Etaoin has released her new EP ‘Bedroom Walls’. This beautiful and heartfelt collection of tracks surges with earnest songwriting and soft instrumentation. Etaoin is a talented artist and this bittersweet EP is a must listen.
I caught up with Etaoin to have a chat about her new EP ‘Bedroom Walls’. We discuss how she crafted the tracks, finding her voice and expressing herself through her music
“I always get nervous before releasing music because it’s that thing like oh my god I just hope people like it because you really never know. You hope, but, you never know, and it’s all so personal. Everything that I’ve written on the EP is really close to my heart. I’m excited though”
Lyrically the songs on ‘Bedroom Walls’ are extremely honest. I wondered if Etaoin finds it more nerve-racking waiting to hear what friends and family think of her music as they potentially know what she is singing about or is it more daunting hearing what fans and strangers think.
“That’s a good one, because with your friends, they’re gonna bring it up… you could be at the pub and they would be like, What did you mean by this? and you’d be like, oh god! run from the conversation. But strangers too, I guess, in general, it all kind of blends into one when you release a song. I guess both. It would be hard to choose. “
“The song ‘For Her’ is a song about my old self. The idea of waiting for your old self to come back. When you go through a heartbreak. It’s not just, oh, when will I talk to this person again, it’s also like, am I actually going to get my spark back, when am I going to feel better, but I played it before, and people, especially guys would have related the song to their exes, waiting for her to come back. So it’s funny how when you release a song, it suddenly has all these different meanings to different people.”
The EP is composed of four emotionally charged songs filled with soft yet effective instrumentation and generally backed by guitar. This allows the earnest lyrics to take the main focus.
“I hate overproduction [on] songs and I like the idea of a song being able to stand on its own two feet. Sometimes production can be distracting. When I listen to ‘Someone Like You’ by Adele, it’s just her on the piano and I’ve always felt if the song is stripped back, it really allows no distraction, and also I suppose in the way I wrote the songs it was just me with my guitar, and it felt like a pretty natural thing. I didn’t want to overcrowd them, because the songs are focused on just feelings and lyrics.”
“When I think about all the music I love, a lot of it’s really stripped back. I love the idea of just keeping it bare and letting the song speak for itself, rather than relying on a trend or making it sound cool or whatever. I’d rather it just connected with people.”
Etaoin has a wonderful ability to create catchy and uplifting melodies,‘I Dare You’ has that powerful bittersweet melody that is so infectious while ‘For Her’ blends pop melodies with indie and even folk-esque tones. I wondered if these catchy melodies are a moment of inspiration or something she spends time perfecting.
“I’d say, often my best stuff would come pretty quickly. it isn’t like every time you sit down something decent comes. You sit down and you write 10 times in 10 days, you might get rubbish melodies, all those 10 days, and then on the 11th day when you’re like, oh my god this is going nowhere, something would come at an unexpected time, I’ve always been really passionate about melodies, I love hearing a melody and clicking with it. I’m obsessed with melodies, really. So that is the nicest thing in the world for you to say, that you find it catchy. But yeah it’s often quick as in when you actually write it, it’s quick, but the build up to it is like weeks of nothing.“
One striking aspect of Etaoin’s music is the raw honesty within her lyrics especially within ‘Pale Damp Cheeks’.
“Often when I write a song. I don’t even think about it. I just need to get it out. It doesn’t really even cross my mind when I’m writing it, it’s just more of a therapeutic thing rather than, Oh, I want this to be this, because they’re all about people, they’re all about situations, they’re all about things that happened to me and things I’ve experienced in my life, but it is scary because when you’re being that honest and then people ask you about it, and you’re like, Please don’t ask me that question ever, leave me alone.”
“Writing has become a bit of a coping mechanism for me and I think song writing is a journey as well. Sometimes there are going to be topics which are hard to cover and scary to cover, and you think do I want people to ask me about this, do I want this to be out in the wide world or whatever. It’s just something that is so key to writing songs, just speaking about you and what you actually feel, and not just trying to write a good song or write a pop song.”
Since Etaoin’s first release ‘Bedroom Walls’ at the beginning of the year, she has raked in over half a million streams. In the uncertain times we are in with Covid 19, that is an impressive and promising achievement.
“Yeah it’s crazy I’ve been writing songs since I was about 11 or 12 years old and I went and studied science in University. So music for me was always that thing. It was a thing that I would love to do but never gonna happen. It’s an unusual thing to happen so it’s a huge deal. I had no idea what to expect, especially with lockdown especially with everything like that. There’s no way to know how something’s gonna go. I’m feeling really lucky and I feel like I’m actually able to be myself more now, even around my friends. I was always kind of the woo girl, yeah I was ‘The Woo Girl’ . And often I was scared to show if I cared about something, but I’m able to be myself more since releasing music shows different layers [of] myself whereas before I was always a bit nervous to do that.”
Etaoin has a live show booked for Whelan’s in Dublin on November 24th. The prospect of seeing people react to her songs again in a live setting is something the singer songwriter is looking forward to
“I’m so excited. it’s been so weird because before lockdown I was gigging around London and I’d go home to Waterford and I’d be around the pubs and stuff, and so it’s been really weird not having that and not having that connection when playing a song. When you’re playing a song and you’re singing a really emotional line and can see someone’s really listening to what you’re saying and you make eye contact, just like we’re buzzing. It’s been really weird not having it but I’m so excited to get back out there. It’s crazy, I feel like COVID started out as something that was like, oh yeah COVID I heard there is a really bad bug, this is going to be over a week, and then it’s like the whole world just exploded into national pandemic.“
‘Bedroom Walls’ is about growth and renewal and it’s an extremely personal EP to Etaoin. I wondered if there was a song on the EP she was most attached to or proud of.
“I’m proud of all the songs for different reasons, melody-wise, I’m probably most proud of ‘I Dare You’ because it’s kind of an underdog song, but then I love all the songs for different reasons. ‘Bedroom Walls’ was pretty honest and explored some topics that I haven’t really explored on other songs before. like female body image, that kind of stuff. ‘Pale Damp Cheeks’, first heartbreak, so I’ve always got that connection, you never get over it. So I like all the songs. I feel proud of all the songs for different reasons.”
I wondered if Etaoin has any advice for budding singer songwriters
“ Write loads and loads of songs because the thing that stands people apart really is the songs. Practice singing and if you can teach yourself an instrument that’s great but I feel something that really sets people apart is their song, and be honest in the songs. I feel some people as I said, focus on, I just want to write a hit. That isn’t ever going to be honest and, if you’re not connecting with yourself on a different level, you’re not going to connect with other people.”
Etaoin has a warm and mature voice, there is a smoky rasp and charm to her vocals that is instantly recognisable.
“ People have always said that since I was little. I used to do Trad singing and stuff like that, and when I was 12 somebody said you sound like a grown woman. But it’s just always been like that, it’s stronger and also because I play the flute. So I guess wind control and lung control. So when you sing if you have more breathing control [there’s] probably a bit more power behind it.”
Etaoin has some exciting plans in the pipeline, we discussed what is to come in the next year and what she is looking forward to most.
“I’m recording at the moment, on the second EP to release later this year. I’m really excited to work with people I’ve really wanted to work with for quite a while. Geez, gigs later this year. So excited. and yeah hopefully getting out some video content later in the year as well. I guess we’ll see where it goes. You know I think the question, what’s next, often depends on the listener and how people respond to it, so fingers crossed people like it and good things are coming. Fingers crossed, toes crossed. My mom is already saying the Rosary for it at the moment. Not even kidding. Yeah, every time we release a song she says a week long Rosary every night. Yeah, I’m not even joking. I’m convinced that’s the only reason that it’s gone decently. I called her yesterday. I was like have you started the Rosary?. “
Etaoin is a diamond in the rough who crafts her songs meticulously to create emotion inducing goosebumps with each tune she releases and ‘Bedroom Walls’ is an exquisite example of this. Etaoin is an artist to keep an eye on.
NEOMADiC have released their new single ‘WAVES’ featuring shiv alongside announcing the release of their EP ‘AFTER DARK’ due to be released this summer. I caught up with Yake Loga to discuss the new single, working with shiv and how they create their sleek tunes.
‘WAVES’ features the amazing soulful vocals of shiv. Yake tells me how this dream collaboration came about.
“I was a fan of her music before we had touched base or contacted each other. We had been working on this track ‘WAVES’ and felt that it needed something else to really maximize the potential of the song, and shiv was a no brainer. As you said she has an amazing voice. So we hit her up and luckily, she liked the song enough to jump on it with us.”
WAVES is slightly more bright and mellow in comparison to the songs on NEOMADiC’s previous EP ‘The Neomadic Tape’. The duo have a laid back lush style with smooth vocals, abstract wordplay and sun-kissed, hazy productions. This seemingly effortless and chill sound took them some time to craft.
“A little bit yeah.The Neomadic Tape was back in 2017 and in the year 2018 we moved over to Vancouver in Canada for a couple of years, and we weren’t actively releasing then. During that time we were working on music and developing it. It’s always been a goal to not limit ourselves to a certain style and continuously evolve it so it’s just a natural progression of time. There has been a good amount of time since the last release so the music has developed quite a lot.”
NEOMADiC have their own refreshing style and sound that effortlessly flows into the ears. I wondered what sparked Yake’s decision to venture into the music industry, was there a specific moment that made him decide to get into music
“I don’t know if there’s one specific moment but maybe a combination of a few, just from creating it and doing it, performing it and how much I’ve always had a very big passion for music. I studied music after secondary school. So yeah, from 16 or 17 I definitely knew that’s what I wanted to do in some form or another, whether it’s performing or being in the studio or anything like that. “
Within ‘WAVES’ NEOMADiC uses introspective lyrics to detail personal issues along with subtle spiritual and pop culture references. Their raps flow fluidly throughout. These precise lyrics are due to practise and learning what works with each release.
“Yeah, definitely. Just over the years from writing and releasing.When you release something and you see how people like it and you’re able to step back from it and then you can analyze, then the next time you go back and you try and improve. Anything you do, the more you do it, the better you get at it. Myself and Dyramid have spent a lot of time even just messing around, you know freestyling with each other, back and forth so I find our chemistry on tracks together has come a long way.”
The duo’s lyrics are honest and very natural; there are no harsh or blunt phrases; they use precise tact to deliver eloquent lyrics through clever phrasing. “I’ve been working for tips, with lyrics on the tip of my tongue, I’m at the tip of my cliff, I got a tip I should jump”.
“Yeah, I think towards the beginning it was probably more blunt and as we’ve progressed, we’ve tried to just evolve the writing where it can mean a lot of things,double entendres and more metaphorical and all that.”
“Writing songs could be from a certain thing that happened that day or that month, certain emotions have been triggered. The EP [‘AFTER DARK’] in particular is kind of written through the pandemic. We had been working a bit. Just minimum wage stuff over in Canada to pay rent and stuff so there’s some themes on society and how it can be very difficult if you don’t want to fit into the normal school, college, job pyramid there is in society at the moment. So I think there’s a bit of a rebellious theme/nature to the EP coming up.That’s kind of where we are in our lives at the moment, so generally our music just translates over from whatever we’re personally experiencing, normally pretty genuine. “
NEOMADiC’s new EP ‘AFTER DARK’ is due to be released this summer.This 7 track EP comes after the pair spent a couple of years living in Canada, it is a culmination of their experiences over the past couple of years and an expression of what they have to offer. The duo manage to capture the chill nighttime vibe really well, especially within ‘WAVES’. The song transports you to a setting of summer nights created entirely by the duo’s immersive musicianship. Yake tells me how the album was crafted and what we can expect from the EP.
