Faces of 2013 A Dark Horse Amateur Historians Croupier Gavin James Forrests
Hudson Taylor Inni-K Kab Driver Meltybrains? Monto
Soak Orquesta Reid Ships Skelocrats Slow Skies
Soak Sorcha Richardson Unwinding Cables White Collar Boy Young Wonder ~
Soak photographed by Alex Sapienza at the theanaloguestudio.ie
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state.ie ireland’s music payload
Faces of two thousand & thirteen
Intro
Each year, when we sit down to chose the acts that we feel will come to define the upcoming months we wonder of this small island can possibly keep producing the kind of talent that has made the past five years of State such a joy. We never need worry and the class of 2013 have proved yet another ridiculously strong bunch. From the stars in waiting Soak, Young Wonder and Hudson Taylor to those who thrive in the underground, the list is proof that we continue to punch above our weight. Over the next lovingly crafted pages you’ll get to know our picks a little bit better and revel in the work of our amazing photographers. See you in 2014. Listen to State’s compilation featuring all 20 Faces here or find links to individual artists’ tracks on each of the following pages. Web links are underlined.
{ Photography by Luis Faustino }
Croupier Math rock gets soul.
Describe yourself and your music: We’re sort of math-rock-inspired, I suppose. I mean generally we don’t spend too much time agonising over how to talk about the music we make, and we’re not especially mindful of genre when we’re writing it, though it’s fair to say we’d be influenced by similar bands and maybe that’s reflected, to some extent, in the songs themselves. Other Irish bands and the Richter stable, by and large, have had a huge influence on us: Marvin’s Revolt Enemies, Adebisi, then The Cast of Cheers; Overhead, The Albatross; Before Machines – these are all bands we can individually agree on. Who or what inspires you? Being able to be a group of friends who make music is pretty important to us. Any of our friends doing that, or something similar, are an inspiration. In the abstract, I’m not sure: we might all give different answers. I don’t think we’ve ever discussed it that way.
How did you get started making music? We started making music together years ago, back in 2008, but we were friends separately before that. Charlie, Rob and I went to school together, while Charlie had been in bands with Harry and Niall before we all got together and decided to start something of our own. We started off just jamming together and it sort of grew organically from there. What’s your best song and why? We’ve just written a couple of new songs that we are really proud of and, hopefully, will put out early in the new year. We’re pretty excited about them so it’s fair to say they’re our favourites at the moment. But, in terms of live performance, I think we all enjoy playing “Creo Beast” the most. There’s an immediacy to it, but there’s quite a bit of variety in sound there that makes it a lot of fun to perform. We chose it as the first single from our album as well; it’s one song we can all sort of agree on.
Strangest thing that happened to you in 2012? We managed to successfully buy a van, which I’m proud to report we’ve since had no trouble with whatsoever. See attached image; his name is Murray. What are you looking forward to this year? We’re planning a European tour at the moment, which we’re really excited about, but which I can’t say too much about at the minute. It’ll be the first time we’ve ever played somewhere other than this island! And a real test for Murray.
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{ Photography by Brendan Canty }
Young Wonder Cork duo living up to their name.
Describe yourself and your music: Rachel: I’m the crazy, bubbly singer of Young Wonder. Young Wonder’s sound is a mixture of a lot of things; electronic, pop, along with Scandinavian & eastern sounds. Who or what inspires you? Rachel: Personally and lyric wise, the beauty of nature and human nature. I love looking out my window and writing about what I see. Also, a lot of my lyrics are based on concepts of tactile and visual imagery, like what winter feels on my skin, or what a summers night looks like through my eyes. How did you get started making music? Ian: I had the music bug from an early age. I can remember my mother telling me that I wouldn’t go to sleep as a baby unless there was a Michael Jackson tape playing in the background. I remember staying out in my cousin Leon’s house as a child and seeing him put this weird shaped fork thing (needle) on a black plate thing (record). I couldn’t get over that as a child I thought it was like magic so eventually at the age of 12 i got a pair of decks. I started DJing and slowly fell into making hip hop beats at about 15. Everything just kind of developed from there on the production side, I’m 22 now.
Anyone you’d like to collaborate with? Ian: So many people ! Rach and I both spoke about maybe getting another female vocalist on a track with us. Hopefully Karen from Slow Skies in the future. Strangest thing that happened to you in 2012? Rachel: A scary cockney man named ‘Jimmy the Pill’ sat down to have a drink with us in Camden. Apparently he was a thief for many years and I don’t doubt him one bit. What are you looking forward to this year? Rachel: Getting lost in music and being more free with my time to tour with Young Wonder. Can’t wait to travel.
“Well on their way to world domination, Rachel & Ian make pop thats both interesting to listen to & equally accessible”. –Monto
Faces of two thousand & thirteen
Faces of two thousand & thirteen
{ Photography by Ian Keegan }
Inni-K Good times, bad times you know she’s had her share.
