5 Dollar Shakes are an alternative rock band from Gorey, Co. Wexford. The band consists of Jack McEvoy (Vocals), Colin Doran (Lead guitar), Caleb Dowdall (Rhythm guitar), Richard Deering (Bass guitar) and Ciaran O’Doherty (Drums). They have released their new single ‘Auxiliary Love’ ‘from their recently released second EP ‘Come and See Enough To Stay’ . We did a feature on ‘Auxillary love’ earlier this month and caught up with the band to get to know them a little better.
When did you form your band?
We formed the band in 2012, after auditioning for a school talent show. A few members came and left during that first year but by 2013 we had the line up that we were happy with! We’ve remained the same since!
How did you decide what Style/ Genre of music you wanted to do?
We have a quite a diverse approach to our music. We all have different musical interests and try to incorporate as many different influences into our songs as possible. As such, we’re a bit of a Jack of all trades type of band! If you had to label us under a genre though, it would probably be indie rock.
What inspired you to make music?
We’re inspired to make our music as it is a unique outlet for expressing ourselves. We’re musicians and we love what we do, and playing in a group as opposed to on your own is an incredible way to tell our stories.
What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs?
We’re all still very young, so our songs tend to convey a coming of age of sorts. We make mistakes, and have regrets, and these usually translate into great themes for our songs.
Could you briefly describe your music-making process?
It’s loose. Our creative process is a bit of a chaotic mish mash. We like to just get together and start jamming until the bones of a song starts to develop. Then Jack will take the music and throw a draft of lyrics on top. We spend a while refining the song after that until it becomes something we’re happy with. We never try force it though, if a song isn’t working we scrap it.
What has been your biggest challenge as a band? Have you been able to overcome that challenge? If so, how?
Financial issues have been our biggest challenge. Unfortunately there’s not a lot of money in the industry for young, independent bands. As a result, there have been gigs that we’d love to do that we simply couldn’t, due to not being able to take time of work and such. A lot of money also goes into making a record, between paying for the studio time, artwork ect. It can be tough but we’re getting to a stage now where we’re starting to see a return on our investment. The goal is to make a full time living from doing what we love, so fingers crossed we’ll make it there.
What is your Favourite song to perform live and why?
Our favourite song to preform live is definitely ‘Arthouse’. It’s a bit of a crowd favourite, and there’s no better feeling than seeing a crowd chant back lyrics that you’ve written. It’s very humbling and it justifies all the sacrifices and dedication we’ve put into our music.
So far what are your favourite and least favourite venues that you have played ?
Our favourite venue is the RDS. We played the BT Young Scientist Exhibition there and playing in such a large room to so many people was simply incredible. Our least favourite is a tough one, we enjoy all our gigs! But we did play at the Golden Shears Sheep Shearing competition and got shut down for being too loud! So I suppose that would probably be our least favourite.
What’s the most bizarre thing to happen while you were on stage?
We were playing a festival last year but had to stop after only 5 minutes as a storm started to literally take the stage apart! It was a shame as it was a gig we were really looking forward to, but these things happen!
Who has been your favourite support act so far?
We got the fantastic Sam Ali to support us for our EP launch in the Opium Rooms. He’s been our favourite. He’s incredible and you should definitely check him out.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
Drinking, FIFA, chicken wings.
What advice do you have for people who want to form their own bands?
Our advice would be don’t do it. There’s enough bands out there for us to be competing against…. Only kidding, yeah if you want to start a band make sure it’s with people you really enjoy playing with. If it’s not fun there’s not much point and you’ll more than likely break up very quickly.
Whats Next for 5 Dollar Shakes?
We’d love to start playing outside of Ireland, so we’re hoping to play some gigs in and around Europe during the coming year! Other than that, we’re gonna keep writing and playing, getting our name out there as much as possible!
No doubt 5 Dollar Shakes will be playing festivals and shows all round Europe soon if their EP ‘Come and See Enough to stay’ is anything to go by. If you haven’t heard the EP stream it below, trust me you are going to want to hear it!