“A lot of it’s in the title, it was written over the summer, last summer, just those late nights with people, good friends and special people to you. So the themes are around that. Then on top of that there would be that trying to make a living out of music, and not rely on other avenues for income.
“It took a while. So generally we work with producers and there’s just two on this EP. So with ‘WAVES’ and a few other tracks we kind of linked with Subroza from America and managed to get in touch just through social media and he gave us a couple of beats to mess around with. We just worked back and forth over a few months, nailing out the structure and different instrumentation and all that together so for this it was a lot better than ‘The Neomadic Tape’ where it’s more of a mixtape and we just took a bunch of random beats and rapped over them so this was a lot more crafted”
There are some great artists in Ireland at the moment in all genres but Hip Hop in particular is gaining a lot of traction and the quality of tunes from artists such as NEOMADiC, Denise Chaila, JYellowL and God Knows is setting the bar really high. I wondered if Yake thinks the Irish Hip Hop scene is finally getting the recognition it deserves.
“ I think it’s been slowly brewing for maybe the past half decade even a bit longer. But in the last five years, it’s definitely been more of an explosion onto the scene. Yeah it’s starting to get noticed a little more internationally, especially over toward the UK. So that’s a good first step. I can only just see that continue to grow to more people”
NEOMADiC have had headline slots at festivals such as Electric Picnic and KnockanStockan, as well as support slots with hip/hop legends Souls of Mischief and Pharoahe Monch and like all musicians at the moment, Yake is itching to get back to those live shows.
“Yeah, definitely. I’m a little anxious at this point because it’s been such a long time. Probably a bit rusty, but it depends on the mind state. We’ve just looked at it as an opportunity to build up a nice catalogue of music for whenever that day returns that we’re able to then perform it with people and share with people so we just have to keep a positive mindset and see the opportunity, the silver lining in anything.”
NEOMADiC pack a lot of meaningful lyrics into each second of their songs. It can be difficult to remember lyrics during a show. I wondered if the duo find it difficult to remember their lyrics and do they stumble sometimes.
“ Personally I seem to do a lot more than Dyramid would, not too sure why. If you’re not regularly rehearsing and practicing you may be risking the chance of slipping up lyrics. Myself, I just really enjoy improvising and freestyling so sometimes that might distract me a little bit. Back in the day we would always do a little freestyling towards the end [of shows], let the crowd pick a few words for us to rap with and stuff like that it was a nice way to round off the shows.”
‘AFTER DARK’ is an exciting EP to look forward to and Yake tells me it has been keeping the duo busy over this pandemic and giving them something to look forward to as well.
“Yeah a lot more than normal, because of the pandemic, and the way we crafted the EP. A lot of it was done and recorded before I left Canada last summer. So there’s just been a lot of waiting and anxiety to get it out and with the pandemic there hasn’t been too much else to look forward to so it was a nice big relief to have ‘WAVES’ out. It’s just something to feel good about in these tough times. Hopefully the next single will be out on the 7th of May. Then two weeks after that on the 21st of May the full EP is out. So for the next month, that’s our main focus, just pushing and promoting the releases.”
NEOMADiC are an ambitious and talented duo. ‘WAVES’ displays their melodic prowess, sleek raps and raw skill through a mellow and blissful tune. They create dark, lush soundscapes with soul and pop elements enhancing the duo’s refreshing hip hop sound. NEOMADiC are ones to keep an eye on.
Post-Party have released the video for their brand new single, ‘Wasting Time’. This high energy track is a fantastic follow on from their previous single, ‘Being Honest’.With a sweeping rush on guitars, rampant basslines and driving rhythms, the track is an instant shot of adrenaline saturated in the infectious musicianship of Post- Party. I caught up with Keelan O’Reilly to talk about the new single, Colin Peppard’s magical camera skills and navigating through social media.
The band are all in their final year of college and studying for their exams. Between all this remote learning, final year preparation and study, the band manages to write, record and release some seriously smashing songs – ‘Wasting Time’ is the latest single to delight our ears.
“We wrote the song, just on the brink of lockdown when it was starting and we always really really loved it, just the energy and the ideas behind the track. I think it was the idea of how throughout the lockdown, we were spending all this time just waiting and waiting on normality to come back around, it felt like a good fit for the track with the name being wasting time. Everyone was picking up different kinds of hobbies and things just to pass the time that we hadn’t done before. It felt like a good fit, but the track had already been a favourite of the band in general, just because of the energy, and the ideas.”
The band have paced the release of their tracks well. Each track has been given its own time to shine. This has resulted in ‘Wasting Time’ being featured on key playlists, including Spotify’s New Music Friday, Hot New Bands, Fresh Finds: Rock, The Indie List and A Breath of Fresh Eire alongside Apple Music’s Breaking Rock, The New Rock and New in Rock.
“It’s just really good to see the reception we’ve received. Spotify have been very kind to us by putting us in all these fantastic playlists. It’s just really cool overall to see that people are receiving the music well. There’s been a good buzz from what we’ve released so the fact that we got a few playlists with ‘Being Honest’ and now for ‘Wasting Time’ to grow and develop on has been really really cool for us to see.”
“We definitely take everything on board, and we wanted to give ‘Being Honest’ enough time to breathe, but then we wanted to develop and push things on and we have loads of tracks we wrote and recorded during the lockdown period. We realized that we want to get them out and push the momentum forward, especially with the hope that live shows and stuff come back towards the end of the year or maybe the start of next year. We’re wanting to have as much music out for people when we are able to get a live show, but at the same time it is really important to let each track do its own thing, and to give it the time it deserves”
Post-Party shot the music video for ‘Wasting Time’ themselves with each band member recording their part individually, in separate locations. The result is a visually stunning video that superbly captures the band’s energetic and unique image.
“Our bass player Colin [Peppard], he’s a magician with a camera, editing stuff and everything. He’s been so interested in film for years, and it’s only now in the past I would say two years he’s really taking a passion on learning the ins and outs of working with film. So that’s slowly become part of our identity as a band like the imagery we use for our music through video, and as a means of expression, that’s definitely down to Colin’s passion and drive for film. That’s been spread across all of us as four different individual members, we’ve all become really interested in what we can do with visuals to personify our music. I think the lockdown was a catalyst for that whole thing, because it gave us the time to really hone in on creative ideas and creative decisions. It was something that was going to come eventually but we hadn’t really developed it before we got a chance over lockdown”
“ When you’re releasing any kind of art into the world you’re consciously aware of how people are going to receive it. But I think there is something to be said about just letting your work, do the talking for you and letting each individual piece of art, do the talking. It’s important to not take too much consideration of what other people think about your art, but at the same time you’re releasing it for people to appreciate and for people to enjoy. I think you can be critical about anything and it’s important to be happy with the work you produce”
The band recently released Post-Party merchandise which sold out in just a few hours. It’s great to see people supporting bands especially now during covid, artists need merchandise and record sales perhaps more than ever and Post-Party put a lot of work into their image, visuals and designs, it’s fantastic to see people appreciating it.
“Yeah, that was really helpful. We didn’t expect that at all. We had some of the basic designs done by an artist from Russia, his name on Instagram is idlehead [Nikita Maslov]. We used the designs that he created. He designed the band’s logo. He designed the artwork for all the singles we’ve released so far as well. So we used his artworks as the main focal point of the designs, but in terms of designing the T-shirts, that was all down to again Colin. He was a big help in that factor. We all pitched in our opinions as well. We all came together and made it work and we’re really happy with the reception and people seem to like it.”
“ That was a big help for us because I think people realize the struggle of the music industry at the moment. A lot of artists are putting out new merch, and it’s getting bought up really quickly and it’s really nice to see that the fans are coming together and trying to support those artists that are struggling to make a living at the moment. Luckily for ourselves, we’re only at the very early stages of our careers and we’re all finishing college at the moment. But for someone who is heavily involved in music as their nine to five. It’s really important for the fans to support them through this awkward stage. Luckily we’re hopefully coming towards the end of this but without people supporting the industry, I don’t know how things would go in building things back up.”
The return of live shows is an exciting prospect for Post-Party as they have been releasing music during the pandemic and growing their fan base, without having to tour. The shows will be different when they do return as the band will see new faces and fans that haven’t been able to see the band perform live yet.
“Yeah 100%. That’s something we’re really excited about. We’ve obviously had a good solid fan base coming to all our shows prior to the pandemic, but it’s really exciting for us to see new faces and new people listening to the music and enjoying what we’re doing. We’ve received loads of messages of people saying, as soon as the show is announced they will be at the show so that’s just really exciting for us to know that people are waiting and are excited to see the songs we’ve released over lockdown live in person”
The music scene in Ireland is very vibrant lately – there are so many amazing acts producing great music. Before the pandemic hit there was live music almost every night in Dublin. I wondered if the rush for venues when they open will create competition between bands to book certain venues, etc.
“ It’s something we’ve been aware of. The ideology behind it is when things come back, everybody’s going to be out the door and ready to go. I’ve seen a lot of gigs, and just live events being announced, as of now, and for the next 12 months or more. I think when things really do get back to normal, there’s going to be a stage of just so many bookings, so many gigs So there is going to be a lot of competition and we’re aware of that and we’re willing to wait until it calms down before we go out with our music, We’re very happy with the pace that we’ve built our audience through the release of music and we are super excited to play live, but we’re not in any immediate rush, knowing that it’s going to take some time before things clear up”
A lot of artists have had to promote themselves more, and be more active on social media because of this pandemic. This is something O’Reilly and the band have had to become proficient at. Now that they have the hang of how social media works there is no stopping them.
“Yeah, absolutely. Social media has always been something that, personally, I’ve never been great at. It’s something that over the lockdown I realized how important it is to artists, seeing a lot of artists, expand their fan base through TikTok, Instagram and all these different platforms, and to such an extreme extent, compared to what you would have done in live performances beforehand, but the pandemic has shown, I guess, that social media is so powerful in that it can be nearly as powerful as live performances, or you know releasing music, if you use each platform in its unique position. I think in the future, for example, we started the TikTok just at the start of the pandemic to just put off our music video and we’re going to continue using that through the summer when me and the guys are all moving in together, and we’re going to try and push our TikTok a bit further. It’s quite difficult to create content when we are all separated, and it’s a lot easier for individual artists or a singular person, but as a group, we want to express our identity through our social media and it’s more difficult when we’re not all together. So it’s going to be really exciting to get the opportunity to do that over the summer and just expand on what the public see and how they perceive us as a band.”
Post-Party create air-tight guitar-led tracks that are sharp, elaborate and energetic. The band’s sound is a fine display of feel-good dynamic indie rock at its best. ‘Wasting Time’ displays the strength of their songwriting and provides a glimpse into the ever-growing talent of this young band. Looking forward to hearing what they have in store for us in the near future.
Apella have released the limited edition vinyl and CD of their debut album ‘1963’, alongside the band’s new single ‘Buried You’. Since the album was digitally released on January 29th, it has been going from strength to strength, with a whopping 500,000 streams racked up to date. The album reached #1 on The Official Irish Independent Chart and #2 on the Official Album Charts.
I caught up with Dara Quilty to discuss the album’s success, the energetic video for ‘Buried You’ and getting in shape for live shows.
