Interview with Litehouse

Interview with Litehouse

I want to introduce you to four guys from County Monaghan in Ireland who I truly believe will become one of the best up and coming Indie Pop/Rock bands in the country. Comprised of Keelan O'Reilly, Peter Toal, Colin Peppard and Ben Goddard and with a single about to be released, Litehouse have a huge future ahead of them.

I chatted to the fellas during the week about how they got together, their new single 'Black Cats' which is due to be released this coming Friday (Nov 13th), what the support has been like back in their home county and what they plan to do in the future!

"Well we actually started out as a two piece cover band. Peter and I started jamming-about together when we were 14. We used to hang around each others houses every weekend and just throw together a couple of songs we might have been listening to in the week. It was really the first experience we both had playing with somebody other than playing alone. We didn't really play many gigs, i had terrible stage fright, but we went busking a few times and it definitely shook it out of me, I completely shit the brick! We had kinda talked about starting a full band but we could never find the right guys for the role, until I heard Ben opening a 'Horslips' gig as part of his mates band. Colin came out of nowhere really.. I knew him but i never knew he played bass and was completely shocked at how good he was. Things started to build from there". - Keelan

"I first met Keelan and Peter at a Strypes gig in Cavan, I didn't know them at the time and I don't really remember them at all on the night, just that my mate knew them and they were in his year. Just other guys who tricked about with music, cause that's what all of us really did! I knew Colin already, I made films with him (I have a production company called straps productions for films). So a few weeks passed and I was playing a charity gig supporting the Horslips with another band as a favour and at the end of the night, Keelan came up to me and offered me the role of lead guitarist. Some texts followed and a while later we had a jam and I made the cut. The really interesting bit was whenever I told Colin about it; that I was in this new band, he informed me that he was jamming with Keelan and Peter that week too. I found it Hilarious!" - Ben

County Monaghan, which holds a special place in my heart personally because my Grandad hails from Clones, has actually seen a number of great artists emerge from there in the past few years and the guys from Litehouse say that the support from home has been incredible.

"So far the majority of our output and work has been broadcasted over social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. It is a slow but steady way of getting our stuff out there. I wouldn't say its difficult but just at times tedious, so we have to keep our patience. In Monaghan we have a great crowd! It consisted of friends and fellow musicians of the Monaghan area. The relationship is like a family, we all support each other. A great number of people arrive at all our shows and leave feedback and give advice on our works so its really great and helps us to keep doing what we love!" - Peter

And that support has lead them to their new single 'Black Cats' which is due to be released this coming Friday, November 13th and the guys are understandably excited for the public to hear it!

"I wrote the basic Rhythm guitar and opening lines to the song. Once a riff was added by Keelan, we all spent a day writing the rest of this song. The lyrics were inspired by a bad relationship within the band and how sometimes its best to leave something before it destroys you but you can take your own meaning out it as each member of the band does respectively. After a long day with two guitars, multiple cans of fizzy orange and cringey lyric suggestions our song was completed. We are very excited to release it! We really hope people will like it". - Colin 

"The story for the single's an interesting one anyway! If you listen to the song, you can see its about having to deal with a horrible relationship and then trying not to get sucked backed into it. We all want to go back; its the easier decision but after much stress and heartache, you'll usually learn its not the wisest of decisions. When Keelan and Colin started writing song and needed some lyrics, I came in and vented all my frustrations and teenage angst, and the product of that was black cats. We're so excited for the release! It's always been one I've wanted to record and with the hook at the end of the song people have always screamed it back at us, so I'm just so excited that more people can hear it. It's the first song we've recorded and its definitely not the last!" - Ben

As Peter has already mentioned, the majority of the guys publicity is done through social media such as Facebook and Twitter etc, where the response so far has been immense.

"It's been unbelievable! The last few weeks have just been mad for us. Since word came out of the single everyone just got behind us and drove us forward, We're extremely grateful for everyone showing their support. It's definitely spurring us on. We're mad to show off our new stuff too but I suppose you can't reveal everything at once.. so come to our shows and well play them for you, haha! No, but we are mad to get people out to the gigs for a jump around, i mean that's where the craic's at!" - Keelan

For anyone reading this that isn't from Ireland, "craic" basically means banter! And for those of you have seen Litehouse live, you will know that their performances are the epitome of energetic! Aaaaand, they're only getting started!

