Ex-Enemies member Eoin Whitfield is back with new electronica project EHCO

There may be cause for rejoice amongst fans of Enemies however, as ex-member Eoin Whitfield has come back to head up a new project, EHCO. Mixing elements of what he was used to in Enemies with something he is less accustomed to in the form of electronics, he has managed to produce something that their fans will find familiar and comfortable in it’s sound, with some added components to mix it up a bit.

We caught up with Eoin and the band’s Drummer Niall to talk about the difficulty in pinning themselves down to a genre, how the band came together and how it has felt to have a seemingly instant audience for their music.

So I’m going to ask you a little about your sound first - Eoin, you were in Enemies which disbanded last year, and that was more of kind of a math rock sound where this is going more towards the electro, ambient feel, and there's a bit of a techno kind of vibe in there - kind of like maybe Bonobo or The Field or artists on the Kompakt label. How would you describe your sound?

Eoin: It’s a tough question! I dunno! I had a look around at similar artists to see what Google describes them as and what was coming up the most was electronica. So, i guess, it’s electronica. But, when people ask I say it’s kinda dancey! I guess the word electronica doesn’t mean a lot to a whole lot of people - the same as myself! It doesn’t exactly paint a picture, do you know what I mean? But, yea - kinda dancey! I’m terrible for that sort of thing - for 10 years Enemies was the same - ‘What kind of band is it?’ ‘uuuhhhhhhhh complicated rock?! I guess!?’

Haha OK! Electronica dance it is! You had been working on the EHCO project under the moniker MAU for a while on your own, and then after Enemies finished you made it more of your main project…..

Eoin: Yeah, well, during Enemies I was always sort of tipping away at this type of stuff for a while, and I had a go at putting stuff out here and there, but it was always kind of like a side thing - I wouldn’t really have the time for it cos I was working on Enemies. So, once Enemies disbanded, I though ‘Right, I’ll do this now’ and at first I was thinking I’d just do it myself, then I was thinking I’d do it with just me and a drummer. Then, I dunno, it’s new to me this whole world… and I don’t know how to DJ and a lot of these producers who do this kind of thing DO know how to DJ, so thats kind of part of their whole shtick, and so rather than completely entering a world I don’t know, I thought I’d mix it with a world I do know, so I did get a group of merry men and a lass together, and we put a full band of it together. But having said that, it’s a versatile operation, so I could do stuff by myself or just with the singer, Jessie, or just with Niall. We’ve only done 3 shows and they’ve been with the full band, but if it calls for it we can do variations on it.

And so, have you found it really challenging then, kind of changing direction like that?

Eoin: Ehm, I dunno, challenging in a technical way, because synths and samplers and everything, that’s all new to me and I'm very much learning as I go, but I’ve been writing and producing music for years and that bit I really enjoy. And, I really enjoy having the say over what happens - because it’s different from what I come from. It was always a compromise and a mixed image of how everyone wanted things to sound, so now I can just be free and produce music. it’s nice, yeah.

So EHCO kind of remains as your own personal project essentially?

Eoin: Yeah, it’s like my music and then, well we kind of see it as there being 2 dimensions to EHCO. There’s the ‘me’ and then there’s the ‘us’, so that’s the way it’s going.

You get to hold some control anyway….

Eoin: Yeah, well, everyone gets a say, but my say trumps! but luckily we’re all very agreeable and we’re all on the same wavelength, so it’s not like I’ll be dictating people into a regrettable place!

You did mention that you’ve played a couple of gigs - you played Electric Picnic at the Play the Picnic stage - which, because it was from a public vote, must have been nice as a band to have that recognition so early on…

Eoin: Yeah we felt really good about that…

… And then you had your first Dublin date in The Bowery for Oktoberfest - which was quite a nice line up, you were with Mik Pyro and Meltybrains? as well, so how have the live shows been going?

Eoin: Better than we could have hoped, really. We’ve had a lot of friends come out for it, I don’t know if they’ve just been hungry for stuff to go to, and they’re like ‘yeah, great! here’s something to go to!’! But we have been attracting bands that we don’t know who are just hearing stuff online , or just happened to stumble upon it, and then they’ll come up afterwards and be like ‘where did you come from?! This is great stuff!’ and then seeing those faces again coming back is just great. So, yeah, it’s snowballing

Niall: The biggest thing for us is seeing people kind of be surprised, because there’s a lot of bands out there, and there’s so much excellent stuff coming through Ireland. So, it’s great to see when you’re setting up for the first time in a music scene that’s just thriving at the moment, and then seeing people enjoy what you’re doing, it’s just cool to see. Because, as Eoin said, we don’t ever really know what to expect when we go up onstage because no-one knows us, so it’s nice to see happy faces out there and people bopping along.

Yeah, because, you’re not together all that long in this format so it must be quite encouraging to be playing these quite successful shows…..

Eoin: Yeah, it’s like, part of me wants to fast forward to the really good stuff! But then, I remind myself that this is a beautiful stage to be in and it’s going better than expected so, just, slow down and enjoy it - enjoy producing music, enjoy playing gigs in our infancy.

And you’ve got your next gig coming up in Dublin on December 7th in The Bowery, you’re headlining with Alex Smyth, Mea Culpa and Burial at Sea, so that’s going to be exciting….

Eoin: Yeah, we’re really looking forward to that. We’re hoping to freshen up and extend our set - which is far from stale cos it’s only been showcased 3 times!

Niall: Ah, we’ve made some changes……

Yeah, I mean, there isn’t a lot for people to be too familiar with at this stage. Your first single, ‘Raise it Up’, was released in July, along with a pretty cool live video which was shot in Wicklow Gaol, but that’s kind of the only recording there is online for people to listen to - is that something that you’re working on? Are you going to do more recording?

Eoin: Oh, yeah, there’s songs lined up to come out, but I want them to be accompanied by a video, so we’re at the moment trying to get some dollars together! But, yeah, we’re in the process of getting videos together for another 2 singles at the moment, and we’re hoping to have one out before the end of the year, and one soon after the new year. But the songs are there and ready to go.

Sweet, so where is best for us to keep an eye on everything you guys are doing?

Facebook and Twitter. We go by EHCO Music on those.