“ This album went to number one in the Independent Album Chart and number two on the Official Album Chart. I was in the hospital with my mom, we were at an appointment and I got the phone call. I don’t know, like an hour maybe before the charts are published or something,and I was told it was the number one independent album and I was like, oh my god!. I was so happy. I actually shed a tear of Joy. Then I was told, hang on, and he said 1963 is the number two album in the country. I was like What do you mean?. So this is the official independent chart for artists who are not on major labels. but I look at that and like Adel is in there, Arctic Monkeys are in there. So to be number one on that is unbelievable and then to be on the official album chart. Justin Bieber is number one, Apella is number two, Dermot Kennedy is number three, Dua Lipa is number four, John Spillane is number five. Demi Lovato released the same day we did and she’s eight and we are two that is, I don’t know, what do you say about that?”
“There has been nothing but truth about this campaign. Obviously I opened up a bit. I have never done that before. I’m no celebrity as you well know, but I just feel social media, I like it for what it is, I like to put my work up there and I like the fact that I can get engaged with people that enjoy what I do, whether it be the band or a podcast or a show or TV or whatever. I like it for that kind of thing, but I never post my personal life up there. Not because I think I’m a celebrity, just, because it’s the internet, and there are weird people in the world. So it’s kind of daunting to share that part of the story, and the response, I mean I have gotten so many messages from so many women, and so many young women that are my age, that are 31, 32 that have been through cancer, and they’ve never heard a guy speak about it. They have said they’re going to get support and they have realised they’re not okay. One girl said she was diagnosed at 27, five years ago and she said, I’m not okay. Five years later, I listened to your podcast and I’m gonna get help today.This is a weird thing, people can live their lives without being affected by it and they are so lucky. And people that are affected by it, every story is different, every experience is unique so I didn’t want to come across like a Mr.know it all, because I’m not a Mr. know it all. I’m a Mr. wants to know it all, I want to speak to people, I want to learn more from people. I can share a perspective, and an idea. Do you know how many women in Ireland are diagnosed with breast cancer every year. 3700 People, 3700 Women, 3700 unique experiences and stories. It’s so complicated. That’s crazy. I remember when you experience it for the first time, you don’t know what to do because it comes out of nowhere, so I guess if I could share my experience it might resonate with someone. That was a bonus to this record, if anything, to be able to do that, you know.”
Quilty has been open and honest when discussing the motivation behind why he decided to give 100% of the proceeds from the sale of the album to The Marie Keating Foundation. His mother lives with Stage 4 Metastatic Breast Cancer, and the title of the album ‘1963’ is named after the birth year of his mother. It’s a personal album that has resulted in him speaking frankly about his personal life. Something he has never done before
“It’s acceptance. This is the thing, I believe, and again, I’m no expert. I think life is complicated, difficult to navigate, and the older you get, the more complicated and difficult to navigate it is. The world is unfair, and then we all die at the end. So you decide on what you do with this weird experience. This absurd existence that we have, you decide. Do you want to be an angry person on Twitter, or do you want to have fulfillment in what you do, for me it’s making music.”
‘1963’ is by no means an album about cancer. It’s an exquisite collection of pop-punk indie tracks sure to fire up the soul and have you dancing and moshing along in no time. Quilty displays his deft songwriting through these dynamic songs to give listeners something they can enjoy and listen to.
“Someone referred to it as a cancer album, and I had to correct them. I was like no no no no no it’s not. This whole thing was written and recorded before. If you listen to the record, like the single is called ‘Buried You’. You can’t have a cancer album and a song like that no. ‘Buried You’ was this athemic cliche breakup song about a guy who’s just out of a relationship. The lyric is “turned out the light, went out into the night searching for anyone that would give me anything close to love” , that’s just the power breakup, f*ck you, I’m going out and getting drunk and I don’t drink. So that was written from the perspective of a character. The album is all stories and stuff. Lyrically, they’re meticulously put together stories, some are from real life experiences and some are from fantasy.”
“I never in a million years thought I would be releasing an album under these circumstances, with my mom, with a global pandemic. Having moved to New York City, and being there for, I don’t know, six, seven months, and then Manhattan shutting down. More Americans have died from COVID-19 than World War One, two, the Vietnam War and 911 combined. I have a picture of me on 6th and 44th around Times Square at rush hour on a Tuesday. I’m in the middle of the avenue. I don’t know if you have been to New York, but up the avenue, cross the street that’s how you remember. So the avenues go up Manhattan. They are always full of cabs, Ubers honking horns. I was in the middle of the street, I didn’t have to wait for the crosswalk, there was nobody. I have this picture of me with a completely empty Times Square. There’s red steps in Times Square, that are infamous for Instagram. You never get near them there is always tourists. I have a picture of me just on my own on those red steps, you’ll see them in the Jay Z and Alicia Keys video for Empire State, but they had to block it off to shoot there and close it down. I have a picture of me just in there in the middle of the day I had the whole thing to myself”
Photo credit: David Gannon Photography
Photo credit: David Gannon Photography
“If you told me in 2019, the conditions, I’d be releasing this album under. I’d be like this is a dystopian future show on Netflix you’re pitching to me here this is crazy. But look, like I said life is difficult, complicated, and you choose what you do. I chose in this pandemic, I was like, right here’s a pause, let’s do a podcast, I’ve wanted to do for so long, ‘Quilty’s Different’. I love my podcast. My record is recorded, let’s release the record. I released the record in January digitally, as you know and then April 2 physically, you know what happens in January, the music business? The festival booking.
“So all the festival booking happens around December, January. So if there was no pandemic, we would be booked now for festivals. Then we release it and then it goes well in the charts, and then the festivals would start bumping us up the lineup maybe. Then we go,ah let’s put on an Olympia show or the Academy show or let’s see what venue we can do, and let’s go around the country and tour. We can’t do any of those things. It’s such an unusual time to release a record but I was like I’m not waiting anymore.”
The pandemic has caused a lot of uncertainty within the music industry, and one crippling factor for artists is the lack of shows. I wondered, considering the album is doing so well, is Quilty annoyed at the fact he can’t tour to maximize the reach of the album.
“No I’m not annoyed at all, because it’s outside of my control. Who knows if I released this record in the usual noise of the world it could have been lost in the noise. I don’t know, it is what it is, I accept it for what it is. Right now, what I’m doing is talking to you, what happened an hour ago is not important, what’s going to happen in one hour is not important. The album is the number one and number two album in the country right now and then somebody else will take over. So, this is going to be I hope, a key to continue the success in the United States. Because there’s an alternative market over there that doesn’t exist here. As in, there’s alternative radio stations like K-Rock in LA and ALT 92.3 in New York City, that just play bands like Apella, Twenty One Pilots, Weezer and Machine Gun Kelly all day long. ‘Buried You’, ‘We Met At A Party’, I can hear that song on all those stations, not sticking out like a sore thumb. But I love this country. This country is magnificent and the ‘Buried You’ music video would have cost me approximately $20,000 to do in New York. I got to do that here in Ireland with creative people that I know as a collaboration.
Ireland is a beautiful country for that. My team of people with Apella, it’s not just me, it’s me, it’s Ronan, it’s Joe from the studio it’s Ray, who does the cinematography, Dara Munnis who shot the album cover, Natalie who designed and Sabrina, it’s a team. This is good for, not just me, this is good for everybody. Everybody has a role, and everybody’s celebrating this. Maybe it’s because I’m in my 30s now, it’s not a narcissistic experience. Did I want to be a big rock star when I was 22 Yeah, I was 22. Now, 10 years later I’m like okay I just want to do this, I don’t care, I like doing it. We just love the studio, Ronan is such a good drummer. If we’re gonna put on a show we’re going to put on the best show possible and if people come and enjoy that, that’s amazing, because we care deeply about it”
Apella have also released the video for ‘Buried You’, which was directed by Ray Keogh. The video showcases the live energy of a show and gives a glimpse into Apella as a live band. Well captured and beautifully presented, this clip definitely whets the appetite for anyone longing to see the band live, which will hopefully not be too far in the future.
“I’m so happy you said that because when I came up with the concept for that video I had this idea of black and white but like colors, not black and white video. That video is a representation of what you would see walking into a tent at Electric Picnic or Glastonbury, you know, there’s Apella. That is the energy we play with live. We’re both very ostentatious performers. Ronan is particularly spectacular to watch live playing drums and I’m a tall drink of water. To me, that video is Apella. That’s what we are, the lights, the look, the energy. That was all shot on a handheld camera, there was no jib, there was no tracking, there was Ray Keogh and his genius brain. It was all handheld. He edited that video and Ronan Kenny was the lighting designer, and that is the band. What you see in that video is what you should see at a music festival, except it’s on YouTube”
“ Yeah, we were contemplating do we book one [shows] or not now because I know shows are being booked, and I see people for September and stuff or October and I’m like, the government are saying, you’re allowed meet one other household but not in your garden or their garden. I feel like if we put a show on sale we’ll just have to reschedule it. This idea that Ireland is going to go from being allowed to meet one neighbor not in your garden or theirs to like the Olympia, I just I don’t know, I can’t predict that. So we’ll do shows when shows are back.”
“Shooting ‘Buried You’, we had such bad headaches after that video, because we hadn’t performed in a year. Your body gets used to it. The headaches weren’t from the music it was from, and it sounds really lame but it’s just rocking out our brains!. Ronan after the second take was like, oh god I can’t see anymore, because he plays so hard. I think in the pandemic he did some shows with Gavin James. Gavin James and Apella are very different. Gavin is beautiful, it’s about his voice and Ronan is very lightly playing drums in the background. Apella is like, throwing the kitchen sink down the stairs. So, the day after we shot that video, it felt like we had been drinking for, well I imagine what a terrible hangover feels like. Again, I don’t know I don’t drink or do any of that sh*t but we were just so f*cked the following day because… it just took so much energy. You need to be in shape for tour, I don’t think people realize this about touring”
One aspect of touring that can be difficult for artists is the comedown after a show. It might not seem so, but to go from the high energy and adrenaline on stage to a quiet room on your own is a difficult transition, and this is another aspect of touring, artists have to prepare for.
“Oh I know about the comedown jeepers.I spoke to Dougie [Poynter] from McFly on my podcast about this actually. Dougie and I bonded many years ago over a mutual love of Blink-182. He was in McFly doing arenas every single night and like you said, went from standing on the stage to 14,000 screaming girls to what they call, I don’t know what they call like – it’s like, a speed exit or something. It’s when there’s music still playing but the talent are taken off stage, put onto the bus and brought away from the venue straight away. You go from standing in front of people to being on a tour bus in a bunk. I don’t know if you have ever been on a tour bus before but the bunks are tiny. So you’re in a bunk alone after literally 10 minutes ago standing in front of 40,000 people. Imagine doing that 265 times a year.”
“I guess I’m kind of lucky in a way that I’ve been working professionally in this business since 19 via radio. I always think it’s so funny people’s reactions to celebrities like people freaking out because we’re all just people you know. But I’ve definitely been super jaded after festivals. I remember we did Sea Sessions a few times and that’s really far away. Donegal is like a four-hour drive and we never stay anywhere we just come back because it’s too expensive, you drive for four and a half hours to play a 40-minute set. I remember one Sea Sessions… I was just exhausted from the whole day, all the gear in the van, getting there. I drove us there and then our tour manager had to drive home. I was like, I need to pass out. I need to sleep, our tour manager had to drive, and I passed out immediately. I was asleep for most of the ride home. Just because I was tired from four hours of driving, and you’re on stage at a festival. For festivals, you have to stick to your timeslot. There’s a big thing on the side of the stage, because if you run late the whole day is screwed. So if you run over on your set time, the next band are starting. It works like clockwork, especially like Electric Picnic and stuff, behind that big curtain is the next band setting up all the gear. It’s all on wheels so one band rolls off, the other band rolls on, and this happens worldwide. When you’re a smaller act you don’t have a crew of 15 people to do all that stuff for you, so you know you got local crew so you got to do it yourself, which is fine, but then you do the show, then you get all the stuff back in the van, and then you got to drive four hours back to go to bed so it’s tiring. But I still want to do it again.
