WOUNDS INTERVIEW – SHEBEEN CHIC – 26/05/10
N – hey! so what are your names and what do you do in your band?
WND – hey I’m Aidan and I’m the singer in Wounds
WND – I’m James, I’m the guitarist in Wounds
N – hi! so how would you describe your band? what’s your style musically?
W-Aidan –we’re kind of garagey hard core punk, just fun party music, just a good time, we get pissed go on stage, have fun with our friends and whoever else is there
N – cool, so what are you up to right now? We saw you’re heading to England?
W-James – yeah we’re going on tour next week with a band from New York called Crime in Stereo and then we’re going to New York for a while to write the rest of our album, we’re going to stay there until October and then come back and start touring
W-Aidan – yeah we’re just going to take 2 months off and just have fun as well, you can’t really juggle your life and a band here
N – have you got any gigs coming up?
W-Aidan – we try to play here as little as possible, little gigs like this are good, this place (shebeen chic) is cool, we don’t want to be like those bands playing in Dublin every week. The tour next week is sponsored by kerrang magazine
N – cool great coverage for you…
W-Aidan – yeah so we’re getting our picture in that
N – brilliant. so tell us about your style in terms of what you wear, or do you have a particular one, is it important?
W-Aidan – I don’t know, well we want to look nice, we don’t want to look smelly, we just rob each others clothes
W-James – he certainly robs my clothes
W-Aidan – yeah this is his jumper. I don’t know our style is, we don’t really have a style, we take the piss out of eachother for what we wear, we’ve got the same jeans on actually
N – where they from?
W-Aidan – Topman, he gets a discount
N – and when you’re playing gigs do you put on your ‘gig clothes’ or just do you just put on whatever?
W- Aidan – we went on a tour, this is horrible actually, went on a tour around England for 2 weeks, I had a pair of converse and jeans, fuckin cliché and all, but I kept them on for about 11 of the days, like we were living in a van there’s no shower, like this year there’ll be showers in the venues so hopefully we’ll be, a bit cleaner!
N – have you become more conscious about what you wear the more gigs you play or are you pretty much the same?
W-James – less conscious I reckon
W-Aidan – yeah, a lot of times if you’re wearing a certain band t-shirt or a certain thing like he wore a Black Flag t-shirt on stage before and this reviewer who was at the gig just said we sounded like Black Flag which we most certainly do not, we like them but we don’t like them, like if you wear a t-shirt and you’re in a band you kind of just get thrown into the same category
N – so you’re going to New York, would a city like that influence you?
W-Aidan – yeah like James has never been there before but i was there last year for a week and just, loved it
N – yeah, like Brooklyn and Williamsburg are pretty cool…
W-Aidan – yeah, like in terms of clothes, it’s hard to dress well in Dublin without someone else having the same thing, so usually when we’re on tour, we just, rob loads, buy clothes…
N – so when you go to New York will you get a few things, you want to come back with a few unique pieces?
W-Aidan – we don’t want to come back at all!
N – are there any bands around at the moment that you look and think ‘yeah they’re cool’?
W-Aidan - We’re cool hah, alot of irish bands just wear those big baggy cords and stuff, but we were playing with this punk band a couple of weeks ago called The Slits and they’ve been around for years so they had a load of older folk at it and because he (James) has a fringe and we wear tight jeans we’re all emo’s and afterwards a couple of them came up to us and were like ‘jesus thought you were an emo band because of the way you dress’ ya know! Clothes are any person like I don’t consciously go out and buy something to not look like its from a certain shop
N – yeah like everyone is maybe trying to look like they don’t make an effort, but they really do?
W-Aidan – yeah well like we just wear whatever you know!
N – Is there anything you couldn’t go onstage without, we see you have sunglasses there….?!
W – Aidan – oh god no, anyone who wears sunglasses onstage is automatically a c**t
N – Or blind….
W – Aidan – yeah! but no not really, I was going topless for a while but then I was getting scrapped everywhere so…!
N – ouch. would you be big shoppers at all?
W-Aidan – mm not really, like a lot of our mates have old t-shirts that they don’t wear anymore and we’d have the same, and we’d be in their house of they’d be in ours and we just kind of grab stuff, it’s pretty wear we actually but stuff
N – and James you work in Topman, would you see a lot of Dublin bands going in there?
W –James – Well I work in the Jervis so not really I just get mams coming in telling me my jeans are too tight but obviously there’s a stigma attached to where I work…
W-Aidan – I don’t know girls still like Topshop don’t they?
N – yeah! bit expensive though..! do you think it is kind of hard for guys though because there’s topman, all saints, h&m, vintage shops but that’s about it?
W-Aidan – yeah there’s a lot more choice for chicks..
N – definitely! Would you go down the Penneys road to get a few bargains?
W-James – we did on tour last year because we ran out of boxers and socks, but we won’t talk about that..
W-Aidan – yeah Penneys is good..!
N – yep! So is there anyone that would influence your band?
