Send in the Clowns

Last month, alternative four-piece Fingersmith unleashed their debut record, The Annexe. With riffs heavier than Chunk from the Goonies, the band’s skill at crafting a catchy melody or three proves they’ve clearly got the chops to inherit Kerbdog’s title as kings of the down-tuned slacker scene. But before we get to that, let’s talk coulrophobia. For the unenlightened, it’s the fear of red-nosed men in garish costumes (no, not Santa Claus). By featuring one such misunderstood circus performer on their cover, Fingersmith are invoking the spirit of serial-killer John Wayne Gacy and his pantomime faced alter-ego, Pogo.

“You can tell your girlfriend I’m sorry for scaring her,” laughs Fingersmith frontman Philip after I tell him that this writer has to keep the band’s album in a clear plastic case for fear of frightening my other half. “Funnily enough, the photographer was a bit apprehensive about taking those shots. We just went for it. We dressed one of our friends in a clown suit and brought him down to the playground, despite there being a load of parents there. The photographer, even after he touched up the photos, said the shots were really, really weird. He didn’t know if he should send them on or not. Fuck it – weird is good!”
There’s an undercurrent of oddness throughout many of Fingersmith’s songs (such as ‘Pogo’, ‘Freak Show' and ‘Class Clown’). Not surprisingly Philip reveals that it’s all to do with his interest in serial-killers.
“I find serial-killers really interesting. Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy fascinate me. From reading about them and looking at DVDs I thought Gacy’s story was a kinda cool subject matter, hence the album cover and the song ‘Pogo.’”
The LP was recorded in Derry with Fighting With Wire producer Neal Calderwood. The band have nothing but good things to say about the esteemed knob-twiddler.
“We made the whole thing in 20 days, mixed and mastered the whole lot,” smiles Philip. “Neal produced Fighting With Wire's album. We loved the drum sound. On top of that, he is incredibly efficient. There’s no messing around with sending tracks away and getting them mastered in another country. We literally walked out of the studio with the finished product in our hands. He’s probably the most hard working man I’ve ever met in my life. When he was tweaking things he could sit there for hours looking at the screen.”
Starting out life in Cork as Silo, the band decided to change their name to Fingersmith a few months ago. In many ways, it was like a rebirth for them.
“We had a few reasons for changing our name,” says Philip. “Silo was a band we set up in secondary school. It had about 400 different members over the years. Sometimes, when we were playing gigs, people would ask us for the older, lighter stuff we used to do. We wanted a fresh start. So we got rid of everything from the past. We officially changed the name during one of the last recording sessions with Neal. Our attitude was it's now or never. We were worried at first about changing the name because last year we did a 2fm session with Cormac Battle and released ‘Unlucky For Some’ as a single and got some great exposure from that as Silo. In the end, we decided to go for it and haven’t looked back since.”
Speaking of the former Kerbdog frontman, when Battle described Fingersmith as the best unsigned band in the world, it was confirmation for the lads that they were on the right track.
"We’re massive, massive fans of Kerbdog so it was good to hear him say something like that.”