Make Some Noise

It’s a waterlogged Sunday afternoon in Punchestown, and Noisettes drummer Jamie Morrison is worried about his rather spectacular chequered trousers. Before I advise that there’s no way he’s getting within earshot of Nine Inch Nails tonight without trading his brogues for a pair of Dunlops, I’ve lost him. Spotting Mick Pyro’s mug on a Hot Press cover from 2008, he’s off, launching into an impromptu rave about our very own Republic Of Loose. A minute later, stunning frontwoman Shinguy Shoniwa appears and does the exact same, gushing; “We love them! They’re hilarious!”

With the permanent marker still fresh on many an Oxegen-goer’s chest, the London rockers are more than happy with the turnout at the Hot Press Signing Tent. “When you do a signing there’s always that fear that the door opens and it’s like Spinal Tap and there’s going to be like two people there!” Morrison laughs. “But it was good, there was loads of people!”
Neo-soulsters Noisettes have been knocking around the indie scene for a while now, but only became a household name with the success of super-hit ‘Don’t Upset The Rhythm (Go Baby Go)’, the band’s second single from new album Wild Young Hearts.
Shoniwa explains the idea behind the track: “I thought, wouldn’t it be fun if someone wrote a beat and lyrics just about the drum kit, ‘Kick, snare, hat ride/Follow me.’ It’s not about the singer in the front, it’s not about the guitar player, it’s not about the drummer. It's the drums! That’s what makes people dance!”
‘Don’t Upset The Rhythm’ marks a distinct departure from the rough-edged punk showcased on their debut What’s the Time Mr Wolf?, and I venture to suggest that the band have taken a poppier turn with Wild Young Hearts, but Morrison isn’t so sure: “That song most certainly is poppy but the album contains lots of different styles. That song just came out like that. But if you look at the songs on the album – there are ballads, there are downbeat vibes, there’s rock and roll. There’s lots of elements there. You can’t call it pop music.”
‘We all listen to a lot of different music. This morning we were listening to Raymond Scott and Paramore. Last night we had a dance party on our bus and we were listening to 50 Cent and R Kelly. Empire Of The Sun, that’s a record we’re into massively, TV On The Radio we’re into massively. We really do love all types of music. Sometimes it’ll be a jazz day and we’ll just have jazz on that day. Sometimes it’ll be classical. Sometimes it’ll be Bad Brains.”
Although Shinguy boasts a voice that would surely make Mr. Scott happy, Noisettes might never have formed if her Dad had had his way. Shinguy reveals that her father had his heart set on her becoming a lawyer: “Me and my mum came to the conclusion that Dad always wanted me to be involved in some kind of diplomacy because he thought that, in my family, I was really good about being the diplomat. If there was a little squabble at the dinner table over the last piece of chicken, I would be the one to sort of go, ‘OK, you had more access to the first spoon of rice – it’s only fair if you’ve got the last piece then you have to split with this person...”
‘I think the job I’m doing now is quite diplomatic, dealing with all these lads and loud louts and tantrums. I’m still in diplomacy, it’s my official title, that’s my field!”
Morrison adds; “I think if you’re passionate about something and if you throw yourself wholeheartedly into something, I don’t know how a parent could go ‘Do something else.’ When you’re giving so much, I think any parent would be proud of that, as long as it’s legal.”
‘And as long as you’ve got a lawyer in the family, everyone else can do what they want!”
So, how do these Noisy Cute People rate the revellers in Punchestown on this less-than-fine Oxegen afternoon?
“Today is probably the best idea of what an Irish audience is,” Morrison explains, “because they came to see us. All the other times we’ve been playing in front of other people’s audiences (among them Muse and Babyshambles). We’ve never done our own show here. We’re coming to the Button Factory in October so we can’t wait. If it’s anything like what the kids were like for us in that big tent today, then magic!”
Shinowa adds: ‘I don’t think I’ll ever know a true Irish audience until, like Jamie said, we come and do a show but then go and maybe do another gig or have a jam session at a pub. What I love about Ireland is that there’s so many establishments that play old traditional music and flute music. When I think about doing gigs in Ireland I don’t think about doing The O2, I think about doing a gig at a really beautiful old venue.”
“We never got to travel here either,” Morrison laments. “It’s like one of those places that eludes us, we never actually get to spend time here, but we will! We look forward to it.”
‘We’ll go down to Dalkey next time we play Dublin, I know a place in Dalkey where we can play!”
The barflies of a nation hold their breath.