Bitch Falcon have recently released their new single ‘Test Trip’ taken from their forthcoming debut LP, ‘Staring At Clocks’, to be released 6th November via Small Pond Records (Clt Drp, Wild Cat Strike).BITCH FALCON was formed by frontwoman Lizzie Fitzpatrick in Dublin in 2014, and are mainstays of the festival circuit in both Ireland and abroad (packing out rooms in the US, Canada and Europe). Since these freshman days, the lineup has galvanised around the rhythm section of Barry O’Sullivan on Bass and Nigel Kenny on Drums.The trio has played shows with Girl Band, Fontaines DC, Torche, Black Peaks and Pussy Riot.
Once again Bitch Falcon deliver another slice of grunge perfection with latest release ‘Test Trip’. A relentless bass rumbles through eerie soundscapes for the verses while drums tease and foreshadow the chaos to come. The track oozes spine-tingling instrumentation, tension and dark atmospherics as the trio push and pull the verses into the heavy chorus with majestic and masterful musical flair. The band place droplets of dreamy tones through the track which gives brief moments of release between the striking guitars while the harsh riffs and pummeling drums provide a thunderous backdrop for Lizzie Fitzpatrick’s powerful vocals (which is the all commanding constant within the bands songs.) Her range is bewitching as she controls her icy lulls and mighty wails with dignified dominance while the crazed guitar fuzz, shattering bass and dead summoning drums explode into a frenzy behind her. Her cool, calm approach has a sense of passionate nonchalance which she unleashes without warning, making each track the band release an energetic shock to the system. Bitch Falcon’s sound is absolutely thrilling and first class. These guys are in a league of their own.
About the track frontwoman Lizzie Fitzpatrick said : “I wrote this about running away from home. When I was young I would always pack my bags in a bid to manipulate my mother into forgiving me for something I did (too stubborn to just apologize). I linked this with manipulation in love. When the partner ‘tests’ each other by trying to leave when they just want to be fought for. Really it’s a take on myself, rather than dealing with the situation, just packing your bags and running away (which is not the answer).”
Australian songwriter Angie McMahon has announced ‘Piano Salt’ (Released October 2nd on AWAL), a riveting, stripped-down companion piece to last year’s debut album ‘Salt’. After a truly breakout 2019 which saw her win the Grulke Prize at SXSW for Best Developing International Act (previously won by Courtney Barnett, CHVRCHES and Jade Bird), release her debut album ‘Salt’ and open Hozier’s massive US tour; 2020 has of course had some different plans. The Melbourne, Australia-based artist adapted with a return to the instrument that helped her fall in love with music in the first place – the piano. The new collection finds her reimagining five fan favorites from her debut album ‘Salt’, as well as stunning piano covers of Bruce Springsteen’s “The River” and Lana Del Rey’s “Born To Die.”.
Angie has also shared a live piano version of her hit ‘Slow Mover’, which has amassed over 16 million Spotify plays and was certified Gold on the Australian charts. This new version of ‘Slow Mover’ comes in conjunction with the news that Angie has received a Levi’s Music Prize, aimed to help promising artists stay afloat through the pandemic. The moving and beautifully presented rendition takes this jaunty track to a whole new level. Soothing and sombre the track takes an almost lullaby tone with McMahon’s warm vocals caressing the melody with a sweet tenderness. The graceful piano surrounds the song in an immaculate soothing soundscape as McMahon’s emotive vocals highlight her mesmerising songwriting. The piano version is a cooler and elegant rendition of the track and showcases just how versatile McMahon is as an artist.
About the ‘Piano Salt’ collection McMahon said : “ Piano is the first instrument I learnt and the one that made me first love singing,My favourite piano song when I was young was k.d lang’s cover of ‘Hallelujah.’ So this EP feels like a return to my piano-cover-loving inner kid. It’s been a really nice creative opportunity to recreate the feeling of some bigger songs off my first record, give them a new life, and cover some of my favourite songs too. It gave me something to do when we went into quarantine. The creative process also helped me shed some fear around sounding too cheesy on the piano, or too sad – I realised that doesn’t matter so much because I just love to play and sing.”
Just A Jester has released his new single ‘Painted Lady’. Just A Jester is the solo project of Tim Whitaker. A musician of many talents and with an impressive music background, he plays/ records all of the instrumentals and takes responsibility for all engineering/production. After releasing the “Clear Blue” E.P. in Oct 2018, he secured global radio play and has since added 8 other singles to the Just A Jester project, 6 of which have reached the top 10 in various independent chart shows. Tim has recorded at Peter Gabriel’s studio “Real World”, where some of Peter’s band assisted with bass, sax and drums. Also Tim has had over 10 years of success with ‘The Whitaker Brothers’, a music project with his brother Simon. Their song ‘Good Love’ is still played on Planet Rock to this day and they previously supported Van Morrison at the Ivor Novello Song Awards, not to mention having played Glastonbury Acoustic several times.
‘Painted Lady’ is a sweet sun kissed tune set to a laid back groove, lush instrumentation and delicate musicianship. The smooth reverb vocals caress the dreamy melody while the buoyant rhythm and chiming guitars create little bursts of scintillation through the ethereal soundscape. There are psychedelic elements blended between the tender pop melodies to create quite the vibrant infectious track. ‘Painted Lady’ is another enjoyable release from the impressively talented Tim Whitaker.
