In our latest Band Spotlight, we chat to Fangclub about the band’s new, ‘True Love EP’.
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S] How are you guys today?
We are pretty good thanks. We’ve been touring since last August, 2017. Feeling tired. But good tired. Warm inside. Properly cooked and seasoned.
S] What makes you passionate outside of music, think movies, locations or people for example?
We are big into movies but have been too busy to go see any new movies recently. When we’re on tour though we try to get in a lot of bowling. We are huge bowling fanatics. It kind of keeps the band glued together. Through rough and ruin we will always have bowling. Kev is big into WWE. He’s like a fanatic about local indie promotions too like OTT, Rev Pro and Progress. Dara climbs mountains when we get off tour. He heads off for days and we don’t hear from him. Steven is an editor for Bad Spirit Artwork so he disappears into that world all the time.
S] What would you say the biggest challenges are for you as a band right now?
That’s hard to answer because we love the challenges. We just want to make the best music we can. Thats the only real challenge at the end of it all. Music has to be the main thing. It comes first and transcends the rest of the industry and scene stuff.
S] What is your attitude to success as a band?
Success for us is in the studio or rehearsal room when we nail a new song. As far as success in popularity, that’s not really ours anyway. You feel quite separated from it until other people looking in at the bubble bring it up. We’ve had some amazing opportunities and success supporting some of our favourite bands like, The Cribs, Swmrs, Frank Carter, Milk Teeth, Twin Atlantic, Pretty Vicious, Muse, Biffy Clyro and Pixies. Like the list of artists we’ve been lucky to play with is crazy, but we are still the same three idiots in the garage making noise. We try not to take it too seriously. When we play shows and fans are screaming lyrics back, that’s success.
S] How do you look back on the success of your debut album, ‘Fangclub’ now?
It’s been pretty wild. When it was released it charted at no.5 which blew our minds. It was nominated for Choice Prize Album of The Year. We sell out of records on tour. This is a record that we wrote in bedrooms and garages and then recorded in a house in Kerry, Ireland. We never thought it would go so far. You can’t plan it.
I’m blown away that so many people have connected with the album. We self-funded it and mixed it ourselves with our mate Tadhg Healy. It’s a very personal record in that sense and to have so many people screaming the songs at shows is extremely cathartic and rewarding.
S] How would you advise young people from whatever backgrounds, and students to approach a career in music?
Be in it for the right reasons. The music. Love it and live it. Form your own scenes and groups. Stick together and play house parties, then bars, then clubs. But do it for the music. Know that everything else is out of your control and that’s ok. Be good to people, the music industry is weird, tricky and full of shapeshifting self-doubt. Have fun with it.
S] Talk us through the new track, ‘Knife’ and how it represents where you’re headed as a band?
‘Knife’ is the first track from our new EP, ‘True Love’. It sets the tone and theme for the EP. it is quite an abrasive song with feelings of obsession and letting someone or something use you because you love it so much. It picks up where the album left off. The rest of the EP follows that thread but each song has its own identity for sure. It’s the sound of a new band after an intense year. It’s every mistake made, problem solved and the chaos that can creep its way into your head.
