C I S U M Y I D
Y A W L A G IN Interviews with:
Laura - DOTT Dave - Old Bean
Laoise - Black Magic Big Band
Sean - C!ties
INTERVIEW
T M R
ELEC TRONIC INSTRU MENTAL R O C K
SEAN HURSON, 23, English Teacher in Barcelona Plays bass & “laptop/keyboard stuff” in C!TIES
What inspired you to play music? I started making music with a computer because of DJ Shadow’s Endtroducing, and other albums like Four Tet’s Rounds. Later, the process of mixing that in with live rock instrumentation was originally inspired by two bands, 65daysofstatic and Maybeshewill. Playing bass just followed by accident because I was in a band and there was no bassist. To this day, I still can only play the songs from the band and about 4 covers on bass.
Who had the biggest influence on your taste in music? I’ll have to say two friends of mine, Ian and Shane, who are brothers. Shane being the older brother, and a massive music nerd, had a huge music collection on their family PC which Ian and I used to peruse and burn CDs from. So Ian and I’s tastes developed in an intertwined way, with the help of Shane’s music. Not much has changed since that, 8 years ago, now we’re still constantly recommending stuff between the three of us.
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Which musicians inspire you? The guys from And So I Watch You From Afar, Enemies, Adebisi Shank etc - bands that started out just slogging away in tiny places in Ireland and have since reached a phenomenal level of international recognition without comprising what they set out to do. Take the ASIWYFA guys for example, they’re still as true and dedicated to what they do as they were ages ago, even though they’re now touring Asia, America, Africa, and drawing thousands of people at festivals. They’re still the same extremely dedicated lads. Not some NME hype act, but goddamn hardworking people.
Did C!ties have a record label? We did, in a way. We put a single out with Out On a Limb, and another one out with a friend who claimed it was ‘definitely not a record label’ but it kinda was. But, it was nothing like this idea of ‘sign with the label’ and put a series of releases out with them or anything. We just collaborated with people who were willing to risk time and money in order to put our music out on vinyl, which was great. We did a lot ourselves too, our EP for example was entirely self-produced and released even though we had no idea how to do any of that stuff when we started.
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“The party was great though, we had nonalcoholic beer and I met a girl who later became my first long-term relationship. Rockstars.� 8
How and when did C!ITES form? In… 2007 I think, aforementioned Ian and I were making music with an acoustic guitar and fruity loops. All recorded, no live show. A friend heard it and asked us to play in his back garden for his 17th birthday. We asked a friend of ours who was in another band at the time to play guitar. It was awful. The party was great though, we had non-alcoholic beer and I met a girl who later became my first long-term relationship. Rockstars. From there, we started working as a trio and wrote songs in the practice space of Clare Youth Service, to later play them badly at CYS all-ages gigs. But we did spot something interesting at the time, that the music that we made didn’t really sound like any other bands we knew, and that made it exciting for us.
How do you cope with nerves while playing live? ‘Nerves’ to me just feels like adrenaline, you just end up getting excited and jumping around a load. Actually, I think playing in a band taught me how to speak in front of crowds more easily. There are definitely things that shouldn’t be done, and you quickly get a feel for that when you say something stupid or mumbley to a room full of people and they don’t laugh… or worse. The experience later helped with university presentations and also now as an English teacher, I really don’t mind talking to groups of people.
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How do ye organize gigs? It’s been a while, but… the usual! Book a venue, make sure to contact deadly musicians (who are also sound people) to support/headline, get a sound engineer, equipment, do a poster, facebook event, etc. And, do all of this as cheaply as possible, preferably with friends that will do things for free. Then sit on the door counting heads until you hopefully break even, then breathe a sigh of relief.
How was C!ties promoted? At the time it was mostly just facebook. Getting a good support slot or playing somewhere in Dublin that had photographers or review people also seemed to help each time it happened. But mostly just a good support slot, and by that I mean with someone in the same vein as what you’re doing, but better and more well-known!
Favourite memory from performing live? There are so many. A month ago we reformed for a one-off to support 65daysofstatic in Limerick (which was our second home really), and basically everyone we knew came to it. That was special. Similarly, when we played our ‘final’ show in Ennis (our first home), people travelled from all around for it and went absolutely apeshit. Shows like that are really special because it’s like a culmination of all the support and love you’ve ever had from friends and fans, concentrated into one 45-minute set.
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Why do you think the DIY music scene in Galway is so successful? I think its size is really helpful for those involved in it. Everyone seems to get to know each other. There’s no huge barrier where you need to ‘break through’ to get started, you simply start. The size also leads to some fun connections, in our time we played with post-rock bands, metal bands, alternative turntablists, garage punk, pop acts, solo acoustic musicians, whatever. There’s a lot of cross-pollination, and a lot of really great people to meet!
What is your advice to musicians who’d like to form a band? Do it. Don’t worry about attempting to do what other successful bands have done, in order to become more popular. Just do something different. Do it with enough passion and hard work, and it should be fulfilling.
