Crockett Power

Davy McManus is dead. The (once) non-smoking, non-drinking vegetarian from Ballinteer has become one Davy Crockett, main man with current indie darlings The Crocketts.

Though yet to break big in Ireland, the England-based band have been lauded by the UK indie music press, with an NME single of the week and have also been the subject of continued debate in that paper's letters page. Their latest offering The Great Brain Robbery is a sledgehammer creation, a post-punk-power-pop freight train that combines melody with gunmetal in a way that works against all the odds.

So what's in a name? "It's an old nickname, and it's a bit of fun really, a throwback to the punk era," Crockett says. "I left home to study in England, having no interest in music and it was a classic rebellion thing. I discovered sex, drugs and music, I bought myself a guitar, and six months later I had a band and a record deal. When I moved from home I discovered a society with valueless ideals, I couldn't accept that, and one way to voice dissent is through music. When we got single of the week at NME they compared us to the Clash, and I immediately went out and bought a rake of Clash records. We don't have influences as such, but I take the music we make seriously. It's possible to make good music, make a point, and blow away audiences. I'd cite Shane MacGowan as a possible influence, but that's more a lifestyle thing. He's uncompromising."

Support slots with Travis, Stereophonics and The Levellers have introduced the Crocketts to a wider audience, but how does such uncompromising material go down with a partisan crowd?

"It's a war, it's like football, if you support Manchester United, you don't like Chelsea. Our music is harder-hitting than those bands, but we win the audiences over, that's the task. We give one hundred percent live, in performance and material, we've built up our following because we believe we're fucking brilliant, and we can prove it night after night."

The subject matter of the songs ranges from global warfare through to wife-beating - are the Crocketts really such a violent bunch?

"Violence, if you channel it correctly, is an energy. We channel that into the music. It's not the same as getting beered up on a Saturday night and picking a fight because you're pissed off with your Next menswear lifestyle. We use that energy to point out what's fucked up, what's a lie, what's keeping people ignorant. We don't do subtle, and we invite different interpretations of what we do. It's subjective, but hopefully it'll make people think."

With the band currently planning to tour the US, how is a controversial song like 'On Something' likely to be received in such a politically correct arena?

"Look, I do drugs, I smoke weed. I make no apology for my own actions. You don't do drugs, OK, maybe that's right for you. Actually I'm looking forward to the 'Davy Crockett smokes weed' headlines in the American press! We wanna sail to America, maybe stop off in Jamaica on the way, and we've asked Richard Branson to finance us. Just to make a bit of an entrance! Do Howard Stern, arrive with a bit of a bang."

Since none of the band actually sail, might this not be a dangerous undertaking?

"We don't do safe . . ." explains Crockett.

An unusual collaborator on 'Chicken or Macho' is backing vocalist Mary Hopkin, of 'Those Were the Days' fame, the one-time folk diva who hadn't sung in twenty-five years. How did that pairing come about?

"The record company, V2, wanted Kirsty MacColl, but our drummer's dad knew Mary and she loved the song and was pleased to do it. She's got an amazing voice and it's good to do the unexpected, challenge people's notions of what works. I listened to her stuff after she came on board and I loved it."

There seems to be a contradiction here. Are the Crocketts themselves macho or chicken? On some songs there's a distinctly romantic lyric that belies the aggression in the music

"I'd love to be a romantic, but I'm actually an angry cynical bastard. I don't always practice what I preach, maybe I'm a romantic who's trying to be an angry cynical bastard."

The Great Brain Robbery is out now on V2.