In a book-lined nook in the foyer of a swanky Dublin hotel, a multi-million selling author and a rock star are waxing philosophically. “Did you ever try to write something on the loo?” wonders Eoin Colfer, apropos of very little. “Er, not yet,” says Blizzards front-man Niall Breslin, sounding vaguely alarmed. “I’m not sure how it would work out to be honest.”
It’s a grey Friday morning and Colfer and Breslin have assembled to discuss what is surely the strangest music/literary cross-over since Leonard Nimoy wooed us with ‘The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins’. Together, the pair have embarked on what, when first mooted, must have seemed like a deranged mission: to take the beloved sci-fi saga The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and filter it through a blender of Irish absurdity.
To overwhelmingly positive reviews, Colfer – the cult author of the Artemis Fowl children’s series – has just published And Another Thing, an official ‘sequel’ to the late Douglas Adams’ beloved tale of intergalactic silliness (Adams passed away in 1994 with only five parts of his planned ‘trilogy’ finished). With Colfer’s approval, meanwhile, The Blizzards, currently gearing up for an assault on the UK, have recorded an accompanying track, inspired by the Hitchhiker’s stoner sensibility and exquisite daftness.
“When I was asked, my first response was to say ‘no’,” says Colfer, recalling the approach he received from the Adams’ estate (his widow and daughter are huge Artemis Fowl fans). “Then I got to thinking that the only reason I really have for turning it down was because of the response I might receive. Once I got past that, I decided to go ahead and do it.”
The enormous irony, of course, is that Hitchhikers is an incredibly English novel. With its double-headed aliens, paranoid robots and tea-slurping, dressing-gown attired hero Arthur Dent, it is two thirds Monty Python, one third Brian Aldiss – with a patina of Morrissey-style miserabalism spread on top like a thin layer of marmalade. “I didn’t want to ape Douglas’ style. It wouldn’t have worked if you got someone from the same background – someone who was in Cambridge Footlights or what have you,” says Colfer. “My own influences would run towards Father Ted or Flann O’Brien.”
For his part, Breslin speaks warmly of Adam’s original novel, to which he was introduced by an open-minded Christian Brother when he was just 13 (a huge irony, in view of the fact that Hitchhikers is a profoundly godless book). “I thought it was fantastic. It gets on my nerves when people say it’s for nerds. The kind of people who say that have obviously never read it.”
When Colfer’s publisher presented a shortlist of bands who might be available to record a tie-in single, he didn’t hesitate in plumping for The Blizzards. “We did a thing together at Hitchcon, a Hitchhiker festival in London recently. It was fantastic. I got to share a stage with them – very rock and roll.”
Breslin, meanwhile, had very clear ideas as to what a Hitchhiker inspired 45” should and shouldn’t be. With bands such as Radiohead and Coldplay on the record as prominent fans of the novel, he was determined not to follow in their footsteps with something obtuse and epic sounding. “It had to be an immediate pop song, something that hit you right away. I wanted to get that sense of you lying on your back half stoned reading the book – that was the sensibility I wanted to get across. We did it extremely quickly, When you have a project like this, that’s the idea.”
In a few hours, The Blizzards will perform the song on the Late Late Show. It’s a busy time for the band, with their second LP about to receive its belated UK release (in Blighty, Jonathan Ross is one of the DJs proclaiming their genius). Not that the singer has any illusions about the depth of the challenge they face in winning an overseas fan-base. “Let’s be honest – they don’t want Irish bands to do well over there. They have enough bands of their own. They don’t need us coming over. But you’ve got to take that on the chin and overcome it. And that’s what we are trying to do,”
As for Colfer...well, with And Another Thing romping up the bestseller lists, it’s clear that he has won over Hitchhiker buffs. Might he be tempted to return to Adam’s universe for another time? He shakes his head.
“I did what was in my brief that I gave myself, which would be to write something that would boost the celebrations and that would introduce Douglas to a new generation. And it’s kind of respectful and it’s an homage. But if you do two I think you’re trying to kind of take over and say, “Listen, it’s my series now.” And that’s ridiculous.”