Describe yourself and your music I’m a singer, musician and songwriter from Kilcock, Co. Kildare. I play piano, fiddle, ukelele - and use my loop pedal to weave it all together - I’d say it’s a bit folk and a bit something new! I recorded my EP in London April last year and am currently gigging and working towards my album. Who or what inspires you? Conversations, interesting people, courageous people, any thing or any art which makes me feel more alive, nature, Ireland, love, hard times, good times… Musically, at the moment I’m especially inspired by Ane Brun, and Laura Marling. How did you get started making music? My Grandad taught me how to hold a fiddle when I was 4. Music is big in my family. We were all ferried around to lessons every week as children classical piano, traditional fiddle and festivals every summer. Music was just part of my life growing up. I’ve been writing songs since my early twenties. I got a loop pedal a couple of years ago and began developing and enjoying this new style that I feel is more my own than anything I’ve done before.
Anyone you’d like to collaborate with? I love collaborating with dancers and artists of all sorts as well as musicians. I find it really interesting to look through different angles. Maybe Feist, I’d love to see how she works. She seems to have such a great community of people around her. What’s your best song and why? I would say DNA. I think it’s quite a complete song, all it needs is voice and ukelele. I tried adding more instruments on it for the EP but it didn’t need it. It’s the one I recommend people to listen to. However, it may be out-run (pun fully intended!) soon by ‘Flower Relay’ which will be on the album. I get great feedback for it when I perform it live. It’s more layered and percussive.
Strangest thing that happened to you in 2012? Surreal maybe more than strange!...I supported the magnificent Efterklang at The Cork Opera House on my transit moving from Dingle. Co. Kerry (where I lived for 3 years) back home to Kildare last September. A day of scrubbing, packing up (piano and all!); more cleaning, more packing, showering, goodbyes, travelling and then suddenly out on a big stage on my own in the Opera House – kind of a bizarre day but what a treat! I arrived home the next day like I was dropped by a whirlwind!! What are you looking forward to this year? I’m looking forward to getting out there and just playing loads in 2013 – I’ve my first Dublin headline Upstais in Whelan’s on 21 Feb, and plenty gigs and festivals being planned! The gestation period working on my songs has yielded plenty and I can’t wait to get going on recording the album and touring with it. Also, quite a bit of travelling on the cards so looking forward to that.
Unwinding Cables
Faces of two thousand & thirteen
{ Photography by Debbie Hickey } previous page
Unwinding Cables / – Afro Punk comes to Cork.
Describe yourself and your music. We are three dudes with no big plans other than taking over the music industry. I’m personally interested in spreading our music to all four corners of the world but not so much into the fame that comes with it. Some people might find it weird or impossible to do but if possible I’d take listeners over money and fame anytime. Our music is unique in its own way,especially here in Ireland. We are mixing Afro-pop with rock which is a very different sound compared to most bands in Ireland. Who or what inspires you? We are inspired a lot by African or world music in general. Lyric wise,I write about my experiences in life, which in most cases are about love. A great topic to write a song on.
How did you get started making music? I got a guitar on my 18th birthday. I didn’t know a chord or anything to do with the instrument... I started teaching myself how to play with help from YouTube tutorials. A few months later I was playing open mics and writing my own songs. Soon after, Unwinding Cables was formed.
Reid Cork producer spreads his wings.
Who or what inspires you? Everything and anything, I find most of my ideas come after traveling or just being away for a while. How did you get started making music? I’ve been in bands for years, but I only started to produce about two years ago after a friend introduced me to Ableton. I was always big into computers so producing using software came very naturally to me. Anyone you’d like to collaborate with? I’ve been looking for some vocal collabs for the new EP and was lucky enough to gain the interest of Oregon based indie outfit Mint Julep. Can’t wait to work with the
singer Hollie as her vocals are perfect for the type of music I make. I’m also very interested in working with Gemma Hayes, who is a neighbour of mine back in my hometown. Strangest thing that happened to you in 2012? Pretty much everything that happened to me this year was a bit strange, mainly because I didn’t expect any of it. The weirdest would probably have to be closing the Indiependence festival in Mitchelstown where I’m originally from. It was the first time I ever played my hometown so it was pretty surreal to do it on a festival stage in a packed out tent.
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A Dark Horse Cinematic Dublin duo step out of the studio.
Describe yourself and your music James: Three words that I have tattooed on my arm: ‘Rebel : Beat : Romantic’ (pending copyright!). That’s me.. romantic in the idealised sense. That’s what the songs are all about. Who or what inspires you? Hugh: I get inspiration when I should be focussing on other things - driving, shopping etc. - which is why I frequently forget something or miss my turn; I get distracted with ideas. Mostly the inspiration for our music, from the lyrics to the tones and sounds, is our lives - the stuff that brought us to here, and shaped us as people. The music is a collaborative expression of that.
