Profile: Innercity Pirates Going Commercial

They may not have made the big breakthrough, but a lot of things have been going Inner City Pirates way. Spotting their potential early, amplifier and guitar manufacturers Peavey have lined the band up among their growing list of endorsees – a significant step in the right direction for any band: nowadays, lead guitarist and vocalist Russell Toomey puts his spanking Peavey guitar through an equally spanking Peavey amp. Now, in a similarly exciting twist, their seriously guitar-driven track, ‘Dedication’, has been chosen for the latest Guinness commercial. It is the kind of hook up that a lot of bands dream about – but only a small few can benefit from. How did it come about?
Ian: The creative people working for Guinness had heard ‘Dedication’ when it was released previously as a b-side, and thought they’d like to use it if they could find the band! So they sent Russell a note through Facebook asking if he was Russell Toomey from Innercity Pirates and asking if he’d let them use one of his tracks. We said we wouldn’t do anything until we saw the visuals, which have all these fridges being attracted to a van carrying loads of Guinness. ‘Dedication’ is quite quirky, like the band, and has a bit of attitude and is quite punk rock, and Guinness is a pretty cool product, so we had no qualms about giving the track to them once we’d seen the ad and agreed fees.
Russell: We saw the visuals and we thought it was really good, so we didn’t have to think about it for too long. It brought us in a bit of extra cash and it means I don’t have to sign on any more!
Has it helped the Innercity Pirates’ profile?
Russell: Definitely. There are about 40,000 viewings of the commercial on YouTube and we’ve had nothing but very positive feedback, especially from fans. If it helps get the music of Innercity Pirates across to more people then I’m all for it. But it’s not something you can plan. Although ‘Dedication’ is quite an old track we’ll be putting it on our album due out in early 2009.
The Stunning had some flak from fans for having their music used in a bank commercial – has that stigma waned on the indie scene?
Ian: There’s so much competition these days that you can’t really pass up opportunities to get your music heard. Bands who have a problem with this can always give the money to charity! So long as the commercial itself is OK, and you have no problem with the brand, then I can’t see anything wrong with it. It might be different with a bank or a major corporation like Coca Cola, but Russell is certainly partial to a pint of Guinness! We’re playing in Ireland soon, and I’d be sorely disappointed if we don’t get sent at least a six-pack!
Does being based near Cardiff create problems for a band in that you’re disconnected from the London scene where the main record companies and media are?
Russell: It can do. We spend a lot of time in London now and might even move there permanently. Our keyboard player lives up there and he keeps us informed about what’s going on.
How healthy is Cardiff with live gigs?
Russell: There are two main places, the Barfly and the Welsh Club. We’ve played The Glo Bar recently with Har Mar Superstar. There are some good bands too, like Future Of The Left.
And recording studios?
Russell: We recorded our Ear Sex EP at Monnow Valley Studios, which is about 45 minutes drive away from Cardiff. Bands like Oasis, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Biffy Clyro and The Automatic have recorded there, so there was a great sense of it being somewhere special, a kind of rock’n’roll royalty thing going on. We’re going to record more tracks for our debut album there too with Jim Lowe. He produced The Stereophonics albums. We might call the album All I Wanna Do, Is You, but we have a few other ideas.
It’s been said that the Innercity Pirates came together through a mutual love of indie music and cheese, among other things. Will you be adding cheese and Guinness to your rider for gigs from now on?
Russell: That’s a nice idea, maybe just for a few gigs. But it could cause some heart problems! We could have Guinness with melted cheese on top-that could work!