INTERVIEW: O Emperor

Following the announcement of both their nomination in two categories at the inaugural Digital Socket Awards and their biggest headline gig to date at The Academy Dublin on 15th April, I was lucky enough to speak to the brilliantly entertaining lads of O Emperor. The Waterford-bred brood released their debut album Hither Thither last year to great reviews, earning them a nomination for this year's Choice Music Prize, and have also just been confirmed to appear at 2011's South by South West Music and Media Festival in Austin, Texas later this month.

I sat down with the lads in Dolan's for a cup of tea and a chat about their sound, three-breasted women, public poos and Gary Glitter, oddly enough. Here's what the charming and self-efacing quintet had to say for themselves...

Elaine: So you guys have had an incredible year! Are you all chuffed with yourselves?

Paul: Yeah, it’s been great all year, to get people talking about us. I mean, obviously that’s what you want- for people to notice and get them coming to the gigs. It’s been really encouraging- it’ll keep us going anyway!

Elaine: I read an article in The Irish Times that said you have taken the scenic route in releasing the debut album. What was the delay?

Paul: Well, originally we went out to record it ourselves. By the time we had it finished, it kind of took the bones of about six months to record it, and then get it finished off. So yeah, in total it was, I think, about eight months. We were going to release it then ourselves but decided to wait and see if we could get a record label on board to release it nationally. So it kind of took a year and a half of various different things coming on board. We met a record company then, that kind of happened, and by that time we had written more songs and we wanted to record them and see what they were like. So we had an opportunity there to edit what was there and maybe put on different songs, take some songs off. Yeah, that was pretty much it, to sum it up. In total it was about three years in the making!

Elaine: And you signed with Universal?

Paul: Yeah.

Elaine: Many Irish bands choose to go the independent route these days. What do you think are the benefits of signing with a label?

All: Money! Financial!

Paul: Yeah...just money!

Brendan: When we recorded the album ourselves it was very much a D.I.Y. affair, kinda getting what gear we could together and just trying to make it happen, which was great. But when the label came on board it was good just to have that financial backing going in. We just didn’t really have to worry about the technical side of things anymore, we could just do what we did. We got a really good engineer working on it, he captured it and did a really great job on it. In that sense we got to make things as good as we could on the album. So, definitely, as an immediate benefit that was great.

Paul: There wasn’t an awful lot of bands being offered deals this year...

Elaine: So that was one of the reasons you decided to sign?

Paul: Yeah.

Brendan: It’s not that we were beating them away with a stick or anything!

Paul: There wasn’t a bidding war...

Brendan: It actually said that in one of the papers: “After a furious bidding war...” And then the next day, “After that one day of furious bidding wars...”

Elaine: I don’t always like comparing bands to other bands because I kind of feel people can then latch on to that...

Philip: That’s exactly how we feel about that as well.

Elaine: But if you could sum up it up in your own words, how would you describe your sound?

Philip: We’d probably start comparing ourselves to bands!

Brendan: Between the five of us there’s really quite a wide range of influences. We tend to draw influence from the strangest of places and then somehow tie everything in to what we think might be... It’s hard to get a sound, initially, where you don’t go too far in one direction and you want to bring certain things in. I think we may have done that.

Philip: The sound eventually becomes the just sound of those five people brought in together. Even if we deviate with styles and things, the resulting sound is the way we put together, the way we work together. You just go through a machine that is the band.

Brendan: And no matter how much new music we check out, we do find ourselves going back to the classics. I think that might be somewhat apparent in our sound and our approach. Bands that we were always into like The Beatles, Bowie...I might as well just name a few!

Alan: All the good stuff!

Brendan: Well they’re classics for a reason. We get influences from a lot of places really.

Elaine: When it comes to putting songs together, what way do you handle that as a group?

Richie: Sometimes a song may come in from a certain quarter, it’s got an overall picture and then we put our parts together. It’s funny; something could start out one way and then end up completely different.

Elaine: Are you all responsible for songwriting or what way does that work?

Brendan: Usually someone comes in with general idea, a pretty good idea where something’s going...

Alan: And the rest of us ruin it!

Brendan: Yeah, then we ruin it. It gets diluted and becomes rubbish!