How did you get started making music? James: When my ankle said no to being a footballer it seemed to be the next obvious choice... but really it was the only choice. My older brother and sister played in bands, my dad too, so there was always a guitar around but it was only in my mid teens that it grabbed me. Really, in the bare bones of it all, it is my protection against all sinister ways inside and out. What’s your best song and why? James: That’s like asking a parent in front of their kids which one is their favourite - I love them all equally. I have a love/hate relationship with ‘Take Me Home’, ‘These Butterflies’ is under loved, and ‘The Heart Won’t Lie’ is the one we’ve given the most attention to. But I suppose
it’s ‘Silence..’ - it’s a song we co-wrote and the lyrics for me go beyond normal lyrics. They just transport me into that life I am singing about - like as if I am there watching it all. Like a Being John Malkovich moment. Very surreal but also very mystical. Strangest thing that happened to you in 2012? James: Suppose our first attempt at a gig as A Dark Horse.. which was meant to be a gig, but turned into some throw back to being 16. Hugh: Yeah, we’d finished playing to an empty bar, some guy outside, off his face, wanted to steal our drummer’s car while I was sitting in it. So, when I threw him on
the ground, it turned out he wasn’t alone and I found myself running from a bunch of lads screaming ‘KILL HIM!’ down by the docks. I couldn’t stop laughing at how surreal it all was - like something from Back To The Future. I suppose I was in a certain amount of danger, but I managed to get back to the car and burn off without any digs. Sure it was great craic. What are you looking forward to this year? James: Recording and releasing our album in 2013. I’ve got a good feeling about this coming year. It feels like a time of no rules and just being in the right flow to catch the right wave. It will be interesting.
Faces of two thousand & thirteen
{ Photography by Cait Fahey }
Orquesta Latin music, Dublin style.
Who or what inspires you? The normal stuff. my friends, travelling on public transport and listening to music and thinking about where I want to be.
“His recordings are really incredible and so different from a lot of Irish music being made at the moment. He’s got a really individual vision and his dedication to what he does is really admirable. I disagree with him about Boogie Nights being a good film but otherwise he seems like an okay sort”. – Oisin, Croupier
How did you get started making music? I was in bands when I was a kid/ teen/ young adult then I started fooling around with electronics about 3 years ago. I guess it was a natural progression because I am pretty controlling creatively so I really want to be in charge of each element of my music. Anyone you’d like to collaborate with? There are so many people. I have my heart set on loads of vocalists and a couple of musicians and I’m working on bits and pieces with a few different producers from all over the world.
What’s your best song and why? I have a lot of unreleased material that i would rate higher than anything out at the moment, but of the released stuff I’m probably most proud of ‘Los Rapidos’, the b-side to ‘Kokomo’. I like the sound of it and it’s the most personal of my songs. Strangest thing that happened to you in 2012? Nothing particularly strange happened really. I went to a Rihanna concert.
Faces of two thousand & thirteen
Soak An interview.
{ Photography by Alex Sapienza at the theanaloguestudio.ie Words by Daniel Robinson }
Soak Within the last year there was one name in Irish music that seemed to leap from obscurity to island-sweeping phenomena. Drawing the curtains on 2012 by opening for Snow Patrol having modestly begun the year as an unheard of newcomer to the open mic circuit is quite the breakthrough, not least for a sixteen year old college student. But young Derry dame Bridie Monds-Watson, better known SOAK, isn’t feeling the slightest bit of pressure looking to the year ahead.
“I don’t get stressed because I’m not good at acting serious. I love my life and I love music, I could never be more thankful for all the support and guidance I’ve received in the past year.” And talk about support, by the autumn months of 2012 the originally Belfasthailing indie-folkster had already garnered the acclaim of Radio One jockeys Huw Stephens and Fearne Cotton, having first made it onto the radar of BBC Introducing before the daytime DJs caught ear of her intoxicating vocals and remarkably refined song writing. Yet SOAK remains as blown away as anyone to have heard her own music, of which the stunning ‘Fingers Crossed’ was playlisted, broadcast by Britain’s biggest station. “I couldn’t believe it at the start and I still have a hard time believing it now. The BBC Introducing team have been amazing to me this past year and then for them to select me as one of their Introducing artists of the week was just mind-blowing.”
