This Other Kingdom - This album stands alongside any music of today

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THIS OTHER KINGDOM THIS ALBUM STANDS ALONGSIDE ANY MUSIC OF TODAY

[ Interview with Declan Dunne from The Other Kingdom by Diego Centuriรณn ]

THIS ALBUM STANDS ALONGSIDE ANY MUSIC OF TODAY

Hi guys!

Thank you for accepting this interview.

Let's start at the beginning.

What existed first the band or the name?

The idea of the band was alive well before the name but the name came before the music, though!

The next two questions are obvious. How is the band born? And Why This Other Kingdom?

Me and Del started writing music together about 7 years ago but it wasn’t until our drummer Git joined us in 2014 that we really got serious about the band and the direction we wanted to take the music seemed to come naturally to us from there. The name This Other Kingdom comes from the Jim Morrison poem A Feast of Friends which The Doors later wrote music for.

“No more money, no more fancy dress This other kingdom seems by far the best” Why or who are inspired?

We all take inspiration from the bands of today like The Black Angels, Holy Wave, Night Beats, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club along with older psych bands like The Doors, Love, 13th Floor Elevators. The Beatles ‘Revolver’ was playing a lot when we were writing our new álbum.

You make a record debut in April 2013, with the EP "Sunlight". How do you listen to that recording today?

“Sunlight” was used to get the name of the band out there and to get people talking about us. It was recorded in one day, one long day, so it’s a bit rough and untidy in parts but it will always be the bands’ first recording and for that reason we will always love it!

His debut album is "Telescopic" from 2015. What sound differences do you find between "Telescopic" and your debut EP? Both “Telescopic” and “Sunlight” EP were written within a short space of time of each other so I feel like they both have a similar vibe to them. Two of the songs from the EP even ended up on “Telescopic”.

The main difference was that our drummer Git only joined the band after “Sunlight” was released and

as a result he added his own distinctive drumming style to “Telescopic”.

The new album is called "Réveur", what can you tell us about recording the songs?

We recorded the album in Orphan Studios in Dublin with help from two excellent engineers Barry Murphy and Daniel Lopes. It was quite an easy going and relaxed vibe throughout the recording process. We went into recording 100% in the knowledge of what we wanted to achieve with the album and how we wanted it to sound. We recorded a massive chunk of the album live. If there was one thing we felt that was lacking in “Telescopic” it was that at certain parts of the album you can’t feel the energy we have as a live band because we all recorded at separate times, so we changed that this time around. An interesting fact is that the take of our song नई दिल्ली सात (New Delhi Seven) that made the album was actually recorded in one take with one microphone in the middle of the room recording the guitar, tabla and harmonium.

Speaking of the album "Réveur", what has changed (if anything has changed) in the way of writing the songs?

I feel like we became a little less afraid of space on this album. There was maybe an urge on “Telescopic” to fill space at times. With the new album we were a lot more confident in the sound we wanted to create and had a chance to express ourselves a bit more.

When we were writing "Réveur" we were a bit more influenced by the American “psych” scene of today, which I’d consider overall a bit brighter and more up tempo than what you find in Europe. When you go and visit a city with a booming psych scene like for example Austin, Texas, you can’t help but come home and want to write, it’s infectious.

When listening to the album it is perceived that since the song Comatosed, the album becomes more mantric. Is this idea premeditated?

We never sat down to write songs that are mantric but that was just the creative space we were in throughout the writing of this album. We wanted to take the album somewhere completely different and be more creative, more adventurous. The idea of any

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album should always be to take the listener on a trip with you. It can be a thin line between an album and a bunch of songs thrown together and that’s why track listings are so important to us. If we were to write 11 songs like Comatosed then the album would become boring and predictable and there’s no fun in that is there?

What are the plans for this year?

We are touring around the UK in May and are planning European tour for later in the 2017.

Why should our readers listen to the band?

We believe this album stands alongside any music of today and are confident that whoever takes the time to listen to it, will agree!

This last space is for them to express what they want.

All readers should go to the Wrong Way Records bandcamp page and pick up a copy of our new album "Réveur". https://wrongwayrecords.bandcamp.com/ album/r-veur

Thank you guys for this interview.

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