The Riptide Is High
One of the defiant young bands in Ireland in aeons, The Riptide Movement have gone from busking on Dublin’s mean streets to getting radio airplay in Turkey! Now, with their second album safely nestled in the Irish top 10, they talk about the struggle for recognition, the perils of busking –and their plans to conquer America.
Craig Fitzpatrick, 25 May 2012
Nothing at all? My mind immediately goes back to the first piece about the band in Hot Press over half a decade ago, dealing with their harrowing experience in the grip of US immigration control officials.
“Maybe in a few years, if we get signed, we’ll go over,” said a fresh-faced Gar Byrne at the time. “But the first thing we’d say on the mic is, ‘Fuck the US immigration!”
He laughs now. “That interview happened in this very room!” he says, surveying the familiar surroundings of Dublin’s Library Bar. “That was a dark day! We haven’t been over there since, but it’s something we’re going to correct next year.”
And you’ll have the visas sorted this time around?
“We’re not risking that again!” Mal guffaws. “But we need to play over there. We need to conquer America. We’re drawn to their music. Our music is American music. So I think there’s will be a huge audience there for us, if we can reach out successfully. It feels great, that sound. I adore Americana. Southern music. Dylan is my hero. The Allman Brothers, Creedence Clearwater Revival,
The Doors...”
So has he ever been tempted to whip his todger out on stage like a modern day Morrison? “Hahaha! No, not as yet. Come back to me in a year’s time.” Seems a logical next step along the career path. “Yeah!” Gar laughs, “And then he’ll die in a bath tub!”
A tragic chemical end seems unlikely. They didn’t come down in the last shower. For all that their music resonates of classic rock, The Riptide Movement are keen to blaze their own trail. And
they have done it to date with an impressive combination of passion and persistence – through incendiary live displays and a fiercely honest love of the music they make.
The Riptide Movement: looks like it’s time to
join up....
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