“Being on stage is probably the best. It’s probably the most fun thing. It’s such a different experience from doing it to watching it, you’re in another place. It’s hard to explain. Going into a song, I won’t know what the first line of the song is, and then Ronan counts in, and then it just happens. It’s like you’re pouring yourself a glass of water. You don’t need to think okay, lefthand, I need to turn the cold tap on, leave it run, right hand, glass, okay the glass is full. It’s just a thing you’ve been doing your whole life so it’s just muscle memory.”
Social media is a huge element of artists live’s now. I wondered if Quilty finds navigating his social media easy or is it a difficult but necessary task.
“We can take nice pictures on Instagram all day. We can be on TikTok, all day, a lot of people do that and that’s where they put their energy and that’s fine. My least favorite part of this whole album has been the Instagram and social media promoting. Everything is different. This many words are allowed on twitter, twitter video can be this long, Instagram video can be 60 seconds long, this is this aspect ratio of the story. I’m like, Oh God, I wish I had someone to do all this. I love social media but I don’t like constantly having to push and put up the videos. I just like doing the music bit of it and I like having the silly time.”
“If I wasn’t doing this as a job I would not be on any of it.If you log onto my Instagram it’s just stuff I’m doing. Like I said earlier. I’m not an influencer, I look forward to reading the book on social media in like 50 years. Donie O’Sullivan from Kerry who’s the CNN journalist is sort of lifting the lid on major social media platforms and propaganda, and especially during the Capitol Hill riots that time. I look forward to reading the book somebody in 50 years will write and it’ll be called the Social Media Experiment or something. I think it’ll flip reverse, I think eventually our grandkids will say grandma how didn’t you know. They’ll be like, there was a camera on the front, there were three cameras on the back.”
Like all bands now, Apella have the power and influence of streaming platforms, giving 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. Artists have had to adapt to this mass consumption of music and make the most of what they can.
“I feel it’s being devalued. It’s a good way to get your music out there and digital is the future we got to just accept that adjust and adapt. Like we had to adjust and adapt to COVID and like we’ll have to adjust and adapt to the next thing. This record is literally a demonstration of adjusting and adapting to a circumstance and trying to prevail. This is the number two record in the country, and the number one record on the Independent chart, you know, the word chart was never even part of that. This is my first actual official release, I’ve been releasing music for 10 years and I’ve skipped this bit because I’m like I’ll just put it up on MySpace at the beginning. Fox Avenue, all we would do is put ourselves on MySpace. Go and play The Academy Whelan’s, Olympia, whatever supports slots we can get you know, that’s what we did. Now, it’s a completely different world that we live in. I think our publishing company, which is just a self-publishingcompany, you just do ityourself. It sends it to 88 places. The obvious ones are Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Deezer, Tidal, but then there’s ones in China and Japan I have never heard of and it just goes, Do you want to send it to everywhere and you’re like, Yeah. So just goes on to all the places and I’m like, did I get any money for this?. Anybody pay me for this any time, anywhere along the way. So that’s why the chart thing, I never thought about that because I’ve never done it before, ever. With a chart, you need to have a company, scanning barcodes.”
People really appreciate the care and attention to detail provided by Quilty. All the pre-ordered limited edition white vinyl’s of ‘1963’ come numbered and signed by Quilty. He is also giving away a custom-built RQ1963 pink guitar designed by himself and crafted by Custom Built Ireland to one lucky person who pre-ordered the album
“I did a personal note to every single person who pre-ordered. I thought it was going to be really nice until it was 3:15am, and I was only on order 185. And with GDPR and all that they didn’t send me full names so it was just a first name I got. I vividly remember being on 185, and it was three o’clock in the morning, and I was like, what am I doing, but it was a limited edition vinyl, there’s a specific number of vinyls, so I wanted to number them. I don’t know, I just like to go the full nine yards. I got so many tweets and Instagrams about it so it was nice. It was kind of fun, it was like oh look, we found vinyl 145 Oh, we found vinyl 86. I enjoyed seeing where they landed. A lot of family and friends were supporting the record and I was like hey you got vinyl 99. Did you not preorder this when I asked. So it’s fun stuff like that”
“Yeah, we haven’t given that away yet [ custom-built RQ1963 pink guitar ]. We haven’t picked our winner yet, that’s only for the people that pre-ordered. I guess we’ll probably be giving that away by the end of the month. The competition is closed, it was only for people that pre-ordered.“
‘1963’ is a well crafted and thoroughly enjoyable album, Apella has managed to capture a whirlwind of emotions heightened through sublime musicianship and production. The refined glorious melodies and masterful instrumentation portrayed within the tracks makes each song dynamic and energetic. ‘1963’ is a must listen
Soda Blonde have announced the release of their debut album ‘Small Talk’ on July 9th with their new single and title track. I caught up with singer-songwriter Faye O’Rourke to talk about the new single, gaining confidence as a band and within herself, how she crafts her poetic lyrics and how Adam O’Regan is a “multifaceted genius”.
Soda Blonde are honing in on their craft, dropping alternative pop gems with each release. All four band members (O’Rourke, guitarist Adam O’Regan, drummer Dylan Lynch and bassist Donagh Seaver-O’Leary) are seasoned musicians who have been perfecting their craft since their teens. The result is the Soda Blonde experience. Title track ‘Small Talk’ gives a glimpse at what the album has in store for listeners.
“I thought Small Talk was a very fitting title for the album in general as it’s a very self-aware title. In terms of what it’s about, it’s about loads of things. Initially when we wrote it, when you’re listening to it you think it’s about a dialogue between two people, but it’s also kind of talking about one’s inner dialogue. I think, especially now, in the times that we live, it seems like we’re beholden to one or two scripts. It’s becoming more and more polarised, and a lot of times it’s all talk and no action. So Small Talk just seemed like a very fitting title for the album as a whole and also for the single.”
‘Small Talk’ is a catchy alternative pop tune with a dark undertone, and this is something we see a lot within Soda Blonde’s songs.In fact, it could be what makes them so enticing. Sometimes it’s a deep bass groove, pulsing synth or mystical melody that tantalises the ears and entraps listeners in the band’s mesmerising sound.
“ We always set out to serve the song, and that’s one of the great things about the band and why the music is so diverse. So yeah, I guess there’s a darkness in the lyrics that sometimes, I feel is countered with the music. We’re making music that makes you want to move, but the subject matter can be quite dark. I’m definitely exposing parts of myself through the music that I wouldn’t necessarily do on a daily basis. I’m probably more honest in my music. I’m exploring parts of myself that I wouldn’t want to discuss with somebody, you know. So I think the music does counter that but also there is a darkness to it as well, I guess, as you said”
I wondered if it was daunting approaching the band with all these very personal, emotional, honest thoughts within her head.
“That’s a good question. No I’m not because we’ve worked together for over 10 years and we’ve been through a lot as teenagers, and we have a very intimate relationship with one another. So No is the answer, I’m well used to it at this point. But I’m still always anxious about their reaction because I respect them so much as musicians and as artists. That’s still a very nerve-racking thing. I’ve gotten better at that over the years. When I was younger I would be kind of shaking because the first time you do expose those feelings is often the most nerve-racking, so I’m probably better at that now. It’s definitely something that I had to get to grips with over the years”
“We’re all very communicative and open. I think a lot of the time, because our lives are so intertwined, they can relate to what I’m talking about or, they understand it. When you expose yourself as a person, I used to see that as being vulnerable or a weakness. I felt like I was giving away parts of myself and I didn’t have anything left for me, but now I’m seeing that as more of a strength because I’m just more comfortable with myself. At the end of the day, it’s me living with myself in my own head. I suppose it’s therapeutic and I feel like I’m achieving a little bit more contentment, in that way. “
Soda Blonde’s music expresses and discusses universal, relatable themes and topics however they also have personal meanings for O’Rourke. A special result of this is fans and listeners can take away something meaningful from the songs. The manner in which O’Rourke crafts her lyrics and how the band creates the backdrop allows listeners to draw their own experience and value out of each track.
“That’s the whole point, especially with this song [Small Talk] in particular and with the album as a whole. I’m never trying to be didactic or tell people how they should live. I think the idea is that people take ownership of it and that’s what makes a good song. That’s what makes it stay with someone forever is If they insert themselves into it and derive their own meanings. So that would be my intention anyway… to open it up to people’s interpretations and for them to find themselves in it”
Catchy melodies seem to be something Soda Blonde are pros at creating. Every song the band releases grabs listeners ears with a bittersweet infectious melody and irresistible hook. I wondered if O’Rourke has a secret recipe to create these and if the melody comes when she is writing the lyrics, or if she writes the lyrics and then puts a melody to it
“I’ve always listened to pop music, and a wide range of everything, I don’t just listen to one genre of music. I think I listen to every genre of music but I don’t go out intending to write a pop jam or something really hooky, it’s just that I wouldn’t be satisfied unless I’m losing myself in it. It’s a subconscious thing and I always make sense of it after I’ve written it, but I feel that’s just my musical sensibility – to write things that are hooky, I guess, I hope.”
“I very rarely do the latter, it’s usually, I’ll sit down at a piano or with a guitar or something and there’ll be one moment or one line or one lyric that presents itself, and that’s usually through the hook or something like that, and then I’m like oh that’s kind of good, I’m a genius for like five minutes and then… my subconscious will begin the exercise, and then my rational self will come in and fill in the blanks after. I think it’s amazing when people can sit down and go, I’m going to write about this and structure out lyrics and then put it to music, that’s an incredible skill, but for me, not saying that I don’t know what I’m going to write about, a lot of times I will know generally what I’m trying to express but in terms of structuring the lyrics, it usually comes out as I’m playing”
O’Rourke is becoming known for her strong and poetic lyrical content. I find there are certain turns of phrase within Soda Blonde’s tracks that hit you when you are listening to them. For example, in ‘Small Talk’, the lyric “Do I suppress everything? Am I just too late to admit that I’m Ignoring myself? “. It’s an honest ponder eloquently expressed in two short lines
“Yeah, I suppose it’s a scary endeavour because I’m relying on something that I don’t have any control over at all and that’s why the guys are such amazing technical musicians. I wouldn’t really describe myself as a very technical musician, I can navigate my way and articulate myself, but musically, it takes me a bit longer because I’m kind of like I know what it’s supposed to feel like, but I can’t remember where this chord is you know. But yeah, that’s the thing, that’s why it is therapeutic and it is spiritual and something that I’m very grateful to be able to do because I didn’t train to do this, I didn’t go to college to do this, it was just something that I was always able to do so, I respect that process. I certainly do structure after. There’s a few parts that come that way but I definitely do sit down and crack the whip and, as you say, the rational brain comes in and structures it in a way that, for me it should feel complete. It has to have a start, middle and end, and there has to be some kind of hard-hitting conclusion for me with songwriting”
Soda Blonde have been playing together since their early teens, with their previous band – the internationally renowned Little Green Cars, whose seminal debut album skyrocketed to number one on the Irish album charts. Soda Blonde stepped in a different direction to Little Green Cars. There is a more indie-folk sound that is enhanced by impressive synth-pop elements and 80’s influences within Soda Blonde. However, this wasn’t a surprise decision.
