Hot Press Meets In Their Thousands

In Their Thousands are bursting with a million ideas. Enjoying the sunshine in a Kimmage garden before they start another day’s recording with producer Dave “Skippy” Christophers, the Donegal quartet often talk of “feeling” their way through things. Living in the moment as a young band, trying each creative possibility as they go.

Often it works out well, as it has on their Puzzle Project EP (they’re currently recording the third EP of four, out July 19).
“As a studio band, we’re learning,” says lead singer Declan McClafferty. “Finding our way. We’ve had a different way of doing things on each EP to find what suits us best. That was the idea of doing four EPs. At the end of it I don’t think we want one coherent piece of work.”
On other occasions, it results in a car getting crushed during a video shoot that Declan’s brother Aidan calls “one of the most stressful times” of his life.
“Our other brother rolled a Citroen AX during it,” Declan laughs. “The car ended up on its roof. We had another day of shooting to do at this stage. In this band, you find yourself doing things you never thought you’d be doing. So we were panel beaters, straightening a Citroen AX for a video we ended up not using. Great little car too – €250 we bought it for... and now it’s cubed!”
So they’re still getting to grips with the visual side of things. Conversely, they’re quite the dab hands at putting on a show. Not only have their rich four-part harmonies and plaintive folk earned them acclaim on the live circuit, but their choice of venues is quite unique.
Their last EP launch was a proper magical mystery tour, as they brought buses of fans off into the Donegal wilderness. Guitarist (and cousin of the McClaffertys) Ruairí Friel ranks it as one of his favourite gigs.
“We set up in my father’s shed. People knew roughly what time the bus was leaving but we could have been heading in any direction, and every direction from Letterkenny is going to be rural countryside! We just wanted to do something crazy.”
Declan nods in agreement: “We just want to do mad things all the time.” You can imagine them upping the ante with each show. Heading to see In Their Thousands sometime soon? You might want to bring a passport and a change of underwear. Not that they’re letting specifics slip. Surely they’ve some totally unfeasible ideas they could tell Hot Press about?
“We will not accept that there’s anything we can’t do!” Declan exclaims in mock outrage. “There are just things we can’t do yet!”
That attitude has served In Their Thousands well over the past two years. It spurred them on to victory in last year’s Guinness Arthur’s Day - Play On The Day competition, after battling it out with The Calvinists, The Hot Sprockets and Protobaby in a thrilling final in Whelan’s.
“I’d had two sips of my first pint of Guinness when Cormac Battle announced that In Their Thousands had won,” Declan recalls. “My pint went up and I don’t know where it went! I didn’t get wet, nothing happened.”
Ruairí laughs: “You didn’t see it come back down? It might be still going!”
The band were particularly delighted with the home support that they got on the night, as people took days off work and a huge Donegal contingent descended on Dublin.
“It’s testament to the community that’s built up there,” Ruairí notes, “and we would do that for other bands. Absolutely.”
Aidan nods: “It’s not about a competition. A rising tide lifts all boats.”
The band cite The Greenroom in Letterkenny as a real hub for original acts in Donegal. So there’s a thriving music scene, but they admit they’re still quite cut off in the North West. So remote, that the courier was only willing to deliver copies of their new single ‘Tear It All Apart’ to a shop in a nearby village.
“This is regular for us,” Declan sighs. “It’s the middle of nowhere. No one wants to go down there. Taxis won’t leave you home. The internet’s a new thing down there.”
While some acts would be anxious to relocate to a larger city, In Their Thousands don’t see that as a necessity in this day and age.
“We can fly to London quicker than we can drive to Dublin!” says Declan. “Look at a band like Tinariwen who live in the Sahara Desert. It takes them something like three or four days just to get a meeting with their management. Not that I’m comparing rural Donegal to the Sahara desert!”
They say the tranquility is perfect for writing. The four grew up listening to country music like Hank Williams, and the rural life informs their songs, if not the darker elements of that genre.
“That storytelling element is probably what tweaked my ear,” says Ruairí, though Declan notes: “When you’re that age, you don’t get so deep. When I was young, I was just singing because I liked the melody more than anything else. Or I liked the way the words fell together. It wasn’t anything to do with singing about heartbreak or death.”
At the moment, it’s all to do with the connection the quartet feel when they’re singing together. A family affair aside from bassist Liam Kelly, their relationship is almost telepathic.
“I’ve often asked myself ‘why?’,” muses Declan. “Why did we start this at all? Why did we decide that we had something to say that nobody else has ever said? Why do you want to write a song in the first place? I don’t know the answer. It just seems like the most natural thing for us boys to be doing.”

‘Tear It All Apart’ is released on July 5 on Apple iTunes, Google Play and 7Digital.ie. In Their Thousands will launch their new EP at Balor Arts Centre, Donegal on July 19 and at Odessa Club, Dublin on July 25.