The Rupees have released their new single ‘Mother Said’.The Rupees and their music has been showcased on BBC Radio 1 (Huw Stephens), BBC Radio 6 (Steve Lamacq), and Sky Sports (Soccer AM). The band have played Reading Festival, Glastonbury and Bristol Harbourfest, supporting bands such as Blossoms and The Growlers and selling out numerous headline shows,
‘Mother Said’ is a powerful indie ballad as The Rupees saturate their emotive songwriting in raw biting indie rock. With sharp guitar cutting into the dramatic soundscape the track has an anthemic rock ballad atmosphere. The song builds becoming more epic as the drums kick in while a bass rumbles throughout. Displaying strong growth the band pack a punch with this melancholic tune as they forge another whopping single for us to indulge.
Otherkin band member and producer David Anthony Curley has opened a new premium recording studio in Dublin called ‘The Clinic’. Situated only 5 mins from Dublin City Centre, the studio specialises in recording, mixing, production and songwriting services with a focus on analogue electronics.
I caught up with David to talk about his new venture, why the studio has already attracted the likes of James Vincent McMorrow, Sorcha Richardson, Royal Yellow, Denise Chaila and Blood Donor and how he decided on the name ‘The Clinic’.
“I’m good, tired, it’s my first day off in eight days so just relaxing. It’s been super busy. August was fully booked and this month is pretty much fully booked now. So, yeah. It’s going great. I mean I had Alex Gough in the last four days and before that I had Mark O’Brien, Royal Yellow in for a day and then James Vincent McMorrow, Sorcha Richardson and a few other people were in. It’s been crazy.”
“I studied in Royal College of Surgeons, my degree is in medicine and I was going to go back to that and I was like, I’m sure my folks would be happy if I worked at a clinic or had my own clinic and one day I just thought, The Clinic.“
One of the most exciting live bands in the country, OTHERKIN’s debut album ‘OK’ was one of the most hotly anticipated Irish rock albums of the year and hit Number 2 in the Official Irish Charts in 2017 – alongside being nominated for Choice Prize Album of the Year. Channelling the ferocity of their music into their shows, the band performed at some of the biggest festivals across Europe including Download, Reading/Leeds Festival, Electric Picnic as well as supporting Guns N’ Roses at Slane Castle. Their six-track mini-album called ‘Electric Dream’ would be their parting release for fans in 2019. I found out it is the experience David had recording the bands tracks which sparked his decision to start up his own studio
“When we were in Otherkin, we were recording the last songs that would become ‘Electric Dream’. We were in this place called The Toy Rooms in Brighton with a producer called Steve Dub. Steve Dub was the mixer for The Chemical Brothers so he produced our first couple of albums. We were in this studio called The Toy Rooms with the guy who owned it. It’s this guy Pablo, he is in a UK dance act called, Uncle and they call the studio “shabby road” because it’s like in bits, but it’s got loads of vintage and bespoke synths and drum machines and some crazy stuff, so the whole time we were there it just set off this thing in me. I just found what it was that I’ve always been looking for in terms of sound and making music and was reflective in the more electronic stuff that ended up on our last few songs.”
“I fell down a rabbit hole then and I thought ‘God I’d love to have access to these kind of synths and drum machines’ and wouldn’t it be amazing if there was a space in Dublin, that just had these sort of things that are prohibitively expensive for anyone to ever personally own but if a business owed them, and then they were run like a studio then, anyone can have access to this sound. Basically that’s what got me into it. That’s how it all began. Just the idea of making a space that’s friendly for any sort of home producer or band to come in and it doesn’t look too alien to them… you want to be able to go into a place and use the gear they have be it like outboard, enhancers and different things like compressors and hardware, the hardware versions of the software they’re using anyway, and then synths and drum machines.”
“It just went from there. It’s aimed at the producer, but I’ve recorded a lot of bands in here and you can just come in and beef up your sounds and just take it to the next level. So many people self-record and self-release and it’s great that people are able to do that but a lot of the time it means that the quality of what they’re doing is just less, it’s not competing with stuff on Radio One but let’s say, Royal Yellow – Mark O’Brien. One of the first big things I did in studio. It was myself and a guy called James Eager we produced Mark O’Brien’s last single which is called ‘May the First’ and we got that premiered on Annie Mac on Radio One on the BBC in the UK and that was for the premiere of the track!, which is you know, that’s as big a premiere as you can get in Ireland or the UK. That was a great first thing to get but we’ve got a lot of stuff with Mark coming out. The COVID thing has pushed back a lot. People are rethinking when they’re gonna release stuff. So there’s big releases like that, coming up, that would have been done in the studio. We did a lot of stuff with Luke from Blood Donor and we’re doing more of that later in the year.”
“James Vincent McMorrow has been in loads. He’s a big supporter of the studio, he gave me a big shout out on Instagram even just saying it’s the only place he uses in the city now. Sorcha Richardson has been in, Denise Chaila, Connor (Adams) from All Tvvins, some of the guys from Kodaline. So, it has just been great to get really good early support from people who spent time in massive studios. James Vincent McMorrow would spend his time in studios in LA, and there’s certain bits of equipment that I would have that they don’t. Recording is now all about chains. So if you want to record vocals you need a certain mic, a certain compressor and that’d be the chain like a vocal chain and let’s say the CL1 B, tube tech compressor, but I just did my research on it to get that. The LA vocal chain is a certain mic on that, but I think I’m the only studio in the country that has it.”