“Oh no, it definitely wasn’t we’ll give it a go and see what happens. It was kind of like, this is the only thing that I feel we’re geared towards doing and the vehicle of Soda Blonde has been just so rewarding because we can take control of things that we couldn’t do before. Little Green Cars was winding down quite gradually. I think people just see it as one big announcement and I think a lot of people were surprised by how quickly Soda Blonde emerged after that.But it had always been there, certainly for me in some capacity. These songs, they go back a couple years, they weren’t just all written as soon as we conceived Soda Blonde as such, I had these songs in me for five, six years, some of them. So it’s sort of everything really, you know”.
“Obviously we did have such big success with Little Green Cars and we were so young and everything but I think you understand a bit more in hindsight about, where and why those things happen and we were a great band and I think we’re as good a band, as we were then. It’s a different thing. I see them as two different things and Little Green Cars will always be a huge part of me, it’s all of my reference points. I grew up in that band. I do see it as one journey of my life, and I would love to have as much instantaneous success but that can also be against you in a way, I think when you’re working against hype. It’s quite difficult. I think that was kind of an invaluable experience because I understand it now. I understand the hype machine thing and how volatile things are. It’s a very volatile industry and you just have to be able to put your head down and make the things you want to make and push on. So, I don’t think there’s pressure for me necessarily to achieve the same things. I just believe that we will get there, whether it’s fast or slow, doesn’t really matter. I think I’m happier and more secure in myself with this debut. I was a nervous emotional wreck when the band started when we were teenagers and it was hard to enjoy it. Because you just felt like you were an imposter. You felt like you didn’t know where you were, what you’re doing, what you were supposed to say. I remember playing Coachella, when we were 19 or 20 and looking at other massive acts, going, I don’t look like that, I don’t wear those clothes, do I belong here? Do I even fit in here? and I feel that’s all part of being a teenager and part of growing up.I think this time around, I feel very confident and we love our music and we love each other so you know, come what may type of thing.”
The band create a musically rich and diverse sound, with each member injecting their own unique flair and musical talent into the songs to create ambient and gripping soundscapes. From bassist Donagh Seaver O’Leary’s swaggered elastic grooves and Dylan Lynch’s dynamic drumming coaxing you to bop and groove to Adam O’Regan’s virtuoso guitar, the band are the dream team musicians. However, one striking and instantly recognisable aspect of Soda Blonde is O’Rourke’s vocals. She has a wonderful command and ability to create emotion through her vocals.
“I always loved singing, it was always a big part of my life, since I was really small. I think I lost confidence when we were in Little Green Cars a little bit because I was very tense, and over the years I’ve learned to use my voice with a bit more diversity. I was always singing very loud and I’m kind of a belter, that was part of the expression, it was kind of like the pain was coming out through the vocal and through how I was singing, whereas now I can use my voice in different ways. I respect it more as an instrument. I feel I’m more connected with it, if that makes sense…that’s why, when I’m writing I can feel there’s a good version of that song just with me and the piano, or me and the guitar, and I think that’s going back to the songwriting thing, like the standards, it has to be a stand alone thing without all the arranging, it has to sound good with just my voice and one instrument.”
Soda Blonde have an Irish and UK tour starting in August. The prospect of live shows has been a pipe dream as of late due to covid, but the notion that live gigs could come back soon is an exciting prospect for artists.
“ Yeah, I just don’t know how I’m gonna feel, for me, this is life now, because musicians and artists were the first things to go and they’ll be the last to come back. I’ve just come to terms with this new world that we live in, in a way. And we’ve been doing so much visual work, and putting a lot of focus and energy into making visuals, yeah I’m just so excited to do something with people. All the live streams are an opportunity to do something different…but yeah the prospect of actually feeling the audience is just, it’s essential. It is essential to the creative process because a lot of it is so introverted and you’re using emotions that maybe people don’t want to use on a regular basis or in their day to day so the payoff of that process is sharing it and getting that audience connection. So I think it’s been a challenging time for artists in general, because they don’t have that other side of the coin”
Soda Blonde’s ‘Love Me World’ live stream was a real treat, with the band providing a unique and mesmerising visual as well as a standout performance. They made the most of this live stream freedom using various lighting effects to create a dazzling and atmospheric ambience to enhance their enticing alternative pop. Each song moved like a scene from a movie and added depth and perspective to their performance.
“They were what was getting us all through lockdown, and it was really great. I think there was that moment when that was kind of bringing everybody together and especially in the music community everyone was watching each other’s live streams and it was great, but at the same time, we wanted to do something that was next level. It was challenging though. We had no budget, it was just us and two of our friends helping us out, there was no big massive crew, it was just what we could muster. But it was great. I’m really proud of it.”
“Adam and I are big film buffs, but particularly Adam. Since we were kids, he was recording our music and engineering it, I mean like from the age of 15. He directs and the two of us conceptualise but he mainly directs everything that we do so, he’s a multifaceted genius man. He really is our secret weapon when it comes to all that kind of stuff. It’s great, I love being able to explore different mediums, not just music, we’ve learned so much in the last year about so many different things, because we’ve had to”
For me, the unreleased track ‘In The Heat of the Night’ was my favourite from the live stream and I asked O’Rourke if there would be any more singles released before the album in the hope she would satisfy my craving to hear the song again
“Yes, we will have another single out in a few weeks, it’s called ‘In the Heat of the Night’’.
O’Rourke has experienced different aspects of the music industry, from the hype of Little Green Cars and the time of A&R’s to the fast-paced music consumption of modern streaming. I wondered if she had any advice for anyone who wanted to start a career in music.
“You just have to do it for you first of all, and it’s true now more than ever that you have to be able to rely on yourself a great deal, that would be my advice. I don’t think it’s one of these things where it’s like never stop working and you know you got to get your head down and just, be at the grindstone, but liking music, always exploring, looking at other artists, watching as many films, reading as many books and just living your life. I think experiencing life is one of the greatest tools for creating. Just get yourself out there. The landscape has changed so much since we started. When we started, there was A&R guys coming over and somebody did your social media and there was more people in these kind of industry jobs, whereas now it seems, everybody does everything themselves, you have to be able to do multiple different jobs now, so it’s harder in a way, but it’s also great because there’s more of a platform for people at a starting out level to get their music out there. But I think it’s just about meeting people and meeting people that you want to work with and just making connections and having relationships with people”.
“ I don’t have a thick skin, I’m an emotional wreck so if I can do it, anyone can do it, don’t think too much. Just do it, don’t think too much about it. Don’t analyse it, just keep making stuff”
‘Small Talk’ is a masterful tune and an intoxicating appetizer to Soda Blonde’s debut album. This band’s talent knows no bounds. Looking forward to the album.
Irish singer-songwriter Rory & The Island has released the video for his brand new single ‘Miss This’. ‘Miss This’ explores the basic little joys we all miss during this crazy COVID situation and has become a firm favourite during Rory & The Island’s successful weekly Facebook Live broadcasts. I caught up with Rory to discuss the new single, his live broadcasts and the exciting prospect of live shows later in the year.
As Rory was “having a bit of a meltdown trying to get Weetabix out of a table” which was delightfully “mixed in with Crayola and milk” we talked about ‘Miss This’ and its slightly different shift in tone compared with his previous release ‘When The Lights Go Down (Valhalla)’. With its subdued instrumentation, the song creates a warm ambient atmosphere. Obviously, the lockdowns due to covid sparked the inspiration for the song, but I wondered was it Rory’s personal experience that made him write. ‘Miss This’ or was it seeing other people struggling.
“Probably a bit of both, we just got old clips of me playing live gigs and merged it in with myself and the kids around the sitting room. It’s just the contrast of lockdown as opposed to being able to go out and play in front of a live audience and even just put in some footage of when I used to go and watch a Donegal game and just the contrast of that. That was the thought running through my head but it’s so weird, when I put the video together, I have to be honest and it might be because of my age, but it looks like it’s a midlife crisis. It’s almost like a pining for your youth. I try not to make it too sentimental either. There’s a positivity, as you say – it’s melodious and rich. I went for that because I didn’t want to do another sob story of the pandemic. It’s the kind of song that maybe in eight years, I would hope, that you could listen to it and it’s still this song about reflecting on good times, it could be about a missing friend or missing some days that you had when you were younger with your family, but I’d like to think that it’s positive, you know it’s not got bitterness to it. “
It’s easy to accept and get used to the “new normal”, but when I heard ‘Miss This’ for the first time, it hit me hard. Everything we are missing just came flooding back, and it does every time I hear the song. It’s the perfect little reminder of all we have lost without being sad. Instead, it’s wonderfully nostalgic. Rory seems to have captured a sense of history in the track, yet it has a timeless feel.
“Even just buying a glass of wine during the day and sitting down at a cafe or two friends just getting a couple of cans and sitting on the beach on holiday. That can’t be done anymore and it’s hard to get your head around that. You would never have thought that was a big freedom”
“ I wrote it in like nine or 10 minutes, and that’s the same with, ‘Wired To The Moon’ and ‘Valhalla’ [‘When The Lights Go Down (Valhalla)] that kind of stuff connects well with people. Even with The Revs, we used to find that the stuff that we would spend three hours on would come out better than stuff we spent three weeks on. It’s really weird. So I just basically scribbled down on an A4 – sitting down for coffee in a restaurant, simply sitting down with a friend, having a conversation with a beer – you know, little basic things like going to a football match. I just wrote down about 10 things and then just started playing, the little old fashioned four chord rotation which is like a 1950s rotation really. It would be from ‘Blue Moon’, or ‘Stand By Me’ it’s just one of the classic chord formations. It’s kind of like that Bruce Springsteen thing of, can I get something really basic really quick? with a couple of chords. And sometimes, nine times out of 10 you can’t get that because after 20 minutes you do something that sounds like 20 other songs and it’s going nowhere and it’s not even interesting to me. But with this one, that was one of those where I was like wow! you know, the hair stands up a little bit on your arm. After five minutes, you know that you have a song almost complete which is so weird. “
This emotional and sweet sentiment that ‘Miss This’ summons within the listener makes you think of the live setting and how special this song will be live. It’s going to be a teary song with swaying and hugs when Rory finally gets to play it in a venue for the first time.
“This week I put out tickets for three gigs and the Glasgow one is almost sold out already and it’ll be 200 people upstairs at Malone’s in Glasgow, which is a lovely gig, it’s an Irish venue in Glasgow. Just the thought of being able to walk out with an acoustic guitar and kick drum and start off with that song. It’s exactly what you’re saying. It’s just going to have a totally different resonance. You could almost add an “ed” at the end you know “I missed this”. For people that have been locked up for all these months to get that little release. Though August is still ages away and who’s to say there won’t be some variant from Mars or Venus to throw another spanner in the works but yeah that’s one of those songs that I think is going to work really well live. It was really hard to record it. I said to Josh who would do the co-production with me, he’s a friend of mine from Rock School in Ballyfermot. We went there in the late 90s and to be able to meet up again years later is mad. He has a recording studio in Yorkshire, that’s where I do all my stuff, it’s such a nice studio it’d be like Abbey Road quality.So I sat down and I just said this one I want it to be acoustic guitar, tambourine, vocal, and it’s just got that broken down at a festival type song. So we put that down first and after two and a half minutes we thought there’s something dull about this and we didn’t want to make it sound overproduced so we added a little bit of kick drum which is natural anyway because I use a kick drum, and then I thought there’s still something. It was so tricky. We’d say ok let’s try a string section, you put that in and all of a sudden you go, well it’s missing drums and bass now so let’s take that out. It was getting to the point where it was 10 o’clock at night and we’re going, Holy sh*t. It was so annoying because sometimes when you’re trying to find simplicity, like if you listen to certain songs that you would think they’re really simple, you realize there’s about seven overdubs in the background that are just making it glorious and that’s what we really struggled with so we managed to slice it down to moments of piano, moments of strings, kick drum, bass guitar subtly underneath the acoustic in the background and tambourine and harmony. But for the first two minutes of the song it’s really just the guitar, vocal, that you would hear. So,it was really tricky. The other song I did, ‘When The Lights Go Down (Valhalla), I flew through that much quicker because I knew it was going to be that kind of Neil Young, Meat Puppets type thing. I could hear the drum pattern, the bass pattern, the guitar pattern. So this one was a bit of a panic in the studio and I actually thought that we had blown it. When I got the mix back. I was like, I don’t even know if this is gonna get played on the radio. It sounds weird, you know, but yeah it’s going good so far”
Rory’s previous single, ‘When The Lights Go Down (Valhalla),’ reached Number 1 in early November 2020, and it kept Miley Cyrus, Lizzo, and Dermot Kennedy off the top spot for the weekend. He admits this success put a little pressure on the singer-songwriter as he approached his next release.
