Hit The North - The Age Of Innocents

The cover picture for Letter To Lone Ridge, the debut album from The Holy Innocents, paints something of a rock ‘n’ roll idyll. The four band members meander through a knee-high field of wild grass and dandelions – tall trees behind; big, blue sky above. Should a large pink house hover in sight, it would be little surprise. For a band pre-occupied by old school concerns and elemental truths, it’s almost a perfect visual representation.

Almost.
“There was an awful lot of cow shit in that field,” reveals frontman and main songwriter, Eamonn McNamee. “You’d to mind where you were going. Nick (Topping), our bassist, had had a heavy night and wasn’t up to it. He was slack and ruined a pair of shoes. Ended up throwing them in a river.”
“We’ve a new name for him now,” says lead guitarist, Pete McFaul. “Doctor Shoe-shitle.”
We’ve enjoyed the company of The Holy Innocents on a number of occasions over the years – and have listened on while opinions have been voiced, feuds stoked, and, most significantly, something of a classicist manifesto (Dylan, Cash, Young, Cohen – good; anyone with unnecessary spectacles and high-tied guitars – bad) has been hammered into shape.
Lone Ridge represents its apotheosis. Organic, heart-felt, lyrically sure-footed and subtly moving - the songs feel like they’ve been marinating for some time: waiting on the right moment to make their best introduction.
“We rehearsed it like mad before we recorded it,” Eamonn explains. “Didn’t have a drummer, which pissed us off at the time, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. You could hear what was going on, listen to the songs in a different way, pick out details. I think you can tell that.”
And if the songs are expertly crafted, the shaded production, courtesy of long-term partner in crime, Ben McAuley is, of itself, a thing of wonder.
“I refuse to accept he’s a genius,” says Eamonn. “I went to school with the man, he was in some of my other bands.”
And he’s still prepared to work with you?
“At times. For all his personality faults, he’s for some reason sympathetic to us. He probably wouldn’t listen to this record for pleasure, but then he doesn’t like The Beatles, so his taste is suspect. It’s as well he’s such a great producer.”
The Holy Innocents’ own website claims they “are furiously out of step with any diktats of contemporary fashion.” The zeitgeist-baiting ethos is entirely laudable, but if this championing of the old ways leaves them open to accusations of premature fogey-ness, Eamonn doesn’t seem to mind.
“Well, there’s a synth on there,” he smirks. “But there’s no point pretending we’re electro pop. Never say never, but if we did something like that just to lift our profile, you’d see through it a mile off. And anyway, if I suggested it to these boys – there’d be fists. It’s not that we’re conservative, but it would be change for the wrong reason. I’ve never been fashionable, especially in Belfast. But most of those bands – the ones that were of the moment – they’re all dead. And we’re still here and getting better.”
Praise be.

Letter To Lone Ridge is out now