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But is it about SOAK that’s pricked the ears and soothed the souls of so many, so soon? What separates her from countless other bedroom balladeers? Much has been made of the singer’s mere adolescence, it the source of in some cases faintly dismissive praise, as if any recognition of ability stems only from her comparative youth. Make no mistake, there’s far more to SOAK than “good for her age”. True, her hypnotically skeletal arrangements are produced on exactly the kind of recording budget you’d expect from a student who at the time was amidst her GCSEs and had yet to land the live opportunities of the rest of the year, but the minimalism only serves to heighten the focal point of SOAK. That being Bridie’s voice. Across the six tracks so far officially available, the EPs ‘Trains’ and ‘Sea Creatures’ released barely four months apart between March and July, lo-fi lamentations are woven together by Bridie’s plaintive, stirring sense of mood and melody. There’s an infantile slant to her delivery that maintains the edge of vulnerability her lyrics radiate, sometimes candid retellings of real experiences, at others more hazily personal pondering. It’s like the glistening gloommospherics of Warpaint funnelled through a single set of more hopeful lungs and unplugged guitar strings. Bridie wasn’t always aware that she could carry a tune though. “I was never a singer, it was always my little brother, Aaron, who had the angel voice. When I began guitar two years ago I started to sing along to the songs I was learning, it was then that my parents and friends started to tell me that I could sing.” And almost overnight what began as a light hobby morphed into a genuine pursuit as things started snowballing beyond any margin of expectation. A Villagers support slot here, a few TV appearances there and before her recordings had even turned six months old an invite arrived to open for NI’s biggest band in suitably stripped down mode. “I was on the bus to Belfast because I was gigging that night and that’s when I read an email asking if I’d like to support Snow Patrol. I didn’t believe it at first then when I did I went crazy and tried to not embarrass myself on the bus.” There was no such panic just prior to the big night though. “I’m sure I’ll be grand” she adds, sweeping away the any justified nerves with a turn of phrase to silence anyone unconvinced of her Derry pedigree.
“I am in love with her. Her songs and voice are gorgeous.” – Karen, Slow Skies
Faces of two thousand & thirteen
Soak / –
In the same week Bridie, along with her managerial mum, made the trip to the polar end of the isle for Dingle institution Other Voices, an experience that truly helped cement SOAK as a talent to be reckoned with Ireland-wide. “It didn’t really hit me until I landed in Dingle and I realised how big (Other Voices) was. Then I got really excited to play because I realised that some of my favourite artists had played before or were participating this year. Dingle is really special. It’s hard to describe but when your there, you know it. Usually when I play festivals it’s cold, damp and everyone is in a big rush, you don’t really get time to relax. Other Voices is the complete opposite, I wish all festivals were like Dingle’s.” Sure enough she’d close out the year top of Nialler9’s Best New Irish Artists reader’s poll and is set to leave her mark on 2013 as Derry celebrates its City of Culture designation, including a closer to home return to Other Voices’ intimate performance circus which this year is held in the Maiden City between February 8th and 10th. “Local acts will get loads of work this year” she says, “I’m glad that they won’t be overlooked and that they will finally be properly appreciated. I’m looking forward to being involved this year, yeah!” As for plans for specific forthcoming releases Bridie is a little more elusive, remaining tight-lipped on the subject of social media activity indicative of possible label interest. Contractually cryptic or not, consider our curiosity is piqued.
“Tragically beautiful songs, and a voice that is wise way beyond her years.” – A Dark Horse
Yet Bride is wise to the fickleness of the music industry and sees concentrating on finishing her studies as a priority this year in case the rock’n’roll dream doesn’t pan out. As you’d imagine, her whirlwind past year has made it difficult not to neglect some areas of life. “I miss spending time with my friends when I’m away, I miss my family and my dog but going up on stage to that huge wave of applause makes the journeys worth it. I am the luckiest person in the world. I get to do my hobby as a job, who could ask for more?” And with her whole life still ahead of her, who could argue?
❧ Soak was photographed in Dublin for State by Alex Sapienza using wet plate photography and a vintage bellows camera.Visit the theanaloguestudio.ie for more information.
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Ships Electro pop trio are open to offers. Who or what inspires you? We’re inspired by pretty much everything including each other’s musical tastes, sounds, this guy called Kidney, books, ideas, dancing, peace, quiet.
How did you get started making music? We’ve both had different experiences playing music since our childhoods, piano and guitar lessons, teenage bands, gigging and recording. Making music was just a natural progression for both of us as music fans, as it is for many. Anyone you’d like to collaborate with? Sure! Mail us. What’s your best song and why? I hope we have yet to write our best song but picking one over another would change depending on the mood I reckon.
Strangest thing that happened to you in 2012? Retelling it would diminish its strangeness, sorry. What are you looking forward to this year? We’re looking forward to writing a record, and when that’s done we’ll be looking forward to playing it live, and when that’s done we’ll hopefully still be looking forward.
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Forrests Buzzsaw electronics meet shoegaze euphoria.
{ Photography by Sarah Doyle }
Who or what inspires you? Everything, really. Existence. Sadness. Hope. Joy.
