The Minutes-Let's Talk About Secs

Babies, beards and bellies – a lot has happened in the three years since The Minutes exploded into our lives with ear-splitter debut Marcata . Now they're back with second tour de force, Live Well , Change Often , an energetic but markedly more seasoned proposition.

“Mark is actually singing rather than shouting!” laughs Shane Kinsella, seated beside bandmates Mark Austin and Tom Cosgrave.
“The first album was a statement of intent,” notes Mark. “This time, there are ten songs that could easily be played on acoustic guitar. We took a lot of time to think about the material. Not that we didn’t on the
first LP. Those tracks were written when we'd just started out.”
“The first record was basically us barging our way into the music industry saying, ‘This is us, if you don’t like it fuck off’,” says Shane. “Now we've made a name for ourselves, we're building on it with this record.”
When Hot Press spoke to The Minutes for the release of Marcata they were adamant the follow-up was imminent. So what happened?
“We were touring so much we didn’t have time to rehearse or write. We simply gigged,” explains Mark. “Then we stopped and it was like, ‘What the fuck? We have no songs!’  The idea was to bang out a Nuggets -style album [ie a vintage garage record] . We didn’t get the opportunity and maybe it’s good we didn’t.”
So in September 2012 the trio battened down the hatches and spent four months writing. In May the following year they entered the studio with Gggarth Richardson of Rage Against The Machine fame to record the album.
“We knew his name and really liked the records he has worked on. ‘Cherry Bomb’ is on the radio so he must have done something right!” laughs Mark. “We never had a song on daytime radio before!”
The lead single is currently enjoying heavy rotation and rightly so as it's a gem of a track. The accompanying video is garnering comparable attention as it features Undertones frontman and Today FM DJ Paul McLoone doing his best impersonation of The King.
“The director Phil Kearney put a post up on Facebook saying he needed an aging Elvis impersonator for a video,” explains Mark. “Paul immediately commented ‘That’s exactly what I am, I’ll do it.’ He didn’t even know it was for us. When he found out he said, ‘I’ll definitely do it!’. We have gotten to be good friends over the years. He's always supported us.”
So was Mr McLoone a diva?
(All nod their heads laughing) “Just don’t mess with him though. He’ll fucking eat ye!” smiles Shane.
The slick, sultry lead track is indeed the perfect advertisement for the new collection. It contains all the passion of its predecessor yet is a more polished, fully formed outing.
“You have to progress,” muses Mark.  “We couldn’t make the same record twice. We thought, ‘let’s try working with a big fucking rock producer, the opportunity is there. Fuck it, let’s give it a shot!’”
On the subject of change how does the fact that two-thirds of the band (Mark and Shane) are now fathers impact on The Minutes?
“It makes you hungry, makes you appreciate things differently,” says Shane.  “It also makes you want to be successful for different reasons. You have to provide for your family. It’s not just about us buzzing around Europe in a van. We’re more determined.”
“It changes your focus,” chips in Mark. “If we’re going to do this we have to do it right for the right reasons. I’m not going to spend time away from my wife and my kid to play some fucking shit gig.
Music is massively important in all our lives. We are a very tight band. It has to work for some other reason now, can’t just be the lads having the craic. We never really had that attitude anyway. It's never been just
a hobby."
Over the last few years the band have played heavyweight supports to Kings Of Leon, Foo Fighters and The Stone Roses at their Dublin reunion show.
“We played really early, to about 500 people. Afterwards we did shake hands with Ian Brown and Mani,” reminisces Mark. “When we played T In The Park we were backstage and heard this voice, ‘All right lads!’ Mani from The Stone Roses had just said ‘hello’ because he knows us from three days ago. How cool is that?”
“Doing these gigs is great but you want to be headlining,” points out Shane.
“The truth is nobody gives a shit about support bands. You just go on, do your job and fuck off,” states Mark. “Supports are great but it makes you hungry to be the main act. We've supported all these great
acts but……”
“Always the bridesmaid!” deadpans Tom.
“We want to be the main event!” continues Mark. “ You still use your half-hour to impress but from our point of view… maybe we're just being grumpy old fucks… great to do it but you have to look out for yourself. If it’s a support in Belfast, have a show booked there for two weeks later to capitalise on it. Otherwise it's just a waste.”
So they’re back and hungrier than ever. What’s next for the young rapscallions?
“Well, we feel we need to keep the momentum going and get moving on the next album,” says Tom. “We're already working out ideas.”
“We can’t be away for as long as we were,” says Mark.
“We want to get back out there and into people’s faces again,” nods Shane.
“We’re under no illusions that we have to build it up again. We need to remind people who we are,”
states Tom.
We don’t think they’ll need much reminding!

Live Well, Change Often is out on May 9 on Rubyworks and gets an official launch in Whelan’s, Dublin on May 16.