“I know yeah, it actually gave this one a bit of pressure, it was like oh my god, the last one went to number one if this goes to number six everybody’s gonna slag me oh you’re not as popular as you were in November. All these stupid things go through your head. So I was glad that it did go to number one for a day. “
Rory’s weekly Facebook Live broadcasts have built up something of a cult following with an average of 30,000 weekly views over the past year. These fun-filled nights of great tunes, fantastic originals and mighty covers have cheered people up and given them something to look forward to each week. There is a little community here, as Rory gives shoutouts, birthday wishes and requests. Along with his cheery and fun persona, there is something extremely charming about these live streams.
“Yeah, it’s been amazing, I suppose the only thing is that there’ll be a slight songwriter artistic guilt within me because when I started off I wanted to give it a real feelgood factor so I was taking requests, so I’m playing all this stuff, and I wouldn’t normally have a lot of it in my set, you know, but the fact that it was a keeping the spirits of the people up type vibe, it almost felt like well, if they’re feeling good, I’m serving a purpose this year. After all that time now it’s really hard to pull back and go, Okay, well I’ve done loads of cover versions now I want to do 90% of my own set which is kind of a dilemma but I think I’m gonna have to do it. I’m gonna have to shake off the people that are just watching it for, you know, having like 20 cans, and singing along with the screen. That’s the one thing I’ve found a little bit tricky, just judging Facebook. As you say people tune in / tune out so much you would keep it more upbeat, more commercial than you probably would. It’s a weird line that you have to tread.”.
If anyone is looking for a short pick me up, they need to check out Rory’s 2021 Song on Facebook. It’s a catchy, cheeky ditty that will stick in your head for days.
“That actually went viral, a few of them have gone viral like the one I did for Meghan and Harry. But I think if you’re clever and you make sure there’s just no narrow-mindedmalintent behind any lyric it will connect with enough people. You trust that people might be on the same wavelength as yourself. In the past, Ricky Gervais seemed so dark and rude but at the same time, he didn’t. It was the same with Steve Coogan, there was almost this, taking the p*ss out of himself type thing. It works you know, and I don’t like cheesy writing, I don’t like sentimental writing, but at the same time, I don’t like just rude for the sake of being rude. I like to have it with a bit of thought behind it, I think that’s connected with some of the more silly stuff that I’ve done”
Thankfully these live streams won’t come to an instant halt when the live shows return. Rory plans to keep them going as long as people want to see them.
“For me. Yeah, because I’ve built up a lot of fans that would be in the vulnerable type class, you know they’re like oh my god I can’t really buy tickets to your live gigs, because I feel too nervous or because I’m severely asthmatic and I’m not ready yet, so I just said back to the people until the view figures hit like, 190, 85, then I’ll know it’s time to call it a day and then maybe even if they’re hitting that figure and that’s on a Monday night and seven o’clock and I’m playing all my own stuff, there’s no harm in that. So I think it’s always gonna be there. I think every third week maybe just keep doing Facebook Lives and stay in touch with those people that have been really kind to me for the 13 months. I’m very lucky that I’ve built up a lot of followers in Canada, America, Japan and even Dubai and some random places…like in the Bahamas.”
Rory has been writing a lot over the last year and is hoping to release some more music this year. Along with his live shows booked for later in the summer, he’s got some exciting things planned
“ I’ve been lucky. I’ve had a good spell I’ve written about nine new songs so hopefully if we can get maybe the best 7 of those recorded and then put it with the four I’ve recorded this year. I would like to get a proper digital vinyl out, maybe like 1000 prints in November/ December this year. It’d be a nice way of just gathering all the stuff that I’ve done this year and then maybe not make it pandemic related. I’ve done a lockdown special EP with just a lot of the cover songs that were going down the best, mixed with my own songs and we just did an acoustic CD. Put out like 500 Copy limited edition and that sold which is brilliant. It got me through three months really from the old fashioned CD profits, it was like, 1998 again! So I’ve got an album of stuff ready to go. I just need to get enough days where it’s legal to go to the studio.”
“I think there’s a subconscious thing where people realize that even though we’re all trying to get as much for free as possible, a lot of people,at the end of the day they know artists are only getting maybe like a 90 quid cheque every month from Spotify at the very most if your doing quite well. Whereas if you buy a CD, it should be, when all is said and done, maybe eight euro straight to the artists. So I’m looking at the good side of people and I think that’s what a lot of people are thinking, especially this year. A lot of people even bought the CD and took a photo of the CD in the kitchen saying it ‘arrived today Rory! thanks a million, I don’t have a CD player but you know.’ People are almost doing the artists a favour just because they know it’s been a tough year. I think even indie bands and all that, their Spotify at the end of the year could be 300 Euro. So people will go, you know what, I like this band, I’ve seen them live twice, I’m going to get their vinyl, because it’s something to hold in my hand, and they might actually get some money from it. There’s a much sweeter sound off vinyl and if you have a nice vinyl player in the sitting room, it just looks really cool, if you have a few friends around, put on the vinyl, sit down, the tone is nicer. I wouldn’t have thought that when I was younger but the more you go into a recording studio and hear the difference in frequencies it does become apparent that there’s not really much difference between CDs, and mp3s, on Spotify, there’s really not much of a difference but there is with vinyl”
Rory has two live gigs in Glasgow and London for August (Dublin Castle, Camden) and he is excited to get some more booked in as soon as he can
“I’m trying to get a few gigs booked in Ireland but it’s just really difficult as I’m sure it is for everybody. I was hoping maybe August, September, but it’s just very hard. One problem is, the venues have such a backlog of bands that were meant to play that they’ve got like gigs on six nights a week, on paper, starting in July, and they’ve got to work their way back from like seven months of backlog gigs. So, for me, booking a gig fresh I might actually not be able to perform in Ireland until February or March 2022 which is just crazy to get your head around that, but over here in Scotland I’ve got Glasgow almost sold out for August and then I’ve got Dublin Castle in London and Camdon and that’s almost sold out as well and the Irish Centre in Liverpool so it’s nice to see gigs coming back and it’s great to see as well that people have a thirst for buying tickets which is a relief.”
Rory crafts beautiful tunes filled with earworm melodies and heartfelt emotion. He is proving himself to be a diverse and refined musician. His music exudes such an infectious sound, it is sure to have anyone singing along in no time. I’m looking forward to the earworms he releases next.
I caught up with David Whelan and Conor O’Donohoe From Wild Youth to have a chat about the band’s new EP ‘Forever Girl’. We talked about how they experimented to create the lush sound on the EP, what inspired the songs as well as how they got through the lockdowns chatting fashion, watching movies and even cooking with their fans.
Belfast-born Liverpool-based songwriter Thom Southern has released his third single ‘Soul Singer’.It’s a fantastic burst of fuzz-pop that continues the frenetic sound we have come to love from Southern. I caught up with the singer-songwriter to talk about the new single, working with Sonic Boom and how he is carving his own recognisable sound as well as the advantages of beginning a solo career in the middle of a pandemic.
“Yeah, it’s always good to finally get the song out there because as a musician, you kind of just want to play it as soon as you write it and record it, you want to put it out the next day but there’s always a bit of a process to releasing music. I finished writing that song, probably a year ago and then I just sort of last-minute ended up asking Sonic Boom to work on it with me and he mixed it and added his instruments. Then we decided to put it out quite quickly, which was cool. Normally there’s more of a strategy to releasing music, especially if you’ve got a record label but with this track, I released it completely DIY. It was just fun to do it completely on my own and use friends to make videos and things. So that’s cool.”
‘Soul Singer’ was produced in collaboration with Peter Kember a.k.a Sonic Boom of Spacemen 3. A collaboration made in heaven as Spacemen 3 were notoriously known for their minimalistic psychedelic sound and Southern’s previous releases have shown flairs of psychedelia while maintaining a shoegaze and indie bite. Southern chuckles as he tells me how a random social media interaction brought about this beautiful collaboration.
“ It’s funny, I’m a big fan of Spaceman 3, for years I’ve been listening to them. And it’s [Soul Singer] actually really inspired by tracks that were probably more prominent with Pete [Peter Kember] because obviously Jason Pierce and Pete, their styles are very different inside Spaceman 3. You can kind of hear the difference, especially on the Recurring album. I’m pretty sure they’d split up by that point, and they did that album completely separately, and I think tracks like ‘I Love You’ and there’s a track called ‘Big City’. I think that was mainly Pete doing them. Those two tracks actually really inspired the production sound of Soul Singer so it was weird. I didn’t even know Pete then and I was just producing myself with Spaceman 3 in mind. Also, I love going to Spain, and everywhere you go in Spain, you kind of hear that…, I don’t know whether it’s Samba or whatever, you know, that kind of beat pulsing through every song, everywhere. Its like, boom, kicka boom ka. I’ve always really wanted to make a tune like that in an ironic way. So I just sort of blended that kind of Spanish influence and Spacemen 3 with like, another track I like, ‘Movin’ on Up’ by Primal Scream and I just really wanted to make a really feel-good song. I just felt like it was the right time to release it because, everyone’s a bit down at the moment, and it’s coming up to the summer, but yeah, it was funny, I just started following Sonic Boom on Instagram and he had released a new Christmas tune or something and I put it up on my story and then he shared my story post, and then I shared his share of my story post, and then he shared my share of my share, you know, and we kept doing that for like 10 minutes out of nowhere and we created this, In a way, it’s kind of poetic, but we created this kind of interstellar story sharing thing, and it’s like a parallel universe. It kind of looked like that with loads of shares. So we were just laughing and joking with each other all day and then I just said, you know what, I’ve actually got this song that I think would be perfect working together do you want to do it? and he was up for it, so it’s quite weird but yeah we’re kind of friends now on email and I keep in touch and stuff so yeah it’s funny how life works out like that.”
Like all true production maestro’s, Southern crafts his songs meticulously adding lush melodies and layers through each melodic whirl or sharp guitar wail. Within ‘Soul Singer’ there is a wonderfully sweet key melody that becomes the hook that lures your ears into the song while a catchy guitar and vocal melody intertwine to create a lush and exhilarating soundscape.
“I think, the way I connect the instrument and the vocals together, like the way I write songs, they sort of are always intertwined with one another. So a lot of the time I write a guitar chord that gets me going. I’m like oh this is class. I love writing a very simple hook inside the guitar. In a lot of my songs you’ll find, that I write the melodies of my lyrics, based on what the guitar’s doing or vice versa. So with Soul Singer, I’m pretty sure it was the acoustic guitar riff . I just sort of heightened it with a very clear melody and then I wrote the lyric, “you’re taking my problems away”, that’s the same melody over the top of that. I quite like when songwriting is completely simplified down to almost like a nursery rhyme hook, you know, just something super simple. So, yeah, that’s kind of how that came about.”
