A GOOD YEAR FOR THE IRISH

All four budding members of The Belsonic Sound hail from that dancing den of iniquity known as Cork City so, not surprisingly, dance music features heavily in their considerable repertoire.

As Emmet, keyboardist and vocalist explains, it was, originally, reggae which formed the basis to their high energy sound but in recent times the melodies of such as the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Massive Attack and various hybrids of Rave have begun to mould the direction of their funky tunes.

“We really love the rhythm of Rave music and all of our song structures would be built on melodic rhythms though our sound is a mixture of elements really,” he elaborates. “We do have a lot of fast songs but we haven’t actually released anything yet that’s really Rave influenced because we’ve concentrated more on the bass. But we’ve already written four songs for the next album and the bass and drums are much more integrated. I think you have to draw from all these outside influences and make your own recipe.”

‘Yours Sincerely’ on the debut album Trouble suggests The Belsonic Sound are not wholly in love with every facet of political correctness – especially as it pertains to the Irish music scene.

“I think this thing of wanting to be militantly correct is very peculiar to Irish bands,” Emmet observes. “Bands in other countries are much more relaxed and much more confident in themselves. Everything doesn’t have to be an issue. It’s a little bit over the top but we’re a young country and after a few years I think things’ll quieten down.

“In the same way that German kids feel they have to apologise for the war young people here have been a bit discouraged by the past and feel they have to prove themselves all the time but we’ve never been into aggressive, meaningful, listen-to-me messages. Everything is more personal than that.”

One thing the lads do seem to be into is sex, and not always in the most politically correct fashion either. Is it the Southern climate down in Cork which makes them particularly sexually depraved or what?

“I think there’s a touch of voyeurism in the lyrics but they probably have more to do with examining the mental state of a frustrated human being” Emmet replies. “They’re not meant to be directed at or against women or anything like that. They’re a subjective experience or imagination about a particular girl really, I suppose. They’re not about a woman per se as an object of desire. They’re about life really and we’re just kind of buzzed out by life in general. And music, of course. Our main objective is always to try to make our music better each time we play it. We’re always learning and the music is always changing.”

• Patrick Brennan.