Hot Press meets Ireland's hottest new rock band, Fangclub

From Leonard Cohen being swindled out of millions to 50 Cent finding that guns, bitches and bling are only fun until the invoices arrive, musicians going broke is nothing new. So it’s with a heavy heart that Hot Press listens to Fangclub tell another story of financial mismanagement.

“One day on our first tour, we’d made a little bit more money than usual from selling t-shirts,” explains Kevin Keane, bassist with the hard-rocking trio. “So we decided to go to the cinema.”
“We went bowling too,” adds frontman Steven King ominously. “At which point we didn’t have enough money to get to the next town.”
It should be noted that the North Dublin band did manage to get the show back on the road after that day of outrageous excess. Indeed, trekking from one spot to the next was pretty much all the three knew early on – no sooner had they played their first gig in December 2014 than they were piling into a van and hitting the dusty trail.
“There’s quite a DIY scene when it comes to punk rock,” Steven says. “We have a punky sound, but also these big pop melodies as well; it meant we could play big venues as well as underground rock gigs. That’s how we managed to scrape tours together, even playing community centres and the like. Playing the Whelan’s Ones To Watch helped us to book gigs too – you find yourself contacted by other event nights and stuff.”
It was at that annual showcase in the Wexford St. venue that this writer first laid eyes on Fangclub; a little wet behind the ears, no doubt, but with a powerful and energetic sound, ripped straight from the 90s. It turns out we weren’t the only ones impressed, as a deal with Universal followed quickly. Has the involvement of the record company been a culture shock for the band?
“I think it brought method to the madness,” Steven opines. “We were impulsive in planning tours, but we were also trying to be strategic, and plan three or six months down the road. When we started working with the label, it made sense. We weren’t too worried anyway, because we were locked away in a rehearsal room.”
In a way, Fangclub have done things backwards: rather than attracting attention on the live scene, and then getting label backing for an album, they took it upon themselves to put an album together – and that became their calling card. And a powerful one it was too. “The fear is always that a band might sound big live, but can’t make that translate in the studio,” smiles drummer Dara Coleman. “Universal didn’t have that worry with us.”
Anyone who remains sceptical can wrap their ears around their debut EP, set for release next month. The five-track collection – led by the blistering single ‘Bullet Head’ – is a thrilling opening salvo. To promote the record, the band will play a glut of live dates, with headliners, a jaunt in support of The Academic, and a scattering of festival slots all on the cards: fans can expect a show to match their burgeoning reputation.
“I think we’ve evolved as a live band,” Steven says. “Because we went into the studio so early, our tours were a bit of a crash-course.”
For a group unafraid to raise the tempo, things are starting to move altogether quickly...

Fangclub’s self-titled EP is released on May 13

Rating: 4.5/5