“Some of the verse melody ideas and lyrics I actually wrote when I was like 19 or something. It was at the very beginning of my old band, Southern. It used to be a song called Violet View or something, then I changed it to Soul Singer and sort of made it about a different story, but yeah it’s kind of three songs sort of put together and developed over time. I think it’s been hanging around for a good few years and I was never really happy with it. I wanted to define a vision for the production if you know what I mean. I think whenever I heard that Spanish drumbeat when I was going on holiday, a lot of that just sort of clicked.”
It’s interesting to see the versatility within each of Southern’s releases. He is creating his own instantly recognisable sound. ‘Soul Singer’ blends the swelling blitz of fuzzy shoegaze from ‘Shivers’ and the sweet heartfelt nostalgia of ‘Perfect Someone’ while adding more textures and sounds. I wondered is this Southern weening us into his sound or just showing what he can do
“That’s a good question. I think. Yeah, because of lockdown, I was watching an interesting interview with Mac DeMarco the other day actually and he was being interviewed about his process since covid came and everything, and it was funny what Mac DeMarco said. He said, there’s no point in me releasing anything at the moment because I can’t show and tell. That made me laugh. It’s so true, like normally I would write music that would incorporate how I’d like to present it on stage, so like, if I had a tour coming up or whatever I’d always make sure that the songs, sort of sounded similar so that when we go on tour, I can capture people in that moment and that style and get lost in it with them. Whereas I think because of all the lockdowns, it has sort of thrown the rulebook out of the window and it’s allowed a lot of artists to experiment more and I think it’s funny, I launched my solo career in the midst of it all so yeah, I think you can kind of get away with more. But, long story short, I think, It’s a bit of both. I’m just experimenting and I don’t think I can ever really have a specific style, because I really love a lot of genres, but the basis of my songwriting is always pretty similar, you know. I like writing catchy pop songs. But then, experimenting with the production sound. So maybe it’s more like the production sound, is what is more experimental. I think I’m just developing it at the moment. Eventually, when I’m ready to go on tour, I want to make a more full body of work where it’s like six tracks all interlinked and the whole story and the songwriting is all based around that EP whereas at the moment I’m kind of just releasing singles. So yeah, I’m just enjoying this.”
This experimentation has created a diverse listening experience for fans as they can hear the produced spectacle of the track as well as a more raw version when Southern performs the songs live. Recently Southern showcased how the tracks will translate live through a performance on This Feeling, providing yet another side to his sound that I’m sure fans were eager to see.
“I think, with Soul Singer, it was more of an artistic collaboration with Sonic Boom. It’s kind of not a representation of me on my own, just doing it completely on my own. So that was just a fun collaboration and something that I wanted to do because I admire Sonic Boom and I just thought, you know, it’d be cool to mix our styles together. But if I was to play Soul Singer on an acoustic guitar, it would sound more like what I did for This Feeling. And obviously, you know, ‘Perfect Someone’, it’s hard to replicate a sound like that with just three people on stage, unless you’re playing the backing tracks and I’m not a big fan of backing tracks. I prefer to hear the band totally raw. So, yeah, I think, what I did with This Feeling is probably more close to what I will sound like on tour, in general. Especially if I’m only playing with three people, you know guitar, bass and drums. I mean it’s hard to replicate all those sounds that I put into the production of Soul Singer. So, yeah that’s a good point, I think what I would really like to do is to make a more raw EP, eventually, I think at the moment just because of lockdown and everything I think it’s more fun to just do whatever I want, production-wise, and then when I’m ready to go on the road I definitely would love to make a more live-sounding EP, or album that I could easily replicate on tour. But for the meantime, I think it’s more fun for artists to just do whatever they want because there is no rule book at the minute.”
Versatility is an important trait to have as an artist and Southern doesn’t shy away from pushing himself to create tunes that erupt with life and energy. He also showcases his versatility through a few covers, most recently Billie Eilish’s ‘everything i wanted’.
“Actually it was like a year ago that I did the majority of that recording. I just kept hearing Billie Eilish’s name everywhere and I was like, you know what, I’m just gonna go and listen, and then the first thing I listened to was ‘everything i wanted’.Obviously, I think I’d heard some other stuff and it’s brilliant, but it’s not my cup of tea, you know like, ‘bad guy’ and stuff. But then I heard ‘everything i wanted’ and I was like, whoa, For fun I just started stripping it back onto an acoustic guitar and singing along with the lyrics and you just realize how good at writing her and her brother are. I think it’s as good as any master songwriter out there and it just suited my voice while I was singing. I thought I’d do my own take on it and I showed it to a couple of my friends and they were like you should definitely put this out, but I was sitting on that track for a while, and I just decided to put it out at the end of the year. And, yeah, it’s pretty cool and she won a Grammy for it the other day. It seems to be my most popular tune on Spotify which is cool”
Thom Southern is a talented singer-songwriter. He combines a natural knack for heartfelt melodies with an intense and ever-growing soundscape of alternative pop, shoegaze and psychedelia to create a sound that is truly mesmerising and lush. Each release brings something new and exciting. Looking forward to hearing what Thom Southern releases next.
NI Music Prize Nominee Sam Wickens has recently released his new EP, ‘Watson.’ I caught up with the singer-songwriter to talk about the themes and topics that inspired this emotional EP, how he crafts his sound and the cinematic videos that have pushed him to the extremes in freezing cold weather.
‘Watson’ is a wholly immersing collection of tracks that display a timeline of the darkest and most vulnerable times in Wickens’ life. Within this EP, he describes in great detail his emotional state, his inner thoughts, and how he struggled to keep his head above water. I wondered if this honest delivery made him nervous for the release.
“No, I think I was more nervous when I was releasing the album, the fact that it was so raw to me, it was more of a personal thing for me to release. It wasn’t just like oh these are songs that I think sound amazing, it was just a part of me that I was releasing, so I wasn’t nervous about how people were going to take it. I think everyone, whether it’s music that you listen to normally or something that you would never listen to, when you hear something so raw, you just connect anyway and you respect it, so I wasn’t nervous”
It’s quite a gripping EP. Wickens captures so much anguish and torment through beautiful musicianship and production. Each song is almost like a piece of a puzzle that slots together to talk about his struggle with mental health. The vulnerability and rawness makes each song feel like it was written at the time of Wickens’ suffering. However, in retrospect Wickens realises the scale of what he went through.
“It was looking back in hindsight, that I saw, as you said there was a bit of like, puzzle or a pattern. One of the first thoughts I got when I was listening back after I think it must have been like eight months of writing and recording a lot of the songs, was like when people say the stages of grief, there’s different stages. I started seeing that, each song was like a different stage of… I called it my downfall, into the worst place that I had ever been. So, with some of the songs, it was the first time I had noticed something’s happening here I’m going somewhere, and then it gets into kind of questioning, you know with ‘Murky Waters’, it was that kind of angry, Why has all of this happened?. Why am I constantly being dealt these bad cards?, and then with ‘This War of Mine’ that was the acceptance stage. I’d accepted that I’m not going to get any better, this is going to be the rest of my life, however short, it was going to be at the time, you know, I’d accepted it. Then with ‘Strange’, that’s the afterwards, that kind of awakening of it all just went away. So when we were putting the tracks in order it was even clearer then to see that it was this pattern which was an amazing thing for me to see looking back because you get to see the different types of progress, you know the progress that I was getting more depressed, and it was very evident, looking back, but at the time everyday was the same.”
“ In a horrible way I became externally desensitized to a lot of things, as I said from having traumatic experiences. So, as a songwriter there’s a level of skill where you kind of switch off a little bit and you can analyze it, and I have learned skills in that through psychiatrists and a lot of counseling where you’re able to analyze a situation, especially if it’s inside your own head. But where ‘Murky Waters’ came from, it was just the lines you know I’ve been wading murky waters all alone, and I was so angry when I came up with that line. Because, as you said, the realization hit me, and I was just like, why has this always happened to me. I try my best to be a good person. I try to help anyone I can.Why is it such a struggle for me to just be me and I was just so angry, but when I was writing it, the anger became a bit more because, as you said, you know you’re looking into these things all of a sudden. 3 things that were on my mind that the song was about became 10 became 20. I was thinking about more of these things that had happened growing up and by the time I finished the song it was quite therapeutic because it was like okay some of them things I hadn’t thought of in a while and whenever you finish a song there’s a sense of closure with whatever you’re writing about. It feels like right, I’ve given that time of day, I’ve thought about it,I’ve really fleshed it out and that’s what I love about songwriting anyway.”
Wickens’ lyrics are expressive, well crafted, and poetic. This is especially the case with ‘Watson.’ However my personal favourite track on the EP is arguably ‘This War of Mine’. It is within this song I feel Wickens’ lyrics are at their most potent, evocative and poetic. He sings, “In time ill find some peace of mind. In time, I’ll lose this war of mine” – that line alone is striking. It gives a sense that here within this narrative or this part of the EP’s timeline, Wicken’s gives up or loses hope.
“ When I was first writing the song, I was just sitting playing on piano and how I write a lot of my songs I just kind of go and do an adlib, I’ll just sing whatever comes to my head and then change things up afterwards and stuff, but as I was singing it, I sang the lyric, I’ll lose This War of Mine. I got really emotional just sitting in my studio. I think it was the first time that I had admitted to no one else but myself, by myself that I don’t think this is something I’m going to be able to come through, you know for the first time. Everything else I’ve had an attitude of, I’ll get through it, I’ll fight through it, I’m not going to stop. But this was the first time where I had admitted to myself through music as well which is even closer to me than just me as a person that I wasn’t going to be able to win this time. That just struck me really deep.But also the fact that I was accepting of it, I was like, You know what, I’m going to get some peace of mind, no matter what, I’m either going to lose and none of these problems are going to be here anymore, or, it will leave, and it won’t be here anymore. But at the time of writing it was definitely, I’m going to lose this fight, I didn’t think I’d be around so it was quite tough when I first wrote that lyric.”
This pain is heartbreakingly powerful throughout the EP, but I wondered for Wickens’ family was it difficult for them to hear his pain through this remarkably honest EP.
“My mother always knew. We’ve always been very very close and we’ve always had a very open relationship. I would never hold anything back. So she’s been in the know through everything, especially from when I was a child, she had to be there at all the counseling or GP appointments and stuff so she had witnessed everything from medications to me being tranquilized and put to sleep and stuff. It wasn’t nice, but it was normal and that sounds really weird but because it happened for such a long period of time it was normal for me and my mum to go to a psychiatric hospital or me and my mom to go to my GP to get medication or, you know, go to a substance abuse clinic and all these things. It became quite normal but I wouldn’t let them really listen to the songs at an early stage. So by the time they hear it, it is pretty much with everyone else hearing it. So I think there’s a bit of a shock especially – they hear how I’m saying things from a very vulnerable place and that is me and my music. It’s always very vulnerable. My mom and my dad, they would hear from just a slightly different angle like whenever you are talking to someone you’re almost afraid to say something that could upset them so you sometimes dumb it down a bit, but with music,there’s no limit, you can say what you want. But I do know it was tough for them.”
Wickens’ music doesn’t conform to one genre; it seamlessly flows between electronic, blues, and country to rock. His writing isn’t a forced art. He allows it to flourish and grow organically, sometimes springing off a lyric or melody.