“When you are running a business that’s got high setup costs you don’t want to be replacing your gear all the time. So a lot of other studios, what they have is just what they’ve had for the last 15/20 years. I think I’m just coming at it with a different approach and I’m lucky enough that I’ve been in Otherkin, working in various studios throughout Ireland and the UK and some in Germany and I just have a network of people and friends now, who I’ve been able to call on for advice and setting this whole thing up which just led me to do it at the highest possible level. So rather than spending like 200 grand on a desk, a mixing desk. I’ve spent the money on everything else that you need, so you don’t need the desk anymore, in my mind. It would be amazing if I had a world class studio but obviously, you’d love to have that but you don’t need it to produce and bring things to the highest quality anymore, especially the way people make music nowadays so it’s just the new approach.I don’t think it’s that revolutionary. I think it’s just a new, more focused approach to help people make music.”
David has essentially set up a business due to following his passion for production and creating music. I wondered was it daunting taking on the business aspects or did he always have a business head.
“Yeah, I’d say I definitely have, Connor from Otherkin always said I should definitely just get into business if we packed it in. But it’s one of those things where I didn’t realize until I was in way too deep. You know, it only seemed to be daunting when it was too late. So at that point, it’s just like, ‘Well, I better just get on with it’. I definitely have days where I’m just looking at the calendar or I’ve had times when it was getting put together and I was like ‘oh shit! I hope this all works out’ but it’s been amazing to do it and it’s definitely been daunting, it’s been really challenging but it hasn’t really felt like work, you know. Today’s my first day off in eight days. I woke up and I went straight back to sleep, I passed out because I’m just exhausted but it’s been amazing to be able to do what I want to do.”
“There was a point last year where the section of the roof opened up and I had to replace the roof. So, that was pretty terrifying but otherwise, the structure is sound as can be now everything’s built to the highest standards of soundproofing so I don’t think any sort of, well unless there’s some crazy act of God, I don’t think that’s going to happen again. It’s hard enough to make a living in the music industry but it’s been amazing to try and give it a go and like I said hasn’t felt like work. Although there has been times where it’s felt really full on I just remind myself that I’m lucky enough to have a job even at the moment, considering the economy. But yeah, I just got on with it. “
When David planned to open The Clinic the country went into lockdown and the whole world did also. I thought the COVID ordeal would have halted the launch. However David saw this as a brilliant opportunity.
“Yeah, well I actually had everything ready to go, originally for a release or for a launch in March and then Covid was a blessing in disguise because I ended up changing a lot of things in the studio and if I hadn’t made those changes I don’t think I would have had early supporters like James (Vincent McMorrow). I don’t think the studio would have had the same impact on these people, as it ended up having.”
“But yeah it’s been good that it just let me have better control on the comings and goings of it because it is a small business and it’s still, teething, trying to figure out how its all going to run. So the fact that I have to take time between the sessions to to clean it and I’ve had to invest into different cleaning technologies and UVC light, there are these little machines we used to clean the microphones and it’s just allowed, maybe more focused care on it, or reinforced the fact that you have to be more focused in your care between these things.”
“Like any other business that’s still able to operate it’s just following to the letter of the law, and reminding people when they come in. I have some sort of hospitality document, and it’s just ensuring that everyone reads it, and is comfortable with our practices. My main thing is just to make sure that everyone coming in is comfortable with our practices you know, that they’re aware of what I need them to do and what they have to do themselves.”
“Because my background is in medicine I definitely have a better understanding of the risks than the average person although at this stage in the world we are all pretty aware of viral transmission and cleaning and this kind of carry on. So, yeah, its definitely a scary time to be opening a business…so, all we can do is follow things to the letter of the law and exercise as much caution as we can until, hopefully next year, things are a bit more normal and we can have some big celebration in the studio or something.”
“I’ve had a lot of support from other independent businesses like The Porterhouse brewery. So we’re hoping to link up and do something next year but at the moment we’re running like a charity initiative together. So they’ve given stock and a fridge that they’ve set up in the studio, and then the bands that come in can just have a beer and then make a donation and every time we raise like 500 Euro or 1000 Euro we’re going to give it to a charity of the band’s choosing. We will just get recommendations from everyone, and then say okay like this is MASI or some sort of Dublin homeless charity, because we are like a Northside Dublin business and the homelessness crisis in the cities is pretty outrageous so we’re just trying to work with bands and other people to raise awareness for these things and as two independent businesses, myself and Porterhouse brewing. So, yeah, it’s just trying to get on with it as well until things can, you know, turn to normal.”
Starting up a business in these times can be very challenging and David has no team with him. When you book with The Clinic, or look for songwriting sessions or production it is all David at the helm
“It’s just myself. I’ve had a lot of support, my brother is an architect, he helped me with all the design and that kind of thing. Rob from Otherkin did the logo and the website and then another pal of mine is another designer, Aaron McGrath is his name he used to be in a band called Wounds years ago, they’re like a hardcore punk band. He’s helped out with the design as well so had a lot of support in that sense but no it’s just one of those things where, even as I was crunching the numbers like myself and Luke ( Reilly) talked about doing a little bit of work and it was still just coming together, before it was a business and before I had invested too much in it and it was just not going to be viable and make a viable income for a team. I’m at a disadvantage there in that the buck stops with me. There’s positives and negatives to that, if I’m like, ‘oh who messed this up’, well, the answer is ‘me’. But it also means I can do things my way… but I’ve had amazing help from friends and family to get it this far.”
