Bend Me, Shake Me

In the event that a band lands upon an interesting name with an even more intriguing spelling, it’s always useful to have a good story lined up to explain it. In the case of Cork band PlaytOh, they have not one, but two, anecdotes relating to the origins of their moniker.

“I’ll give you the real story first,” offers frontman Cormac O’Regan. “The real story is that, on the night of our first gig in the Douglas Hyde pub, the staff wanted to put our name on the blackboard outside the pub. As we were waiting to go on stage, we were like, ‘Shit, what’ll we call ourselves?’ We decided on Plato, and whoever wrote the sign basically got the spelling wrong, and we thought it was cool.
“On the other hand, the bullshit story we have is that we’re like Playdoh, but we’re also very philosophical,” he continues. “We tell people that we called ourselves PlaytOh because can mould our sound into many different shapes.”
Okay, so the story isn’t likely to be committed to local legend anytime soon, but this blip doesn’t seem to have hampered the band’s career.
After supporting the likes of Republic Of Loose, Pony Club and The Frank & Walters over the past 12 months, the five-piece are fresh from backing indie stalwarts Ocean Colour Scene.
“We played with them a few weeks ago for their Ambassador gig (in Dublin),” recalls O'Regan. “It was such a great night…afterwards, I had my arms around their lead singer (Simon Fowler) singing ‘The Wild Rover’. He was trying to harmonise with me but I’d probably call it dog howling!
"Initially, we felt we had no right to be there, but we played to this sellout crowd, had an amazing reception, and a few days later, their management contacted us to say they were really happy with how it went.”
With that support under their belts, PlaytOh are primed to undertake a gruelling tour in support of their debut album Fountain Two AM.
“The tour is absolutely bonkers,” concedes O'Regan. “For two parts of the tour, we’re doing seven gigs within a four day period. When you tour for a two-month period, you tend go a bit mad; as a band you start developing your own language and jokes. I can’t wait to get back out there.”
To exacerbate the punishing schedule PlaytOh have also imposed a rather bizarre ‘travel light’ rule upon themselves.
“We don’t have a van ‘cos we couldn’t get insured,” admits O'Regan. “We sleep in a Volvo station wagon with the gear. There’s so little room in it, so we decided to only bring a small backpack on the road, one which holds your stage clothes and a change of clothes. We wash them whenever we can. I think we shot ourselves in the foot with that one!”
Given the male musician’s propensity towards on-the-road juvenile behaviour, close-quarter sleeping arrangements surely causes violinist Magz McCarthy, PlaytOh's only female member, the occasional moment of discomfort?
“She’s the cause of all the bad smells!” proclaims O'Regan.
Having struggled to attract attention for the past three years, PlaytOh are relieved their tenacity is finally paying off.
“It hasn’t felt like three years of struggle,” offers Cormac. “To use the crappy saying, time flies when you’re having fun. So much has been happening…if we’re not gigging, we’re recording, and that way you’re not getting on each other’s nerves.”
It could be argued that PlaytOh’s burgeoning success is, in part, due to their decision to expand to a five piece from a trio and to embrace a harder rock direction. According to O'Regan, the range of influences that each member draws upon is a major factor in the band’s quirky sound.
“Our drummer (Johnny O’Keefe) is a real Spinal Tapper…he’s mad into AC/DC, which helps as he can hit the drums harder,” explains O'Regan. “Magz is classically trained while (bassist) Brian Dwyer and I would be more into indie. Niall (Duncan, the guitarist) finally, would add the poppier element to the music.”
This stylistic mish-mash sits more comfortably with O'Regan, who had become increasingly uneasy with the original line-up's acoustic bent.
“It’s weird. I suppose we got bored,” he says. “We would do a lot of singer-songwriter gigs and one day I got tired of listening to that kind of music live. We were an energetic enough bunch to start with, so sitting there with a violin and acoustic guitar just didn’t work.
"So the drummer and bassist got on board, and then Ashley (Keating, of The Frank & Walters) became our producer and he helped our sound a lot. Initially, didn’t know how to get to where we wanted, and we’re happy with it now. If I were to go back to a three piece, I couldn’t stand it. Besides, this way there are more people to have a laugh with.”
Even if it does mean there’s a little less leg room in the Volvo…