Struggling to stop the late night scroll of doom? You’ll be wanting Irish punks Naked Lungs, then.
Irish noise-punks Naked Lungs are about to arrive with their debut album, 'Doomscroll'. Recorded and mixed by Gilla Band’s Daniel Fox at Sonic Studios in Dublin, it's an ambitious record that sees them replicating the experience of being endlessly bombarded with negative news and general online awfulness. Bassist Ryan Mortell tells us more about his band.
Hello Ryan! What are you up to today?
Just in the door from work - I'm working on an Irish-Language children's show at the minute; lots of puppets, lots of Gaeilge - lots of craic.
Introduce your band - who are you all, and what are your roles within the group?
We're a four-piece made up of myself on bass, Andrew Connaughton on guitar, Matthew Pyper on drums and Tom Brady on vocals. Three of us are from North County Wicklow, and The Pype is from further afield, down in Longford.
What first sparked your interest in music? Did you have a musical upbringing?
My interest was probably sparked listening to those same three CDs every dad in the early 2000s would rotate between in their car. Lots of Bowie, Floyd, Chelsea Dagger, bit of Limp Bizkit - it was eclectic, but going mental in the back seat definitely sparked something in me going forward.
My parents aren't musical, but my dad, as I mentioned, has this insanely varied taste in music that spans records from all decades and genres, and these were the songs I would hear growing up. As well, he always had his own interpretation of what these tracks meant or what the story of the lyrics was, and that really opened my eyes to storytelling through music.
Are you creative in non-musical ways too?
I like to think so. I studied Film and Television in college and currently work in the industry as a camera assistant and write and direct on the side. It's a different rhythm to say, writing music, so I would often find myself picking up the guitar if I was having trouble with an edit or working on some film idea if some of the music, I was working on wasn't fully clicking in the moment.
