Gimme hindie rock

“We all broke up with our girlfriends – got destroyed by women basically!” smiles Conor Deasy (no, not the dude from The Thrills) to the laughter of his bandmate Niall Cullen.

One half of The Gandhis is seated in the Hot Press office extension (aka The Library Bar) with your humble reporter, discussing the plaintive heartfelt folk stylings of current opus After Autumn. The collection stands in contrast to the Libertines-esque indie bluster of its predecessor You Are My Friend and with its songs of heartache and loss, marks a thematic as well as sonic departure.
“It happened naturally after the first album that we started writing songs that were more simple and included lots of harmonies,” says Niall. “Lots of our previous arrangements were maybe more complicated than they should have been.”
“Lyrically it is very different. On the first record we were having craic, it was more throwaway pop, but now the songs are serious,” notes Conor. “We were saying the other day you’re basically just going (does an impression of someone having a massive barf) that’s my failed relationship. We had five gigs over the launch weekend and by the last night we were totally drained!”
The aforementioned weekend consisted of several gigs in different locations around the city, the piece de resistance being a performance on a barge in the Grand Canal.
“When we got to the part of the canal at the Barge pub we had to wait for the lock to open and fill and a pretty big crowd of curious people formed!” laughs Niall.
“We also played a gig in our house on Cork St. and one in the Ferocious Mingle market on Thomas St., it’s a really cool indoor market,” adds Conor. “We had a show in the Co-Op too.”
“We really enjoyed those weird gigs in unusual places, we’re going to do a lot more of them,” he says. “When you play somewhere different it’s more enjoyable for you because you are out of your comfort zone and it’s more interesting for the gig-goers too.”
The band’s live show has evolved dramatically over the last few months. After wrestling with their set for an extended period they made the bold choice to omit old material from performances.
“We definitely had a Frankenstein set for a while, where we were still doing a few songs from the first album but the set didn’t make sense,” states Niall. “Now we just play new songs.”
“We used to always think, let’s just play upbeat songs live because people don’t want to hear slower songs,” muses Conor. “But if you deliver them really well and in the right atmosphere it can work.”
Have the guys had any celeb fans at their shows?
“Liam Ó Maonlaí was at our gig in Tower last week, he seemed to be having a good time!” smiles Niall. “We looked down a couple of times and he had his eyes closed and was really getting into it.”
“We spotted Minty from EastEnders at one of our shows once!” laughs Niall. “That was a strange one!”
The band recreated a live setting for the recording of the album, which was completed in Deasy’s parents’ house in Wexford.
“We had all talked about the documentary on the making of The Band’s brown album and how that was recorded in Sammy Davis Jnr.’s pool house. We definitely wanted that kind of atmosphere,” explains Conor. “Andy Knightly came down with his mobile recording studio. We wanted it to be more-or-less live.”
The outfit called on the ubiquitous Steve Shannon to mix the collection.
“We recorded with Steve years ago and really liked him, he was a great guy,” notes Conor. “Then we heard the Strands’ album and loved it. We sent him one track to mix first and we were really happy with what came back.”
The Gandhis are signed to respected independent label 1969 Records, home to Pugwash, The Pale and many more.
“We put our first single ‘Zaza’ out ourselves and then we got in touch with a few small labels around town and invited people to the launch show,” explains Conor. “Daragh from 1969 came down to the night and sent a mail after asking us to meet up. Then funnily enough we were doing an interview in Dublin South FM the next week and Thomas from Pugwash was on the same show, of course Daragh was there so we got chatting after that.”
“We were really raw when we got on board with them and over the years they've been great in terms of guidance,” enthuses Niall.
“They're an old school independent label, the type that everyone says doesn’t exist anymore,” nods Conor. “Daragh believed in us from the start.”
Considering the seismic shift between albums one and two could the guys conceive of another radical departure for their next outing?
“It’s difficult to know,” smiles Niall. “When we were writing the second album we did a few weird heavy songs, like darker Radiohead or Captain Beefheart. So it could go anyway!”