What’s your best song and why? ‘Areqtetz’. Because we haven’t written it yet.
How did you get started making music? We started making music as a confused attempt to express ourselves beyond words on an old synth and an electric guitar .
Strangest thing that happened to you in 2012? Waking up one night believing I was dead.
Anyone you’d like to collaborate with? Steve Reich, Michael Rother, Kevin Shields, Karen Dreijer.
What are you looking forward to this year? Meeting new people. Spending time with our loved ones. Our first release, probably an EP.
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Slow Skies Karen Sheridan reaches for the stars.
Describe yourself and your music Right now I would call it atmospheric folk, but I feel like it’s still evolving and we are still experimenting with sounds and arrangements for the songs both in recordings and live. Who or what inspires you? Well I recently told Conor O’Brien he is my spiritual leader when I was very drunk so I guess you could say he is a big inspiration for me. He is my Jesus. Anyone you’d like to collaborate with? Jape, Youth Lagoon or Spilly Walker on their song ‘Rock Mah Boday’.
“I fell in love with Slow Skies the very first time I heard them” – Sorcha Richardson
What’s your best song and why? I’m really excited about the songs on my next EP. They are very personal to me and I love singing them. I haven’t got sick of them yet so I think that’s a good sign. Strangest thing that happened to you in 2012? I got an iPhone.
Monto Ireland’s newest dance wunderkind.
“Great, very original, cheeky hip hop and even some juke-esque patterns in there. Super bass lines” – Kab Driver
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Anyone you’d like to collaborate with? On a local level I’d like to collaborate with the likes of Gemma Dunlovely or Katie Kim, both very different singers in the style of music they make, but both amazing in their own right. Mad interested in what Ickis Mirolo is doing at the moment as well, there’s a lovely texture to his music, and he’s a lovely man. Describe yourself and your music I’m a 20 year old boyra from Wicklow currently studying music in college. I don’t like to overly categorize music so I’ll say that my music is electronic with influences of hip-hop and jazz. Who or what inspires you? If you asked me this question the same time last year it probably would have been a completely different answer. Over the last year through what I’ve been studying in college I’ve became massively interested in jazz and world music. There’s such a variety of music in the world outside of the pop culture that we’re used to. How did you get started making music? My families originally from the weshhht of Ireland so there was always Irish trad in my house growing up. I also tried learning any instrument I could get my hands on as a kid, and my family were supportive of that too. Listening to hip-hop throughout my teenage years led me to start producing the kind of stuff I do today.
What’s your best song and why? I would argue that the stuff I’m making at the moment that’s unreleased is my best stuff, definitely the most musical anyway. The songs i have that get the best reaction are ‘Homage’ & my remix of CLU’s ‘Willow’. Strangest thing that happened to you in 2012? For a lad that usually has fuck all luck, winning €5,000 of music equipment in a competition was definitely strange. Apart from that a lot of strange things happened at festivals like Castlepalooza and Electric Picnic this year, the kind of stuff that’s possibly illegal to publish in a national newspaper. What are you looking forward to this year? The Age of Aquarius, Austin Powers 4, the Madlib & Freddie Gibbs record. It’s still in the stage of January where you often forget that it’s 2013 so I haven’t thought that far ahead yet.
Gavin James The Voice of Ireland, proper like.
Describe yourself and your music My name is Gavin James. I come from a house that has always been filled with music since I was little, which has led me to what I am doing now. When I finished school I went straight to gigging in Temple Bar playing covers and started introducing my originals in after a while. I did pub gigs for three years and I think it really helped me progress as a gigging musician. Since then I’ve released my first EP ‘Say Hello’ and have been focusing on my career as a solo artist. Who or what inspires you? The inspiration for my songwriting comes from things that have happened in my life so far. My family have been so encouraging my whole life when it came to music so they really inspire me to keep at it. How did you get started making music? After being in so many rock bands since I was young I stripped everything back acoustically and started writing my own songs when I was 16. I started writing my own songs by being influenced by writers like Bob Dylan, Ryan Adams, Jeff Buckley and a lot of Motown singers.
Anyone you’d like to collaborate with? I love Kodaline. I gigged with them a while back and I think the structure and the lyrics in there songs are beautiful. What’s your best song and why? ‘Two Hearts’ hasn’t been released yet but people seem to know the words already which is a good sign I think. It will be on my album. Strangest thing that happened to you in 2012? Going to LA in April for the MUSEXPO and Worldwide Radio Summit. I got to play In front of the biggest heads in music. It was nerve wrecking but I’ll never forget it.
Faces of two thousand & thirteen
Faces of two thousand & thirteen
Hudson Taylor An interview.
