Interview with StayOkay!

Finally, on the Summer Explosion Tour, were these guys, Dublin band StayOkay!
(Also their first interview, no big deal!)

Watch it and say you liked these lads before they become huge.

Interview with Boy Versus Romeo

During the Summer Explosion Tour, I met with Cork based band Boy Versus Romeo to chat about anything and everything!
PS. Enjoy my mad ramblings.

Interview with Struck

I met with Mayo band STRUCK during their Summer Explosion tour where we talked about... well, everything really!
Take a look and a listen for yourselves, you never know, they could be the next huge thing.

The Summer Explosion Tour

So I recently sat down with 3 bands on the Summer Explosion Tour - StayOkay!, Boy Versus Romeo and Struck - and this is what happened...

Milk, the band, interview

With their blend of bluesy-rock, Milk are fast making a name for themselves in the Irish music scene. Based in Dublin, the pop-rock band also thrive on blues and soul, which brings their own unique style to a scene that is so filled with much of the same music.

Each track on their debut EP holds it’s own character, but stays with the same Milk sound. ‘Try’, the title track is a humble song and brings listeners into the smooth vocals and strong hooks in the bass line, and which is the stand out track for me, personally. Leads into ‘Weak In The Knees’, which has an easy tone like any song should have, together with a memorable chorus. Next up is ‘Why Do You Ask’ and this is the perfect soul song, as it is gentle in all the right places. Last, ‘Up The Hill’ which brings a much different edge to the band, perhaps even a heavier style, with more guitar and bass lines.

I caught up with Conall to talk about the band…

First of all, who are in the band?
There’s Garrett on rhythm guitar, Fogo on drums, me (Conall) on bass and vocals, and Donal on lead guitar & vocals.

When, where and how did the band happen?
The four of us all went to the same school, yet knew of us knew each other. Me and Donal are brothers and had played in a couple of different bands separately but around two years ago we started writing songs together. We auditioned a couple of drummers until we played with Fogo and we thought his funk-style of drumming would really suit the type of music we wanted to make. Then Fogo suggested that we have a jam with Garrett on guitar and he helped to fill out our sound a lot!

How did you come up with the name?
Myself and Donal were listening to alot of Eric Clapton’s old band ‘Cream’ at the time, and the name ‘Milk’ popped up out of that, which seemed like a good idea at the time! It’s not the best name in the world, but it’s easy to remember!

Biggest influences?
A lot of people say we sound like John Mayer which is a fairly heavy influence to us on our EP, but we also listen to a lot of other stuff. Fogo is big into the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Garrett likes The Beach Boys, whereas I like Marvin Gaye. Donal’s listening to a lot of Prince at the moment too. All in all, we listen to a lot of soul, funk, blues and even a bit of hip-hop like The Roots, Nate Dogg and Warren G!

Biggest achievement so far?
We’ve had a couple of highlights, like playing Dublin Soul Festival 2010 and The Academy main stage for Phantom’s First Friday. We also got short-listed for The Most Promising Artist at the Meteors in 2010, which is definitely up there at the top!

What would you hope to achieve with the band?
I think we all might have slightly different goals, but mine would be to play to decent size crowds who really like our music. Having enough money to pay for all the expensive things (like recording and equipment) would be nice too! 

Why should people listen to you?
I think at the moment there isn’t enough variety on the Irish music scene. For example, you’ll hear a lot about ‘indie’ bands. I suppose we might be for the person who’s into the bluesier, funkier, soulful side of music, and also maybe those into pop-rock because there is a lot of that in our music too. Also if you’re into guitar solos you might like our songs!

Describe the band in one word.
Honest!

Just what we like to hear!

With a name like theirs, finding Milk on the internet these days might be a tad difficult, so check them out 

here and on Facebook here!

And make sure to catch them on one of their shows across Ireland!

Like a Ninja: band interview

‘Like a Ninja’ are an alternative/ hard rock band based in Belfast, with all the energy and spirit you could ask for. Though being together less than a year, the band are quickly making a name for themselves in the music scene as an obnoxiously loud, energetic live act.

Their debut EP entitled “Coach Frank Says…” opens with “Made To Burn” and has plenty of heavy riffs from the word go, and strong, memorable vocals. This leads into “Random Jumpy” and keeping with the same tempo that is fast and loud from these lads. It is their third song, “Save Me” where the band show a more relaxed, slower feel, which could easily be a huge hit in the future.

I caught up with Marty to talk about the band.

First of all, who all are in the band?
At the time of recording it was me, Marty Mc Canny as our lead guitarist and backing singer), Paddy Patterson with vocals, Andy Williamson, bassist, Liam Hegarty, rhythm guitarist, and Sean O’Neil on drums. Since then there have been a few changes; Sean McCay is now the drummer and I’m the full time singer!

How, where, when did the band happen?
The band formed in Belfast in August 2010 with Sean and Marty who decided it was time to make an all out attack of the Irish music scene! The idea was to create something different, and, I think, we’ve managed to do that!

How did you come up with the name?
‘Like a Ninja’ was spawned from a drunken walk home on the fine streets of Belfast. A bin was tipped over, jazz hands were shown, Like a Ninja was shouted, and the culprit disappeared from sight. In a nutshell, it happened exactly like that!

Biggest influences?
For Andy, it’d be Megadeth and Iron Maiden; Liam and Sean with Blink 182, The Offspring and Tool; and for myself Marty, it’s Alkaline Trio and Taking Back Sunday 

Biggest achievement so far?
Placing in the final 12 in the Sounds Like Summer 2011, and managing to stay together after one of the hardest years that a new band could have is definitely up there at the top!

What would you hope to achieve with the band?
Well, like any band we want to be able to do this for the rest of our time on earth, as music is most definitely our lives. We would be happy to tour until the world ends, and I don’t care if we never get rich, as long as we can do this and people enjoy it!

Why should people listen to you?
Why not is a better question! If you want to hear a band that put everything they have; heart, soul and mind, into their music then we are the band for you! This EP has only been our first recording, so stay tuned and I promise you wont be disappointed, we have so much more to offer!

And lastly, describe the band in one word.

I can’t think of just one word! But once while playing a gig, the drummer from Flash Harry was there, and the first thing he said to us was “I thought ninja’s were supposed to be sneaky, but you guys are like a f**king juggernaut.” So I would probably say like a f**king juggernaut!

Like a Ninja are focusing on promoting their debut EP by hitting up venues across Ireland. Check out  their tunes, and find them on Facebook here! 

Make sure to catch them on one of their energetic shows!