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Fangclub: "We're constantly trying to evolve"

Hey Kev, what are you up to?

Hey Kev, what are you up to?

Hello! You’ve actually interrupted dinner at a video shoot! I’ll be dramatic and starve for this interview.

How’s the music scene in Ireland at the moment? Is it a good place to be an up-and-coming band?

The music scene in Ireland is really exciting right now. There’s a lot of great new bands out at the moment and we’re stoked to be a part of it.

Have you had a good 2016 so far? Any particular highlights?

Yeah 2016 has been an incredible year for us. Too many to mention. Between having our teenage dreams come true by getting our video on Kerrang! TV to playing Electric Picnic, to doing our first UK tour, its actually been insane. Still doesn’t feel real.

What first drew you to making music, have you always wanted to be in a band?

So my first gig ever was Ozzfest. That just blew my mind seeing System Of A Down live. After that was a Foo Fighters gig around the time when ‘One By One’ came out. I can still remember the curtain drop part of All my Life so vividly. I knew after those gigs I wanted to be in a band. I grew up when Kerrang!, MTV2, and P-Rock TV is all we ever watched. We were obsessed. I saved every bit of money I got, and then got this terrible summer job, so I could get a bass. Steven and I have known each other since school and we just bonded over punk rock bands and started jamming together. So since then, that first jam session, it went from “I want to be in a band” to “this is all I want to do.”

What are your favourite topics to write/sing about, and what are you inspired by?

Well Steven writes the lyrics so you’d have to ask him, haha. Although he’s told me that he has no idea what the songs are about ‘til six months later. We’ll be playing and he’ll come running up to me after the gig going I just figured out what such and such song is about. I think the way Steven writes, a lot of it is open to interpretation.

Your new EP ‘Coma Happy’ has just dropped - is it a comprehensive representation of the band, or do you have more sides you’d like to explore in future?

I think the ‘Coma Happy’ EP is a great representation of who we are right now, but we’re constantly trying to develop our noise. I think you’d grow stagnant and bored with yourself if you didn’t.

Have you thought much about your debut album?

Yeah, for sure! Our debut album is still a work in progress. We’re constantly trying to evolve as a band so if the ‘Bullethead’ EP kicked down the door for us, the ‘Coma Happy’ EP is a good indication of the direction we want to go. We just want to make this great, kick ass record. We’re hoping to have it out in the first half of next year and we’re really excited about the progress of it so far.

What do you think are the key components of a ‘good’ album?

Well a good album needs good songs, so I think if you stick to Dave Grohl’s “don’t bore us and get to the chorus” formula, you’re on to a winner. Basically all killer, no filler.

What do you get up to while touring, when you’re not travelling up motorways or playing onstage?

Oh God, eh, catch up on sleep mostly. We’ve learned that eating as well as you can on tour is essential or you’ll just crash and burn really fast so we’ll kinda go out of our way a bit to try to find at least one good meal a day. Steven will be constantly writing even on tour too, soundchecks can turn into testing a new song or riff together. I think we try to get as much of each new city in as we can although there’s never enough time.

What’s been your favourite album this year?

My favourite album this year is ‘The Golden Age of Bullshit’ by this band called PARTYBABY. I found them through that discover playlist on Spotify earlier in the year and just fell in love with their music. You know when something just clicks in your head when you hear something? I can hear a lot of influences of a few bands I love in them. It’s just one of those albums I had this huge smile on my face the whole way through, the first time I heard it. I absolutely love another band called Charly Bliss right now as well. They don’t have an album out yet but they’re gonna be huge.

What’s top of your bucket list for 2017?

Getting our debut record out, and touring it as much as possible. P

Fangclub’s debut album is out early 2017.

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