You may have noticed all those Chunk.ie interviews being posted on the site recently. Well up till a few weeks ago, I used to do some interviews, write some pieces and draw some cartoons for Chunk.
Unfortunately Chunk.ie is no more, so rather than have those pieces disappear off the face of the internet, I thought I’d post those them on my own site.
There are more to come, some with models, sports stars and authors… I’ll post them over the coming days. Who knows, you might even like them!
Originally published 21/10/2013 on Chunk.ie
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Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats. That’s a name you won't forget in a hurry. What's the story behind it, presuming there is a story...
Its about a psycho killer who thinks he's God and then goes out into the desert to start his own death cult.
I've been listening to Mind Control for the last few weeks and I've been trying to classify your sound, but failing miserably. It seems to flit between many different genres. Having said I have noticed that the album does go well with Queen of the Stone Ages latest opus, Like Clockwork. How would you guys classify yourselves?
Its hard to say. There's elements of rock, metal, pop, psych....
Cambridge is noted for many things, education, boat races, and most recently, Silicon Fen. It's not exactly known worldwide for producing hard rocking bands. What happened with you guys? Are you all Cambridge locals or did you meet there at college?
No, none of us are from Cambridge. I just happened to live there when I started the band with some friends. There aren't many musicians in Cambridge. Its a small place, but its not a musical place at all. A lot of people in the Cambridge scene hate me because I'm always slagging the place off, but that's fine. It's recent track record speaks for itself. Venues closing down, music licenses getting revoked....its just not a healthy place to be in a band. Now, the band is really based in London which is where I found the best musicians.
Mind Control is your third studio album in 4 years, that's a pretty impressive record. How do you work in the studio? Who's the main creative genius of the band or is it, as Roy Keane would say, a team effort?
Well, I write all the songs. I would still say its a team effort, but at the end of the day I suppose it comes down to what I want. We mostly go for a live sound in the studio. Just crank everything up till there's smoke coming out of all the amps and machines, then hit record.
I've bought your album (no freebies here!) and it's bloody amazing and I'm looking forward to seeing you guys here in Ireland later in the year. Is this your first time to play in Ireland? Will you have some time to sample the good life here?
I hope so! A lot of my family were from Ireland but this will be our first time there and its always been top of my list of places to go to. Looking forward to it.
Some light hearted questions to finish up with...
Simon Cowell, god’s gift to the music industry or the spawn of Satan sent from hell to ruin rock and roll?
Spawn of Satan. I actually walked past him in London recently as he was getting out of his ridiculous 4x4 and I can tell you he looks every inch the cunt in person as he does on TV.
Every band is guilty of writing bad lyrics at one stage or another, what's the worst you've come up with?
'I'm the devil and I'm here to do the devils work'. Horrible lyric.
Robin Thicke has recently shown that having scantily clad ladies in your video can make a catchy song an international hit. Can we expect similar videos from Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats?
Our videos are pretty sleazy as it is but I suppose we need to try harder!
And that's it, the Q&A with Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats is over. Many thanks for taking the time out of your hectic schedule and we look forward to seeing you live later this year.
Thanks a lot! See you soon!
Check out Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats on their website, Facebook and YouTube!
Originally published 14/05/2013 on Chunk.ie
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A few weeks back, I noticed I had a new follower on Twitter. I don’t have many, so when someone decides to follow me, I get curious. My new follower turned out to be My Tribe Your Tribe. The name alone was interesting so I decided to take a look at their profile and see what they were about. It turns out that MTYT are a band and George Mercer is the creative force behind them. Oh and as luck would have it, they had just released a free EP for download.
Since we are nice people here at CHUNK.ie and we like to promote up and coming acts, we thought we’d get in contact with George and see what MTYT were about. You can read how we got on down below!
Hi George, no dilly-dallying here, we’ll get straight in to the questions! “My Tribe Your Tribe” is a great name for a band. It conjures up a meeting of minds and people, marriage even. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and where did the idea for the name came from?
Thanks. Your thoughts on the name are on the button and it’s been pleasing to see that people are picking up on that communal/communicative aspect. I come from Portarlington, Laois, and I think that growing up there has made me aware of different personality types and how the music I write relates to the people I’ve spent the majority of my life around. It’s a good and bad habit but I fantasize about the idea of relating to both the more specialized alternative listeners and also to the people who just like to dance and don’t have as deep a connection to music.
The name My Tribe Your Tribe came about quite naturally. I tend to think about life in quite an abstract way, narrowing a lot of events in a persons life down to simple or primitive habit. That kind of survival reference kept on creeping into my lyrics for about three years. When I started writing demo parts for “Outside Red“, My Tribe Your Tribe was the working title.
Your artwork is very striking. Do you see this as integral to your image, almost as important as the music or is it purely incidental?
The artwork was done by a very talented guy from Belfast called Paul Irwin, of Ogopogodesign. He’s a very talented bloke both musically and artistically. I’ve never actually met him but have worked with him on other music projects and he had a way of using abstract imagery to hint to a depth in the music that I really like. Usually I fire all my concepts to Paul, and then I leave him to interpret those concepts with his own vision. I never know what it’s going to look like, so it’s really a form of collaboration. The imagery is an extra atmospheric layer that takes the listener down a different imaginative path than the music does.
On to the music… You’ve posted three tracks so far on your Bandcamp site. My own personal favourite is “Outside Red“. Can you tell us a bit about the tracks and how you create them. Is it a case of lyrics first and working the music around them or is it music first and hope the lyrics come to you?
I started writing demo’s for MTYT about a year and a half ago. It was a fun experiment at the time, as I was really enjoying the fact that I had so few limitations, in contrast to the guitar-based music that I had been struggling to write beforehand. It really got my imagination flowing again. After writing the drums, bass and synth parts, I actually let the songs breath for nearly a full year before going back to rearrange the song structures and add guitar parts, vocal parts and extra ambiance.
