age.

RuthAnne found initial success writing for Jojo at a young age. There was a multitude of occasions that lead to her fame. This raised the question, was there any other situations that made her believe how big she was going to be.

Was there any other moments that made you realise, this is going to be my future?

“Yeah I think that Jojo song was more of a surprise if nothing else, I was so young. It was a case of, oh my god it’s climbing the charts, oh my god it’s number two, oh my god it’s in the Billboard Hot 100. I was excited to see it went to number 19, so when it just kept going you almost don’t get the chance to take it all in. So I guess it only became real when I started to get publishing deals, being brought out for fancy meals. This was when I realised this is something I can actually do. But you never get the chance to take a step back. It’s always a case of writing that next track and next tune..

I was fascinated how a person could keep coming up with different songs very regularly and asked if she found it difficult.

Did you find it difficult to keep coming out with more songs at the time?

“I was incredibly lucky to have never experienced writers block or anything like that. Sometimes there are days where you can’t find something great or anything at all. But even if you just write whatever is in you, even if it’s a bad song, just get it out of the way which leaves more room for the good songs. I think for me it was always about trying to find my voice, everything was leading up to this point now.”

I am a big fan of the lyrics that RuthAnne writes and I wondered if she uses much Irish influence.

Do you like to keep to your roots when you’re writing songs?

“As a song-writer it was hard for me to stay in  Ireland, to get in with the artists I wanted to write with I had to travel. LA is a big hub for artists and so is the UK, so I would travel between them. But when I started my own album I recorded the Dublin gospel choir, I used Bressie and Niall’s studio for Love Again, I was trying to incorporate my Irish roots into different songs. My first single The Vow I found really had that Irish Celtic harmony and it is really important to me.”

I find it really interesting how different Irish artists use and are opinionated by Irish culture, this led to the next question.

How important is Irish culture in your song writing?

“It’s everything to me. I love soul, a lot of people would link that to America, but I grew up watching The Commitments, and we have some amazing artists like, Glen Hansard, Sinead O’Connor and now Hozier. It’s a very soulfull country. So when people say, oh your music is very soul you must like American soul, I think it comes from the Irish  soul as much as America.”

What made you decide to take a step away from writing for others to writing for yourself?

“I think it was a journey for me. As an artist I wanted to write my own songs, when you go to the music industry there can sometimes be seven or eight people in a room writing lyrics and I needed to quiet people down, I needed to work on my own craft. But I needed the life experience to write these songs. This is why we buy Adele and Ed Sheeran albums as opposed to pop albums, everything they’re saying is from and about them, so for me representing Ireland as a female I wanted to get my story across.

 I began to find LA very uninspiring and decided to come back to Dublin and ended up writing half of the album in about three weeks and then I realised this is a body of work that sounds like me and is my story.”

Which would you prefer to do  now looking back, your own solo work or writing for different artists?

“ It’s both, definitely. I was just in LA writing for Niall on his record, I have been writing some dance tunes so honestly I love doing both. A few years ago I was finding it difficult writing for both and working for different people. But now I have managed to find the perfect balance to just take each day as they come. I honestly don’t think I could do one without the other.”

I am very admirable and excited to see Irish artists doing so well. RuthAnne is a force to be reckoned with in the music industry. I finished the interview and then watched the gig afterwards, it was set up like an MTV Unplugged show and she was truly inspiring to watch. Her new single “Love Again” is out and is something that needs to be heard quickly! Thank you to everyone who made the interview possible, thanks to RuthAnne for giving up some time in her very busy schedule to allow for an interview. I would also like to thank Carl McGrath who was my photographer for the night and Max Falvey from Stage Aura for a few shots during the gig.              

WILD YOUTH INTERVIEW

Interview with

Wild Youth.

In the last five years, the Irish Music Scene has been very lucky to see an uprise of local talent becoming very successful. Ireland is no stranger to euphoria when it comes to music and I am proud to look back upon all the great Irish acts over the years. I am even more excited to look into the future of Irish music that is going to take us all by storm. It is no surprise then that getting an interview with Wild Youth was something that I couldn’t help get hyped for. Wild Youth are already well established not only in Ireland but in the summer of 2017 they flew to the top of the Spotify charts with, All Or Nothing.