Paul: Everyone does have their own instrument department that they take. When we play it as a band, there’s a general rough idea at the start, but when we get together, that’s when it starts to change. The dynamic of it might change, or the arrangement and the instrumentation.

Richie: It really depends. Some will come in that will just need instrumentation and some come in as a less-developed idea.

Philip: I think with some of the songs on the album, when we were jamming them we knew they could be bigger or could have more layers so we could sit down and say, right, this needs strings here or whatever.

Richie: We always have to try to imagine how things will sound when they are finished- in the room there are just the five of us together...

Philip: So it comes back to the money thing again. It’s hard to pull everything together at one time and bring things in, string sections and the likes.

Elaine: Do any of you have a favourite song to play live?

Paul: Ah, they’re all equally boring at this stage!

Brendan: I don’t know, really. Personally, I quite like 'Fat Lady'. It’s the last song on the album. That’s kind of one of those songs, when you play it has the tendency to subtly change. Something in the nature of that song allows it to take on various little changes each time you play it. That’s always nice; keeps it kind of interesting like. What do you guys think? Any favourites?

Alan: Hate them all!

Paul: Hate them all equally!

Richie: Well, as we were saying earlier, the recording ourselves and then the re-recording, you can imagine yourself from that we’ve been playing those songs for over two years so it’s a long time. But now we’ve kind of gotten back to a really nice situation because the band are in Cork and it’s kind of the way we started out in the beginning writing and that. But the songwriting has definitely matured now so we’re actually really excited about the new stuff.

Paul: So our favourite song hasn’t happened yet.

Elaine: Jesus, ye’ve really ruined the old stuff for me now!

Brendan: Haha, ah no we’re totally proud of what we’ve done.

Paul: We’re just too self-conscious to give you the name of songs we like- we’d rather just say something stupid! We like them all!

Elaine: Can I just ask you about the artwork? [O Emperor's album cover for Hither Thither was nominated for Best Artwork at the inaugural Digital Socket Awards]

Paul: A friend of ours from Waterford that we’ve known since we were younger did all the artwork for us. It definitely was something that was important to us- we consciously wanted something that was consistent, that was standard. So yeah, everything from the posters to the album cover was all done by our friend. We think it’s important to keep a nice image with the music.

Brendan: And we worked with this guy from the very start when we did our very first gig. He was kind of the only person we knew that might be able to make a poster so we just asked him.

Paul: Our first poster was of a three-breasted woman- it was a little controversial!

Brendan: It caused a scandal around Waterford that’s for sure!

Alan: In the local fruit shops...

Paul: So we got him to tone it down a little bit but it’s still good.

Alan: The three-breasted woman might make a comeback yet!

Paul: Yeah I think the second album will feature a three-breasted woman.

Brendan: I do specifically remember going into shops and asking if I could put up a poster for a gig and the person would be like, “Yeah no problem”. But then they’d see the poster and quickly say, “Actually, I think we’re all out of space there...”

Elaine: You guys have been nominated for this year's Choice Music Prize.

Paul: We were, yeah.

Elaine: You all must have been delighted when you got the news.

Paul: Yeah, to be honest we were a bit surprised. But of course we were very excited to make the shortlist, especially given that 2010 was a great year for Irish music. There are some great acts around at the moment so, yeah, it's exciting.
Elaine: The awards are happening tomorrow night [March 3rd] in Vicar Street- are you looking forward to performing?

Paul: Yeah, definitely. I mean, the gig is sold out and it's a Vicar Street gig so we're really looking forward to it.

Elaine: Speaking of Irish acts who have come about the music scene in the last year, acts like Villagers and James Vincent McMorrow who you guys are up against for the award...

Alan: We’ll make short work of them- that’ll be grand!

Elaine: Haha! Who would you guys say is doing a good job out there at the moment; who impresses you?

Brendan: We really like Villagers’ album actually.

Alan: Yeah it's the best out there at the moment, or last year like.

Paul: It’s brilliant. It’s kind of broken down, it’s fresh. Especially a music scene that in the last few years had a few good acts but it wasn’t getting as much attention as it should have. And when there’s an act like Villagers that breaks through outside of Ireland, it kind of gives everyone else a nice lift, you know, that there some like out there for us...

Brendan: Some light at the end of the tunnel!

Paul: Yeah, exactly.

