In The Company Of Drenge

Comprised of brothers Rory and Eoin Loveless, English blues-rockers Drenge have been attracting plenty of attention for their brand of White Stripes/Kills influenced garage rock. However, the duo experienced a decidedly odd breakthrough moment when Labour party MP Tom Watson cited the group in a statement in his blog, which announced his resignation as the party’s campaign co-ordinator.

Watson wrote that seeing the band at Glastonbury made him realise that politicians can have an unhealthy disconnection from the nation’s cultural life, and signed off by advising Ed Miliband to, “be that Labour great leader that you can be, be try to have a real life too. And if you want to see an awesome band, I recommend Drenge.”
“I just thought it was really weird,” reflects Drenge’s drummer, Eoin Loveless. “It left everyone feeling very awkward. There really wasn’t anything we could do about it. We were getting asked to go on Newsnight and Question Time, and all these prominent UK politics shows. Everyone seems to forget what the message was in his letter, which wasn’t about us.
“He was recommending us as a band, but in the wider context of that letter, his message was, ‘To the leader of my party, I don’t think you represent the people of the UK well enough. If you can’t go to gigs, then you’re not representing this percentage of people.’ Everyone seems to forget that in the process of finding out about this cool new band Drenge.”
It does seem to have brought a lot of attention to the band, though.
“Oh yeah, massively,” admits Eoin. “We were pretty much nobodies before, no one knew who we were. We had a record coming out in August, and that exposure was something that we needed, in a way. But of all the ways to get exposure, a politician recommending you in a drastic resignation letter...I don’t know, I couldn’t ask for anything more awkward and probably more true to the band than that. It’s better than getting a celebrity girlfriend or taking up a drug habit.”
Though a lot heavier – there is an almost metal element to some of their riffs – Drenge draw on similar blues influences to The Strypes. Is Eoin into the Cavan boys’ music?
“I’m not a massive fan, I’ll be honest,” he admits. “They’re talented kids, I’ve seen them live about three or four times, and every time I see them they are spectacularly efficient, I’ll say that. At the end of the day, their songs are mainly covers, and they’re super young. I don’t think I could’ve written songs like I write now at their age. In that age between 16 and 20, you go through a lot more stuff as you become a man.
“You go through more than you do before you’re 16 in a way, and that’s the difference between us and a band like The Strypes. They’re super young and the music that they make in four years time will be a lot closer to the way they really see themselves.”
With names like Eoin and Rory, one can’t help but wonder if there’s an Irish link in Drenge’s background.
“Our grandmother was from Enniscorthy,” Eoin nods. “We were aware of it, we used to go and visit her every weekend. We’re very proud of our Irish heritage. We’ve been three times, once as a family and twice as a band. Every time we go, there’s just something about the place that kind of sinks into your blood. Even just being a quarter Irish, you feel connected with the people there. We really love it.”
Is the name Loveless a nod to one of the greatest ever Irish albums?
“No, it’s a birth name,” Eoin replies. “If you trace it back, there’s some people who fought for farming rights in the 1700s in the UK, and they’re all called Loveless. I think in the place where they’re from, there’s a graveyard and all the names are Loveless, which sounds like the most amazing thing ever. I’d like to a bit more research into it.
“I mean, we got bullied all the time when we were kids for being called Loveless. It’s prime bullying material until everyone suddenly becomes a My Bloody Valentine fan, and then you’re deemed cool in certain circles. Although not at the dentist or wherever, where they’re not My Bloody Valentine fans, and they just say, ‘Well, that’s unfortunate then.’”
Did the boys did eventually become fans themselves?
“Oh yeah, definitely,” enthuses Eoin. “I mean, I bought Rory Loveless to listen to as a joke, and then we were listening to it and I was going, ‘This is just noise, but it’s great.’ We were quite young but we listened to that record a good bit, and it was like, ‘This band are really good.’ And then I found out that they were massive. And Irish!”

Drenge’s self-titled debut gets an airing when the band play the Academy 2, Dublin on October 26