Amp fiddlers

Toddle off to the website belonging to Belfast’s finest contemporary noiseniks and you’ll find them making a number of admissions on their home-page:

“Lafaro use and endorse big loud amplifiers,” we are told. “Lafaro use and endorse thicker than average drum sticks. Lafaro have very little money,” and, “Lafaro have all had sex with each other.”
Which, when you consider that, back in 2004, the motivating impulse behind the band’s formation was purely professional, has to signify some kind of progress, doesn’t it?
“We’re not a group of friends who have always wanted to be in a band together,” says front-man, Jonny Black. “It was a musical decision to come together and we were as surprised as anyone to find there was chemistry there. There’ve actually been times when we’ve all probably hated one-another, but I think we’ve even turned that to our advantage as well.”
“I think it’s changed,” says bassist Anna Fitzsimons. “We’re certainly a lot closer now than we were. Personally, any band I’ve been in, I’ve always looked on my bandmates kinda like family members. And I feel that way now. These are my buddies.”
So, what we’re dealing with here isn’t just another gang on a mission yarn; it’s a love story.
“I know exactly when it happened,” says drummer Alan Lyle. “I woke up one morning after a mad show and a full-on session, turned to see Anna on one side of the bed, then looked at Johnny on the other side and I thought: Know what? I don’t mind these two.”
We should see LaFaro as bringing nobility to a discredited bloodline. Fine as the originators were, for a long time the Therapy?/Ash power-trio archetype held rule over the North to ultimately deadening effect. Back in the mid ‘90s, such was the surplus of head-down three piece guitar bands in Ulster, rumours abounded that the EU planned to enforce a strict quota. These days, however, even though incidences are rare, we still remain twitchy. So, you’ll perhaps understand if early sightings of Lafaro were greeted in this manor with all the enthusiasm of a shark fin on Amity Island beach.
“My thoughts exactly,” says Mr Black. “I didn’t want to go down that particular road. I think we all wanted to do something that was a bit more challenging than that. Our take on it is a bit different. Okay, it’s a three piece and there are finite possibilities, but the trick is to see how you can stretch those and blow away people’s preconceptions.”
Considering the forceful blend of personalities involved in LaFaro, it’s hardly a surprise that they’ve decided to tackle an old problem from an interesting angle.
Johnny’s presence has long been felt on the local music scene – standing stage-left with Corrigan, retreating into the darkland balladry of his solo shows – while Anna is a filmmaker, artist and animator of much renown (and a previous Hit The Norther, along with Richard Davis, her partner in crime at Chewie Productions). Alan, meanwhile, was head-hunted by Johnny, who considered him “easily the best drummer in Belfast” and offers a winningly laconic foil to the upbeat ambition of his band-mates. All taken together, their union has resulted in a vigorous and intoxicating take on a previously exhausted archetype.
“We have history,” says Anna, “and we draw our inspiration from all sorts of places. From our previous bands, from our jobs, our lives, what we study – from everything we listen to.”
“I think it’s important to point out that we’re not one of these bands that share the same record collection,” adds Johnny. “Each of us have records that the others wouldn’t touch with a bargepole.”
Such as?
Johnny: “I have a Masters At Work Fela Kuti remix that’s really fucking brilliant. It’s incredible, but they’d leave the room if I played it.”
Anna: “Quicksand’s Slip. They were early, early, early, early emo. See, their eyes are rolling in horror.”
Alan: “The Best Of The Pet Shop Boys. Quality.”
With a brief Irish tour just around the corner, expect some fierce iPod face-offs in the Lafaro bus.
“What we all have in common is a real passion for music. I think we’re all good listeners,” says Johnny. “I used to live with a singer songwriter who only owned three records – his own, Dookie by Green Day, and another one I can’t remember. He claimed there was a logic behind it – that if he listened to anyone else, it would pollute his creativity. That he wanted to remain pure. That’s bollocks. It’s completely opposite to what I think. I’ll give anything a go. I think we all would.”
Although anyone who’s visited the website, may have guessed that already.
Lafaro play the Ballroom of Romance in The Lower Deck,Dublin, on January 26, and Baker Place, Limerick, on January 27. www.myspace.com/lafaroism