Bodhrán to be wild

Meet Cruachan – the Dublin band who combine trad and heavy metal. Big in Europe, Cruachan’s press cuttings are laden with quotes in wonderful Euro-English, like: “If you listen to this album at night in a forest, be aware! You might get a lot of uninvited guests gathering around you, not neededly from the human race,” a recommendation which comes courtesy of Greek mag Metal Invader, who liked Cruachan’s last album, The Middle Kingdom, so much they gave it a total of four separate reviews, all extremely complimentary.

“We’ve been well-reviewed in German folk magazines by people who never listen to metal music,” the band’s mainman Keith Fay says. “Brazil is another a place where they’re mad for us. We get a rake of fan mail from there. We’ve even heard of Brazilian Celtic metal bands starting up who are influenced by us.”

While Cruachan don’t claim to be the first to mix folk and rock music (they cite British folk-metallers Skyclad in this vein) they don’t know of any other bands in Ireland doing the Celtic metal thing in quite the same way. Their latest album Folklore was partly produced by Shane MacGowan, as Keith explains:

“Our ex-manager used to be a roadie for the Pogues and Shane really liked our music, so he invited us out to his cottage in Nenagh and really clicked. He sang on a version of Jimmy McCarthy’s ‘Ride On’, which we released a single. It was a fairly limited print, which flew out of the shops in the first week, unfortunately selling out just before making it to the charts. Shane came into Sun Studios with us to help us out with the album, and ended up duetting with vocalist Karen on a version of ‘Spancil Hill’. He supervised the production, rather than twiddling the knobs, but his mind is just brilliant. He came up with hundreds of ideas.”

Cruachan formed in 1995 by Tallaght brothers Keith and John Fay and their friend John Clohessy. With the addition of drummer Joe Farrell, their inimitable style developed, as songwriter and one-time lead vocalist, Keith, broadened his horizons from heavy metal to traditional music via bands like the Horslips and a growing interest in Celtic mythology. Cruachan’s debut Tuatha na Gael was released on a small German label and quickly sold out in Europe, leaving fans eager for more. A slight hiccup ensued when the band had to reject a potential deal which they believe would have seriously diminished their rights to their music. “We’d left our old company and flew over to Germany for talks, all set to sign, only to be offered this disgrace of a contract. We were so disappointed. The band broke up for a year,” Keith sighs.

Bloody but unbowed, they reformed due to popular demand and were signed by Dutch label Hammerheart on reputation alone, having built up a cult following. The band recruited singer Karen Gilligan for their second album, as their style was changing with the advent of more diverse instrumentation and a subtler approach to lyrics. “I was very good at screaming my head off,” Keith says of the move, “but eventually I realised that I couldn’t fucking sing!” Karen was initially approached to do backing vocals, but became an integral part of the group. “I only joined for a laugh,” Karen recalls. “It was only later that I really started to get into the music and performing.”

Cruachan’s lyrics derive from Celtic mythology and the “fairy lore of old Ireland”, and the band have a rep as being a bit of a ‘Bord Failte band.’ “We have gone onstage in full Celtic battle dress, which is great fun, but we couldn’t stop laughing,” admits Keith. “The Irish audiences don’t take that kind of thing very seriously, but the Europeans love a big stage show.” The band plan to tour around Europe in the spring, following the album release at the end of January and are due to play in St. Petersburg on St. Patrick’s Day. An Asian tour is also on the cards, “hopefully around the time of the World Cup,” before they broach the American market.

The band are multi-instrumentalists - one song on the new album utilizes sixteen instruments - and they even bring flute, harp, bouzouki and uilleann pipes to the stage. “We like to use live instruments, as it makes it more authentic,” says bassist John, “it would be easier to use a backing track, but it’s great to have this unusual stuff going on live and we bring in our amazing guest musician, Ed, to help us out on stage.”

John goes on: “We’re all into very different types of music, and Folklore has very diverse influences, including classical and medieval pieces. It’s not that strange a mixture when you think about it. Metal is quite primal, and folk and classical have long roots in history. It’s about evoking a sense of times gone by.”