W-James – iggy pop, but he doesn’t wear any clothes…
N – just jeans! And a lovely tan. You can get a lovely tan in New York! Thanks a million for chatting to us…! bye!
www.myspace.com/thewoundsband.com
nothingaboutnothingblog@gmail.com
we cut corners
n: Hey guys, so who are you and what do you do?
WCC: My name is Conall and I play the drums, and sing a little bit
WCC: My name is John and I play the guitar and I also sing a little bit sometimes
n: Cool, so what’s happening here in Shebeen Chic tonight?
WJohn: We’re playing with a band called Wounds for an internet TV gig organised by Cock and Bull, so we’re pretty excited and we’ve just recorded some songs
W Conall: We’ve got a few gigs coming up, we’re playing on the 3rd of June with The Heathers and The Funeral Suits downstairs in Whelans and we’re recording an album at the minute
n: Sounds good! So do you guys think you have a particular style when it comes to what you wear?
WJohn: Well we’re both primary school teachers so there’s a certain type of clothing…
n: So you have your work clothes and then your gig clothes?
WConall: Yeah well one sort of bleeds into the other
n: And have you found once you start to play gigs you’re more conscious of what you wear?
WJohn: No I think we used to dress a lot better before because we spend more money on music shit now so we don’t have enough money to buy clothes
n: And if you had the money do you think you would spend it on clothes?
WJohn: I think so yeah, but we can’t really see that happening for a while because we’re not making any money
n: Would you agree that there are so many bands around at the moment that are trying to look different, but that this just translates into an army of bands looking the same? Or do you even take notice of bands in Dublin??
WJohn: Not at all really, any of the bands that we’ve played with, I can’t say I’ve ever noticed a single item of clothing they were wearing
n: Yeah, so do you think it’s not really important?
WJohn: Yeah well I’m sure there are certain scenes that are much more underground that maybe we don’t know about or that we’re not into and they have ideas of fashion that are important to what they’re doing, but we’re kind of quite inoffensive in the music we play and I think that translates into what we wear
n: So would you ever look at someone who influences you musically and maybe consider their style?
WConall: We used to listen to an awful lot of Ryan Adams and we used to buy a lot of check shirts
WJohn: And we had about 10 leather jackets each because we were trying to find a Ryan Adams type leather jacket but that never happened!
WConall: We’re still looking!
n: Ha cool, and do you think it is important to have a style as some people go to gigs and now maybe seem to look at that more..?
WConall: Yeah well there’s always an element of style, like you’re not going to wear just a t-shirt and tracksuit bottoms so there is an element. We certainly wouldn’t be over conscious of what we wear
WJohn: I’m sure at a certain level for bands it’s very important that there is maybe label pushing with them being pushed into the media spotlight and are projecting something, but really we have no profile so it doesn’t really matter what we wear.
n: Do you think if you were getting bigger you would start to be more conscious of what you wear?
WJohn: I can’t really imagine that would happen…maybe if we were signed to a major label and they told us to wear jumpsuits..!
WConall: Absolutely we would so whatever they tell us!
n: Would you do a Kings of Leon and release your own clothes? Like bandanas for 80 quid?
WJohn: Well we might consider it..
n: Ha, what would you have in it?
WJohn: I would have…a leather jacket. And I would try and redefine the v-neck t-shirt so it plunges the whole way to your belly button
n: NICE!! So what do you think about Dublin at the moment, do you think there are a lot of scensters around or?
WConall: Well we’ve just discovered this place (Shebeen Chic) tonight we were never here before, it seems brilliant. It seems like what I would imagine somewhere in New York to be
n: Yeah it’s very unique…
WConall: Yeah it seems there’s a scene here. And the ?? across the road, and Le Cirque, so it seems it’s starting to buzz a little which is nice.
n: Are there any cities that influence you?
WConall: Manhatten is my favourite city I think it is absolutely amazing. And Hanoi is really nice as well, but fashion wise, not so much!
WJohn: I go to London quite a bit. It seems to be a step ahead..
n: Everyone looks like they’re in a band
WJohn: They really do. And if you walk through Camden it’s like walking through an NME cover or something
n: And are there any shops in Dublin that you would favour?
WJohn : Mm Maybe All Saints, Urban Outfitters..
WConall: We don’t really have any specific shops
n: Do you go shopping together on a Saturday yeah?
WJohn: We really don’t!
n: What about vintage shops? Would you be into that?
WJohn: Not really, I just don’t like the smell. Like it’s just the generic smell, and you never get it out.
n: What about the leather jackets?!
WJohn: Yeah but then Topman and H&M starting making knock offs which we did indulge in for a while, but even the Urban Outfitters renewal stuff that they do never seems to fit properly..it gets me down sometimes…
n: hah, cool. So you’re recording at the minute?
WJohn: Yeah we’re recording our first album in a studio called Bow Lane which is just off Stephen’s Green so it’s run by a guy called Jimmy Edee who did the last Jape Album so we’re really excited.
