Long Island Sound Interview

Words: Neil Walsh

‘We Want To Be Part Of The Burgeoning Electronic Music Scene In Ireland’

Long Island Sound have been on a steady rise since joining forces in 2014. They are now a recognisable moniker on Irish festival line ups and are starting to make a name for themselves further afield. The pair – both 25 years of age – moved to Berlin two years ago in the summer of 2017; a move that has benefitted both their sound and output. One half of the duo, Rob Roche, graduated from IADT in 2017 having done Creative Music Production while the other half, Timmy Nolan, graduated from Maynooth with an Arts degree.

The origin story for Long Island Sound is a classic tale of boredom and a shared taste of musical genres. As Timmy puts it:

“Everyone was away on holidays, me and Rob were the only people left in Dublin out of our friend group and we both made music.” The pair hit it off like a successful couple on First Dates –

“We jammed in my house, like, twice, and it went kinda well, and we were like ‘let’s continue this.’" It has clearly blossomed into a successful relationship, and the pair haven’t looked back since.

Of course, the key to any healthy relationship is striking a common ground and it’s obvious that Rob and Tim have a shared sense of what they should be doing and when they should be doing it. Whether it is their sound, location or label, they seem to agree on just about everything. Even with their Berlin venture, there was no disagreement with making the initial journey over, and there is no confusion about the desire to be based back in Dublin at some point in the not-so-distant future.

The move to Berlin has also seen a rise in their DIY ethic in regard to how their music is released. Earlier this year, they released their first EP on their own label, Signs Of Space.

Timmy harks back to how himself and Rob were in full agreement on how things should be done, as they seemingly always are.

“Bobby Analog (fellow Irish producer) helped us quite a lot, he gave us some advice. He put us through to some distributors and we sent them some music”, Timmy recounts.

“It only became a viable option once we had a distributor sorted. Then, a general idea came about, and we realised that myself and Rob were on the same page in terms of what it was going to look like and what it was going to sound like.” Again, the cost of living in Berlin seems to have been an asset in setting up their own label. As Rob puts it

“we had talked about it before but didn’t really have the money to do it”, while Timmy chimes in that it was “way less stressful than (he) imagined.”

“We wouldn’t have had the money to have our own studio space in Dublin because it’s quite expensive”

Rob and Timmy are both in agreement about what they want to be in years to come as Timmy prophetically proclaims that he wants to be part of the “burgeoning electronic music scene in Ireland, because there’s a lot of cool music being made.” For some, as two up and coming producers, leaving Berlin and coming back to Dublin may seem unwise, but for Rob and Tim, it is as much about home comforts, such as friends and family, as it is about their prospective music career:

“The making music and then come back (to Dublin). I don’t want to be one of those people who fucks off and never comes back” Timmy states assertively, before Rob continues that “coming over here (to Berlin) was only ever somewhat temporary. It wasn’t like we were leaving Ireland forever. It was just to get away for like two years, like a ‘gap year’ type of thing. It will be a good time to leave (at the end of the year) - you don’t want to stay so long that you kind of end up hating Berlin.”

They’re under no illusion that the closure of prominent venues such as Hangar and District 8 will make it more difficult for Irish artists to get gigs and more exposure. With the closure of these clubs and a struggle to get gigs and stuff released on the artists terms, it seems this might be feeding into a DIY, almost punk-like, ethic.

“There’s a load of good music happening in Ireland at the moment, but there’s no venues. Maybe it is helping creatively, people are frustrated and are taking out their anger by making bangers” Timmy suggests, continuing that “it’s just such a shame because people don’t get to see producers or live music in many settings. A lot of creatives just get up and leave (Ireland).” The pair were also critical of Ireland’s late-night licensing laws.

“People are frustrated and are taking out their anger by making bangers”

“What’s the point of staying if there’s nowhere to go past 3 o’clock? One of the things that attracted us to come to Berlin was the fact that there is so many venues and so many opportunities.” It is easy to see – in terms of gigs at least – why the opportunities in Berlin far surpass those in Dublin. Compared to Dublin where nights usually consist of two or three artists on the bill, in Berlin you might have upwards of ten acts or, as Timmy puts it,

“you have one act but they get to play for way longer. The thing about Dublin, or Irish laws in general, because the opening hours are so short but promoters want to pack out venues as much as possible, they get like five people to play over five hours so people only get to play for an hour each. You don’t really get to explore ‘new territories’ in electronic music, people just play bangers because they only have an hour.”

Before they leave however, they do want to enjoy their last summer in Berlin and spend it playing festivals and producing more material for their next EP.

“Hopefully we have a few more festivals and keep making as much music as possible because it’s kind of easy to get distracted during the summer. Studio early on in the day, get our music done and then enjoy our free time. Apart from that, get another record done I guess, maybe two.” It is admirable to see the two lads have a clear goal and know that despite the hedonistic lifestyle that Berlin can offer, there’s no point in just wasting their time.

Their advice for anyone finding themselves in a similar situation (aspiring artists just coming out of college), is a fairly simple one - be proactive. Rob says it’s simply a case of “put music out, start a label, get in contact with people. I think a lot of people who make music are too afraid to take the step of putting shit out, or starting a label, or getting in touch with a label they’d be interested in. Be productive.” Timmy advises that for young artists they don’t necessarily have to leave Ireland.

“There’s amazing music being made everywhere. You don’t have to go abroad but spend a lot of time on it. It needs to be something you want to spend a lot of time on. We started getting more productive once we started going to the studio three or four times a week. People laugh if we go to the studio on a Saturday, they think we should take the weekend off, but we enjoy going to the studio. If you can, work as little as possible. That’s why it works over here because we can work (only two or three times a week). It wouldn’t work in Ireland.”

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