I was very lucky to land an interview on the day with the two frontmen, David and Conor when they were playing their biggest headlining gigs to date, at The Olympia in Dublin.

Q:Where did it all begin for you guys?

A: David was sat on a worktop beside me in the changing room as he answered the first question. “We were mates since we were like 12 and were always hanging out together, then we ended up always being in each other’s houses and playing music or writing music. We then started to get into other bands, for the first couple of years we were never in the same band together. We just started forming our own circles, meeting different people and getting our own music tastes.” Conor was sitting across from me and added that they were always the two people that were really into music from a young age.

David then went on to tell me how it started to come together. “We were only started to talk about this yesterday. We played in our separate bands at a gig one night and then randomly at the end decided, right! Me and Conor are going to do a song now and we ditched our other bands. Which left everyone very confused.” Conor started to laugh and as David went to get a bottle of water he reached up and said “It was always destined in the stars” I kindly declined his offer of a bottle of water as Conor started to add more to the story.

“Obviously myself and David are best mates, I had an accident when I was in 5^th year, so I was out of action for a few months like I had a bad stomach operation. When I started to get a bit better Dave would come up to the house and instead of going out with his mates he would come up to me and we would just chill out and play music. It made it almost like therapy to me, we just always had a very special connection. We then finished school and moved on, these kind of things happen we just drifted apart, went to college, made new friends. But one night we ended up just bumping into each other and we couldn’t stop talking about music.” David pointed out that they were both desperate to be in a band, “I remember just thinking, awh come on lads what are we fucking doing!”. Conor laughed and finished with  “We always knew whatever we wanted to do it was just going to be about music.”

It is incredible to think that such an ordinary pair of guys have such amazing energy, I could tell that it was always about the love of music for them. I wanted to ask how they decided what type of sound they were going to be creating and what the creative process was like for Wild Youth.

Where did your sound originate from?

A: David was very honest in his response which I really admired, a lot of bands can lie and just say that they knew how they wanted to sound instantly, David knew there was a lot more to be said.

“We were writing for a while before we found out what we wanted our sound to be. We had gone wrong before in a band and stopped because we didn’t like the sound that we were producing at the time. It took us a while before we found ourselves and could then be happy with the sound we were creating. Even when we released our first single All Or Nothing it wasn’t necessarily the type of music that we wanted Wild Youth to be.” Conor used a very interesting analogy to describe the process.

“It’s like when you move into a house for the first time and you let the tap run for a while to get rid of all the shit that’s pilled up. Eventually the water will run clear.” David laughed and added that this is normally when you would buy a filter. “Yeah we just kept writing and writing until eventually we honed our craft and knew where our influences were coming from. It was when we released Lose Control we knew what we wanted to be and then we were even more certain when we released Can’t Move On.

          When Wild Youth started their career it wasn’t long until they were being played on the radio and selling out venues, their rise to fame did not take very long, this lead to the next question.

         

Q:Was there a particular gig that made you realise how big Wild Youth were going to be?

A: Conor mentioned that it might be a bit naïve to think the following but looking back it made a lot of sense.

 “We had just released All Or Nothing and hadn’t really played any headlining shows or anything, we were on our way down to a festival in Cork called Indiependence. I remember being told we would be playing a gig in the beer hall, we didn’t think much of it. The beer tent looked pretty big but it was just a bar. The hall itself was massive but the stage was in the far left corner. We stood in their at around 3 o’clock and there was about 4 people standing there, we all were saying that is was going to be a shitshow. But we went on later and I’m not joking, the place was wall to wall, the energy was absolutely incredible.”

Looking back on this side of the interview I can’t help but see the similarity between Wild Youth and Aslan, they both released one single and then went to Cork for their first gig and played packed out venues. There was another moment Conor felt like he had to point out.

“When we played Electric Picnic last year, everyone around us was saying how big this gig was going to be. It wasn’t until myself and Dave walked out into the tent and seen what we would be playing to, we grabbed each other and had to walk back out, we nearly got sick.”

Dave completely agreed at how much playing EP meant to them.

