Blues brother

“We won the equivalent of E30,000, which is 20,000 quid. We only got E3,500 in cash, which is just as well really, as we’d only blow it on loads of shite – the rest is all tied up in studio time, recording equipment, video production. All sorts of useful shit. We’ve even got consultation time with a stylist arranged. She’ll earn her fucking money, man.”

Indigo Fury, recent winners of this year’s Bacardi hotpress Plugged Band Of The Year competition, may not threaten The Strokes in the poster-boys stakes, but when it comes to the bare-knuckle business of making a band work – luring members from other

outfits, buying dodgy vans, sacking drummers – the Fermanagh four-piece have spent so long sparring that they now feel they’re owed a shot at the title. According to lead singer and chief songwriter Rory Lavelle, while the last six years have been passed at the indie coalface, the band are now reaping the benefits of some serious graft.

“It’s been hard fucking work, but dead enjoyable,” he says. “We’ve always tried to do things our own way. A few years back, we got this deal where we could buy gear but didn’t have to pay it off for a while, so we started hauling our arses around doing covers-sets all over the place just to pay for it. Me and Monty (Bassist – Brian Monaghan) were working in Easons in Belfast at the time and we’d leave work, jump into the van, drive down to Sligo, set ourselves up, play, take everything down, load it in back in the van and drive home – up for work the next morning. We’d just be doing this constantly. But it was great because it meant that we could buy our own gear and just get tight as fuck. And all those places we played – like Sligo and Derry – it means now we have really loyal wee followings there.”

This pragmatism has enabled the band to release two singles in the last eighteen months. The most recent ‘Once In A While’, is a hook-laden, harmony-drenched slice of prime Britpop that sums up perfectly what Indigo Fury are all about. According to Rory they’ve been taking inspiration from some stellar sources.

“Hendrix, Dylan, The Stones, Pink Floyd and The Stone Roses are all big influences,” he says. “I can remember the first time I got The White Album and it just blew my mind – that was me. The summer I got it, I’d stick it on when I washed the dishes for the auld doll. It used to take me an hour and a half – there was no fucking pattern left on the plates. I’m still obsessed by The Beatles.”

Their knack of dropping in retro psychedelic references served Indigo Fury well at the Dublin final of the Plugged challenge. Coming out on top of a competition containing the likes of Romulus Pop and Horizon, the boys’ night at Vicar St. was made by bumping into some of their heroes.

“We brought a big crew down, but the coolest thing was the judges - Joe Elliot, Ricky Warwick and Noel fucking Redding. Amazing. We made sure we didn’t go on stage pissed that night. Two drinks is okay – four’s just fucking sloppy. We just went on and did our thing and tried not to pander too much to the crowd or the judges. But it went fucking great.”

And what about afterwards?

“It was fucking mad,” says Rory. “We went into the VIP lounge and threatened to smash the place up unless they let all our mates in. Only slagging like, but I think they took it seriously. So we all ended up getting smashed in this lovely fucking bar.”

However, if the band thought that this champagne-fuelled schmoozing was the shape of things to come, subsequent weeks have shown that there’s still a lot of work to be done.

Rory: “It’s been straight back down to Earth - people are still ignoring our phone-calls. I was talking to a prick last week about trying to touch for a

booking and he made me feel this fucking big. I’m worried because I don’t want to let it slip away now. But this is only the beginning – I’m writing loads of new stuff at the minute. I think we’re ready to be signed. We’ve shed-loads of stuff – enough for two or three albums. But we know what we need to get better and we’ll get there.”