"We're just taking it one step at a time from here. This is definitely just the start! We've had serious craic since the start and we don't want that to stop any time soon. In terms of gigs and shows, keep an eye out for us this summer. It's going to be really busy with a few plans coming together already! We're constantly writing new material and we have no set dates for our next recording but keep up and we'll try not to disappoint" - Keelan

I can't remind you and encourage you enough to go out and get the new single 'Black Cats' when it's released this coming Friday! I have heard a teaser of it, and it's sounds incredible! Here is how you can avail of it; and judging by the lads' responses, it would mean a hell of a lot to them too!

"It will be available on Itunes, Spotify and Youtube. We'd really appreciate people helping us out. We're hoping radio play will help us out but its the people we're here to try and please, so to see a good reaction would definitely calm the nerves" - Colin

"We need everyone! Get out and play this song everywhere! Listen in the car, in school, at home, in the morning when your finding it hard to stay awake, Everywhere! Friday is going to be mad but in a great way!" - Keelan

 

EOIN!

Interview with Kimbra

Interview with Kimbra

Undoubtedly one of the biggest names I have ever had the pleasure of interviewing here on View From the Stands. With over half a million likes on Facebook, 145,000 followers on Twitter and a video on Youtube which has just surpassed 700 million views, I think it's fair to say that Kimbra is an international phenomenon.

I recently caught up with the New Zealander, who now resides in the United States to have a chat about what she's been getting up to over the past couple of months, what the music industry is like in her home country and of course, we had to talk about THAT song with Gotye - 'Somebody That I Used to Know', obviously! But first, here's how she got involved in music;

"I was inspired by a lot of the soul and R&B I heard growing up. I also sung in a choir at school that would sing Gershwin songs so I was attracted to very colorful music that challenged me from a young age. 
When I first learn guitar at around 14 I learnt songs from Stevie Wonder but I also loved a lot of heavy rock and prog bands which explains a lot of my attracting to strong rhythms. I first got involved in music as a way of expressing myself. I recorded songs into little dictaphones from about the age of 8 or 9 then moved onto an 8-Track once I was writing on guitar then later, Protools which is when I started producing music in more depth."

And the music that Kimbra has since produced has been of an outstanding quality! But the question that stood out for me is, as an 8 or 9 year old recording music into a dictaphone, did she ever imagine that a few years down the line, she would have achieved the amount of success she has achieved?

"I don’t think I ever had goals for worldwide success or fame, I just wanted to make music that would make people feel some of the things that music had made me feel. I realized it could be a way for me to feel as though Im making a difference in the world and also a place I felt I truly came alive. The fact that it has resonated so deeply with so many different people is amazing to me. The idea of having a lot of followers online is quite intangible to grasp but speaking to people at shows and the experience of having people come to your shows and singing along to your music is a very real thing. I definitely never imagined the things that have happened but I don’t think the future is ever much like what you imagined!"

As I said to Kimbra in the interview, with me being in Ireland and her growing up literally on the opposite side of the world, it is hard to understand what the music industry is like over in New Zealand but she claims her time there had a huge effect on her career - in a positive way!

"My time in New Zealand was a very nurturing time for me musically. Because it is so small the musical community really binds together and you feel a sense of family amongst a lot of the musicians. It is hard being so far away and I felt very drawn to travel from a young age and I think it was important for my musical development but New Zealand is still the place that first evoked me to write music (looking out at the beautiful landscapes as a kid) so it holds a lot of importance to me." 

I want you to look at the picture to the right! Look familiar? What an absolute belter of a song! Former number one not only in Ireland but in numerous countries across the globe and I have to admit, one of my favourite songs in the past decade! One of those songs that just never seems to get old! But what was it like to be involved in such a huge hit?

"I don’t really remember the stages of that song building, I just remember key events, like the recording of the song at my apartment in Melbourne, then suddenly going through customs in London and receiving a call to say it was at Number 1 at the time on the charts. It was very surreal and almost as though it were happening to someone else and I was sort of observing from afar. I was so busy touring at the time that I often didn’t have time to process a lot of it but I remember feeling very excited at what that meant for pop music and how special it was to be a part of a song that meant so much to people."