I pen down a lot of lyrics while I’m out traveling around, that may or may not make it into songs at a later date but “My Friends Live Here” is an example of that. (The lyrics written whilst waiting for the ‘Green bus of doom’ at the Red Cow roundabout outside of Dublin actually, on the way home from a loud and intoxicating party that I was happy to escape.)
Writing electronic music allowed me to build songs from a percussive base. I’d start with a beat and layer up with other sounds and on reflection, I felt I was using rhythm as the dominant communicating element, which I guess relates to the tribal imagery. While this is apparent in some of the songs, I think it’s a good template to work from, not to mention, insanely fun to band a big floor tom on stage!
The EP was a steep learning curve as it was the first time that I decided to self-produce and record an entire project from home with the view of attaining a professional production standard. I had a lot of learning to do, and still do. The joy of the chase!
How do you class your style of music? Obviously it's electronic, but not in a Calvin Harris fists in the air style. Do you have plans to play live or are you strictly studio based?
This is definitely the most difficult question! I think each track on the EP leans to a different place stylistically. I would probably class the EP as a form of slower-paced atmospheric electronic music each relating to a different mood. It’s my first opportunity to let the music be as deep and atmospheric as I want it to be. I used to record a lot of rough, elongated ,ambient tracks when I was a teenager and just fill the recordings with lots of smaller details and flowing textures, and I guess this is my way of returning to that fun creative place where anything can happen. But ultimately, the rhythmic flow is the focal point on this EP and I’d like to maintain that in the next recordings.
My Tribe Your Tribe, for me, is a vessel, for the music to go wherever it wants to go and I definitely plan to make an EP primarily for the function of dancing. That could be a lot of fun. I’m a big fan of darker electronic music styles too, but regardless of where the style goes, I want to make sure the music has a direct connection to the listener, as this isn’t just for me. I’m writing thinking of how the listener can relate to the music as much as possible. My friend made a ‘MI-WADI ‘joke the other night about the band-name. It’s not Your Tribe..it’s Mine… ‘
However funny, it’s the opposite of my intentions for this music!
LIVE:
I’ve already done two shows with a five-piece live group: Drums, Guitar , Bass, Backing Vocals and Keyboards/Drum Pad. Our first gig was at Louth’s Vantastival Festival and the power actually went on-stage at the start of our second song (Outside Red). I thought I’d cry at a moment like that, but once we got the laptop and tracks back running everything went uphill. I wanted the music to be functional both a live-band setup and also a more minimal one or two man show. I’m lucky to have some great people as the current live band, and there’s an exciting energy on-stage. I think having a larger line-up is much more interesting for the audience, more energy, we can cover nearly all of the sounds ourselves and not be as reliant on backing tracks. I think people like to see a chemistry on stage between band-members and it’s really nice that the shows seem to be more about watching each member of the group add their own taste and personality to the music.
I've made it this far in the interview without asking about your influences? That's pretty good going, even if I may say so myself! But now that I've brought it up, who are your influences? Are there any strange ones buried in there?
Ha, the dreaded influences question! It’s a nice question to be asked actually, as finding influences of other artists in your own music, makes you feel more confident about your own. Well, it does for me anyway! Makes you feel like you’re on the right tracks.
There’s probably about three or four influences that are undeniable in how much they’ve changed my approach to writing.
Certain bands like Wild Beasts, Phantogram, Beach house, Bat For Lashes ,Caribou, Jape, Radiohead. These guys seemed to construct both their musical arrangements and live sets with a sort of central rhythmic authority.
Straying away from the obvious influences, I remember seeing a band called Great Lakes Mystery supporting Jape in Spirit Store when I was in college in Dundalk. They were a two-piece group with a large visual backdrop of underwater scenes and I was completely blown away by how ethereal, colourful and how much comfort music can provide an audience with in a live venue.
So, what does the future hold for My Tribe Your Tribe? Is there an album in the offing? A world tour? or will you just have to settle for a collaboration with Rihanna?
Exciting q! The next step is to release another single in June. It’s probably going to be a bit of a surprise as it leans more towards the dance style that I mentioned having an interest in pursuing.
After that, one more EP and then the album process begins! Other than that we are developing the live set and getting some more live experience. I’m itching to write new songs too, as the live shows are giving me ideas!
Obviously our learned readers will want to find out more about My Tribe Your Tribe, how can they do this?
The EP is a free download Bandcamp. Facebook is where we post most pics and gig updates and you can also follow me on Twitter.
Originally published 16/07/2014 on Chunk.ie
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You may have read our review of Groove Festival 2014 last week. If so, you’ll remember I mentioned the fantastic Miss Kate. If you haven’t read it, why not?!
Anyway, we caught up with Miss Kate not long after her performance and asked for an interview. She was only too happy to agree and here it is!
First things first, congratulations on a great performance at the Groove Festival. It was a memorable performance for me, how was it for you?
Well thank you! I’m glad it was memorable for you cause it’s a performance I’ll never forget. As I said I was a festival virgin and you always remember your first time (whether you want to or not!) Luckily, in this instance, I want to.
For those unlucky enough not to have seen you at the Groove Festival, can tell us a little about you, when you started in the business and what you’ve been up to?
I started writing songs and singing on a few house tracks when I was living in NYC after dropping out of college. I come from an acting family so I always knew I’d act- that was normal to me. But singing was always a fantasy to me. I was too shy to put my own words out to the world when I came back to Ireland, so I just continued to write and sing songs in my bedroom for years whilst making a career of speaking other people’s words– which I still love to this day by the way! Anyway, two years ago, it all finally became too much to hold in, so I grew a pair of balls and I recorded my first track YOU COME BACK with a producer mate of mine Jono Black and it all snowballed from there!
