Cable Boy: "This story of working nine-to-five and doing music is not uncommon"

Cable Boy are having fun. The five-piece Dublin band, who blend elements of pop and rock to create a sound they describe as “goth disco”, are rising stars of the Irish indie scene, known for their high-energy live performances. And, in talking to them, you can see and hear how much joy they bring to their work: Semi, Liam, and Corneille are constantly joking and laughing with one another.

At the same time, though, you can see evidence of some of the difficulties of being a small indie band: as we talk, two of them are calling in from the offices where they work during the day. How do they strike a balance between all the energy they bring to their music and the hard work of their day-to-day lives?

“I mean, three of us are working full-time, so I feel like when we get the balance right, we’ll let you know,” Semi replies, grinning. “But it’s hard. It’s a cliche, but that nine-to-five shit is a legitimate struggle, and then you have your five-to-nine, which feels like a five-to-eleven or five-to-twelve sometimes. It’s just difficult to split your mind into two things.”

“It’s a really interesting time, where this story of working nine-to-five and doing music is not uncommon,” says Corneille. “And, while it is very challenging, it’s also been very grounding. Just due to the fact we’re faced with reality, and living life as well as wanting to do music, there is less chance to be disillusioned. We’re all kind of friends here too, so balancing life and all that stuff is actually a lot easier – we’re tackling this thing together rather than as individuals.”

Cable Boy

Obviously, what makes a good band is not just friendship. Another reason Cable Boy works, they say, is because of how they elevate one another’s music.

“We’re always keeping each other inspired musically,” says Liam. “We make a monthly collaborative playlist where we all add five songs, so you’ve got 25 new songs total you can pull from. If you’re listening to more or less the same stuff, then someone else might be listening to something really fascinating, or something you hadn’t heard before.”

That playlist apparently includes everything from older rap to obscure pop songs to trap, and the breadth of their influences doesn’t stop there. The band have written songs inspired by sci-fi and fantasy, by various movies and TV shows – one genre-blending track from Forever, for example, is named after Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

“Songwriting isn’t necessarily a one-track approach,” says Corneille. “It’s really helped that we all have that curiosity to want to deepen that sense of inspiration from all forms of media. Jason, the guitarist, he does 3D rendering and processing and stuff like that; Liam has done acting and drama; I like animation and art. We’ve all had various non-musical sources to pull from, but to be able to take that with us and express it has really been cool to see.”

In creating their first album, the band brought all those disparate influences together into a cohesive final project. Since then, they’ve been trying to bring that sense of cohesion into their live performances.

“I think before, we were a band that really had a reputation for our live performances, but we were just communicating what the songs felt like at the time,” says Semi. “Since working on the album, what we’re trying to do now is showcase the album live as best as possible. We’re still trying to give them an amazing show, and we’re going to do that regardless, but now we’re giving a lot more consideration to the tone and feeling.”

Ultimately, the goal of the shows is for people to have a good time.

“Semi’s always like, ‘Look, we can go heavy, but people gotta dance to it,’” says Corneille. “I think a reason why we have the term goth disco, which is one of the best descriptors of our music, is we have that heavier style, that punk-oriented music. But we have pop elements, we have a driving beat, and we want to make sure people can dance and engage with it too.”
In the end, Cable Boy want to make sure everyone else is having as much fun as they are.

• Forever is out now.