Sometimes when an artist approaches a studio or producer they can be afraid that they take over and not listen to the artists need. David described how The Clinic works and what he does according to the artists needs
“Yeah, so there is a couple of things that are going on with the studio, my main angle is to be producing with artists like in the case of Royal Yellow. Someone who’s coming in like that, I think the goal of the producer is to, create that person’s vision and to pull their best version of their vision out of their head.”
“The whole goal has to be, like you said, if someone shows me a song like ‘oh well what do you think of this’ and try and bounce back ideas and pull out what they want from it and then help them to get that, you know, to reach that goal. But if along that way, I make a suggestion that doesn’t fly, that’s of no loss to me whatsoever. I just want to get anyone coming in.. to the place that’s in their head. Reach their goal. So, yeah….you just have to leave your ego at the door, you know. We’re all here to help make this project, the best thing it can be and whoever comes in, whether that’s an electronic act or it’s a band or a pop singer, I think just parking your ego at the door is the most important thing in any creative process like that.“
“I’m sure there’ll be times where it’s gonna be difficult to know ‘oh shit hang on am I overstepping the line here’ but..if I’m showing a band something, or we’re working on something, I’m gonna, obviously have techniques and pieces of equipment I use because it’s the whole model of studio, it’s analog equipment. So I’m going to be way more up to speed with how that stuff works and then, because a lot of the pieces will have very distinct like harmonically rich character from it being analog, being full of valve tubes and specific transistors and stuff so I think eventually you know, even if I’m not trying to imprint a sound, the sound of the studio is going to hopefully become evident on tracks that come out from Irish artists who go through, but even if it’s not me, producing the track there’s certain sounds that are just gonna be like ‘oh there’s a depth to these releases that came from The Clinic’.”
So what would an artist have to do, or what do they need if they want to record in The Clinic?
“Just songs, That’s it, that’s the main thing. If you’re going to go into the studio, it’s just about making sure that you’re happy with the songs and they’re good and not rushing it. Because it is still expensive to go into studio I’m trying to make it not prohibitively expensive but studio time is still precious at the end of the day. If I’m working with an artist, we’re going to do pre-production we’ll do an evening, or a day of just going through the song and be like okay, ‘what’s this maybe can we chop this’. They just need to make sure that they’re coming at it with an open mind because if you’re presenting something to me, or presenting to a producer, the odds are they haven’t heard this art before even if you’ve spent three or four months working on this thing. It’s their first time hearing it.”
“So, yeah, if you come in to work at The Clinic or you’re presenting something to me specifically because obviously the facilities are available for hire to other acts and producers, I’m the only person running the facility so my aim is to be working with bands and acts in production all the time but a lot of the businesses also facilitate in assisting on other projects. So, if a band is coming to me personally I would say just park your ego at the door and come out with an open mind.”
“Because you can get attached to a song and demo – we definitely had that in Otherkin where you’d spent so long on it and as you go into work on it you’re like, oh, it doesn’t sound as good as the demo, but the demo doesn’t sound good you know, you just liked the demo.Your demo is super low fi and they’re not gonna play that on Radio One.”
“It’s meant to be an open creative space. That’s the whole idea behind it that it’s a positive open creative space where we can hopefully push the boundaries of good Irish music, because there’s a lot of really, really good acts in the country. I want to facilitate the creation and hopefully be a part of the creation of the next wave of really sick tunes.”
David has a few artists he’s looking forward to working with and some exciting things happening with The Clinic in the coming months. I wondered who he is most looking forward to working with.
“Happyalone are coming in, they’re great.They’re crazy I met them. They used to be in this band years ago called Blaming Hannah…they’re coming down later in the month, Sorcha Richardson and James Vincent McMorrow are coming back in. I like to work with Denise Chaila. I had Denise in for this songwriting camp with Faction Records and James Vincent McMorrow and we are working on some tunes. She’s just amazing. She’s gonna be an absolute star, so I’d love to work with Denise again.I like to work with up and coming artists to create something new and make something truly great between the relationship of me and the artist. So, yeah that’s it, just looking forward to discovering new music and hopefully just pushing it out there into the world and breathe new life into it”
The Clinic is looking like quite the exciting new addition to our Dublin studios and David’s ambition and goal to create and deliver a high quality service is admirable and already gaining attention from some amazing artists here in Ireland. I’m looking forward to hearing more of his work as the artists he works with releases their music. If you want to contact David, you can though his contact page on his website here https://www.theclinicrecordingstudios.com/
Bio :California-based indie electro-pop act Margot Polo is the solo project of David Provenzano, singer/guitarist of Fialta and Sherwood.
Track: This Old Thing
Why We Like It: It’s a sweet emotive number which drifts upon supple instrumentation and tender moments. Soft lush vocals are spread over a nostalgic melody while twinkling guitar and elegant piano grace the backdrop in bittersweet ethereal soundscapes. This melancholic moving track takes Margot Polo’s sound into more ballad-esque territory while enhancing his passionate and immersing musicianship.
