Music
04 Nov 13

Holy Show

WITH TAKE ME TO THE CHURCH ROMPING TO THE TOP OF THE CHARTS IT’S ALL HAPPENING FOR SENSITIVE WICKLOW LAD HOZIER. BUT HE’S TAKING THINGS IN HIS STRIDE AND WON’T BE RUSHING TO CAPITALIZE ON THE HYPE HE TELLS ROISIN DWYER

Louis Walsh has been responsible for some questionable manoeuvres in his day but playing a role in the rise of soulful blues stylist Andrew Hozier Byrne is one he can look back on with pride. Following the release of debut EP Take Me To Church, which shot to number one in the Irish download charts, the young Wicklow native is the hot domestic property of the moment. Many a salivating A&R scout has been spotted up front at his shows.

“Louis was a judge at a school talent competition when I was in sixth year,” he explains. “He liked what I did and got in touch with Universal. That lead to a few interviews with them and they set up some demos.
“The demos happened during my first year in college so I missed a few exams,” he adds. “It made me realise making music was what I wanted to do. So I left Trinity. But I remained as much a part of their community as I could; I kept performing with The Trinity Orchestra and stayed in touch.”
Although those nascent recordings didn’t work out they were an integral part of the learning curve. “Niall Breslin was actually the producer,” he says. “It was the first time I’d properly recorded in a studio. We got on great and had a lot of fun. It was interesting; a learning experience.”
Hozier - then plying his trade under full moniker Andrew Hozier Byrne – continued to gig and hone his craft. He also managed to land some impressive support slots. Peter Green anybody?
“Well, Louis Walsh is good friends with Caroline Downey at MCD who really liked what I was doing. She put me in touch with a booking agent who got me a few gigs and a some supports.”
Gaining a reputation as an engaging live performer Hozier also bagged Oxegen and Electric Picnic slots.
“I was very lucky to get those gigs,” he says modestly. “I don’t think I really deserved them because I hadn’t really honed my craft. I wasn’t producing music that I was terribly happy with… I remember feeling, ‘What am I doing here?’”
As word of his talent spread he hooked up with Dublin label Rubyworks to cut further tracks.
These songs evolved into the current release, which he produced himself. “I’d never been in a studio working with someone and really been entirely happy with the results,” he admits. “It might just be a control thing or an ego thing, I don’t know. I’d been working on these new songs with Rubyworks and at one point they wanted to get the guy who’d produced Stereophonics in.
But I knew I wanted to do it myself. I recorded most of it at home, they listened to the results and were very happy with them.”
It’s obvious why. The four songs that make up the debut EP are transcendent morsels of gospelly blues.
“I grew up listening to mostly old school R’n’B. My father was a blues drummer,” he explains. “I’m quite ashamed that I don’t listen enough to contemporary music. There are so many artists that I love. I’m a big fan of Feist, I love what James Blake is doing at the moment. I’m interested in seeing where Lorde goes because I can’t remember the last time that a song challenged the pop culture status quo in that way.”
On the subject of powerful messages, the video for ‘Take Me To Church’ by Feel Good Lost’s Brendan Canty and Conal Thomson is a stark commentary on homophobic violence, which has received many plaudits of its own.
“They sent me the treatment and we exchanged a few ideas,” he states. “I suggested bringing in the Russian element, it’s something I’d been following. The song is about the church but also about sexuality and humanity. It’s a love song. I didn’t have that idea for the video. It was so relevant though; Brendan and Conal did a great job.”
The off ering was launched at a sold-out gig in the apposite surrounds of the Unitarian Church on Dublin’s Stephen’s Green.
“An amazing show,” he enthuses. “It was dead silent so that was intimidating. The crowd was fantastic and really, really warm. There were seven of us on stage, including two female backing singers. I need a bigger band to get more gospel elements into it.”
Andrew has just sold out two Pepper Canister Church dates in December. Not one to rest on his laurels he’s back in the studio next month. “I’ll produce again but it’ll be mixed by Rob Kirwan who I worked with on the first EP,” he notes.
“I’ll record myself at home. I play all instruments except the drums. I’ll work with Fiachra Kinder from Tandem Felix who played on the current release, I know him from the Trinity Orchestra.”
Andrew’s determined to go the EP route again. “I don’t want to rush into an album at the moment. I’d rather take time to grow. I guess there’s a little bit of pressure in that ‘Take Me To Church’ is a great song. Not every thing that I write is going to be that song. The more time I have to see where it goes the better.”
So does he find his meteoric rise to fame a little unnerving and perhaps a bit pressurising?
“No one’s jumping down my throat or anything like that. It’s very cool!” he laughs. “I do feel sometimes, ‘Oh crap, I’ve got to deliver something’. It’s a weird feeling. I’m used to feeling like I’ve nothing to lose. Now I do. So yeah, it’s a strange one!”