Richie: Mick Flannery as well, he’s brilliant.

Elaine: I love Mick!

Richie: Yeah he’s written some incredible songs. I suppose we’ve kind of rubbed shoulders with all these people over the last year so it’s good to see them all doing well.

Elaine: You supported Villagers in December actually- that must have been pretty cool.

Paul: Yeah we really enjoyed that.

Brendan: I guess ever since hearing the album for the first time we thought it was something that would work well together, us and them, you know? There definitely is parallels there. So yeah, it was great.

Richie: And we’d be looking to branch out of Ireland so supporting a band like Villagers...

Brendan: A piggy-back band!

Alan: Yeah we’ll be stowaways on their tour...

Brendan: Hiding in with their gear on the trailer!

Elaine: And you have supported other bands such as Mumford and Sons and Ocean Colour Scene as well, haven’t you?

Richie: Yeah I loved Ocean Colour Scene too, growing up and that.

Elaine: They were one of the first bands I saw live.

Richie: Yeah, they’re great.

Paul: I never saw them. Supporting them was my first time seeing them live so that was a nice moment; I always wanted to see them when I was a teenager.

Elaine: And what about Mumford and Sons? What are they like?

Paul: Yeah they’re nice lads- did we do that before Ocean Colour Scene?

Brendan: Yeah it was before.

Paul: It was our first time playing to a crowd that big. Yeah, that was deadly. I didn’t realise how big they were- I was a big ignorant of the whole thing! We did a gig in Edinburgh with them and it was massive so it was really cool to do that. People thought we were Mumford and Sons when we first walked out on stage so there was this huge cheer and then when they realised it was like, “Aw...”.

Brendan: You could hear audible sighs!

Paul: It was mad- there were girls trying to get in the back door and everything...

Brendan: To their dressing room- not ours! I think we should make that distinction!

Elaine: You guys have played big festivals like Oxegen but you also return home sometimes to play the Forum in Waterford, for example. What’s your favourite kind of gig to play?

Paul: Sometimes the smaller gigs are a lot nicer. I mean, we haven’t done too many massive ones, and it is great to get them. Even the whole production that goes into bigger gigs is cool and great to experience. In a strange way you actually have less to worry about when it’s a big gig, and they’re always good to do. But some of the smaller ones are more rewarding, especially when there’s like 50 people in a small room.

Elaine: And they’re most often avid fans that have just come to see you.

Paul: Yeah, or even if they’re not then they’re just trapped in a small room and can’t escape. Everyone is just really focused on the band and the music and what’s going on, really.

Philip: And we’re still just getting used to playing the big gigs as opposed to the little snug ones.

Brendan: It can be nicer in the smaller gigs when there isn’t such a song and dance about things; everyone’s just closer together and it doesn’t need such a big lighting show. Something about that simplicity is nice as well.

Alan: It kind of depends on the crowd as well, what they are going to be like sometimes determines the type of gig it is.

Paul: Yeah, like there’s even a big difference between Oxegen and Electric Picnic; at Electric Picnic the tent was completely full yet people seemed to still be there to hear the music whereas Oxegen, well, the crowd can be different.

Brendan: Yeah it seems that there’s an older crowd at Electric Picnic who are more interested in the music.

Elaine: You guys went to Dingle this year for Other Voices.

All: Yeah.

Elaine: It was the band’s second year doing it though, right?

Paul: Yeah we did the Other Room last year but were in the church [St James’] this year.

Elaine: How was that?

Paul: Yeah it was really cool. It’s kind of weird when you’re actually doing it in person, you just get up and do four songs in front of the cameras and there’s a crowd. So you’re kind of thinking about the crowd and the cameras at the same time but it’s a really good thing to do.

Elaine: It’s a great show.

Paul: Yeah it’s fantastic. I’ve watched it since I was younger so it was really nice to do it.

Elaine: Have you any interesting tour stories for me?

All: Tour stories?

Elaine: Yeah, you know, funny tales from the road?

Paul: Not sure any are appropriate...

Brendan: Yeah we’re trying to keep a lid on our real personalities! Ah, tour stories... There’s probably quite a few, I don’t know...

Richie: Tour stories... What’s amusing but also tasteful?

Philip: Not a lot.