Once the plaster was off I did a few more tracks with Jono and then last year met the band and we released an EP together, and have been gigging in great venues all year. It’s all happened so fast I’m kinda like “why didn’t I do this years ago!?” but it wouldn’t have been the right time.
When I was writing my little piece on the festival , I tried to explain your sound, I think it’s a little bit soul, a little bit funk, a healthy dose of pop and lots of attitude. Almost as if Lisa Stansfield was fronting the Republic of Loose. Am I even close?
Wow! That sounds like a band I wanna hear! There’s definitely all those elements in there-but I’m still figuring my style out. I am influenced by so many different styles of music, its hard sometimes for me stick to one general area but when I’m with the band it’s always funky. As long as a song has got soul in it and comes from a true place, I’m for it, regardless of genre.
Your sense of style is quite striking. Who or what influences it?
Likewise when it comes to fashion , I’m a chameleon. I love changing it up and being creative and fun with my clothes/hair/make-up. I’m influenced by music, art and my mood! One day I’m a Manga cartoon, the next I’m a teenage boy, but that night I might be Ru Paul! My style queen of a mother is a huge influence too. We love reading fashion mags together; I’m LIVING for Henry Holland at the moment– which is what I wore at Groove. I love his bright colours and bold prints.
How does the writing process work for you? Are the Higher State an integral part of the creation process or is it all Miss Kate?
It depends who I’m working with. Solo, I’ll often write lyrics and a melody and send them to a producer to write an instrumental to, or they might send me a sample I’ll respond to or vice versa and we both work then on production and arrangement. Or with the band, they will often jam something out and I’ll come up with a melody to go over it, it’s a very collaborative vibe with the band, however lyrically its all me. I’d find it very hard to write lyrics on command or sing someone else’s lyrics, I have to be inspired by something to write, it has to be authentic or else it just wont work.
A quick word about your videos. In short, they are superb, specifically Took the Life. Who’s the creative genius behind them?
Oh thank you! I was actually behind TOOK THE LIFE. I had done a live video of the song shot by Jamie Tanner in Henrietta St. with the band, but I also had my own original track that I wanted to do a video for. My first video YOU COME BACK was all the doing of the fab duo Martin Gaughan and Lisa Gallagher of like-minded productions. They came to me with the concept after Lisa played Martin the song in the office one day (she’s also my manager and friend as well as a producer) I was extremely lucky to have such a quality company make my first video, but I had no money for TOOK THE LIFE, so I came up with this concept and did up the graphics the night before, went over to Lisa’s and shot it on her iPhone with a projector, I was happy with the outcome thankfully and wanna do more DIY videos now.
What does the future hold for Miss Kate? Is there an album forthcoming or will you be touring for the foreseeable future?
I have some more performance dates coming up, the next one being Castlepalooza on the 1st of August, but yes at the moment I am working with different hip-hop producers on an album which will hopefully be ready before the end of the year. It will be very different to the last EP but I’m really excited about it.
We normally try to end our interviews with a few light-hearted questions, so…
What’s the worst lyric you have ever written?
10 9 8, 7 6, 5 4 3 2 and 1 321 321 321…1234!
Kanye West, bat-shit crazy or just a misunderstood genius?
Would have said genius up until BOUND 2, now I’m leaning more towards crazy…
For one night only, you can perform with any artist (dead or alive), who would it be and why?
OOOH…emmm… Alive? “Badu Badu Badu”- cos when it comes to performance she is the Master Teacher.
Dead? “Amy Amy Amy” – no explanation needed! 
MKX
And that dear reader is that! If you’d like to find out more about Miss Kate, check out the following links:
Originally published 12/09/2014 on Chunk.ie
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They say lightning doesn’t strike twice, well I’d beg to differ. Last year at the Electric Picnic, I stumbled across King Kong Company and my mind was blown. This year, my mind was blown again! I wandered in to a small tent in the Minefield area and was treated to one of the best gigs of the weekend. The band in was Ka tet and I thought to myself, I’ve got to get them on Chunk.ie Well dear reader, I did, and here’s what they have to say for themselves!
Congratulations on a great gig at the Electric Picnic. It ranked as one of the best sets of the weekend. Was that your first Electric Picnic festival?
Thanks very much, ya it was our first Electric Picnic and I can safely say our best! We were actually booked to play the same stage two years previous, but we had to cancel unfortunately. Delighted that it was ranked as a highlight of the weekend, it was definitely one of the highlights of our career so far, so its good to know the crowd enjoyed it as much as we did.
Ka tet, it’s a rather strange name for a band. What’s it all about?
It is a strange one alright, makes us sound more exotic… you’d never think a band called Ka tet came from the guts of the west of Ireland! We’ve actually stolen the name from a Stephen King series of books called ‘The Dark Tower’. It basically means one from many or like a group of people drawn together by destiny. Sounds pretty naff, but it does set a tone for us as a group and it’s very much apart of who we are now. Also, we have gained quite a few fans along the way from the name alone… seems most Stephen King fans love a bit of rock!
For those unlucky enough not to have seen you at the Electric Picnic, can tell us a little about the band, where you guys come from, how you all met and who is who?
Well, we’re all school friends originally. We all attended secondary school in Ballyhaunis, Co.Mayo which is on the Roscommon/Mayo border. Ronan (the man behind the kit) is from Roscommon and Kyle on bass and myself Tommy on guitar are both Mayo men. We formed two years after school and have been together since. We all relocated to Galway city a few years ago and that’s been our adopted home ever since and we love it!
I’ll get the obvious question out of the way… Influences, who or what are they? There seems to be an obvious love of 90s grunge in there and Kyle on bass sounds a lot like Chris Cornell when he lets rip!