Bio : Garsa is an Indie pop / indie folktronica solo artist from the outskirts of Manchester. Ghosts is Garsa’s third release following on from his successful debut “Jimmy Sour Highs” and follow up “The Devil’s Own”.
Track: Ghosts
Why We Like It: It’s an atmospheric upbeat track intricately layered with airy synths and smooth melodies which glide over the bubbling beat and warm guitar refrains. The velvety vocals and lush harmonies drive home the pensive and politically sombre lyric while the tracks intricate composition creates an airy relaxed atmosphere.
Bio : Lyghthouse are an independent Irish rock band originally from Ennis and now based in Dublin. The band comprises Niall (lead vocals, rhythm guitars, bass) and Senan (lead guitars, backing vocals). Rob Kennedy played the drums for this track.
Track: Gold
Why We Like It: It’s a blistering indie rock track which boasts the energetic musicianship of Lyghthouse. With scorching guitars slicing into a mighty backdrop of pounding drums and rumbling bass lines the track packs a hefty punch. The band have created a body pounding track brimming with kinetic energy as the song builds to a powerful crescendo with a shredding solo and sing along vocal line. ‘Gold’ is a catchy adrenaline-inducing piece of anthemic rock from Lyghthouse.
Bio : Tyson Kelly has released his new single ‘Am I Ever Gonna See You Again’.As the son of renowned songwriter Tom Kelly, known for penning numerous number one hits such as Madonna’s ‘”Like A Virgin”, Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colors”, Whitney Houston’s “So Emotional” and The Pretenders’ “I’ll Stand By You”, Kelly is no stranger to the world of hit making. In addition to his solo project, Kelly has spent the past ten years touring the world and making a living as a highly sought after John Lennon impersonator, performing in such shows as Broadway’s “Let It Be” and currently the UK’s biggest touring Beatles group, The Bootleg Beatles.
Track: Am I Ever Gonna See You Again
Why We Like It: It’s an 80’s hued, feel good-gem. With catchy chorus, lush swaggering vocals and feet shuffling rhythm the track struts in ready to lure you to the dancefloor. It’s upbeat with chiming guitars and danceable synths adding a dramatic rush of adrenaline through the nostalgic longing melody. This free flowing delight is quite the sparkling pop earworm.
Irish rapper RUNOFFBROKE has released his new punk-trap tune, ‘ATILLA THA HUN.’ 21-year-old RUNOFFBROKE (Jordan Wilson) started writing music at 11, and by 13 was playing gigs and signed to underground label Mic-A-Blaze Records. He worked with multiple Irish groups before making his way to Germany to work with Citizen Soldier Entertainment. He has toured in the US and Germany, supporting artists like Infidelix alongside Papke. After two years in Berlin, Jordan returned to Ireland in 2019 and has since been working on new music, gigging, and building his team. Known for his dark humour and haunting music videos, he has released an EP and several singles.
‘ATILLA THA HUN’ is a frenzied beat heavy track as RUNOFFBROKE spits clever rhythms over an aggressive dark soundscape to create quite an energetic listening experience. The track starts with a skit news vocal sample before RUNOFFBROKE’s aggressive raps burst in. It’s breathtakingly intense as the intoxicating beats pound with a fuzzed force designed to penetrate to your very core. Twinkling synths weave between the tension breathing lighter moments into the track while RUNOFFBROKE injects fury and shock through his frenetic vocals and quick lyrics.The song is pierced by a series of vocal wails and eerie key moments that are only briefly able to halt the beat’s heaving wall of sound. ‘ATILLA THA HUN’ is a saw-toothed punk- trap track saturated in intense vibes and rebellious attitude .
About the track RUNOFFBROKE says, “Me and NINETY7HERTZ were discussing a festival we went to in Berlin where they played artists like XXXTentacion and Ski Mask the Slump God. As much as we loved the music, what we really loved was the reaction of the crowd. They responded to the music with this insane energy and forty-foot-wide mosh pits. It was cool to see that kind of crowd at a hip-hop gig. We wanted to re-imagine that energy through our music. It’s basically me trying to stay the most stupid and messed up things that I can, in a nonchalant way. Kinda like someone bringing up being involved in a bank robbery in the middle of a normal conversation.I imagine the track as a soundtrack to your local riot. The music gives you that hectic, wild energy and confidence. It makes you feel like you could go straight through a barricade of cops like a bowling ball.”
Joe T. Johnson is back with his second single, ‘Friends’. The Bristol based Indie / Folk singer-songwriter recorded the track in a couple of wildly productive days. The song was produced by Lewis Bradshaw and mastered by Pete Maher (Patti Smith, Jack White, Rolling Stones, The Killers).Joe performed multiple times at Glastonbury Festival 2019, made his first international TV appearance and with his band ‘Hush Mozey’ performed at Bristol 02 Academy plus numerous plays by Steve Lamacq on his BBC 6 Show.
‘Friends’ is a sweet retro-hued ditty which showcases the smooth melancholic musicianship of Joe T. Johnson. With lush backing vocals, dreamy melody and Joe’s velvety warm vocals the track is a delicate rosy glow of indie pop. The song subtly builds as the 60’s toned guitar drifts through a catchy refrain providing a dash of edge to the smooth melody while the supple beat adds a sway like tempo. It’s an organic and delightfully laid back track from Joe T. Johnson. Looking forward to hearing more from this guy.