“ If I’m writing lyrics with no music, sometimes, it would be, as you said earlier, poetry. I would write it, and there’s no real musical element. There’s a bit of rhythm to the poetry, how you kind of move the words around and stuff. I see what kind of perks my ears, a little bit. Obviously, with me it’s not really that often a happy sounding song but, yeah with my style of writing I wouldn’t be the type of musician that’s writing every day to improve the skill. Whatever I do write, it’s going to be true, it’s going to be honest and it’s going to be from me, and sometimes that takes a long time. I know one of the lyrics in Murky Waters, “I’ll just drink if I drown” – I wrote that maybe four or five years ago just that one line. I had been sober for six years, and at one really down point, I was like you know what if I feel like I’m drowning in depression I’m just gonna drink. Luckily enough I’ve never done that but I was at a very bad place and I just wrote that lyric down, and, four or something years later, I was writing Murky Waters and remembered that line and was like this makes a lot of sense.”
Wickens once said that ‘Ravens and Crows’ from his ‘All I’ve Seen’ 2019 album was inspired by a bird that flew into his window and it gave him something to ruminate on. I wondered if escaping through his imagination is vital to his song writing.
“Yes, but I find that I need something to kind of startup. Unless it’s like daydreaming, about like what if I could fly, I can imagine that but for storylines and memories, with me and a lot of times my songs, they start off and the first little bit of inspiration is a memory that’s come into my head, and then, that just takes it on. But with Ravens and Crows and other songs that have been quite imagery based – My family always joke I’ve got an insane memory, when it comes to imagery stuff – I just can remember a lot of details. So one small picture- esque memory, I could just draw it in so much detail I could fill an entire song. But yeah, I seem to need that little burst of initial creativity, and then my brain just takes over.”
Another mesmerising quality to Wickens’ songs is his ability to create instrumental backdrops of cinematic quality filled with unique and exciting sounds that reveal themselves on each subsequent listen.
“ That’s the one part I absolutely love about production, the atmosphere and the textures and I think they just add the sense of day to day life, you know, whether it be a wind howling, or something clanging, that’s a big part of my production. It came from whenever I was doing therapy, there’s a form of therapy called EMDR. Whenever I was doing it he’d give me two little controllers and they would vibrate left and right in my hands, and then there would be a beep, left and right and it always made me relaxed. So I started bringing it into the songs and having things go on left and right, and then that kind of evolved into every time I would write a song I would put some kind of atmospheric sound or some kind of textural sound, and it would just distract me enough to allow myself to be creative. I’m just building on that, some sounds are random. In Murky Waters in the introduction of the song, there’s this kind of clicking it almost sounds like some kind of weird bird, but it was actually my drummer, that was taking photos on a camera, and I just heard it, I was like, Oh, we need to record that. In This War of Mine there’s someone hitting a hammer. There’s these weird sounds that I think add some kind of difference to the songs, they’re not all the way through, they’re not, on beat, it’s not even a melody it’s just the sound. But I love that, I love building them up and seeing what you can create with just bits of randomness.”
Wickens has a warm, soulful voice that oozes vulnerability and confidence all at once. There is something quite captivating within his vocals. However, Wickens admits he isn’t a confident singer at all.
“Oh no, I am still not. I never could sing. I would say one of the best things about me being very depressed, was I stopped caring what people thought about me singing and I’m so happy that I’ve managed to keep it up. But I’ve struggled with my confidence, a lot, and when I first started performing, I would never say a word. I would go up when I would perform and I would leave and I would go to the back door, I was a ghost. Then people started liking that, people started talking about the fact that Sam Wickens gets on stage. He doesn’t say anything. He just performs and he leaves and I started to feel quite comfortable in that. But I’ve never really had a lot of confidence, especially within my music, and I’ve seen a lot of people talk about imposter syndrome, where you feel like everything’s a fluke. I felt like that, you know, anytime my manager would say something about my voice and say like, this is quoting him, he would say like, ‘you’ve got one of the best voices about’. I’m like, are you listening to the same person I’m listening to? Because in my mind I think I sound like a drunk 80 year old person that smoked far too much for far too long. But I suppose just getting older, you start to just be okay with yourself. I think that I’m definitely going down that path now which is so much better because you’re able to enjoy it more, you’re not worrying as much.”
Wickens has released a cinematic video for ‘Strange 24’ and ‘Murky Waters’.Both striking in their own way with the running theme of pushing Wickens to his limits physically to create the tension, drama and imagery, recreating visually what Wickens’ mind was fighting through within the themes of these songs and throughout the EP.
“Strange was the first time me and the director Danny Mills had met each other. I’d seen his work on another artist, and there was something about it. Whenever you see a videographer’s work, it’s like you can see through their eyes a little bit, and how they see the world. As soon as I saw his video, it was a song called OMG by John Andrews, fantastic song, I love that song. I saw the video and I just felt like he [Danny Mills] could see darkness in things and if he can see darkness in day to day life, he could almost translate what I feel into video. So, we met up, and he just sat down and was like ‘Tell me your story’ and we just talked for about an hour or two. We were throwing all these concepts back and forth, about the video. I want to go to the extreme for videos. I think it’s a way of almost punishing myself for the music, you know, that kind of old thing. But I wanted it to be extreme. I think I said I want it to be a mixture of the introduction to American Horror Story, and the canal scene out of Willy Wonka. I want it to be that kind of unsettling. Then he texted me one day and he was like, Look, I have found this location that’s an abandoned asylum, it would be pretty cool to make the video almost like a prequel to the song – so the song is about it all just went away, well what went away Sam? so let’s go back there. Obviously, the psychiatric hospital I was in was nothing like the one in the video, but it was an amazing experience for ‘Strange’”
The asylum for ‘Strange 24’ is a harrowing setting I wondered was it as ominous as it looked
“One thing that really made me a bit on edge was there was graffiti on it. Some of the graffiti was very twisted, said some horrible things, and as soon as I read it, I was like, I don’t feel as easy here. I feel like the worst things that happened here happened after it had closed. It was long filming. We were filming from five in the morning and we were finishing about 12 at night. It was about three days, I think, and then obviously the outdoor scenes in the maze which was a task in itself. We had no way to communicate to each other. So, I’m in the middle of a maze and I need to find my way back to figure out what to do next. I had a spray bottle to keep myself wet for the video but a lot of it was just sweat because, you know, I would hear Danny shouting Sam come over I need to talk to you, and it would take me about 25 minutes jogging to get back to him, and that was constant. So it was pretty tough.”
“For Murky Waters, I got sick badly. I used to do crazy stuff growing up…I’ve set my face on fire and stuff for a video when I was a lot younger, and I got stabbed in the arm on camera and this is the first time my mom was like, I don’t think this is such a good idea I’m a bit worried. This was also the first time that I was actually a bit worried because where we were filming was just south of a place called Downpatrick, it was right at the sea edge, and the plan was for me to get into the ocean or into the sea, and I had never been to this location before, but when we got there the edges were just jagged rock face. It wasn’t like a beach. It was the coldest day of the year. It was lashing down. The bath we had, we were filling it up with water from the sea, so it was freezing, also I would need to stay in the same clothes all day. So I was getting a bit worried. We filmed a little bit, but the bath scene where I submerge myself was the first scene that we filmed. So as I went in, it felt like my lung capacity had just shrunk. I was trying to breathe and this waters…freezing cold and it’s freezing outside and it’s so windy… As soon as I went under the water the shock reaction of taking a breath and I took a big breath of water and jumped up coughing and almost threw up all this water at the side of the bath … I was very bad, my body went into a bit of shock and I couldn’t stop shaking. In a lot of the actual frames and scenes in Murky Waters, you can see me shaking and you can see that I’m very blank in the face. That wasn’t acting that was really true. There was a lot of time where I was tunnel vision throughout the day. Where I thought that I was about to pass out because all my clothes were just soaking wet and it was raining and it was windy. It was just constant freezing weather and then the next two days, I was really sick at home. I was really really badly sick. But it made for a great video. I’ve been given instructions from Danny – can you please write a song about sunshine and happiness so he can film in Ibiza or something. I said to him the next thing is gonna involve fire or something warm. One idea that I had for a video was macabre. I wanted to be lying beside myself. Basically, one version of me is alive and one’s dead, and wanted to just lie beside himself, but a few videographers down right were like ‘we’re not doing that, that’s a bit too much’ – this is one of the first questions I asked Danny just to see how he would react. He was like, ‘ definitely’, and I was like, yeah, we’re gonna work together. But I do love working with him and I can’t wait to see what’s next.”
Wickens’ Dublin show has been confirmed in The Workman’s Club for Saturday the 13th of November and Wickens is buzzing to play shows again
“It’s weird I’m just excited. Normally I’m really nervous. Sadly I only got to play one gig. Like, after I took a bit of a break and then I played one gig, that was, you know,a great great gig, it was for a mental health charity. I loved that. I was so scared. But after that, I was like, this is definitely for me, I want to do this again. Then the lockdown happened but I’m just excited. I’m not putting so much expectation on myself. I’m just allowing myself to be myself and enjoy it and Dublin is just amazing for music. The people that go to gigs in Dublin, they just want to listen to music and to be in it and I think after all of this people are gonna want that more than ever.”
I wondered what advice Wickens would give to someone who wants to start a career in music.
“Do it for the right reasons, do it because you want to do it. I see a lot of people, and they’re like 15, 16, and they’re trying to be what they think everyone wants them to be or what TV wants them to be or Simon Cowell and stuff like that. But I think the best thing to do is be yourself or else you’ll end up never happy. I remember listening to a podcast, years ago, and the guy in the podcast said that he was given advice when he was younger to ‘Be yourself’, and he never understood it until he was older and he was like, Oh, it’s not like be a better version of yourself, or be a more theatrical version of yourself, it’s just simply be yourself. I tried to make sure that I took that in a bit earlier than he did. I think that’s what inspired me to be a lot more open about myself because while I was struggling and stuff. I was still pretending. I was pretending I was okay. But I think, just be yourself. there’s always going to be people out there that like who you are and like what you do and there will always be a lot more people that can see through fakeness. I think authenticity gets people’s respect instantly, even if they don’t like your music, they’ll respect that you’re being authentic. I think that’s one of the best things about being a musician is just being yourself.”
I wondered what Sam Wickens has got planned for the coming months.
“I’m not too sure. I know I’ve got a few singles sitting there, but I do like to wait a wee bit between releases. It takes me a long time to debrief and move, mentally on to the next thing. I would like to work on a few more videos, whether it be for new singles that are in the pipeline, or something completely brand new, and just see what we can do live-wise. I do know that in the North, we’re late, they released the roadmap, but no dates and stuff so we’re still in the unknown, but I would definitely like to do something, I love small gigs so if there’s a possibility of a very small, intimate socially distant, whatever it may be, kind of a gig would be lovely especially coming into the summer, you know, nice, bright nights outside somewhere would be an absolute gift, so fingers crossed.”
Wickens is a passionate performer and exceptional instrumentalist; his heartfelt songs and deft musical prowess is something to be admired. Within his songs, there are immaculate moments of heightened emotion and striking, poetic lyrical depth that takes your breath away. With each release, Wickens creates a world of his own where the listener is immersed within his story as he depicts emotion like no other. Sam Wickens is a songwriter to treasure.
I caught up with Jacob Leff from Cassia to have a chat about the band’s new EP ‘Powerlines’ We chatted about the themes and topics that drive the band’s sun-soaked tunes, live shows, and what they have planned for the rest of the year.
Watch The Interview Below
Author : Danu
Indie: (n) an obscure form of rock which you only learn about from someone slightly more hip than yourself.