“I had to avoid the tent for the day and by the time we all walked out it packed about 10,000 people into it. A mate of mine was at the gig and sent me a video of the last song we played which was Can’t Move On, he was at the front of the crowd and the opening guitar line starts and he does a 360 on the video and you can just hear screaming everywhere, then the kick came in and everybody started singing. Looking back on the video, I went holy shit, like my hairs are standing up now thinking about it.”

 Conor added that they wouldn’t allow anyone in the dressing room after the gig. “I remember barricading ourselves in and just sitting on our own for an hour just talking and having beers, we really needed to calm down.

          When I got to the Olympia there was people queuing to get in, I went over to ask how long they were there, I could not believe that it was since 9 o’clock that morning. When I asked about that relationship it became very apparent that they consider themselves no different to the fans that go to their shows every week, for them, Wild Youth is everyone not just the band. I really admired that because again, other bands can find themselves looking down upon their fans but for Wild Youth the love of the crowd is evident.

We then moved onto other Irish bands that are doing extremely well and then started a list which just seemed to have no end. I then proceeded to my last question.

        

  Q: How does it feel to be part of the Irish music scene at the moment?

A:      Dave answered quickly, “It’s completely surreal, we try not to think about it sometimes.” Conor agreed and said “We tend to fan girl those other bands we just mentioned.” I laughed and David explained why they felt like that. “We grew up going to see The Script and The Coronas and looking up to them, so it really hasn’t hit me yet that we’re doing a headline here in the Olympia. Some people laugh and tell us we’re lying but we really don’t see ourselves anything other than just best mates in a band.” It was clear they felt like that when Conor added “ We don’t surround ourselves with people telling us we are brilliant, we’re always surrounded with people telling us we can be better.”

It was clear that they were slowly starting to realise how big the night would be for them so I decided I wouldn’t outstay my welcome and ended the interview. I was walking away stunned at how nice a group of people who are doing extremely well could be. I stayed to watch my first Wild Youth gig and it is not something that can be easily described so guess what, you’re going to have to go see them for yourself.

I would like to thank Conor Friel and Niall Morris who allowed me the opportunity to interview such a great band and I would also like to thank Harry Forkan who done a fantastic job as the photographer.

Close is now up on Youtube with the official video check them out here!

Rowdy Outsider Interview

Interview with

Rowdy Outsider.

There is a rumour around at the moment that rock and roll is dying out, that there is no bands coming up the ranks that we can trust with the heart and soul, of rock and roll. I can safely say that there is no need to fear, with bands like Rowdy Outsider the future is bright for all you rockers. Rowdy Outsider consist of lead singer and guitarist, Matthew Doyle, backup vocalist and guitar God, Conor Whearty, drum machine, Sean Murtagh and bassist who goes by  the name Elmo. On yet another rainy night in Drogheda I sat in Abbey Lane studio to interview the fresh, Rowdy Outsider.  If you have been following my blog you can already tell where we’re going to start the interview. If you’re new, we always start at the start.

 

Where did it all begin for you guys?

Conor directed me towards Matthew and Sean, the two original founding members of Rowdy Outsider.

“We used to get together and practise in 1^st year of secondary school and rehearsed in my parents dance studio. ” Matthew laughed and added it was pure luck that made the band function well. “It was luck of the draw that I was a singer and guitar player and Sean was a drummer and we were in the same class and listening to the same music. Elmo was in then for a very short spell. In fairness he was only ten.” I was both impressed at the ambition of a ten year old for wanting to be in a band but also feared for the safety of a ten year old child in a rock band!

Conor was then last to join the band with other members coming and going before the official line-up was secured. Conor then told me about one of the guys that auditioned for the band.

“There was one guy who came in and told us that he wasn’t a very good bassist before the audition. We all assumed, ah we all say that he’s probably class. But unfortunately he was very honest.” I laughed at the thought of four very young teenagers having to tell another teen he wasn’t any good.

Can you tell me about some of your early gigs?

Matthew refused to tell me about the original name of Rowdy Outsider (no matter how much I persisted) but did tell me about their first gig.

“Our first gig was at the Maritime Festival in 2014” Conor quickly added that it was probably their best gig. This being said they had not yet performed in Odd Mollies, which turned out to be an incredible gig. Rowdy Outsider opened for The Skins on the 15^th of February and absolutely blew the crowd away. I was impressed considering I have never seen an opening act cause a mosh pit before. There was nothing else to do other than go insane. Nerves were running high before the show, however they were used as ammunition against the audience leading to a fantastic performance.

