Calling out around the world

Perhaps it’s down to their timeless, retro sound and hard-to-pin-down image but for some reason, Relish seem to have been around forever.

It’s hard to believe then that the Downpatrick trio have just released only their second album, Karma Calling – the follow-up to their well-received debut, Wildflowers, which came out three years ago. Progress in the intervening years has been steady rather than spectacular. With their distinctive brand of melodic, intelligent, soulful rock Relish are clearly a band in it for the long haul and have wisely spent their time concentrating on building a live following. In fact the band has toured tirelessly over the past few years, appearing in Ireland with everyone from U2 (Slane 2001) to Paul Weller (Marlay Park 2002), and all over Britain recently with US teenage dirtbags, Wheatus. They have also ventured further afield, including a trip to Japan.

The hard graft appears to have finally paid off; with a sizeable hit on their hands in the shape of the catchy, irresistible first single from Karma Calling, ‘Father Brother Lover & Son’ things are looking better than ever for the band that features brothers Ken (vocals, guitar) and Carl (drums) Papenfus and Darren Campbell (bass).
“We’re much more comfortable with the way the new album sounds,” says Ken Papenfus. “At the time of the first album we thought we were ready for it but in retrospect it was very much us going in with our eyes wide open. We recorded it with John Leckie in Air Studios and it was a big affair. John’s cool and laid back and he gets the job done but you look around a place like Air and you think, ‘how do we use it?’ In truth we were more concerned with getting into the vibe of everything. You think if you get into the vibe it’s going to work.”
Not that the aforementioned debut didn’t contain at least a handful of memorable songs, including singles such as, ‘You I’m Thinking Of’, ‘Let It Fly’ and ‘Rainbow Zephyr’, all of which remain live favourites. The album even managed to achieve some success in countries as diverse as Spain, Belgium, Indonesia, Thailand and Hong Kong. Still, Papenfus feels that Karma Calling represents the band more accurately than Wildflowers.
“There were too many questions on the last record,” he ponders. “Questions like ‘what kind of band are we?’ For Karma Calling we started writing at the start of last year and recorded it in less than three months late last year. We worked with Al Clay (Stereophonics, Reef, Frank Black) who was great. We went in with no fear. Al just said ‘I’ll let you guys do what you have to do and I’ll cover your backs.’ It was more about us knowing exactly the way we wanted it to turn out.”
Apart from the current single the album features several potential future hits including the gently melodic love song, ‘Universe In Your Eyes’ and the up-tempo rocker ‘Hope’.
“It was always going to be about contrasts,” says Papenfus. “We just thought, ‘right, this is it, there are going to be rock tracks and they’re going to be heavy and groovy. Also, we’re going to be gentle and acoustic and soulful and melodic as well’. It represents what we are and also what we do live which is the most important thing.”
Though regarded in this part of the world as an Irish band the fact that the Papenfus brothers have a South African background lends a more exotic appeal to their image. How are they perceived abroad?
“People are quite surprised when they hear that we are Irish,” Ken Papenfus says. “Luckily for us people are interested in who we are. But it’s more about our music, not where we come from. We feel like we’re part of the world.
“We don’t represent Irish music in the world today if that’s what you mean,” chimes in drummer Carl Papenfus “As much as we might love bands like The Frames and Woodstar and people like Damien Dempsey we’re very comfortable being on the outside.”
It’s no secret that among the Dublin rock cognoscenti Relish are not considered to be the coolest of bands. Do they ever feel that they’ve suffered for not being part of a movement?
“We don’t really have any friends in Ireland, we’re pretty much out on our own as far as the music scene is concerned,” says Ken Papenfus. “But the fact that we weren’t part of a scene played in our favour. It meant we didn’t have anything to be attached to or to keep up with. We can only do what we do. We’ve been in bands before where we’re chasing the coat-tails of something that’s already been and gone by the time you get your demo to the record company. The influences are stretched, they are diverse but they’re honest.
“Maybe it’s because we’re more interested in soul and R&B than rock,” he continues. “It’s got roots. You can have an affinity with it. Rock lacks a history. The best rock bands were bands that used soul and blues as a backdrop. We take the spirit of that and make it into something new. U2 are a prime example - they created their own scene and everybody followed them.”

A worldwide deal with EMI has seen success for Relish occur in unexpected quarters – as it did in Japan last year where the single, ‘You I’m Thinking Of’ hit number one in the airplay charts.
“We went out there a bit wary, hoping we didn’t turn into a cartoon band,” says drummer Darren Campbell. “They were totally interested in the fact that we were from Northern Ireland and we seemed to appeal to their psyche. It was a great trip - we played two major festivals, one in Osaka and one in Tokyo. We were on bills with Guns & Roses, which was strange; part of us was feeling we shouldn’t be out here. We did lots of TV and radio as well.
“Everything ran so smoothly, perfectly timed. We arrived off our plane and the tour manager took us to a lighting meeting. They wanted us to discuss, virtually mathematically what kind of lights we wanted, what colours and where we wanted them to be. Ken had to describe the word ‘psychedelic’ to this guy... they measured distances between everything on stage - like where we’re standing, where the mike stands are, where the pedals were set up. We played in Tokyo, then moved to Osaka where everything was set up exactly the same way to the millimetre. It was amazing.”
Japan aside, recent appearances at Witnness and their own sell-out headliner at The Village in Dublin (which was filmed for future DVD release) confirmed their fan base is growing rapidly at home.
The next 12 months are clearly going be crucial for the band’s long-term survival. It’s also clear that a UK or US hit single would do wonders for a band like Relish who can also deliver on the live side. “Yeah a big international hit would be great for us,” Ken agrees. “It would carry the album. But it would only work as long as we can justify a hit and be able to maintain integrity and artistic merit. Success has to be hand in hand with that for us.
“It’s all happening at once. Suddenly there’s a lot of interest in the band. We need to get back to Japan soon and America as well. But that will mean a lot of time taken out. If you get even a marginal amount of success you have to stay out there.”
“We’re a very organised band,” he concludes. “We’re very focused on what we do. One things for sure – we’ll be around for a lot longer than people think.” b

Karma Calling is out now on EMI Records