Pop Goes The Music

The National Prayer Breakfast intend to be purveyors of the catchiest, dirtiest, danciest rock 'n' roll music this side of television, stealing inspiration from the gangland mentalities of Rocket From The Crypt, dEUS, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Mano Negra and MC5.

After a string of well-received EPs and singles and having notched up an impressive live track record, the band can finally unveil a fourteen-pronged assault on the pop world entitled The Sociables Prefer Pop Music.

"It was quite slow getting it finished," explains guitarist/vocalist Patrick Freyne. "We went to record it a year ago and did a lot of stuff that we ended up putting to one side. The second half we recorded in Paul's (Clancy's) garage with Alan O'Boyle. By then we had realized what we liked and what was exactly us, which is being a fun, sleazy rock 'n' roll band. So it's a rock album with very dancey grooves and hooks put to the forefront to the detriment of deep thought.

We're always writing a lot of songs, but until only recently we were so busy doing everything else. Now with other people doing stuff for us on the label (Catchy GoGo) and the online magazine (Vavavoom), we can get drunk and do drugs and sleep with girls and do all the other things that bands do, rather than worrying about the door or the posters."

The existence of a small but dedicated coterie of music obsessives willing to share the workload is a welcome and refreshing sign of something, however small, stirring at its own independent pace.

"The scene, if such a thing exists — because I hate the word — is really good now with things like Phantom FM, kids doing their own stuff and new venues popping up," enthuses Patrick. "There is a lot of cooperation and helping each other out. I suppose a lot of that comes from the economy at the moment and people really indulging in what they love doing.

For us, we've been listening to a lot of the crazier American stuff — Boss Hog, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, The Make-Up and Royal Trux. What makes all that refreshing is that the only thing the UK scene really teaches a band is that you must get a good press agent. People have now realized that you can do things outside major labels and create something really cool that people will get excited about and help you out with."

The NPB are renowned for building their own little pop world around their releases and gigs, with one of the most comprehensive and genuinely interesting band sites around. Their sleeves recall the bumper pullouts you'd find with Crass and classic DIY punk releases, albeit at a far more cartoonish level.

"We've always been into all sorts of eclectic stuff," continues Patrick. "Daire does all our sleeves and he's always sticking loads of pictures and cool graphics on his wall. There were these fantastic images from LIFE magazine which were Pepsi ads, and there was this one of a fancy lady leaning against a car and the caption said 'The Sociables Prefer Pepsi'. We want to be a multinational brand, so that was our title.

It's really interesting to hear what people think of the album. A comparison that has come up more than once is the Pixies meets The B-52's. My favourite track is 'Rhythm and Style' (look out Leftfield!) which has got Paul singing and a cheesy Casio drum beat that no-one has noticed yet. We definitely do go for a pure pop trip, somewhere between Louis Walsh and The Redneck Manifesto."

The Prayer Breakfast pop roadshow is coming to a venue near you soon, including another of the Saturday afternoon specials which they have regularly put on since hosting a show in the Iérne Ballroom with Chicks.

"A lot of our audience is very young, and venues would be very silly to ignore that audience," opines Freyne. "When you think about it, people who are seventeen are the ones who are most passionately into music. Also, you can't have any beard-stroking if you don't have a beard."

The Sociables Prefer Pop Music is out now on Catchy Go Go. The National Prayer Breakfast will perform at Whelan's on Saturday 29th July (Afternoon Show) and Eamonn Dorans with Blew on Friday August 4th.