Ha, ya well we love any honest to god rock music – Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Led Zeppelin, Rage Against the Machine, System of a down all that jazz, but we do listen to a lot of other stuff too. A lot of the newish Irish bands knocking around would be hugely influential on us as we meet them on the circuit a good bit. Plus the music being produced is better than most of the rubbish we’re exposed to anywhere else. So not to start name dropping, but And So I Watch You From Afar, Race the Flux, Overhead the Albatross, Axis Of, Two Glass Eyes, We town Criers, Punch Face Champions, Mutefish, Fox Jaw, New Secret Weapon, Meltybrains…. the list goes on of amazing Irish bands, all of which we’re proud to call friends, but apart from that their music is fucking amazing! So ya they are probably our main influences at this stage.
So how did you Electric Picnic go for you? Did you get to stay for the weekend and watch some of the other acts? If so, who impressed you guys?
Electric Picnic was an amazing weekend for us. Apart from some big issues with moving gear to and from the different stages which resulted in some sore backs the following week, we had ourselves a whale of a time. We ended up missing a lot of the acts we wanted to see like King Kong Company and Mogwai, but we saw some crackers altogether. Two of my favourites were Meltybrains at the Body and Soul arena, those boys have their show down to tee and know exactly the message they’re trying to send, delighted to see they wedged the place too… and Bitch Falcon were awesome. We caught them in the tiny Oxjam tent on Saturday night and they were epic!!! The bass was too loud, the kit wasn’t mic’d properly and everyone was wasted, but my god those women can make some good noise!
For me, the three best gigs of the weekend all featured Irish acts. There was yourselves over in the Mindfield area, Jerry Fish in his own tent and King Kong Company at the Salty Dog. All three of you are very different, but you all had the crowd eating out of the palm of your hand. Is there a resurgence in the live scene here in Ireland?
HA, I’m not sure if I fed anyone from my hands over the weekend, but it’s nice of you to say all the same. I definitely think there’s been a huge boom in the talent coming out of Ireland in the last while. When we started playing, during the ‘BOOM’ era, there was very little going on in the underground scene comparatively. I remember paying to play downstairs in Eamon Doran’s to 20 people and half of them were other bands. Today however you’ve got Dimestore, Saucy Sundays and loads more in Dublin, we run a night called ALIVE in the Roisin Dubh in Galway, there’s a huge underground scene up north that’s turning out some great bands and then there’s a heap of bands coming outta Limerick and Cork as well. Add to that the huge amount of smaller indie festivals that seem to have sprung up this summer! None of that seemed to be happening five years ago and I think a lot of it is to do with financial collapse. Before that most artists in Ireland were aiming too high, everyone wanted to get signed and support the Chilli’s at Slane and just like the boom, it was all a pipe dream. Today though, all the bands are doing it for themselves, everyone is starting their own home grown labels, promoters are building their shows from the ground up and everyone has more respect for each other and I think that respect and DIY attitude has resulted in a resurgence within the Irish music industry of great music. The difference is that we’re now building on solid foundations and producing well rounded artists all over the country. Its very exciting to be apart of!
What’s next for Ka tet? Are you back in the studio any time soon or will you guys be touring around the country?
BOTH! We released our album ARCADIA last year and that’s done wonders for us (BUY NOW ONLINE HERE ), but the majority of that music was written over 4 or 5 years, since the band formed. So we’re now back in the studio, we have a new EP ready to record and we’re really excited about releasing it into the public domain. Its a new sound for us which was bound to happen with a 5 year gap between songs, but we think its still inherently Ka tet. We’re gonna do all the recording and producing ourselves again, primarily to keep costs down, but also because we want the time and freedom to create the sound we want. Apart from that we’re constantly gigging around Ireland and we hope to tour the new EP in the first quarter of 2015, and that tour will take in Ireland, the UK, a lot of Europe and all going well we’ll even see some of the states… it’s gonna be a fun time!
We try to wind up our interviews with a few light hearted questions…
What’s the worst lyric you have ever written?
“Through these walls I’ve seen you cry, can I walk or can I fly”…. I immediately regret saying that.
For one night only, you can perform with any artist (dead or alive), who would it be and why?
I’d say Jimi Hendrix but I wouldn’t know what to do only stand there looking like a pleb… so I’m gonna say Rage Against the Machine and I’ll play the drum kit…. dam that’s some good ROCK’N!
What’s your guilty pleasure when it comes to music? Mine, is the Sugababes (for numerous reasons!)
I’m gonna get a bit of stick, but Paolo Nutini… ‘Iron Sky’ on ‘Caustic Love’ is a bitch’n tune. I even forced Ronan and Kyle to come with me to see him at Picnic…. I know they loved it really.
So, that was Ka tet. If you get a chance to see these guys live, go! They really do know how to rock. Oh and for more information on Ka tet and what they are up to, check out them out on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and their own website.
Featured Image also © Adam Nolan 2013
Originally published May 2013 on Chunk.ie
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It’s been a while since you released Memory Muscle, your debut solo album and this, the follow up, A Flash of Darkness. Has it been a case of the difficult second album, or did you just fancy some time away from music after the break up of The Bluetones?
It's been 5 years in fact. An inordinately long time between 2 records, I'll give you that, but I haven't been entirely idle in that time. There was the writing/recording/touring of the Bluetones' album 'A New Athens', and then the whole farewell tour thing when we decided that we were going to draw that little story to a close. That said, some of the songs for this album were written in the summer of 2010. So I suppose it has had quite a long gestation.
You decided on funding the recording of A Flash of Darkness using the PledgeMusic service. What was the thinking behind that? Did it offer a lot more freedom to make the album you wanted to make without having a record company hounding you to produce a hit?