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DO IT.
about attempting successful bands order to become
Just do somethin it with enough pa work, and it shou 12
”...Don’t worry to do what other s have done, in more popular.
ng different. Do assion and hard uld be fulfilling.” Sean Hurson, C!TIES
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Interview
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O O
with
K P RD L T I O
O OLD BEAN
PUN K ROCK POST HARD DCORE LTERNATIVE ROCK INDIE MELO ODIC PUNK
Dave, 21, science student Guitarist & singer in OLD BEAN
Who inspired you to play it? My friend Shane inspired me to play guitar. When I was around 13 he moved over from America to across the field from my house and had a Fender Strat which nobody had around at the time. I’d go over to his house every day just to watch him play guitar and get a lesson of him. Shane and his brothers had the biggest influence on my music taste. They came over with every punk cd ever made, if they didn’t have it then it wasn’t worth listening to. They used to burn compilation cds of the best punk bands for me and then Shane would teach me the songs on guitar.
Which musicians inspire you? Tom Delonge and Mark Hoppus from Blink 182 were definitely a big inspiration for starting a band. They made being in a band look fun. Jimi Hendrix’s charismatic guitar ability inspired me to get guitar lessons.
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How and when did your band form? We all met in Secondary school and always talked about forming a band together. It was only until early 2013 that we made it happen. We rented out a warehouse in Galway for band practice and it all started from there.
Do Old Bean have a record label? Just after releasing our Broken EP a nice guy from Japan messaged us about wanting to release an album with us so we’re currently working on that. We’ll have more information about that on our facebook page soon.
How is Old Bean promoted? We mainly use facebook to promote the band. It’s very good for promoting gigs. https://www.facebook.com/oldbeanofficial
How do ye organize gigs? We usually book gigs upstairs in the Roisin Dubh. It’s a great venue for live music. The stage is ground level so you can get involved with the people dancing and there’s always something on after the gig is over.
How do you cope with nerves while playing live? Two pints of Guinness usually does the job for me. 1 pint before going on the stage and 1 for the stage. If I’m really nervous before playing deep breathing and stretches also work for me.
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What is your favourite memory from playing live? My favourite memory of playing live would be touring France with my old band Stick Around. It’s amazing where a band can bring you and I can’t wait to go back there and make new memories with Old bean.
Why do you think the DIY music scene in Galway is as successful as it is? I think it’s so successful because the people in Galway have great energy and passion for music. Galway gigs are so unique because the people that go to the gigs always find a way to have the craic and support the bands with dancing, human pyramids and circle pits. It’s rare for people at gigs in Galway to just stand there or walk off while bands are playing.
What is your advice to musicians who’d like to form a band or start playing live? Anyone can be in a band. Forming a band with friends makes it easier. My advice would be to make sure the chemistry is right between other members in the band before forming.
What’s next... We’re playing the Roisin Dubh March 30th and April 3rd then we’re going to take a break to write new music. I’m really proud of the new songs. I think we’re definitely getting closer to finding our sound.
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It’s AMAZING where a band can bring you... 19
Interview
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DOTT
Garage Pop & Indie rock 21
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Laura | 22 | Plays Bass in DOTT | “right now I work in retail but I’m hoping to put my degree into use soon and get a science related job!”
Musical influences? I have a relatively mixed bunch of influences. When I first got into playing bass I was really interested in punk bands, especially those with a catchy bassline that I found frustrating to learn and play! I have grown up in an incredibly musical house so singing wise Id have to say im influenced by everything from Simon & Garfunkle to Pearl Jam!
Why did you start playing music? My 2 brothers are drummers and my sister plays guitar. I wanted to be able to play songs with them so I decided I would play guitar too. After teaching myself my first song I was told that I was actually playing a bass line and bassists were in short supply, so I stuck with that.
How did DOTT form? I had sort of known Anna the singer through DIY gigs in Galway. I was a big fan of her band at the time and we would see each other at gigs and chat a bit. I was also in a band at the time and so she knew I played bass. She contacted me to go have a jam and see what happened and 2 years later here we are!
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Who writes the songs in DOTT? Anna is the song writer. The writing process starts with her sending us a rough demo of her guitar and vocals and then the rest of us write around that.
How often does DOTT practise? We generally practice once or twice per week but with the tour coming up we are practicing almost every evening until we fly out!
What are your highlights of playing with Dott so far? Playing the Cakeshop in NY, playing electric picnic and playing the Late Late show would definately be experiences that stand out in my mind!
Electric Picnic & The Late Late Show... They were both great! The pre show nerves got to me for both of them. my nerves generally subside after the first song so at picnic I managed to relax and had a great time. For The Late Late I had nerves the whole day, but it was over so fast that I feel a bit silly for gettting so worked up over it.... the song is only 2 minutes long.
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Why do you think the DIY music scene in Galway is so successful? There is a lot of opportunites to showcase your music in Galway. Weekly events like Citog give a chance to so many bands to be heard, and the promoters have different music genres on different weeks so you never get bored. The Roisin Dubh is one of my favorite venues in Galway as they get in a lot of bigger acts but when possible have a local band supporting. They have 2 floors that can hold gigs and often both floors have gigs going on at the same time.
Tips for other up & coming musicians? Put a lot of work into your live sound, always be nice to the sound tech and dont stress yourself out, enjoy it!
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Kelly, Black Magic Big Band 27
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Contact
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Venue
Book a Make sure
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This is a poster. 6 Steps to Setting up a Gig
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event....etc.
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Equipment
get so a und engineer POS -TER
(who are also sound people)
Deadly Musicians