The Irish music scene is experiencing somewhat of a rock and roll resurgence at the moment and The Hot Sprockets are one of the finest examples of the authentic and accomplished material that is coming out of the country right now.
Bringing together a wide range of genres in one cohesive album is no mean feat but that is exactly what the five-piece have managed to do with sophomore album Brother Nature. From the understated dirty blues of opener Quarter Roam to the jazz influences on Heavy On My Mind and the country feel of Lay Me Down, the album seamlessly blends deep grooves with full-on rock and roll to create a damn good record that is incomparable to anything else being produced at the moment.
Ahead of the launch at The Button Factory this Saturday night, we sat down for a chat with Wayne Soper (guitar, vox), Joey Lynch (bass, backing vocals, Andrew Sutton (drums), Frankie Kelly (harmonica, mandolin, keys, vox) and Tim Cullen (guitar, vox) and with the latest in a series of music videos having just been released for single Shake It Off, the first thing we wanted to know was where these brilliantly bonkers ideas came from.
“Sometimes the influences comes from movies and other things that we love and then we just mix it all together and have a laugh. The songs usually give us cool ideas when we listen to them as well. With Shake Me Off, it was the mandolin hook. We thought it would be cool to be a motorcycle gang, we got the red cape thing from Hot Rod. It’s a funny film and we just wanted to play that role!
“Instead of doing a boring one where we are just playing live, it’s better to have a laugh with it. They’re a lot of work and in the build-up to it, you’re like ‘why did we do this?’ but the shooting is always amazing and then you have to start thinking about the next one.”
But rather than being an excuse to run around in crazy outfits with their mates, there is method to the band’s madness as they reveal that the videos bring their music to a wider audience and help them to capture people’s attention in an age where multi-tasking is king.
“It’s really important, everyone is on their iPhone or Facebook and people go over the Soundcloud link and while they might listen to it, they’re also reading or typing something so they’re not giving it their full attention. Whereas with a video, they can’t be doing anything else other than watching the video so it gets the song into their head. There’s two senses being aroused there… well, maybe three!”
The five band members were long-time friends before forming The Hot Sprockets “for the love of music”. When questioned on where their unusual trademark sound came from, they admit that they “always wonder that actually” but settle on a childhood exposure to blues and a progression of their earlier love of punk. Like most budding musicians, they struggled to get gigs when starting out but came up with an ingenious method of getting their sound out there.
“We couldn’t get gigs so we used to just go into the smoking areas when the ban just came in. They would be packed so it was basically playing a gig to 300 people. The people would love it, no-one had ever thought of doing that! It was guerrilla gig but then people used to ask ‘when will you be playing next?’ and we’d be like ‘we’ll probably be back in this beer garden next week!’.”
They’ve come a long way since then and Brother Nature was recorded in Grouse Lodge, Windmill Lane and Orphan Studios with Gavin Glass, Declan Gaffney (U2) and Dougal Lott (Ray Davies). While The Hot Sprockets have developed a solid reputation for their live performances, they reveal that recording the new album was a learning process for the band and has left them eager to get back into the studio to complete a follow-up. Some acts may be focused on hitting the top of the charts or getting wall-to-wall airplay but these guys are taking a more philosophical approach to the release of their music.
“With the second album, we’ve developed more of a love for recording and understand it a lot better know. We’re doing it all ourselves and we’re learning as we go. When one of us has a song now, we’ll talk about what we could do with it and where we could bring it. We can’t wait to get into the studio again. At the end of the day, when we’re long gone, the recording are all that’s there. They are the history of your band so it’s important to put a lot of work and love into it.
“If you keep the music to what you love, it will shine through in the end. If you get something played on the radio, it’s an instant fad but if you write a great song and people love it, it could be a mainstay on the radio in 30 years in the way that Fleetwood Mac songs are being played now even though they weren’t back then.”
While Brother Nature may be one of the best albums we’ve heard so far this year, the record almost never saw the light of day as the band was struggling to gather the money to fund the release. However, salvation came in the unlikely form of AIB Bank, who asked to use their track Cruizin from debut album Honeyskippin on one of their adverts. It meant welcome exposure and funding but the band admits that it struggled with the decision.
“We actually thought that people would call us sell-outs and stuff but people have been really happy for us. They see us working so hard and putting in our own money. We wouldn’t have been able to get that album out if it wasn’t for that ad and that was the same for our first EP, we had it recorded but couldn’t afford to get it out until we got a Bulmers ad.
“It’s a necessary evil. Starting out, we always said we wouldn’t do it but then you get to a point where you can’t do what you want without cash so you nearly have to take it on the chin. Especially a bank as well! After we got the Bulmers thing, we said ‘we’ll never do one for a bank’ but then it comes up and you’re thinking ‘man, we’ve worked on this album for three years, hard labour every day and we can’t get it out because of money’. There’s a person there who is associated with a bank but they also really like your music and they want to get you out there, they want to give you the money for that.”
It turned out to be a canny move as the development of apps like Shazam have meant that television ads are one of the best ways to market new music. With Brother Nature looking to have all the necessary elements to bring the band to the next level, they reveal that they’ve tamed their rock and roll ways and ready to get serious about whatever the new opportunities arise.
“When we started out, we were staying out all night and partying and going wild. That helped us as well but you get to a point where it’s going to do long-term damage. When we’re at this level, it won’t look good if you’re getting up locked and singing crap.
“Nearly every gig is going to be filmed now. If you’re playing a 40 minute set that means a lot to you and there’s a lot of people watching, you treat it like going on a date. You’re not going to turn up to a date locked, you’re gonna dress semi-respectable and get across what you love, do your best. If you’re playing to the President of Nigeria, you’re gonna not be locked, you know?”
Brother Nature is out now. The Hot Sprockets play The Button Factory on Saturday 7 June, tickets are available here. The band’s podcast Honeyskippin’ with The Hot Sprockets goes out live every Thursday from 2 to 4pm at www.radiomade.ie.