It was never a case of doing it for the purposes of artistic freedom. I have never experienced a record company interfering at any stage of the creative process. With The Bluetones we were always allowed to just disappear and get on with things, and that's the way I work now. Just getting on with things. I tend to write songs in clumps of 2 or 3, then have a period where nothing new is started, but the ideas that I'm most drawn to get honed and finished off. Anyway, I'm drifting off the point. Sorry…
The purpose of raising the funds for the album this way was that it would give me full ownership of the completed album. Allowing me the freedom to license it in different territories around the world, and actually own my creation. That hasn't been the case for me before, and was ultimately the most attract aspect of what the Pledge arrangement represented.
I’ve listened to the album twice now, and two tracks stand out for me. The first being Low Company and the second is This Is The Lie ( And That's The Truth). Obviously you’re proud of all the tracks on the album, but do you have a favourite, one that you knew as your recorded it, was brilliant.
This Is The Lie (And That's The Truth) is a personal favourite. It was written and recorded very quickly, and I felt we captured a beautiful, haunted atmosphere with all the cross-fading reverbs and whatnot. It sounds like there is a church organ on the track, but it's just the differently tuned guitars 'droning' together.
Also, I'm rather fond of Space Cadet. It's a bit Tubeway Army, a bit Vangelis, a bit BBC Educational Film. It was a probably the most fun to record. A lot of time was spent just listening to hundreds and hundreds of different keyboard banks, and blending synthesised sounds. Again, kinda new territory for me.
With every new album comes a tour to support it. It’s been a while since you’ve played in Ireland, any chance you will make it over here this year?
I'm hoping so. It would be great to come out with a full band and do this record some justice. Volume-wise.
You seem to have an on-going love affair with Mexico / Spanish in your albums. As far as I can tell, it started way back with Solomon Bites The Worm, Zorrro, Bienvenido and finally Consuela on the latest album. Am I reading too much in to this?
I think that's more the unconscious influence of Arthur Lee. I can't help it. It's certainly not deliberate, but I do find myself drawn to those sun-baked Mexicana melodies.
After writing as many songs as you have over the years, you must have written a couple of stinkers that never saw the light of day. What’s the worst lyric you have ever written?
Oh, man… I don't know. It's not something I want to think about. I'm more than sure there are a few howlers out there, but still nothing I wouldn't fight anyone to the death to defend. My children.
Finally, if our readers want to buy the album, where can they purchase it?
Well at the moment it's not really available. I'm meeting with record companies now and it will be getting a general release in about 3 months time, all going to plan. That said it will be available from my website www.markmorrissmusic.co.uk and at gigs and shit.
As always, if you want to keep up to date with Mark, check out his website, follow him on Twitter and finally, check out more of their videos on YouTube.
Originally published 13/06/2013 on Chunk.ie
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It’s not often you get the chance to interview your favourite bands, but thanks to CHUNK.ie and having a brass neck, I’m working my way through the list!
I’ve been a fan of Me First and the Gimme Gimmes since… well for more years than I care to remember. One of the guys I worked with walked into the office with Have a Ball and it was the start of a sixteen year love affair with the band! But enough about me, let’s get to the questions.
Spike, how the hell are you? What’s happening with the band? I believe you guys are back in the studio recording again.
I am well, thanks… Busking with Uke-Hunt, recording a new Re-Volts record, and slinging pizzas for the man. Did I forget to mention the Gimmes are well into the process of tracking a new record? I don’t wanna spoil the surprise but as far as the theme goes, suffice it to say there’s one in all of us.
Our readers are an educated lot, really they are, but some of them may not have heard of Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. How did the band come about?
Back in ’96 Joey and Mike observed that the best songs on most current “punk” records were generally covers and, after approaching Dave, Chris and myself, endeavoured to cut to the chase, so to speak. Cynical perhaps, but basically effective.
From country to opera and on to singing in Japanese, who comes up with the idea for the albums? Can we expect an Irish traditional album any time soon??? I can already hear you singing Rocky Road to Dublin!
Mike is our theme-man, and I’d say the chances of him suggesting a traditional Irish record are slim to excellent.
I was in Japan recently and played some tracks from Sing in Japanese to some of the locals, I got some very strange looks, but they said your Japanese was fine. Now, I tried my hand at speaking Japanese over there and got now where, how did you manage a full album of it??
If nothing else, I have an aptitude for mimicry (mockery?) which helps get me out of (and in to) awkward situations.
Once the new album is released, will you be touring it? If so, will you be popping over to Ireland for a gig or two?
I sincerely hope so.
Outside of the Gimmes, have you and the other guys got any interesting projects lined up? Does having other projects help keep the Gimmes fresh?
I have been collaborating with my friend Jack from One Man Army and the Swingin’ Utters on a project called Re-Volts for a few years now, and we are now in the process of tracking an eight-song EP (ideally a 10″). I’ve also been going out busking locally with a uke-covers band called Uke-Hunt, and we should have a release on Fat by the end of the year. It all feeds form and discipline.
Obviously you guys are considered elder statesmen in the Punk world, are there young and up and coming bands who you look at and think “fuck me, they’re good!”
Shannon and the Clams, Parquet Courts, Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Viva l’American Death Ray Music, Cheap Time and Lady (look up ‘Twerk It‘ on YouTube)… I mostly listen to older stuff, though.
And just like that, we are finished! Spike, good luck with the new album and many thanks for doing the interview. We all appreciate it here at CHUNK.ie and we know that our readers will to!
If you want to keep up to date on the band, check out their page over on the Fat Wreck Chords site, or follow Fat Mike and Joey Cape on Twitter.
Oh and finally, many thanks to the lovely Vanessa at Fat Wreck Chords for making this possible!
Originally published 04/07/2013 on Chunk.ie
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Welcome to CHUNK.ie Sensorites, how the hell are you? Enjoying the hot balmy summer days with a nice cool pint of cider??