Faces of two thousand & thirteen
{ Photography by Laura Allen Words by James Hendicott }
Hudson Taylor It might not seem like it, but it’s been nearly four years since brothers Alfie and Harry Hudson-Taylor first turned up - guitars in hand - on Grafton Street. Busking the capital has continued to be a surprisingly viable route to a career in music in Ireland – as Damien Rice, Paddy Casey, Rodrigo Y Gabriela and The Riptide Movement can attest – but dig into the brothers’ past, and it turns out they weren’t even planning to be all that much more.
“We kind of started taking things seriously when were away on a family holiday in Italy”, Alfie recalls. “We were staying in one of these family park things, six of us sharing the one caravan. We went out to the beach with our guitar and met five or six German people having a fire, and they called us over and asked us to play some tunes. We’d never really played before except for at family events, but we tried to sort of busk for them. We did Beatles songs and stuff like that and they asked us to come back the next night. There were eight people there, the next night ten, and by the end of the holiday it was crowded. It was our first time drinking beer and stuff, and when we went to leave, they all asked us to set up a YouTube channel and a Facebook page. They wanted to see more so we started putting up stuff online and busking on Grafton Street. It was something to do in our spare time. Our mum sort of stopped giving us pocket money. We regret telling our mum how much money we were making busking because it was like ‘oh you’re independent now, you can pay for your stuff.’”
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The busking did make for tough Christmas, though. Harry remembers “if we wanted money, we had to go out in the cold and get it. We never intended on doing what we’re doing now. The turning point came when we got a lot of interest in London about two years ago. We had a song called ‘Ready To Launch’. Our uncle over in the UK was a tour manager and he sent it on to a lady who had recently set up a management company and was looking to manage an act. To be honest, we knew nothing about the music industry. We were so naive. We had a gig in Whelan’s and she came over for that straight away, three days after getting an email. The day after we got three messages, one from her, one from Sony Ireland and one from Polydor UK, who we’re now signed to, but this is two years ago. We were shocked. We didn’t know what to do. From the end of 2010 to the end of 2011 we kept going back and forth to London. We’ve been living there for 18 months now.” There’s a heftier UK connection, too, with large chunks of their family based across the water, but there’s no doubt where loyalties lie: “Our parents are English and most of our family live over there, but we’re Irish through and through. We grew up here and we definitely prefer Ireland, even though our family are English. It’s the kind of thing where two generations ago they were all from Ireland. We’ve adopted Ireland as our home.” It seems like things could have happened a lot faster, but the brothers were biding their time. “We waited so long really to get an idea of what the industry was all about”, Alfie explains. “We were writing as well, and we had lots of stuff on the table, but we didn’t take it. That was horrible, as we had nothing. We were living on £35 each a week at one point, in London. Busking isn’t as forgiving in London. It damages your confidence a little bit, as everyone’s just walking past. We might make £60 but we’d feel awful about music for the next week as no one’s listening.”
“Lovely harmonies, songs and great hair.” – A Dark Horse
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Hudson Taylor / – It’s through social media that the band have really garnered a following. With over 25,000 Facebook followers and 14,000 on Twitter, the lads’ every word is spread wide. “Social media’s been a big thing for us”, Alfie explains. “Niall Horan retweeted us, as Harry went to school in Mullingar. We used to take the train with him, he’s a good lad. He just likes our stuff, which is nice. If someone says something of Twitter, getting a conversation going is great for followers, but no one used to have that platform. We’re trying to combine that with our ability to impress on the street and to put up music on Soundcloud, YouTube and other platforms. We’re just trying to grow it all quite organically. We could have asked Niall to tweet something for us early on but it didn’t seem the right thing to do. It’s much nicer when stuff like that happens naturally.” In the years between those first label offers and Hudson Taylor’s eventual signing have been used well, with two EPs, entitled ‘Battles’ and ‘Cinematic Lifestyle’ unveiled. “The two EPs are a bit raw”, Harry explains. “It’s important to replicate what you can do live. But also we released it ourselves, through our own label, so budgets were low and time limited. It was just us putting it down, ‘a Simon & Garfunkel live round a microphone’ vibe. It was a lovely achievement to set up our own label and release two EPs through it; to learn the ins and outs of the recording process. A label would put ten grand into it. You can do it for five and be quite self-sufficient. We called in a lot of favours, and we had to be very savvy about it. Our manager freaked out. She’s worked in labels and stuff, and she said ‘you’ve got no marketing, no PR, no digital manager’. We’ve been doing that for the last 2-3 years. That was the way we went about it. ‘Battles’ and ‘Cinematic Lifestyle’ both did quite well. I don’t want to fluff up our feathers, but Battles went number one in the iTunes chart over here for four days.”