Brendan: Those two things don’t seem to go hand-in-hand with us do they?!

Alan: Nothing is really springing to mind.

Paul: We did see a guy taking a shit into a garden on the way back from Mullingar...

Elaine: What??

Richie: I said tasteful!

Paul: Well hey, it was funny at the time! It was like three in the morning in Mountmellick. If you read Elaine’s blog- we know who you are! We saw you! It was an oul lad as well. He was about 60 and was crouched down between a railing and a hedge...

Brendan: At half three in the morning. That was fairly interesting. We were all kind of falling asleep and no one was really talking, we were all on autopilot. That’s one thing that’ll bring you back to your senses!

Paul: Full pants dropped and just crouching into a fence! That was pretty funny.

Brendan: That’s the worst tour story ever!

Alan: Yeah we’re real rockers!

Elaine: You have been together now for, what is it, ten years?

All: [Unenthusiastically] Yeah...

Paul: Something like that.

Brendan: In various forms...

Paul: I don’t even think it’s been in various different forms.

Brendan: Well three of us have been in the same things together since we were 13, but also doing other things.

Paul: Oh yeah- we have other things going on in our lives!

Richie: We have stuff going on!

Elaine: Do you ever get sick of each other and be like, “Get out of my face- I’m sick of looking at you!”?

Alan: There’s never really any fights.

Brendan: We’re just so used to each other. We just use passive aggression.

Paul: Yeah and one day that’ll just lead to one big, massive explosion and we’ll all just shoot each other.

Elaine: Well lads tend to be more laidback with each other...

Paul: Yeah but one day I’ll probably just smother them all in their sleep.

Elaine: That’d probably lead to the best exposure you would ever get!

Paul: Yeah- “Band member kills all other band members”.

Richie: I wonder has that ever happened in the history of music.

Paul: Well a lot of people go missing, don’t they?

Alan: I expect people come close.

Richie (to Alan): Didn’t...ah...remember you were saying before someone tried to shoot your Dad...

Brendan and Paul: Yeah someone pulled a gun on him!

Alan: Yeah...

Paul: Back in Mexico.

Alan: Yeah he was a singer in Mexico and the guitarist in his band tried to shoot him!

Paul: That’s a great tour story!

Richie: We don’t have any cool stories but that’s a great one!

Alan: Here, I’ll just give you my Dad’s number...

Richie: With getting on and that, I think we keep what goes on within the band.

Brendan: We’re together so much that I think we all feel we’ve developed this kind of communal brain. A little part of everyone’s brain just melts together.

Richie: Yeah we kind of forget that there’s other people outside the five of us.

Brendan: Or that there’s even other realities out there. Ours is such a twisted reality, as far away from normality as things could be, but that’s great craic.

Alan: We just go a little bit insane.

Richie: You just have to laugh through the madness.

Elaine: What’s your favourite part of the whole process? Would you say it’s being on the road together or being in the studio thrashing out the songs?

Richie: It depends. At the moment I think we’re just really excited about rehearsing and getting back into the studio to record the new songs, so once we get reinvigorated by that I think we’ll be out with a kind of fresh attitude. We’ll be firing from all cylinders.

Brendan: Yeah it all changes because after a lot of touring and being on the road you just want to get back rehearsing and recording and then when you’ve done that for a while you want to get back out touring.

Philip: Yeah equally you could say touring and recording really.

Richie: We are excited about recording again and there is a certain amount of pressure- people are anxious to hear what the next batch of music is going to sound like so we’ll work on those songs and go from there.

Brendan: People are going to get worried when they hear our concept of having a whole album of Mongolian throat singers for the second release!

Elaine: Ok, well if you guys don’t murder each other in your sleep...

Paul: We’ve that scheduled in for tomorrow...

Elaine: What else is in the pipeline for O Emperor? Have you got any idea of when you will be releasing the second album?

Paul: Well, very roughly, I think it’s being planned for the end of this year but it really depends. Hopefully we’ll get Hither Thither released in the UK and Europe so if that goes to plan then hopefully we’ll spend a lot of time over there touring with it.

Brendan: We’re planning on releasing it in the UK in, is it March?

Paul: March or April, yeah.

Brendan: There’s a small label over there that we’re going to release it with so yeah, we’re really looking forward to that.

Elaine: And lots of gigs?