Kind of, we’re currently locked in the bat cave (our studio down by the docks), and will be until the album is finished. There’s no natural light in the bat cave, it stops the sun from teasing us, our studio tans are coming on a treat! Needless to say bursts of daylight exposure are met with squinty eyes and a slight sizzling of the skin.
You hail from Liverpool, that much I know, but can you tell us a bit more about the band?
We all live in Liverpool, but aren’t born and bred scousers. My brother Gareth Kirkham (Bass/Vocals) and I (Natham Kirkham: Vocals/Guitar) hail from Stoke-on-Trent. We migrated to Liverpool years ago in search of richer musical pastures. Alan Falcon (Drums) is originally from…. drum roll please….. Wing, Leighton Buzzard. Much to our amusement that’s his real name and address!
Congratulations on the new single Fool, it’s a great summer tune. It’s challenging Blurred Lines and Get Lucky for airplay in the car at the moment! So… Which one of you is it based on?
That’ll be me, for better or for worse, it’s pretty much blow for blow account.
The name of the band is interesting. The sci-fi fans out there will know it relates to Dr. Who, but I had to Google it to find that out. I’ll be honest, I only really got in to it when Billie Piper got involved. Can’t imagine why… Anyway, I digress, Sensorites, who came up with the name?
That’ll be me again. I’ve heard some interesting pronunciations of it as well. Cleaning out the cellar I found some old dusty Doctor Who books. “Sensorites” caught my eye.
Every interview must have its influences question, so this is yours. Who are they? Personally I’m hearing a bit of the La’s mixed with Billy Bragg, though I am probably a million miles off!
Love the La’s, love Billy Bragg. Our taste is very eclectic and hence our influences. I’ve a real taste for Delta blues although it’s not overwhelmingly apparent when you listen to our music. I let the songs take me where they want to go, it’d spoil the fun if i knew how they’d turn out before I started!
I love the idea of the remixes on the singles, particularly Slipstream. Whose idea was it to go down the remix route? Do you guys secretly harbour dreams of headlining at Creamfields?
We release acapella and instrumental mixes with with every single so people can remix or mash up. We’re emailed remixes from people we’ve never met. That’s how we met Muz, his remixes have featured on the last three singles, sometimes receiving better reviews. We were surprised to discover that BBC’s dragons den used the instrumental mix of fool as a bed for their Christmas show, that’s when you know you’ve hit the big time! It’d be really cool to do a club set, the thing about good songs is they can be played in any genre on any instrument/s and shine.
Speaking of gigs, will you be appearing this side of the Irish Sea any time soon?
We’d love to! If you book us we will come!
Hollowhole Records is your own label. Did you go down that route out of necessity or did you feel that it would give you complete control over your own music? Are there plans to sign more acts to the label?
We started the label so we could release our music. We’re open to signing to another label, it’s just got to be the right deal! We plan to release other artists, they just need the magic combo of talent and dedication, the two attributes don’t come hand in hand often enough!
Some light hearted questions now just to finish up with.
Obviously, since you guys live in Liverpool, I have to ask the question. Who will finish higher in the Premiership next season, Liverpool or Everton?
Despite living on Goodison Road for five years I don’t follow a team, I follow England for a biannual disappointment. I’d rather spend my time on music, there’s not enough hours in the day as it is.
If you could get rid of one preconceived misconception about Liverpudlians, what would it be and why?
That they’re all robbers.
If I was to browse through your music collection, what would I be most shocked to find?
You might be surprised to find a load of hip hop. If you’re after more guilty pleasures there’s a Best of Abba in there too, I can’t remember the last time it was played though.
If you could be any other musician, just for one day, who would it be?
Robert Johnson, the day he sold his soul to the devil.
And there you have it dear reader, our first interview with Sensorites. When these guys make it big, just remember where you heard about them first!
As always, if you want to keep up to date on the band, check out their website, like them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter and finally, check out more of their videos on YouTube.
Originally published July 2013 on Chunk.ie
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A big céad míle fáilte to The Standstills from us here at CHUNK.ie
We’ve been listening to your track Jesus over and over and over again here at CHUNK HQ and I think it has safely worked its way in to our Top 5 tracks of the year. Having said that, your cover of Black Betty is outstanding… It brings back memories of drunken moshing on the dance floor at Nijinskys night club… Fun times!
Maybe you could give us a brief history about yourselves and the band. How did the Standstills come about?
We met in a music program and became really good friends, we had a lot of the same tastes in music and both of us loved to go to live shows.. For a while I had been doing a solo blues thing, but really wanted to jam with a band.. Renee had played drums in a couple different projects in the past, and liked what i was doing so it was inevitable that we should jam.. We really hit it off and since then we've kept on going.
You’re obviously from Canada, a country with a rich rock n’ roll heritage… Neil Young, Bryan Adams, Alanis Morissette and eh…. Justin Bieber. Where do you see the Standstills fitting in?
Right in-between Beaver Tails and Arby's loose meat sandwiches.
As I mentioned earlier, we are big fans of Jesus. With a name like Jesus, it’s hard not to hear the song as almost a prayer. Am I way off target? Is there a different message buried in there? Or for once, am I bang on target?
They way I liked to write is to give the listener a chance to make it their own, you are very much on target if that's what it means to you.
There’s just the two of you in the band. Who’s the boss?? Who gets the last say in how things are done? You don’t have to answer that obviously, or you could go down the diplomatic route, but… Go on, you know you want to answer it!
Tony Danza is the boss, that one was easy.
Pushing Electric is your second album. Was it the typical “difficult second album” or are all albums just difficult?
The writing came naturally, the recording was difficult, because it was the first time we recorded and produced it ourselves.
Over the last decade, with the growth of iTunes, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, a band now has access to a world wide audience and through clever use of the various social media outlets can build up a large following. However nothing beats seeing a band live, so do you have any plans to tour over this side of the world?
