In-Philtre-ation

In the four years since their formation, Kerry band Philtre have been slogging their way around Ireland on a mission.
“There aren’t many places to play in Tralee,” explains drummer Dave. “A lot have closed down in the last few years and we don’t want to keep playing the same places over and over. We’ve played venues around the country and try to play around as often as we can. There’s not a massive scene in Kerry, as much as we’d love there to be!”

But Philtre are an ambitious bunch who seem determined to make it, much like their heroes Oasis, Stereophonics and Kasabian, and their music shows tribute to the swagger, the long gruff vowels and crunching stomp-riffs of those influences too. Naturally, they’re favourites on the live scene.
“We’ll play to every audience we can get, wherever it is!” says frontman Tom. “At the moment we’re planning a November tour that’ll call at the major spots like Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway, but we’re going to take in wherever we can on the way. We have a van and a driver, who is a local man. We get a lot of help round here. There are definitely some benefits in being from somewhere that doesn’t have a massive scene. The Abbey Inn (Tralee’s main venue) was recently refurbished and there was a lot of talk about it re-opening. So when people heard we were playing, the whole bloody town turned out for it! The place was packed. That’s a big upside, because everybody knows about it and everybody comes up to you in the street asking about it. And everybody knows you which is nice as well, like. People are definitely helping us and supporting us along the way, really rooting for us, which as a songwriter is a great place to feed from. There’s no better place to start with songwriting than your hometown.”
When they first got together in 2004 Philtre “were like every other band, just trying stuff out”. That’s until they won Live At the Rose in 2005 and got the money together to fund their debut EP Bullet From Nowhere, which was later used to soundtrack sports shows on RTÉ and Setanta. The four-piece then embarked on a busy 18 months, which included playing the Murphy’s Live showcase; releasing a single; touring Ireland with Tralee-boy-done-good-in-Germany Reamonn; and making it through to the final stages of the National Student Music Awards.
More recently though, they’ve been concerned with the recording of their first single proper, ‘Paper Thin’. Due for release early next year, it’s being remixed by both Kerry outfit Synchomize and Planet Love DJ Jonno Brien. It was recorded in Dublin with fellow Tralee man Gareth Mannix (Republic Of Loose, Chalets, Jerry Fish), which the band say was a great experience, and one they’d like to repeat in the future.
“Gareth is an excellent producer to work with, he really pushed us and helped us mature in a short space of time, so I’d love to work with him again,” Dave enthuses. “I’d also like to do more tours. There are lots of venues I’d like to go back to, and lots more new ones that I’d love to play, and get to as many different places as we can. I can’t wait to get out there.”
Tipperary band The Rumours, based in Thurles, know all about wanting to get out there too. The five-piece are about to launch a new EP, When The Sun Hits Your Eyes, through Reekus Records and are plotting an Irish tour to support it.
“There have always been a lot of bands in Thurles and Nenagh, but not enough venues for them to gig in,” rues bassist Nigel, echoing Philtre’s comments about the live scene in Kerry. “There’s nowhere to play. For us, that means we tend to be more of a studio band. But whenever we do play we head for Dublin or Galway or Cork - get out of town and head for the cities! We’ve played every venue in Dublin we possibly can.”
The Rumours are at this stage festival regulars, having graced the Electric Picnic bill in 2006 and 2007.
“Anyone that’s from Tipperary came to see us! We were first on the Crawdaddy stage and got a great turnout – two or three of the bands after us had half the crowd we did. The MySpace clicks went up a lot more than they usually do, which was great, because it’s hard to get your name out there nowadays. We’ve considered moving to Dublin to increase our profile, but because of jobs and things it’s hard to get up and go. We do what we can from here anyway.”
Signing a three single deal with Reekus has been a great boost for the band, who were picked up after their first Stradbally Hall Estate appearance.
“Things aren’t going bad now!” laughs Nigel. “The lead single from our upcoming EP, When The Sun Hits Your Eyes, has just been released on a USB by Download.ie and the full EP is coming out on September 26. It was recorded in May in Jam Studios in Kells, County Meath. The guitarist Eoin Ryan wrote it and sings on it, and Martin Quinn produced it. There are four songs on the EP altogether. Hopefully we’ll get a bit of airplay and people will like it.”
Then, he says, it’ll be on to the tour before finally settling down to work on their debut album. We’re sure it’ll be worth the wait.

www.myspace.com/therumoursthurles, www. myspace.com/philtremusic