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Incredibly, two independently released albums and an outgoing strategy eventually led to an appearance at the London Olympics. “A girl from Live Nation was walking down Grafton Street two years ago, and saw us and liked us”, Alfie smiles. “She was given the job of selected artists for the Olympics. They didn’t have to be big artists and she remembered us. We played three gigs in one day, two in Hyde Park. One was right after Andy Murray won the tennis and the other one was right before Usain Bolt won the 100 metres. We got to announce the winner to the people who weren’t watching the screen. That was really cool but playing the O2 was probably the highlight for 2012. Playing to a home crowd at Childline and then getting to see it on TV was incredible.” With an album on the way in 2013, things will only get bigger. “The album probably won’t be out until after the summer. We might have a third EP out for the festival season, potentially. If not they’ll be another song. Not a single as such, but something before the festival season, and we’ll market the EPs with that. We’re hoping to launch an album in September, about a year from Battles. It’ll be a selection; some new stuff, and the better tracks from the EPs. We’ve got over 50 songs to pick from, but we want our first album to be the best that it can possibly be. It’s been five years now, we’ve got our sound, and we’re just going to work towards making the best album we can make.” Having just signed a huge record deal, that album will be launched on the world with the help of career-making advertising from mega-label Polydor. “The curious thing about Polydor is obviously they’re a massive multinational but they’ve been really good about letting us do what we do. They’ve seen our success and they want to just let it carry on like that. We’re going to do things our own way even with a major label behind us. It brings loads of new heads and ideas to the table. Hopefully that’ll increase reach. There’s only so much you can do with social networks and gigging. Up until two months ago we didn’t even have a booking agent in the UK. You need other people to do something the other side of the world if you want to play the other side of the world.” At this stage it won’t be for pocket money, and who’d bet against them?
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“I used to always see them busking in town and used to join in.” – Gavin James
Sorcha Richardson
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Sorcha Richardson / – Irish songwriter finds a home in New York.
Describe yourself and your music I’m a 22-year-old singer-songwriter from Dublin and I live in New York City. Alan Reilly described my music as “bedroom songs sung from a big city window” which is much more poetic than anything I’ve ever come up with, so I like to use that. Who or what inspires you? Interviews with Lykke Li, big cities, the horribly dark and scary dreams I have almost every night, Joan Didion’s Slouching Towards Bethlehem and my beautiful friend Nicki Muller who passed away this year, not before showing us all what it really means to work hard for your goals. How did you get started making music? I started learning guitar when I was ten and then I took up the drums when I was eleven. I was writing songs but kept that a secret for a long time. I didn’t think I was a good enough to sing them myself but I was too protective over them
to give them to someone else so no one heard them for years. Then when I moved to New York and I didn’t have a drum kit. I needed something musical to focus on, so I started sneaking off to open-mics, singing my songs to strangers and I built up the confidence to start sharing my music with friends. Anyone you’d like to collaborate with? I would LOVE to work with Blackbird Blackbird. He’s one of my favourite producers and his style is so different from mine. He put out a track called ‘Tear’ about a year ago that I still listen to all the time. He manages to find the perfect balance between electronic and acoustic. What’s your best song and why? My most popular song is ‘I Heart NYC’ but the one that I’m most proud of is ‘Midnight Whistle’. Lyrically, it’s the most honest of anything I’ve written and I like how raw the recorded version sounds.
Strangest thing that happened to you in 2012? Standing on the block of my apartment on the night Hurricane Sandy hit and just looking down 6th Avenue into complete darkness. I also met a man in a church in Brooklyn who told me he held the world record for the longest ever freestyle – 52 hours!! And then he gave me a piano lesson playing airpiano. What are you looking forward to this year? Finishing college so that I can spend less time with my head in a book and more time working on my music.
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Amateur Historians Derry youngsters invent a new genre. Describe yourself and your music We are Amateur Historians, average age 22. We play music that’s a direct descendant of 90s indierock and indie-pop but has a bit of emo thrown in for good measure (indiemopoprock). Who or what inspires you? Just trying to have loads of fun with what we’re doing. If at the same time we can make other people happy from what we do, that’s an awesome bonus. If we could make enough money to fund our burgeoning coke habits that’d be swell too.
Anyone you’d like to collaborate with? There are tons of bands that we’d love to do a split single or something with. Right now, probably bouts because they’re one of the few Irish bands that draw from similar influences to us and that all three of us really like. What’s your best song and why? It’s hard to be objective about your own music but people seem to like ‘These Cities Are Stealing My Soul’, probably because it’s our shortest song and that means they don’t have to endure it too long.
Strangest thing that happened to you in 2012? We all went to see Japandroids in Glasgow and ended up bumping into them and buying them drinks when we went out afterwards. That was super weird. What are you looking forward to this year? Hopefully writing and recording a bunch of new songs that we won’t get bored of playing too quickly.
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{ Photography by Luis Faustino }
White Collar Boy Producers, musicians, DJs and club hosts like to keep busy.