I caught up with frontman James McGregor from Galway quartet The Clockworks to talk about the band’s new single ‘Can I Speak to A Manager?’, their move to London as well as how they prep for live shows.
Written in 2018 while the band were still living in their hometown of Galway, McGregor found himself taking refuge from the drudgery of his 9-5 in a number of café’s and pubs during his lunch break. Infuriated by the plastic world around him and nauseous with the monotony of a rat-run routine, his paranoid thoughts and pent-up rage spilled into a song that dares to point out the failings of an ailing society. Inspired by the straight-up social commentary of lyrical icons like John Cooper Clarke, Mike Skinner, and Ray Davies of The Kinks, ‘Can I Speak To Manager?’ sees McGregor exercising his songwriting abilities with a similar no-nonsense and observational approach.
“Initially I had the idea of the first verse, so the idea of a really specific story of something just happening like a really mundane story and trying to make it sort of dramatic. That’s why, the first line is like “my god what a palava” because it’s just so mundane and you expect it to do with something crazy and dramatic, but it’s not. And then from there I wanted to see where I could go with that and the feeling of everything is kind of broken was sort of on my mind and came out through that. That’s the inspiration for it anyway, that’s sort of how it started. It was sort of written nearly in order. It was the first verse and a really particular story and then trying to make it, I guess…a more universal idea.”
I wondered when he was writing the track did he think of the vocal melody as well and how he was going to sing it, or was it just mostly words and getting it to flow.
“Oh that’s a good question, I haven’t been asked that before. The very first lines I had, so like that first line “my god what a palava” and the “Wrong model and no charger” and then, “Now at a loss, I’m sitting”, I had that straight away, it was the first thing that came to me and then the rest I guess was more rhythmical and then the melody followed.”
There is a sublime build in this track especially how the band venture from a hypnotic rhythm and then lead into a blasting crescendo.The band definitely enhance the instrumental backdrop to match and highlight the lyrical content to create something quite cinematic
“Yeah, we usually try to make the instrumental music reflect the lyrics in a way that maybe a soundtrack might, and so that song is about something that’s quite ridiculous and maybe light hearted, finding who you are. You could say it’s light hearted or not but something ridiculous that becomes crazy and the whole thing is, like, “when I become a cynical”, it’s one of the lines and it’s all about the descent into cynicism, that you might get from something as simple as your laptop breaking might just be the straw that breaks the camel’s back and send you into that frenzy toward the end where you think that everyone is all out to get you. Obviously I don’t want to dictate how anyone would listen to that song but for me, that was kind of the impetus. It was that something simple happens that isn’t really a big deal. You know, you’re not going to remember it five minutes later maybe or five days later, for sure, but at the time it just sends you off.”
Not only does the band provide powerful punk rock and an abrasive wall of sound they pack in some serious themes and lyrical depth. Themes of isolation, paranoia, and helplessness all glimmer through their songs and hit hard through their lyrical content.This is something McGregor strives to achieve when crafting the tracks, that all important connection with the listeners.
“For us personally it’s important. I’m not gonna speak for how I think every musician should be. Because I think everyone plays music for different reasons or writes songs for different reasons. But for us, it’s expressing a feeling, or an emotion and hoping that the message,I guess is that, this is something we feel, you know, this is something that we maybe think about, do you? I’ve always been fascinated with the fact that maybe if you’re feeling nostalgic you might listen to one song. You might listen to, I don’t know, Frank Sinatra, you might listen to maybe the early indie music or The Beatles or something if you’re feeling like getting back to the music you listened to when you were a child or something. Then if you’re feeling heartbroken you might listen to Damien Rice and these people speak to you in ways that they wouldn’t normally. I remember one of the lads, saying to me before that they’d never got Sam Smith, until they were heartbroken and then suddenly Sam Smith makes sense. I think it’s like, these people are putting an emotion out there, or, an observation or something that you could relate to, and it takes maybe a certain situation or turn of events to relate to that. That really fascinates me. It’s not something that I would think about all the time but it’s definitely something that we try to do across the songs. I would try to have different songs for different times, different songs for different rooms in your mind, that you might need to go to.”
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The Clockworks relocated to London last year and the quartet signed to Alan McGee’s new record label ‘Creation23’ almost overnight. We discussed the advantages of moving to London for artists
“I think there are definitely more opportunities here than in Galway, I can only speak for living in Galway. I don’t think that’s any fault of Galway, as a place. I think firstly, there’s a slightly different cultural relationship to music or maybe our type of music, or rock music or contemporary music…and I feel people generally feel like it’s more of a young person’s thing to maybe go to gigs loads and stuff. I think secondly, obviously, it’s just the music industry itself, it’s all here. If we play, you know, here somewhere, we’ve had plenty of gigs where people who didn’t know us have turned up and they’ve been this person or that person in the music industry, you know,”
Like other bands of his generation The Clockworks have the power and influence of streaming platforms which gives artists huge exposure however it doesn’t make them money. They have the opportunity to reach more people but don’t reap the benefits as much as an artist would with album sales and touring. However McGregor doesn’t think it has bothered the band that much
“ I think we’re lucky enough as it’s all we know. So I think maybe if you’ve come from, the age where buying albums and making money from people buying your albums was the norm it would be a lot more shocking and maybe more overwhelming. For us we don’t expect people to have paid to listen to our music. So I guess it doesn’t affect us as much. I definitely do understand what you mean about like, you can see, Spotify plays, you can see Facebook likes, Instagram followers. All these numbers and then you see like, zero pounds or euros. Or you might have this many followers, and play a gig in Whelan’s to nobody. You know, in the past, especially when we sort of didn’t know how things worked as well, we would support a band, and be like ‘oh this band has this many followers. This is gonna be a packed gig. This is gonna be huge’ and then we’d be playing to nobody and they may be playing to a handful of people, and it never made sense to us. But because of the fact that we were post that change we have always played in the Spotify age, I guess, we are lucky because we don’t know any better. Sort of blissfully ignorant.”