At the age of 25, something tells me there are exciting things to come from Kimbra, she says she has been working on lots of new music and is looking forward to it's release and seeing how her fans react!

"I am enjoying living in a new city [New York] after being in Los Angeles for the last 2 years. I am working on a lot of new music and excited to share it in the near future. I spent time in Africa this year as well as traveling a lot of America away from the context of touring and I have been collecting a lot of inspiration. I feel myself entering a new creative space and am focused on now channeling all of that into the next body of work."

So as they say, watch this space! You can follow Kimbra's every move on Twitter @kimbramusic, on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/kimbramusic/ or on her website www.kimbramusic.com

Hopefully she'll be back on the road touring very soon, especially over in these parts!

EOIN!

Interview with Tim Night of 'Jupe'

Interview with Tim Night of 'Jupe'

I actually gave these guys some airplay on KFM Radio last Sunday evening on Alternative Irish and I have to say I really like the music they are producing - including their brand new single 'Rocket' which has just been released.

I chatted to frontman Tim Night about that new single, their upcoming gig in the iconic Whelan's venue in Dublin and much more!

"We got together in a really cool way actually. Myself and Brendon met at show in Dublin one night. We instantly hit it off, and got talking about our journeys so far in music and about what we wanted to write & play. We put the band together right after that, and I had known Jonesy from the scene and doing concerts with him, and figured he was the perfect bassist to slot right in. After hitting a tonne of studios, we knew we wanted a synth player with his finger on the pulse, so we got in Jeff, who was instrumental in evolving our sound 3-Dimensionally. The last jigsaw piece was our maestro on the guitar, Kevin. He's a bit of a prodigy, coming to us straight from music school."

Well the guys' latest single has just been released in Ireland but has been getting quite a lot of radio play not only here but also across the pond in the United Kingdom! Tim says the band are thrilled with the reaction it has received thus far!

"Yes, Rocket has been getting a tonne of awesome feedback which we're really delighted to see! It was launched in the UK first, and a lot of radio DJ's took it onboard and gave it lots of airplay which is amazing, positive feedback all round really. Since the UK release in July, we've been overwhelmed by the response. The radio we received, led to a number of shows in London, Birmingham and Liverpool. As a band, Rocket is a bit of a special song for us. It was written and came together quite naturally & quickly to be honest. Every once in a while, you have a song that just *wants* to be written, and that for us was Rocket. Once I had brought the initial idea into the studio, the guys were 110% on my same wavelength, and we hammered it out and brought it to completion!"

 But how does 'Rocket' compare to some of Jupe's older stuff?

"Honestly, it's really the perfect song for us to be releasing at this moment in time. It's got the trademark Jupe sound that our existing fanbase love and have come to enjoy, so we're being true to them. While at the same time, it's also a very forward-looking track, in terms of where we want to go and evolve ourselves as musicians & songwriters. Trying to be true to existing fans & incorporate new ideas is sometimes tricky for bands, but I feel we've really done a good job of making it work on this track. Also, if you're a brand new fan, it will be an amazing introduction to us and our music!"

Tim mentioned the band's "trademark" and I have to fully agree with him there! Here in Ireland, the style of music Jupe are releasing is quite unique, which the band feel can work to their advantage.

"Yes I believe so [that there is a niche for their style of music]. Firstly, we're really proud of our trademark sound which we've honed all the way back to working with Grammy award winning producers, it's important to us that our material is making people happy & they enjoy it all around the world, wherever they are. Secondly, we're so inspired by the insanely high level other Irish acts have reached in the past. Some of our favourite artists come from Ireland, and we've really been punching above our weight as a nation, so many timeless artists have come before us. Irish music fans are really some of the greatest lovers of music, it's evident in how well they treat & love their artists."

Well Irish music fans and Jupe fans in particular will be delighted to hear what the band have planned for the coming month or two!

"We've got a hectic close to 2015 with a bunch of media appearances to support Rocket - additionally we've got Ruby Sessions on 17th Nov which is one of the best music nights in Dublin, and cumulating in our headline show on 24th Nov in the iconic Whelans! Tickets flying out the door for this one, so hit us up on Facebook and Twitter for more info on tickets!"

'Rocket is available to purchase iTunes, Spotify, Play Store and all the other usual suspects. Have a listen for yourself here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNIW-TO7rR4

EOIN!