WConall: And a guy called Liam Mulvaney, they both run it, so Jimmy is recording our album for us, he’s brilliant and energetic
n: How are you finding it?
WConall: Yeah brilliant. It takes a long time, you think you can just go in on the weekend and record a couple of songs but it’s just constant back and forth changing things, but it’s a really exciting process
n: Do you have a particular style of music you would describe yourselves as?
WJohn: Em sort of folksy pop rock
WConall: Em..Hard one to say!
n: Yeah it is hard to listen to a band and try and describe what they are!
WConall: Well we listen to bands like Phoenix and so I’m sure its an amalgamation of those and I’m sure it comes out in some form
n: And have you been together long?
WJohn: Yeah we’ve been together quite a long time now. We started out with 2 acoustic guitars for years and then just last year we started playing with drums and electric guitar and then we just wrote a bunch of songs for that format
n: So starting a fresh really…
WJohn: Yeah. And Conall grew his hair, he’s very happy about that
n: Was that a statement?
WConall: Eh, clearly not!haha…
n: K thanks bye.
http://www.myspace.com/wecutcorners
nothingaboutnothingblog@gmail.com
the minutes
n: hi Shane and Mark from The Minutes how are you? What are you up to now? and were is Tom ?
m: mark: Getting ready to put out our single on Friday May 14th which is called ‘Secret History’. We are playing a gig the day before on thursday 13th in Academy 2. and the single is available through itunes only, and Tom had to work today, he’s a busy man
n: ok cool, so style! i think you’re quite the stylish band , it looks like you make an effort when you’re playing gigs. Would you agree ?
m: mark: well we sort of follow shanes hair, whatever way shanes hair is that’s the way we go
n: quiff style?
m: shane: it was a conscious decision, because are music changed from , check shirts/indie music to rock and roll
n: so rock and roll would have an influence on your style now?
m: mark : yes definitely, all the old rock and rollers, all the old cool dudes, like Elvis or Roy Orbison back in the day.
m: shane: even though we have that rockabilly look we actually don’t strictly play that kind of music, we just like the influence of rockabilly
n: yea i love that rockabilly look, quiff, good facial hair, shirt, skinny jeans, boots, very manly!
m: mark: yes good boots are important
m: shane: it’s all about the top and the bottom, everything in between dosn’t really matter, once you look good there you’re all right.
n: so do you do that quiff yourself? or do you go to a barbers?
m: shane: i get my hair cut in Ozlo by Karl who is deadly, and i cut marks hair, he hates hairdressers, we have to keep him looking good you know !
n: that’s well for mark!
n: mark: the best haircut i have ever had is from shane, he does a good job, so he’s in charge now
n: do you think style is important when you’re in a band? To have your own identity?
m: mark: for a band its important
m: shane: it has always been important though, from The Beatles to the Rolling Stones etc, everyone back then always dressed up for their shows
m: mark: like when your going to do a gig, and you put on your gigging clothes, but most of the time it’s not that far off what we normally wear anyway, but its good to do it
m: shane: when you look good, you feel good, when you feel good, you play good.
n: well said! so you’s aren’t big shoppers though, are you? i couldn’t imagine you going into town on a saturday to go shopping?
m: mark: i am defiantly not a shopper, i hate it
n: shane: i always buy my jeans in Topman because they are cheap, and they’re the skinniest ones around, there’s no point in splashing out on jeans,they’re all the same really, and they fall apart after about two months . You can get the odd bargain in Penny’s too. I , well my girlfriend, got a classic denim shirt there for 11e that i was going to buy in Topman for 70e
n: nice! bargain!
n: so would you look at any other bands and think, they look good, they have a bit of style there, or do you notice?
m: shane: yea, at the moment i think the Jim Jones Revue look cool
m: mark: i think Jack White looks cool, and The Raconteurs. and The Raconteurs roadies look as cool as well
n: their roadies? really?
m: mark: the roadies wear trilby hats with feathers in them and suits, and they are the fucking roadies, they look really cool
n: that would be cool to have roadies like that! so you would care what you look like on stage then
m: mark: absolutely, but its about before the gig too, like when we arrive at a venue that people know that the three of us are in a band, that the three of you us look good together
m: shane: but it goes out the window after the first song, the quiff completely goes and the wife beater goes off, i could be just wearing a pair of boxers behind the kit and no one would really notice
n: oh i think they would notice that now! ha!
n: so do you guys have any city that you love you love to be in?
m: mark: yea New York is always cool , but Austin in Texas is great. We were there for sxsw and we had a brilliant time. People in Austin just don’t give a fuck, they are the most laid back, coolest people in a pretty cool town, where as in New York there are a lot of people who are trying to look good all the time, but in Texas they don’t really give a shit what you look like, its a really cool place, they are mad for the music
n: cool sounds like a nice place. thank you so much for answering style questions! good luck with the single
m: mark: cool thanks a mil
m: shane: our myspace is myspace.com/theminutesireland and check out our single
nothingaboutnothingblog@gmail.com