The music scene in the UK and Ireland is very vibrant lately – there are so many amazing acts gigging and producing great music.I wondered is there competition between the bands and does McGregor feel pressure to fit into the scene.
“I think its cool. I think it’s good. Galway again, because its not Dublin it’s so far removed from 90% of music in Ireland, but it was great for us because we were just, the opposite to the thing you’re talking about, there was a handful of bands, a lot of singer songwriters or, you know, singers or instrumental musicians or whatever, who sort of all supported each other and there was no clique per se, so that was great. We were able to just do our own thing and we came over to London and I think we’ve carried that with us so we’re not too worried about trying to jostle through other bands in the same venue to be, like the cool band in this group of bands. We’ve never done that and I think, historically it always works out better if you just support other bands and make friends where you can and apart from that keep your head down and just get on with it. Again, I think we’re also lucky because we moved to Northwest London, which is the equivalent of Galway, London-wise. There’s no bands that we know of around us. Most of the bands are in South London, that we know. The bands that we know would be in South London, East London or West London or different parts of North London but Northwest London we’re kind of removed, so again there’s no scene here, there’s no scene where we are. It’s nice because we can sort of not worry about fitting into it.”
I saw The Clockworks perform a few years ago in The Workmans Club supporting BLESS. and SISTERAY. The intense energy they had and expression through their music was impressive. It’s no surprise they have had slots at festivals including Eurosonic and Electric Picnic. The band have also performed to a huge crowd at Sefton Park in Liverpool in support of Kings of Leon. Preparation is the key to a good live show but the band don’t overthink it.
“oh yeah and I burst in ( on Indie Buddie’s interview with SISTERAY at the time).We go in and play but we do give ourselves a little pep talk before we go on. We’ve always done that just, sort of like, jump up and down and say, you know, ‘this is it’ kind of thing.I think it’s especially important when there’s three people in the room and back in the day you know when you play maybe, Róisín Dubh for the 40th time. Some days would be busy sometimes it wouldn’t and we were lucky to be able to play there so much and really practice. Obviously you have to apply yourself in a certain way, when you’re playing to three people, you know, because you’re not playing to sold out crowd singing back your words at you and we’ve always thought that those three people are worth as much, every person is worth as much as every other person in the room, regardless of how many there are, of course. Just because there’s more people in the room you shouldn’t give them more of yourself. You should try and give everything to any gig because, what are you on the stage for if you’re not gonna do your best. So I guess we go in with the mindset of just giving everything we can. Every time and just before we go on, I guess we say that, but we’re not actors and it’s not like ‘alright, let’s go into costume and change character now’ it’s not like that, which is fine if you are like, David Bowie, he literally got into costume and changed his name.But that’s just not what we do. “
With live shows cancelled it’s easy to see how bands and artists can become overwhelmed with the pressure of making the most of their spare time and McGregor did fall pray to this at first.
“ I think I put pressure on it. Because, obviously, everyone was immediately super productive, you were just seeing people everywhere immediately like fit and healthy and taken up four new languages and cleaned their house and had done everything they have ever wanted to do. That isn’t what happened but that’s how you felt. Everyone was being super productive and for the first few weeks.”
“What I usually do is write lyrics in pubs, or cafes. I don’t know why, but I like to be that little bit removed from home.I haven’t quite worked out exactly why but maybe I don’t want to ask myself too much because I don’t want to ruin it if I find out the answer. But obviously without being able to do that sort of thing at home I found it a bit stifling for lack of a better word.”
“Once I got used to that it was alright. It was good. We got some good writing done. We got a few new songs on the go and because obviously it was so extended, initially we thought it could be a couple of weeks and for the first few weeks it was like, ‘Yeah, I can wait to go back to the pub or whatever to get some writing done again’. Then once you were like ‘no we’re in this for the long haul’ I sort of, had to surrender to it, and go right, ‘well if you don’t write them, what are you gonna do’…just because you technically have more time because you’re not, you know, going into work every day. It was, it was a stressful time. I think everyone, regardless of what, personally happened to you or your family, with this I think it was stressful for everyone at least a little bit and still is for a lot of people.”
The Clockworks have been touring and releasing music for a few years. From McGregor’s experience of the Irish and UK music scene and life as a band in general I wondered what advice he would give to someone who wants to start a band. His answer imparted words of wisdom which any budding artist should take onboard.
