However, there is light at the end of the journey in the form of Dublin garage grunge rockers Oh Joy. The sight of Ollie and John nestled down the back of Anseo on Dublin’s Camden street under warming red lights brings back some of the comfort I have so lovingly cultivated in my sitting room.
We say hello and introduce ourselves, and when we’re finally settled in with some warming sustenance, conversation turns to their sound.
The bands influences of Elliot Smith, Weezer and Nirvana are instantly recognisable listening to their songs. They take a more melodic route than typical early 90’s grunge, and offer something quite aggressive and dissonant. Speaking of their sound, I’m told that yes, they are all fans of Nirvana and bands like The Witches, but the influences of Elliott Smith may not come from all directions. Ollie tells us that he has always found fascination with artists such as Smith and Leonard Cohen and, as different as they might be from their other bellwethers, tried to work that songwriter essence into their sound. This is evident from both the lyrics and mellifluous vocals of their tracks (in fact at times I’m reminded of our own Paul Noonan), but one member of the band may not feel the same way towards such artists.
In Alex’ absence, John explains to us that he ‘would have no time for Elliott Smith, No time for Leonard Cohen, no time for Jeff Buckley and it’s just like the louder the better. He’s the antithesis of Leonard Cohen, so him plus Ollie is an interesting combination.’
That it is - and possibly more a cohesive one than you might imagine. And it hasn’t gone unnoticed. Playing a support slot to Pinegrove last year really hammered this point home. As a support band, they weren’t sure whether people would turn up to see them, but from 8pm the place was rammed with people lapping up what the guys were offering - ‘the most receptive crowd we’re ever seen’ in fact. ‘We walked away from that absolutely certain that everyone there really enjoyed us, and there were certainly new fans there’. The same could be said of their performance on the main stage of Body and Soul at Electric Picnic this year. Ollie told us they had concerns about being on such a big stage, but they were delighted and surprised by the number of people who came to show their appreciation for their first trip onto such a stage.
These shows and others, such as a performance at Y’s festival (which brought together an exceedingly coherent line up), perhaps garnered more than a few fans and fed nicely into their recent Whelan’s headline show.
Booked for the release of their double A-side ‘Swell / Apple’, it was by all accounts a high point and success for the band. They tell me that of the couple of times they’ve played Whelan’s to date, that that night was the most full it has been for them thus far, leaving them feeling rewarded to say the least.
For a physical representation of the release, they went down the 7” route, which wasn’t without its drawbacks. The expense and time consumption are two points the guys highlight - they made all the packaging themselves and printed stickers. ‘We wanted something more than just firing up songs on Spotify or Bandcamp or whatever it may be. We wanted to have something physical that people can have, and actually possess and take home with them after a gig. It was a challenge but we’re glad we finished it’.
The 7” wasn’t the only accompaniment to the release. In fact, just last week a video for ‘Apple’ was let loose on the world - and it’s an interesting one to say the least. It was directed by Hugh Mulhern, who brought a ‘completely mental on paper’ idea to the guys, that they consequently decided to go with. It’s not just mental on paper. I’m told it’s Hugh’s commentary on ‘toxic masculinity’ and tells the story of a love rivalry between a cowboy and a clown (with the intriguing inclusion of some interesting artwork). Perhaps, for the guys, it was interesting to see an outside party’s take on music that they own and are inherently close to. ‘How he listened to our song and came up with a plot line like that is beyond me, but like, I think it somehow works. When we watched the video for the first time, you can see where he’s coming from. I would never have thought that there was this kind of…. you know all the western scenes in it? All the cowboy scenes in it? All of a sudden you listen to it and go ‘oh yeah! there is a bit of a cowboy twang to that - I didn’t realise that’. But, yeah we’re definitely happy with how it turned out’.
They have always taken a DIY approach to the band, in so far as possible. None of them possess any knowledge of videography and so handing it over to someone as competent as Hugh was a no brainer. ‘Hugh is really nice to work with, because he kinda, in a perfect way, just takes control. We have some ideas but we don’t want to get in his way, so he just does it, and it’s really cool. You could watch it once and think ‘woah! that was a bit of a mind f**k. But then watch it the second time and realise that there is a narrative, an underlying message, and thats always good - rewatchability!’.
Speaking about the songs on the release, for the band, they’re not new. In fact, one of them was recorded almost 2 and a half years ago. Different things along the way have prevented their release, but they’re happy to now have them out in the world. This doesn’t mean they haven’t got any newer material. In fact, they have an EP almost ready to be released into the world early 2018. I ask if we can live in hope for an LP at any point and I’m told that they have a stack of material that at one point was considered to be released in a collection, but they may more likely be dripped out in smaller releases along the way now.
As for everything else in 2018? Aside from the EP, they’re looking at heading over to the UK to play a few shows over there, as well as a few spots around their native isles. ‘We want to spread out from Dublin a little bit - we’ve been playing in Dublin for too long. You can only play upstairs in Whelan’s so many times! And, even after we do our EP! we’ve still got some more songs that we’ve recorded and want to get out because we’re all really happy with them. And, there’s loads of songs we haven’t had time to finish, so there’s loads to be done! Hopefully a really busy year for us!’
Last year, with college and other commitments, the guys didn’t get their oar in quick enough to make as much a mark as they would have liked on the festival circuit, so, hopefully next summer we’ll be seeing their name included on a lot more line ups. And, maybe not just in Ireland and the UK. A fan from Ukraine messaged the guys to order one of their records, and thank them for ‘making best music ever’! proving good music can always translate.
Message them to get onto their mailing list now or to order a copy of the record. Be sure to follow them on Facebook as well. Or Twitter and Instagram where I’m told they’ll be stepping up their game as a New Year’s resolution. Make it yours to get to know them.