“I saw Vincent Cassel cheating on his wife at their concert in Berlin”
– Lan Orquestras
“They hold the record for most gigs done on a train from Dublin to Waterford which is pretty cool, right?” – Monto How did you get started making music? We both played in guitar bands through our teens but it wasn’t until PrimaVera 2011 where we found ourselves dancing at the same discos that the wheels were first put into motion.
Who or what inspires you? We would be very much inspired by our peers and the people who facilitate the thriving artistic output in the country at the moment. For such a small space, we not only produce an amazing amount of talent but every weekend we welcome a wealth of artists of all disciplines for shows, exhibitions, readings and more. The likes of Mano Le Tough, The Drifter and Shit Robot flying the flag abroad are definite sources of inspiration too, not that we want to leave the country, we just want to take over the world from it.
Anyone you’d like to collaborate with? Health have released remix LPs (Disco I & Disco II) of their first and second records, we would love to have a go at Disco III... What’s your best song and why? It’s a song called ‘SUUU’. It’s not out till later in the year so I guess you’re going to have to wait and see why... What are you looking forward to this year? We’re off to play the Kantine venue in Berghain which we cannot wait for. Last time we tried we couldn’t even get into Berghain so playing there is going to be something else.
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Meltybrains? People are strange.
Describe yourself and your music We’re a group of friends who have fun together making music that slaps you in the face and makes you ask, what? Who or what inspires you? Chocolate sauce, being pissheads together and the daily escapades of Fin Ryan - we can’t help but be inspired by him. How did you get started making music? We moved into Meltybrook, Ben got a laptop and shit got real. But then again, Ben always had a laptop and shit was always real so maybe music college had something to do with it. Anyone you’d like to collaborate with? John Frusciante, Snarky Puppy and Daniel O’ Donnell. What’s your best song and why? Our songs are like children, it’s impossible to pick your best child. That being said, our favourite song is ‘Chocolate Is Mmmm’ because he does what he’s told and never answers back.
“One of the few acts i can literally say sounds like nothing else. Really off the wall stuff, and being truthful, probably not everyone’s cup of tea. Music to go insane to. Their EP Free Kyle is dope, I’m not sure who Kyle is but I hope it was worth it buddy”. – Monto
Strangest thing that happened to you in 2012? When we went on tour we played in a small, underground metal bar in Limerick. By the time we went on stage there was roughly twenty people there so we decided to go absolutely mental and finish our last song by cutting into ‘Hit Me Baby, One More Time’ by Britney Spears. We had no idea how it would go down but everyone really enjoyed it, which was the weirdest part. What are you looking forward to this year? Playing more gigs, releasing more music and above all else, Michael Collins: The Board Game.
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{ Photography by Ian Keegan }
Skelocrats Living on an island. Describe yourself and your music. I’m Padraig and I’m just over 6ft 1 in height with light brown hair and the flushed complexion typical of the stage Irishman. The same goes for Mike, Bronwyn and Paddy. I think we make anachronistic guitary pop music with a certain amount of sweetness in the melody and a refreshing attention to detail/lack of attention to detail..
Strangest thing that happened to you in 2012? I missed a flight despite being in the airport seven hours before it left. Don’t ask.
What are you looking forward to this year? Christmas.
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Kab Driver Multi-strand electronica from Belfast.
Describe yourself and your music I’m a hairy faced curry lover that spends too much time in front of a computer. I make electronic music influenced by funk, soul, jazz and lots of other electronic music. Who or what inspires you? Just playing with sound can be a real inspiration, instruments, hardware, software etc.. Squarepusher did a nice article years ago about collaboration with machines - in essence your instruments and tools are just as responsible for your musical output as you are.
How did you get started making music? I started playing with Rebirth and smoking from about the age of 16, it was pretty addictive. I was already into computers a lot, and I think playing video games was probably part of the training process too. Anyone you’d like to collaborate with? The visual artists at Universal Everything. I’d love to make some conceptual audio visual sci-fi headfuck with them. What’s your best song and why? An unreleased track called ‘Dead Beast Fiasco’. It captured a mood I was intending on creating, it felt pretty honest, even though I don’t really know what it’s about. I think there is some imagery about being thrown over a fence as a child when being chased by a herd of cows. I’m not sure if that’s specifically in the lyrics though.
Strangest thing that happened to you in 2012? Laurent Garnier tweeting about my album and bigging it up was strange, but really cool. I also got asked for ID at Tescos. What are you looking forward to this year? Creating sonic terror weapons to fight off the zombie invasion. Hopefully squeeze in time to make some tunes. Working with some other labels and also have some great releases lined up for Reset, the label I run with Defcon and Brian Greene.
“An amazing ability to make songs that you could snap your neck to or make babies to. I’d be even more impressed if he actually was a cab driver and he was making all this fantastic music on the side”.
– Monto
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