“Industry-wise I think everyone says it but then it is so true. I would say just write, write as much as you can and read as well. Or, take in stuff as well, listen to music, read books, watch films, whatever it is that you do to build your imagination and write as much as you can, because it’s like turning on an old tap that hasn’t been used. It’s like you have to run the water until it stops being brown. I think it’s easy to turn the tap off again. If you don’t write for a while. Personally I find if I don’t write for a while it takes me a while to get back into it, like I just said over the summer, so I stopped for a couple of weeks and then suddenly you know you get back into it again. Write as much as you can. You can have the worst gig ever, you can have terrible reviews, you can have every label, manager, agent in the world, turn you down. But as long as you’re still writing music, if you can still write music and enjoy doing that. Then, you know, all is not lost. You’re still doing the thing that’s the most fundamental thing and I think it’s very easy to get caught up in the peripheral things like reviews or bad reviews or bad comments from someone or someone turning you down or a gig that you don’t get or whatever it is. So I guess maybe for both industry and creatively, I think, to focus on the fact that writing is THE THING , and everything else is peripheral.”
“I can’t remember who said this, I read it the other day and I can’t remember – this could be anyone from like Oscar Wilde to like a gossip magazine. Someone said ‘Don’t take on criticism from someone you wouldn’t be prepared to take advice from’ which I thought was a great quote. It’s really difficult and a lot of people get very anxious about it. I think that’s what I was getting at with being in Galway and being now in North London is that we’ve tried to make sure that we don’t feel like we have to conform to a sound that’s been dictated to us by someone else musically, you know, or dress a certain way or whatever, You can’t be restricted by it because you end up running around chasing other people’s expectations and that can be very dangerous. To chase other peoples expectations of you, is probably impossible.”
The bands previous single ‘The Future Is Not What It Was’ was praised at radio by BBC Radio 1’s Annie Mac on her “New Names” showcase, BBC 6 Music’s Steve Lamacq on his ‘Recommends’ show. The track received day-time radio play on RTÉ 2FM, and even impressed the legendary Rodney Bingenheimer show in the States on Sirius XM. The band are keeping the momentum going with their new single ‘Can I Speak to A Manager?’ as well as writing and building for when live shows finally do return.
“Definitely writing, we’re writing a lot at the moment and recording as well at the moment. We’re trying to next year, consolidate the gigs that we weren’t doing this year and see what we can do.Hopefully, everything is good to go by then. It’s quite a weird thing to be booking gigs, that you’ve already cancelled that you may have to cancel again.It’s strange, but that’s what we’re trying to do and it’s good to try. So, that’s it, just writing loads because that’s the fundamental, that’s the important thing. We’re doing everything else we can too. We have loads of time, we’re not playing gigs. The first thing we have to do is write and record music and then after that it’s everything we can try and get gigs, do interviews like this, meet people as we can, you know zoom meetings and all that.”
The Clockworks have created a unique and intense sound all their own. Their ability to craft songs which blend moody punk with frantic rock outbursts is impressive and the lyrical content carries depth and masterful poetic insight. I can not wait to hear more from them. THE CLOCKWORKS are definitely a band to keep an eye on.
Strangers With Guns have released their new EP ’Disenfranchised Fetus’. Strangers With Guns are a three piece metal band based in Dublin. Although they formed in January 2019, they already have toured all over Ireland and have supported acts as diverse as “Cherym” and “The Soap Girls” to playing on punk bills up North and even playing with stoner and doom metal bands in Limerick and Cork.
’Disenfranchised Fetus’ is a potent dose of the unadulterated metal-infused rock Strangers With Guns do so well. This EP is heavier than their debut album ‘Degenerate Art’ and the most sharp and fierce we have seen them yet.
Entering on a rooted bass rumble, intense guitars and pulverising drums the band kick start the EP with ‘Cants’. Acute guitars stain a gritty wall of sound with brain smashing riffage while pummelling drums batter the foundation with blood thirsty stamina. ‘Cants’ is a tasty appetizer of the manic onslaught Strangers With Guns have in store for the listener. The instrumental tension, sinister builds and aggression contrasted with cooler moments on vocals is a tantalizing joy to the senses.
‘Cool, Calm, Collect’ and ‘Last Tango In Paris’ follow with a punk-inflicted heavy metal style which holds moments of laid back composure yet is still forceful and in your face.The vocals venture from nonchalant verses to growls and dynamic exclaims, building on the band’s ability to mangle softer elements within their raucous wall of sound. Grooves on bass ooze harsh tones while deft guitar riffs build the tracks’ intensity into a blood-drawing, mosh-worthy crescendo. The climatic elements of each track are saturated in dark undertones and ominous thrills that fill your core with perilous adrenaline – a truly magnificent display of musicianship.
The band bring the EP to an end with the slick and witty ‘Somebody Needs A Hug’. A lighter track and perhaps the most radio friendly it travels on a meaty guitar and drum stomping foundation while exuding swagger-filled grooves and rock infused elements. However the band splurge slick guitar moments over the tracks rhythms and steamier tones to create a fun and danceable end to such a fiery EP.
’Disenfranchised Fetus’ shows Strangers With Guns are a force to be reckoned with. The machine gun whack on bass, coarse yet nimble guitar work and pummeling drums all build a tight and relentless wall of sound as this trio experiment and venture through catchy and crazed melodies to create a mind frazzling rough and ready EP. ’Disenfranchised Fetus’ is a metal and rock blended spectacle, absurd at times yet undeniably awesome.
Stream ’Disenfranchised Fetus’ below
Author : Danu
Indie: (n) an obscure form of rock which you only learn about from someone slightly more hip than yourself.
