At Home With... Mick Pyro

London’s Daily Telegraph wasn’t too far off the mark when it described Republic of Loose frontman Mick Pyro as “a bizarre mixture of Otis Redding, Screaming Jay Hawkins and an Irish drunk at closing time.” A quick glance around his flat confirms that art does indeed mirror life and Pyro’s chaotically inclined stage-craft is pretty much reflected in his bohemian lifestyle.

Home for the maverick Republican is currently a self-contained pad in the basement of the family home – a 1960s Swedish-style house in Terenure, South Dublin. He shares his abode with his sister Annie – formerly a member of Chicks and currently with indie-faves, The Radio.
“I can’t afford to get my own place right now with the ridiculous price of houses so I’ll be here for the foreseeable future,” he says. “It suits me fine – it’s handy for getting in and out of town and I walk home at night when I can’t get a taxi.”
When he’s not touring with the band or working in the studio, Pyro spends most of his time at home on his own, indulging in his passions for music, movies and reading. “I rarely have people around these days,” he says. “Benjamin [bandmate] used to come around a lot but he hates my guts right now so he stays away. I usually just sit around listening to music, playing a bit of guitar, or I’ll stick on the TV or watch a movie. When I have money I either go out drinking and spend it all or buy a bunch of CDs and DVDs. It’s usually one or the other – I can’t afford to do both at the same time, so I tend to go through different phases.”
Like the sonically eclectic outfit he fronts, Pyro’s musical tastes are suitably diverse but with a definite bias towards hip-hop and blues. “Nearly every record I buy is hip-hop,” he says. “It’s one of the most innovative art-forms around and it’s constantly capable of shocking and surprising me. Cee-lo Green is my current favourite – his album Soul Machine released last year is one of the best hip-hop albums I’ve ever heard.”
Other hip-hop artists in the Pyro collection include everything from Biz Markie and EPMD to Big Daddy Kane – but he also has a penchant for 1980s soul and funk. “I love people like Alexander O’Neill and Rick James – who is one of my heroes actually. He re-invented the whole soul-funk thing and brought a lot of panache to it, though it’s almost kind of cartoon like. I find that it’s good to throw yourself into something that’s kind of out of fashion. I love cheesy metal bands like Van Halen and Motley Crue. Music that doesn’t meet with a lot of critical approval tends to be the most passionate.”
As might be expected given the Republic of Loose approach vocally, he listens to a lot of old blues and jazz records. “I love Howlin’ Wolf, John Lee Hooker, Mahalia Jackson and soul singers like Al Green and Solomon Burke, who I saw in Vicar Street last year – brilliant. I had this mate – an American guy who had a great taste in music. But he went off to become a Buddhist monk and he left about 300 CDs – stuff like Coltrane, Mingus and Miles Davis, which I listen to a lot. And I’ve even been listening to a bit of Dylan lately. I love all his stuff but Time Out of Mind is the one that’s doing it for me right now. The production is spooky and the lyrics are savage – he still has that way with words.”
Pyro also reveals a particular fondness for the music of the man currently in the dock and grabbing the headlines – Michael Jackson!
“You feel a bit creepy listening to him and you have to be in the right mood but there’s a really sad lament in his voice,” Pyro says. “I love the deep funk stuff, I’m not too crazy about the ballads. The thing is he always moved forward – it’s a pity he didn’t do an album with the Neptunes.”
Movies are another obsession and he spends a fair proportion of his time glued to the screen. “When I was growing up I was totally obsessed with watching videos. I’ve a huge collection and the DVD collection is growing too.
“I love Yakuza movies, which are basically Japanese gangster movies. The reality is much more complex than in Hollywood movies. I love the pace of Japanese movies and the meditative space they create. Takeshi Kitano, the director, is a hero of mine; he creates these long, lingering shots.”
Meantime, Pyro’s shelves heave with tomes of every persuasion – from biographies to history and volumes of poetry.
“I read a lot of poetry and I like everything from modern poets like Charles Simic, an American guy who has a very languorous pace, to renaissance poets like Milton, Shakespeare and Alexander Pope. I find it’s actually very similar to hip-hop in that they have the same kind of rhythmic structure.”

Republic of Loose are currently on an extensive Irish tour. Check What's On for details.