Matthew then brought me through some of the bands history. “In April 2014 we came in to this studio and recorded our very first song.” Conor revealed that Matthew still refuses to play the song. “We then got a record deal from our first festival.”

 The band then had a break for a while naturally enough and that lead to my next question. 

What lead to the revival of Rowdy Outsider?

As the band began to try and figure out dates, once again, Matthew Doyle was at the forefront providing me with the exact details.

“November 2017!” he exclaimed. The band erupted into laughter as they mocked his memory. “Sean texted me one of the days and asked if I was up for a jam one of the days, I said no immediately” again a fit of laughter spread through the room to which Sean remarks “Oh yeah I actually remember being really sad when he said no because I had being trying different bands and one band had been going well but when it came to a live performance it was a shit-show.”. Once they had persuaded Elmo the band was ready to perform live again.

Once again the question of the name change came back into conversation. Although there was no way I could find out what the previous name was Matthew did tell me how the new name came into existence.

“When we were recording in college one day there was a lot of cleaners around making a lot of noise when someone quickly said to blame it on a Rowdy Outsider. Which stuck quite well. A lot of credit goes to Gavin for that one.”

What made you decide to start doing gigs again?

“It wasn’t until I was at a gig watching Modern Love, slightly drunk, I said to myself, aw  I really want to do that. So the next day I booked a gig in Dundalk.” I had to admire the desire Matthew had to perform, it really shows a sense of professionalism when a band can have an extreme urge to do what they love. I really think that came across when they played in Odd Mollies. Not one of them were out of place both physically and spiritually, the love for good music, is evident. They are also incredibly grateful for the opportunities they have been given and the people they are working with. We were all in agreement that places such as Odd Mollies and people like Fran McDermott and Fran Thornton supporting local artists and supplying places such as Abbey Lane really can not be thanked enough.

Who do you draw inspiration from to create your own music?

Conor noted that it was a difficult question to answer.

“When we started first I was all about AC/DC but then Matthew was Green Day, Sean was Guns n Roses and God knows what Elmo was at the time.” Elmo quickly added that Nirvana was his lead inspiration. Sean added that Green Day would inspire the band as a whole, “To this day Green Day have always been the band that we look up to and would learn a lot from.”

Is there a message that you guys try to get across in your songs?

Conor directed the question towards Matthew who writes the lyrics for the songs.

“In 2015 to 2019 a few songs came from wanting to be in a band again. Songs like  By-Pass and Yesterday are about struggling as musicians and stuff like that. Our other songs so far are just love songs.” I was ready to leave them with that question however one last question popped into my head as soon as Matthew had just mentioned that last statement.

Is it hard to make it as a band onto the scene in Ireland?

Conor believed that things have gotten easier.

“I think that it’s easier today than it would have been years ago, being in college now it is easier to be attracted to people who have the same mindset for pushing musicians.” Again Sean added the fact that “Fran and Fran have been so good to local artists bringing together. There is a lot of great music coming from Drogheda at the moment.”

I then asked if there was anything that set them apart from other musicians in the area. Matthew was quick to say that it was the lyrics and meaning behind them. Conor then added “I think it’s our sound as well”. I had to agree with Conor, there is nobody who has written and performed these types of songs before, I had no idea how powerful the sound was going to be.

I was then left with very exciting news that I am happy to be the first to tell the world, Rowdy Outsider have recorded four songs that will be ready to be released by summer 2019. I can assure you that these will be truly amazing songs and definitely worth the listen. The interview drew to a close and Rowdy Outsider then performed a song call Yesterday for me live in studio. It has already become a favourite of mine, I have left a link to the song below please have a listen and follow Rowdy Outsider on Instagram.

Yesterday-Rowdy Ousider

I would sincerely like to thank the band for the opportunity to interview them and look forward to the gig on the 21^st of March at the Grand Social in Dublin.

Podcast - Festival Headliners Predictions for 2019!

This week (or month), Darren sits down with up and coming music producer Mark Allidine to discuss and predict all the announced and rumoured acts for all of the major festivals coming up in the summer of 2019! From Glastonbury to Coachella, they cover it all. Listen now!