We recently hooked up with an agent and manager and do plan to branch out internationally sometime soon.
We’ll wind down now with a few light hearted questions…
What’s the worst lyric you’ve ever written?
Hold me closer Tony Danza, count the headlights on the highway, lay me down in sheets of linen, you had a busy day today.
Any Spinal Tap moments whilst touring?
Shit sandwich, don't ask
If you could get rid of one preconceived misconception about Canadian, what would it be and why?
That we all don't live in igloo's, it's true, we do, it is crazy here!
You’ve been given the power to create the ultimate rock super group of all time. Who’d be in it?
Smurfette on Drums, Scooby Doo on Guitar/Vocal
What’s the best thing about being Canadian?
Maple Syrup
And there you have it, our first interview with Canada’s best kept rock n’ roll secret, The Standstills!
As always, if you want to keep up to date on the band, check out their website, like them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter and finally, check out more of their videos on YouTube.
Originally published 16/10/2013 on Chunk.ie
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It’s a over a month since the Electric Picnic and we’ve all had time to look back and reflect on what we saw and did over that amazing weekend. Some of it was good, some of it was bad, but some of it was just great. This Side Up, hip hop merchants from Sligo, fall in to the latter.
I must admit, I was a bit wary when I was told that these rappers from Sligo were a “must see” act for the weekend. Irish Rap, well… Rap / Hip Hop is not something you would associate with Ireland. I can’t imagine that there are many rap battles in Sligo, so how did you guys hook up?
Myster E: Myself and Shaool did a battle of the bands for the craic back in secondary school. We tested the waters in front of a school full of young fellas. We got a few gigs from that and recorded a terrible demo with some ‘big shot’ producer in Dublin, hopefully it’ll never see the light of day. Noone was making beats and DJing around town and he caught wind of us. He invited us over to record some stuff in his house. After much messing about and many cans we strung a few tracks together. Our first gig together was opening up for Messiah J and the Expert in McGarrigles pub . A while later Noone and another Sligo DJ PC started running nights in town called ‘This Side Up’. Myself and Shaool would get up with Noone and perform a few tracks each night and a set grew over time.
We recently interviewed King Kong Company, another band who blew us away at the Electric Picnic, they had a ball there this year. You guys had the crowd going mental over at the Trailer Park and managed to have the only stage invasion I saw all weekend! Were you happy with your performance and reaction of the crowd?
Shaool: We were delighted with the reaction. We like to keep it Rowdy and Electric Picnic is the perfect stomping ground. There’s a few heads who come to a lot of our gigs and they’re a lively bunch. I think people enjoy stumbling across us as well and being caught by surprise. It was our second year playing there; on that note big shout out to Hugo and everyone at the Trailer Park, it was a savage stage. It’s great to get in with an artist pass because we’ve been going to EP for years. I went to Electric Picnic’s first year to see Jurassic 5. It was the day after a school graduation. I remember arriving home early that morning, peeling off the suit and legging it for the bus to Stradbally. I haven’t looked back!
I’ve said it before, I’m a rocker at heart, but two albums helped secure my liking for rap. The first is Straight Outta Compton by NWA and the second Body Count by Body Count. The anger in both those albums is what drew me in. I couldn’t relate to stories being told, but the anger in those albums was a release valve of sorts for a fat white guy from Kildare! What drew you into the world of Hip Hop, what track do you remember hearing and thinking “that’s just fucking amazing”??
Noone: It’s hard to remember one particular track but I remember getting handed the adventures of Slick Rick on tape when I was a young fella and that really sparked my interest in Hip Hop.
Myster E: I got some Hip Hop albums from my cousins and got into it pretty quickly. I used to record Yo! MTV RAPS and one track that stands out is Protect Your Neck by the Wu Tang.
Shaool: My friend came over with an Arsonists album on tape. That got me into Hip Hop.
When you break it down, Rap is just poetry to a beat and god only knows, Ireland has some of the finest poets the world has ever produced. It’s surprising that there hasn’t been an Irish Hip Hop / Rap breakthrough artist on an international scale. OK, Maverick Sabre has had some success in the UK, but what do you think is holding back Irish Hip Hop? Are record companies just not interested in the scene here?
Noone: I don’t think anything is holding back Irish Hip Hop. The quality is constantly getting better and in time I think it will have a bigger impact. These days it’s all DIY so we’re not expecting a record label to come along and start throwing money at us.
You guys obviously work hard at your craft. You don’t develop an on stage presence like you have without doing that. You tour, you spend ages writing in the studio, basically breaking your balls for your art. How do you feel about X Factor, The Voice and other such TV Talents shows that create careers for some rather untalented contestants?
Shaool: Never paid them much heed. Each to their own! It would never work for us. There’s a great music scene in Sligo and I think that’s really helped us develop. We’ve been jamming with friends, going to gigs and playing gigs for a good while now. I think that’s what it’s about which is at odds with the instant fame idea presented by the reality TV shows.
So what does the future hold for This Side Up? Are there plans to get into the studio any time soon? Perhaps a few live dates around the country?
Myster E: We’re focusing on new material at the moment and there’s an EP on the way!
We might as well wind it down here with a few light hearted questions…
What’s the worst lyric you have ever written?
Shaool: Nothing but pure genius since day one!
What’s the worst preconceived misconception about Hip Hop?
Noone: It’s all pimps, hoes and slamming Cadillac doors.
Eazy E, Tupac, MCA, ODB or Notorious BIG… Which one would you bring back from the dead and why?
Shaool: Bring back ODB. We’ll get him over to Sligo for a gig. That’d be a laugh.
There you have it folks, This Side Up, the future of Irish Hip Hop. The guys are currently finishing editing of a video from their Electric Picnic performance and as soon as it is done, we will have it hear on CHUNK.ie.
