Afar is born

Rory Friers is at home in Belfast, "chillin' with the boys". Which, I'm guessing, is an everyday occurrence in the close-knit world of And So I Watch You From Afar. The four rockers have received word that they've been handpicked to tour with one of the biggest bands in the world, Them Crooked Vultures. Which I'm guessing is not an everyday occurrence.

"Jesus, I know, can you believe it?" booms guitarist Friers.
Frankly, I can't. Not to cast doubt on the rambunctious Belfastians' rock credentials but it's undeniably a huge step-up for the band, who after all, have only been together four years.
"We were finishing a rehearsal," Friers tells me, "and we had simultaneous phone calls from our manager, our tour manager and our booking agent. Then Chris started running about the garden and we thought ‘What's happened?' Then it was like, ‘Yeah, so we're playing with Them Crooked Vultures!"
Them Crooked Vultures is the mammoth rock baby of Led Zep's John Paul Jones, Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl and fellow acronym enthusiast Josh Homme of QOTSA.
"It's scary, it's like – they're the three dudes right there!" Friers beams. "When we first heard about the project it almost didn't even matter what the music was like – just the thought of three people of that stature all just rocking out! The first two records I ever bought were Led Zeppelin II and Nirvana's Bleach – and then you've got Josh Homme from Queens Of The Stone Age? When we finish each night we want to do the, ‘Stick around for the next band, they're really good!' routine."
So, how did this marvellous match come about? "
We were kind of put under their noses," Friers says, "and they all had a listen and invited us to play. We're trying to not fantasise too much about it. We just Google imaged all the venues and then swiftly went upstairs and put on a new pair of underwear!"
They may have their sights set on Vienna and Amsterdam right now. However, Friers stresses the band are fully psyched up for their Irish appearances at Blessington's Knockanstockan Festival and Cork's Indie-pendence.
"We're really lucky to do a whole rake of festivals this year, both in Ireland and abroad, so we can't wait!'" Rory says.
Of course, another upside to being the hottest young things on the festival circuit is getting to rub shoulders with the musical greats they're sharing the bill with.
"We try not to let it get to fan boy level," Friers laughs. "I've never completely lost the plot, outwardly… inwardly definitely! I remember meeting (Faith No More's) Mike Patton and the only thing I could think to say to him was ‘Cool shoes!'"
When I speak to Rory, the lads have just rounded off an eight-week tour of… oh, just about everywhere… by playing the last ever gig in Dublin's legendary Hideaway House.
"That was incredible," he gushes. "We'd always heard of it when we were young kids putting on gigs up North. That world that was happening down in Dublin was – and still is – the coolest thing. It was like ‘Wow, I want to be a part of that! I wanna meet these kids!'. It was just amazing to be down there and be part of that world that we'd always looked at from a distance."
Surely Friers knows us Dublin folk are equally jealous of the scene up North at the minute?
"I guess the grass is always greener," he grins, "but we're still like ‘Awh, BATS and Adebisi Shanks and Enemies… and that whole Richter Collective gang! Next time we're off tour, let's go down and see the boys again!' We always love being down there amongst all that."
Belfast, you might say, is a totally different beast.
"Yeah, it really is! I remember being asked in an interview ‘What's the Belfast sound?' There isn't a Belfast sound. There's definitely a Belfast attitude. It's no longer that island mentality of everybody being sneaky and secretive about what they do because they want to be the band that gets signed to the big label.
"It's kind of reflective of the way the industry is at the minute," he muses, "nobody is really dependent on anything, and it's a great time for the DIY ethos. There's so much companionship and collectivity. If something good's happening for another band, nobody's like ‘the fucking bastards!' It's like ‘Go on the lads!' We'll be on tour abroad and we'll see LaFaro are like three venues ahead of us on their own tour or the boys in Adebisi and it's great! It's like this wee island sending all our troops out on these missions."
So, how far along are Rory and Co. on album number two?
"We've got about 25 songs written but there's multiple deadlines," he chuckles. "It depends whether you ask the record label, whether you ask us or whether you ask my Mum! Everybody's got their own ideas."
A few weeks after our interview, guitarist eile Tony Wright scribbled down ASIWYFA's progress for the BBC's Across The Line blog.
"We stood side of stage for the final time," he wrote, recalling the Luxembourg show supporting the Vultures, "the guys came out and gave us a wave. Dave Grohl pretended to fly kick me, then put me in a half headlock, half embrace. I believe the technical term is a ‘noogie'. Probably one of the strangest and coolest moments of my life. The teenage Nirvana obsessive that lives inside every one of us was beaming from ear to ear, and genuinely, still is."
Stone cold proof that if you work hard, play nice and do it all in a delightfully cheeky Northern accent, wonderful, wonderful things can happen.