"I just tried to be a bit more poppy. A little less earnest, have slightly more direct melodies," muses Stephen Ryan seated in Dublin's Library Bar beside bandmate Eileen Gogan.
A mere 16 years after The Revenants’ acclaimed Septober Nowonder comes the next chapter in the Dubliner’s musical journey – The Drays’ Look Away Down Collins’ Avenue. The album bristles with a wholesome Americana charm and country rock bluster with the aforementioned pop sensibilities in plentiful supply. Plus songwriting of the quality one would expect of a record whose title doffs its cap to Warren Zevon.
In addition to former Would Be Gogan the outfit also features guitar ace Conor Brady and In Tua Nua skinsman Paul Byrne. Ryan explains he never planned the songs as a solo album, he always wanted to work in a band context.
I started off demoing in Conor’s studio and then we just worked the songs up together,” he says. “There were certain numbers that I always had Eileen in mind for and then Paul was the bloke at the end of the corridor who happened to be a great drummer as well.”
Given the length of absence we wonder what the catalyst was for Ryan’s lauded return?
“I was at the stage where I had done the family thing so I had more spare time and was able to get back to playing the guitar,” he smiles. “The songs flowed from that and then I just kept on writing. It was a slow process, at least five years."
According to Ryan most of the material was reasonably fully formed before recording began but his bandmates brought the ‘wealth of detail’ required to complete the songs.
“I don’t think Eileen ever got any useful instruction from me in terms of how to approach the songs, there’s a lot of trust there, so I just kind of handed it over,” he states.
“You do hand it over but you’re pretty rigorous in telling me what you want actually!” laughs Eileen. “I learned a lot from your attention to detail, not letting phrases hang and that sort of thing.”
Gogan and Ryan have worked together before with her contributing to both Revenants albums. Her vocals bring a wonderful warmth to the current outing. Both their past guises have been referenced liberally in any Drays reviews, the ghosts of the past loom large.
Stars Of Heaven and The Revenants were critical components in Irish music (r)evolution as were The Would Be’s, who counted Morrissey amongst their fans and supported him in The National Stadium.
“Walking on stage and people throwing flowers rather than bottles was a nice change!” she smiles. “Morrissey wanted to meet us, he was really nice I remember him saying he liked my singing.”
And how is the music biz now compared to when Stephen was shilling his wares with his former outfits?
“Social media is the big change,” he reflects. “I actually quite enjoy it, the weekend the album came out I was in London so I was watching the response on Twitter and Facebook. There was a bit of a buzz going on, which was fun!”
Ryan is keen to keep the momentum going and has already penned new material.
I’ve continued writing, I don’t want to wait another five years so I might just do six or eight tracks,” he says.
Fulsome praise abounds for the current collection and the handful of shows to date have been packed to capacity. So this time next year where would The Drays like to be?
“Wembley!” quips Eileen.
“No, not Wembley,” Stephen disagrees. “I just want to really do comfortable gigs in cool European capitals.”
We think that can be arranged!