At only five days old, Dublin’s Luas transport system is still something of a novelty, like a theme park ride that travels through the city. Curious crowds are still gathering at the terminals, and this evening they’re getting more bang for their buck, with a hotpress photo-shoot in full swing with Republic of Loose.
Their music may be brimming with confident swagger, but aboard the Luas, the Dublin five-piece seem a little less self-assured in front of the camera. As passengers look on, trying to figure where they’ve seen our subjects before, the Republic Of Loose are - whisper it - looking a little self-conscious.
“The first photo session we ever did was painful,” confides singer Mick Pyro, “But it’s gotten a little easier since then.”
As the band clamber into the driver’s compartment upon hotpress’ suggestion, a couple of elderly ladies voice their concerns to the driver, who is too busy telling another Luas worker that he too was once on the cover of hotpress. “This had better not for be the cover of the album!” he chortles.
I ask the band if they get recognised much yet in their hometown. “Some chick stopped me on the street and asked me if I was in Republican Loose,” Mick deadpans.
During the photo-shoot, ROL manager Dermot Doran, unofficially the sixth member of the group, and local scene semi-legend, is in attendance as the ‘lucky mascot’. He holds court on the Luas platform, telling tram workers about the recent release of the Loose’s debut album This Is The Tomb Of The Juice.
It quickly becomes apparent that the band’s new-found successes lie not only in the band’s powerful onstage performance and hugely catchy music, but also in the sheer tenacity and ambitious visions of their manager. Unlike many other band managers, Doran is extremely hands-on, and his enthusiasm and belief for Republic Of Loose is hugely infectious.
The band themselves acknowledge that many of their recent successes lie squarely at the feet of ‘Tenacious DD’.
“We never tried to sell ourselves, we’re just not into doing that,” explains Mick. “It was going so slow for us for years when we were in Johnny Pyro. We never rang people up to ask for favours. When Dermot came on board, he did all that for us. I didn’t want to ask people for shit!”
Having already created quite a frisson in the Irish music scene, the band have also been making friends and influencing people further afield – kind of.
“When we played the London Fleadh, one of Bob Dylan’s roadies came over to our stage and told us that we had to turn the bass down ‘cos it was too loud,” recalls bassist Podge (AKA Rabbi Benjamin), without a hint of remorse.
As it happens, Bob Dylan’s is not the only head they have turned during festival season. Already veterans of the Irish scene (their Oxegen set will be their third Irish festival date in as many years), the ROL have, rather impressively, also ticked Glastonbury and Fleadh off their list of things to do.
“We started off with an audience of a couple of hundred at Fleadh, and by the end the place was pumping,” explains guitarist Dave Pyro.
Turns out things were even peachier at Glastonbury.
“A couple of hundred came to our set and they all seemed to know the stuff,” recalls Mick.
“We were up against Oasis, Spiritualised and the Chemical brothers, so it was great to be against them and to draw a crowd,” reckons Podge.
We get to talking about the Glastonbury line-up and the conversation speaks volumes about the melee of musical influences that the band seem to have.
“We saw Sister Sledge who were unbelievable,” enthuses Podge. “Orbital were great too, as it was their second last UK show.
‘This year, there was really fuck all on the bill,” offers Dave. “There was the Wu-Tang Clan, Jimmy Cliff…”
“The one fucking person I wanted to see was Roy Ayers,” mentions guitarist Bres. “I trudged through all this shit to see him and he didn’t even turn up!”
“There was also some opera thing on, Wagner I think,” recalls Podge. “They had the biggest amount of people on the stage ever. It was amazing…there was total silence. People were crying and everything. Well that’s what it said in the paper.”
Perhaps it’s this bewildering array of musical tastes and influences that has caused so much confusion in the media. One thing is for sure, the Irish media seems at a loss as to how to contextualise and describe the Republic of Loose.
“Most of the reviews of the album were arse,” contends Mick. “Even some of the good reviews were arse. A lot of people got the wrong end of the stick altogether.”
“Some of the influences people mentioned are a bit dodgy…” concedes Dave.
“Most reviewers seem lazy,” asserts drummer Coz Noleon. “They’ve read one interview about us, then they bastardise it and all use the same quotes”.
It seems that one comparison in particular tends to show up with increasing regularity.
“Just cause we thank the Fun Lovin’ Criminals on our album – and we only did it cause they helped us out – people think we want to be them,” says Mick. “We might be influenced by some of the same stuff – Rick James, Michael Jackson, gospel – but anyone who thinks that we sound like them is wrong. They’re lounge-y lizard-y, cool, schmoozy. We’re a histrionic, crazy, over the top soul act. They’re glam, we’re scruffy. They’re smooth we’re rough. The comparison is ludicrous.”
“Someone said we sound like Abba and Tom Jones,” interjects Dave, still visibly confused.
“Most people haven’t a clue and they don’t listen to black music,” continues Mick. “Someone said we sounded like INXS. Like IN-fuckin’-XS!! And Jamiroquai!”
The band conclude that this confusion stems from the fact that so few Irish bands are influenced by such a melting pot of styles. Irish audiences, having gorged themselves on stodgy singer-songwriters, simply don’t know what hit them.
“Our music has a lot of different influences and you can’t pigeon-hole us,” concludes Mick. “When people can’t, they’re like ‘what the fuck is this? We get asked why we do the ‘American’ thing…it’s ‘cos we listen to American music. They’re the kind of people who want all Irish bands to be barefoot and pregnant and in the kitchen like they have been for the last 30 years.”
Though born and bred in Dublin, the band, perhaps not surprisingly, don’t care to pledge allegiance to the current Irish music scene.
“Are the Frames still going?” deadpans Dave, feigning surprise.
“You have to treat the whole Whelan’s scene with some degree of contempt, especially when there’s all that backslapping and mutual worship,” offers Mick. “Bands don’t go anywhere in this country because they all think the sun shines out of their own arse.”
“The self delusions throughout the whole Irish media is hilarious,” notes Podge. “That there is a music industry here is an illusion. That there’s a market to speak of here is an illusion.”
“We think they’re nice people but it’s not our music,” says Mick. “There are a few bands I like, some of the mod bands, like The Mighty Stef. On the whole we have to distance ourselves from the scene because if you get drawn into it you’re fucked.”
Unlike many other Irish bands,. The ROL incorporate a certain amount of humour and showmanship into their live shows. Again, it’s a side to the band that has often been misconstrued.
“Of all the shite questions we get asked, one of them is; ‘Are you a serious band?’” explains Mick. “I think people pick up on the comedy angle too much…it’s not really meant to be a comedy show.
“People don’t have the capacity to go to a gig that has humour in it without thinking it’s a comedy show because so few other bands do it,” offers Podge. “It’s all po-faced serious stuff. What are we going to do, stop having a laugh onstage?”
“It’s not about comedy,” concludes Mick. “It’s more about a joy or playfulness as opposed to cracking gags.”
Comedic turns aside, the ROL’s live show has become the band’s weapon of choice.
“It’s been said that the live shows vary between drunken chaos and genius,” states Podge.
“We want the audience to leave our shows feeling that they’ve seen something,” proclaims Mick. “Even if they’ve puked with disgust, it’s important that they can say something has definitely happened. Whatever happens they won’t be bored.”
Republic of Loose – they’ve been a long time coming, and it has most certainly been worth the wait. But will we be saying the same thing about the Luas? b