All: Yeah.

Brendan: And we’ll come back then with the communal brain and more tour stories for you, Elaine!

Elaine: Yay!

Brendan: I’m sure there’s more- we’re not completely boring bastards...

Paul: There’s a couple of funny people you meet on tour. There was this one guy who had this like spot in the middle of his head that was like a brain...

Elaine: And you couldn’t help but look at it!

Paul: Yeah and it kind of throbbed as he spoke- he was a funny guy. And there was also a German guy, a German promoter, and he always said “vwaiting”. He said, “Life in a band is always like vwaiting. Vwaiting for sound check...”

Philip: Or foul man, without going into too much detail. Yeah there was the artist that made phallic-shaped objects. Well, not so much phallic-shaped as actual penises...

Paul: Yeah there was a penis chandelier!

Philip: Yeah there was penis chandeliers and we were being shown around this place- that was quite weird.

Brendan: What was that place- Cornwall was it?

Philip: Yeah.

Brendan: At one stage me and our tour manager decided we’d had enough. It was that time of the night and we said we’d head away like. We weren’t supposed to stay in the house we were at, we were supposed to be staying up the road and we were in the middle of nowhere. And some guy was like, “Yeah just go up the road, the house is one the left”. So we went up the road and saw this house with a light on in the porch and thought, “This must be it”. We walk in and see these big racks of knives and it’s like something out of Psycho. So we threw ourselves down on the couch and some woman came down the next morning and was like, “Where did you two come out of?”

Paul: Yeah they were in the wrong house...

Brendan: But she took it very well in fairness to her, considering we basically broke into her house!

Elaine: Just in light of the Choice Music Prize tomorrow night, what would you say is your favourite album of last year? Would it be Villagers’ Becoming a Jackal?

Paul: In general it’s definitely one of them, yeah. And Field Music.

Brendan: Yeah Field Music’s Measure was great.

Richie: I think I heard that Conor O’Brien from Villagers actually liked our album.

All: Haha!

Richie: I did!

Paul: Ah sure God willing!

Brendan: He probably felt sorry for us.

Paul: Yeah it was probably like Father Dick Byrne [from Father Ted] when they rang us up for the gig- “Would you like to support us?” and then just taking the piss with the other Villagers lads. We were like, “Really” and then they were like, “NO!”.

Elaine: Ah lads, ye’re fierce cocky! Ok, I love asking people what their favourite albums of all time are- this should cause some hassle for ye! If you were all sent to a desert island and could only pick one album to take, what would it be?

Brendan: Only one?

Elaine: One. And you can’t share each other’s!

Brendan: Is it just one between us?

Paul: Can we have separate iPods?

Elaine: Jesus...five separate iPods loaded with one album each and you can’t swap the iPods between you!

Brendan: Ok...I’ll say Revolver by The Beatles. That’s a tricky one though.

Alan: It’s very tricky...

Paul: OK Computer I would probably say...

Brendan: Actually, Revolver or Pet Sounds...

Paul: You can only have one!

Brendan: Ah...Revolver so. Jesus...

Richie: I think I’d have to take something relatively cheery if I was going to a desert island...

Paul: But it’d be hot though, wouldn’t it?

Brendan: It’d be alright like...

Paul: Are you able to survive on the island though? Do you only have the Discman?

Brendan: Discman?!

Elaine: Well you have your basic food and water...

Paul: And sanitation?

Elaine: And each other for company.

Brendan: Ah we’d probably just end up eating each other.

Paul (to Brendan): You’re too picky; you wouldn’t eat anything.

Brendan: You look fairly tasty...

Paul: I’ll rub onions all over me.

Brendan: That’s genuinely terrifying.

Alan: I’m stumped!

Philip: I’d definitely say Pet Sounds.

Richie: Yeah I was thinking the Beach Boys, definitely a cheery one anyway to get me through.

Paul: What about that Simply Red album where on the cover he’s on a desert island?

Philip: Or Neil Young On the Beach?

Alan: That’d be pretty apt...

Paul: Because we’d be on THE BEACH!

Richie: Maybe our own album?

Brendan: Our own album? Are you fucking joking?!

Richie: Well don’t know if any of you have listened to it recently but...

All: No!

Brendan: Once it’s done, it’s done.