For more information on their band, you can check them out on Facebook and to listen to some of their tracks, check them out on Breaking Tunes.
Originally published 10/09/2013 on Chunk.ie
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So, there I was, wandering around the Electric Picnic wondering who I was going to watch next. One of the lads said he had heard good things about King Kong Company and that we should check them out, so off we headed to the Body and Soul Arena to do just that. As I mentioned in my review of the Electric Picnic, the gig was epic. I figured we just had to interview them here on CHUNK.ie, and here it is!
First things first, congratulations on a storming gig at the Electric Picnic. It completely blew me away. Was this your first Picnic experience?
We’ve been to many Electric Picnics over the years but just as punters, and it’s always been a great festival, so it was a fantastic experience to play at its 10 year anniversary.
King Kong Company is a rather interesting name for a band, where or how did you come up with it?
The name is taken from the film Taxi Driver. If you look closely, Travis Bickle is wearing a badge which says King Kong Company. Mark our Bass player also DJ’s under the name Travis Bickle.
For those unlucky enough not to have seen you at the Electric Picnic, can tell us a little about the band, where you guys come from, how you all met and who is who.
Although we come from all over the country we all live (or lived) in Waterford. Mark White (Bass), Alan Aylward (guitar), Mark Graham (Drums), Colin hoye (Trumpet and Keyboards) and myself Tom Stapleton (Keyboards) all got together in 1996 as King Kong Company. We played Homelands, the Red Box (if you remember it) and a lot of Irish venues but then we stopped around 2000 until boredom set in around 2010 and we decided to get back together. Initially we got back just to release one new music video each month, which we did for a year. After that we said we’d try one gig and that was at The Forum in Waterford. 600 people showed up to it so we said we’d try a few more. We’ve been really lucky with the gigs, we’ve done about a dozen since getting back together and they’ve all been great and deadly slots - after Beardyman at Indiependence, closing Knockanstockan and playing late night at The Twisted Pepper. Since we got back together we’ve added some new members too - Trish Murphy, who is our dancer, and Sue O’Neill who does vocals. They’ve also reduced our average age by a few years ;)
I was trying to explain to some friends what you guys sounded like, but failed miserably. How do you guys class yourselves or do you even bother?
No to be honest we don’t try to categorise ourselves
Is the live act the same as the studio act? In other words, does you drummer get replaced by a machine in the studio? Just while I’m at it, your drummer must have been wrecked after your gig at the Electric Picnic, I don’t know how he managed to keep rhythm at the speed he was playing!
We feed him lots of vitamins and secret potions to keep him going. We don’t think a machine could ever replace the real thing.
You have a rather special member, a female I think, who out does Bez in the onstage dancing stakes. Where did the idea for her role come from and what’s with the various different masks she wears? Is she shy??
Trish does all of the choreography for our videos and she’s in a few of them as well. She’s probably most recognisable from I Said Posse! but she’s the main star of a few others like Uncle Trouble.
I must admit, the first time I saw you bring out the trumpets, I got worried. I almost had you guys pegged for some form of experimental dance music act when that happened, thankfully I was wrong! The trumpets seem to be an integral part of the live show, how did that happen?
People see instruments and they have certain expectations but Colin made the trumpets an essential part of the act from the very beginning. For as long as we’ve known him he’s always loved blowing his horn whenever he can!
Who is the creative force behind the band? Is there just one, or is it a collective thing? Following on from that, how do you go about creating a track from scratch? Does someone bring a hook or a melody to rehearsals and you develop it?
We tend to write the music as a group. We usually do it in a studio environment. Somebody will bring a melody or a vocal line or a simple groove and then we will develop it from there. Lots of arguing and laughing at each other is done between the start and the finish of a track.
So how did you Electric Picnic go for you? Did you get to stay for the weekend and watch some of the acts?
Electric Picnic was great. Most of us were there for the weekend. Robert Plant was the highlight for a few of us, BRMC were great and La Galaxie never fail to impress. We’ve seen these guys a few times this year either playing before us or after us and always put on a great show. The Body and Soul arena was superb, some great bands we didn’t know before like VANN Music and Tieranniesaur. It was also great to see so many Waterford acts playing namely The Dead Heavies, Torann Drums, Katie Kim, Propellor Palms and Band of Clouds. It’s proof that there is a very healthy music scene in Waterford
What’s next for King Kong Company? Can we look forward to some new releases soon?
We have started working on new tracks and we should have a couple out before Christmas. But don’t hold us to that, sometimes the tracks take longer than what we anticipate. Fingers crossed there’s new tracks before 2014.
A quick word on your videos… They are superb, who, no, how do you guys come up with the ideas for them??
We’re lucky in a way that not only do we have Trish working on the videos as choreographer (and star), but we also work closely with a very talented Waterford director called John Loftus. He directed almost all the videos and he won an award for the video to Acetate (Viewers Choice IMTV Awards 2011). John also does all our visuals at the live shows. Like the tracks the ideas for videos come from all of us and they take a bit of discussing back and forth before deciding on a route to take. The first year was tough making one video every month, although it became very regimented towards the end - shoot one weekend, edit the next two and put it out the fourth weekend. When not shooting we were working on the next track/video while Luke (Abbott our marketing/manager guy) pushed the videos once they were out.
Finally, we will see King Kong Company on tour any time soon?
We’re doing one gig in Waterford on September 14th as part of a fundraiser. After this we have nothing confirmed/booked but hopefully we’ll return to Cork and Dublin before the end of the year. The best place to find our dates are on Facebook and Twitter
If people want to check out our videos they’re all on Youtube and a
good few of our tracks can be downloaded from Soundcloud too.And that dear reader, is that. Hopefully you guys like King Kong Company as much as we do! Oh and stay tuned for more interviews from performers at this years Electric Picnic!!
