WITH THEIR rough and ready debut single Heroin Kills . . . Stick To Pills gathering momentum both here and in England (where it s poised to go to Radio 1 and XFM) Clondalkin s The Josephs are on the up. The first rock act ever to sign to the hitherto dance-orientated Deconstruction label, the band are looking thin, trim and brim full of vim.
Clustered around a table in the IFC like a bunch of post-mod Mods about to go on the rampage through Temple Bar, these likeable, unpretentious Dubs are ready to talk. And talk they do, all five of them at the same time. Yet, for all their effusiveness, the quintet are keen to play down their origins.
We started off a joke really, singer Ray explains. Even the name, The Josephs, is a piss-take really, it s quirky.
We used to dress up in Clockwork Orange gear on stage, adds drummer Mur. We d have theme nights and everything, we didn t take ourselves seriously, it was the fun, the madness of it.
We re easily accessible, pipes up Shaggy, the band s bassist. We still go drinking with all the people who come to see us. It s a very energetic show, it s not just people coming with their arms folded. It ends up like a disco: by the end of the night half the crowd are on stage with us. We re just feet-up, it s a bit o crack.
Feet-Up? Yes indeed, this lot have a manifesto to live down to. Feet-Up is a street thing. The Josephs are inspired by the tough, no-shit sounds of the late 70s and early 80s: The Undertones, The Jam, The Ruts, The Blades ( the last great Irish singles band ) and the 2-Tone acts. That said, they re not keen to be pegged as retro merchants.
Rather than try and copy all the classic youth movement stuff, all we re trying to do is pick up where it left off, testifies Ray. Instead of copying the Buzzcocks three albums, we d rather write a fourth one. The whole ska ethos was Fuck Art, Let s Dance . If there was ever a logo for us, that s it. We re not just a band, we re a gang. Myself and Ian (The Josephs backing singer) were Northern Soul freaks for years going back, the mod scene, but the one common denominator we have is what we do. We always maintained that if we weren t actually members of the band, we d still go and see us.
LUMP OF HASH
Heroin Kills . . . Stick To Pills , is obviously an attention-grabbing title for a first single. Were the band merely up for a bit of shit-stirring?
It was just a snappy title, the singer maintains. The single s very energetic, it s dynamic from the word go. Goosepimple material. It gets us goin , it gets the crowd goin and we feed off of them.
When we were recording it, we just thought the best way was to do it live, Mur insists. Sod the click-track, sod the separation. The only way we could really capture it was to get a bag of cans, a lump of hash and go for it.
So, gentlemen, what s it like being the first rock band on Deconstruction?
The only reason I wanted to sign with Deconstruction was to ride Saffron from Republica, slobbers Mark.
Kylie s a good girl as well, chips in Mur.
And Beth Orton, continues Mark. The biggest pair of . . . lips.
Has the record deal made life cushy for The Josephs, then?
We have to give each other the odd kick in the bollocks just to maintain the hunger, admits bass-player Shaggy. Once you lose that you might as well forget about it.
Gettin signed is not the be-all and end-all, Mark points out.
It s not all tits and champagne, adds Mur.
We re from Dublin, Mark continues. We re working class lads, the lot of us. That s the way it is. We all left poxy factory jobs to do this.
Fuck all that nine-to-five bollocks! The Josephs chorus as one.
Before we wrap it up, the band insist putting some thanks and praise on public record.
One bloke who actually cares about bands is Dermot Doran who runs Eamonn Doran s, Ray gushes. Any help we need, he s there. And thanks to Dead Elvis Records who encouraged us to record in the first place. They stuck their neck out regularly for us.
Heroin Kills . . . Stick To Pills is out now, available through BMG Records.