Alan: Yeah you only start scrutinising it then.

Richie: Yeah I suppose now we’d throw in loads of stuff that we didn’t do.

Elaine: What do you think Alan?

Alan: I’m still stumped, Elaine. [Pauses] Am...I’ll go for Physical Graffiti by Zeppelin.

Brendan: Oh yeah!

Paul: Genius- a double album so you get two CDs.

Elaine: Are the albums you mention the ones that would have had an impact on you when you were younger?

Richie: Well I would have to say, in that context, The Jimi Hendrix Experience would have been on repeat constantly when I was growing up.

Brendan: For me it’d be Dark Side of the Moon. That was a big one.

All: Yeah.

Alan: That’d be the same for me actually.

Philip: I’m going to be slightly less cool here...

Brendan: Andrew Gold!

Philip: I was about nine years old...

Paul: Gilbert O’Sullivan?

Philip: No, no. Elton John Goodbye Yellow Brick Road- that was the first CD I ever bought.

Elaine: That’s a classic!

Philip: Yeah it’s pretty cool.

Elaine: That’s much cooler that mine; I got a tape recorder and a copy of The Bangles’ Different Light when I was three.

Paul: Wow...

Brendan: Nice!

Elaine: I used to walk around with the tape recorder- I thought I was the shit...

Paul: I bet you still have that tape!

Elaine: No...

Brendan: You do! Ah it’s all those early ones that stay with you.

Paul: I think the first tape I ever got was either What’s the Story Morning Glory or Definitely Maybe. I’d put on What’s the Story and stick on my headphones and strum along on the guitar. But the first song was ‘Hello’, which they took off Gary Glitter, so you could say that Gary Glitter was my first influence, my first introduction into music.

Elaine: Am...I don’t think I’ll include that in the interview...

Brendan: Do!

Paul: Ah no you can put it in there- in fact, that should be the first line: “Gary Glitter taught me all I know”...

Alan: My first album was the Offspring’s Americana.

Brendan: Haha, I remember doing some pretty frantic air guitar to Metallica’s S&M...

Paul: Yeah that was cool.

Richie: Yeah you had a pretty heavy taste in music. I remember going to your house and listening to...like he’d listen to Slayer going to sleep.

Brendan: That’s why Dark Side of the Moon had such a big influence, because it stopped me listening to Slayer! It changed things, probably, for the better. I wonder where we’d be now...

Richie: We should break into it some time, crack it out when we’re rolling into some of our songs.

Brendan: We have a mixed tape and there are actually two Slayer songs on there.

Richie: Get us psyched up!

Philip: ‘Raining Blood’...

Brendan: Actually, you know when I was saying that influences can come from weird places? Well when we were mixing there was one particular Slayer guitar solo and we wanted that kind of sound- remember? So they’d be one of our more obscure influences.

Elaine: Would that be your psych-up song then, the one you freak out backstage to?

Alan: That or Thin Lizzy.

All: ‘Thunder and Lightening’.

Brendan: Yeah, ‘Thunder and Lightening’ by Thin Lizzy- that in particular. That’s good to get you going.

Alan: Good to get you hyped up.

Elaine: So do you all just start jumping around and beating your chests?

Brendan: Yeah and then come out and play moderate rock!

Alan: Yeah, come out on stage and rock very softly...

Elaine: Well, thanks a million for meeting with me lads and the best of luck tomorrow night!
All: Thanks Elaine.

Not only are these guys extremely talented but they are downright hilarious; hands down my favourite band to interview yet! If you missed O Emperor's brilliant performance on Other Voices last week, you can still watch it on RTÉ Player. The band are currently putting the finishing touches to the recording and video of 'Sedalia', a track from Hither Thither, on which they perform with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. The single is due for release on March 25th. O Emperor will also shortly depart on a tour with full brass and strings sections, taking in the following venues across Ireland:

25th March - Róisín Dubh, Galway
8th April - Dolan's, Limerick
9th April - Set Theatre, Kilkenny
15th April - The Academy, Dublin
13rd April - The Pavillion, Cork
30th April - Theatre Royal, Waterford

Tickets for these dates are available from Ticketmaster.ie or directly from the venues. For further information on O Emperor, check out their official website here, or you can stalk them on Facebook here.