The Flower and The Glory

Gerry Norman and Ian McHugh share a secret they wish to confess. On stage with their fellow band mates from A Plastic Rose, the two Sligo lads (now happily ensconced in the midst of the Belfast music scene) may make for pretty convincing rockers, but dig a little deeper, and a less palatable truth emerges. A truth that, while grim, makes their current thriving condition even more heroic.

Whisper it, but both the poor souls are recovering singer-songwriters.
“I know, I know,” says Ian, “We’ve had a lucky escape. If we hadn’t formed the band, we could have been sitting around on stools doing the whole Irish acoustic thing forever.”
“Thank fuck for Damien Rice,” adds Gerry. “He came along and totally nailed it. Once someone nails it, you have to give up. There’s no point trying to top something like that, you’ve just to move on to something else. Like, I dug out a few tapes I made back then and listened to them recently. At the time I thought they were amazing, but they weren’t. They were dreadful.”
How to describe A Plastic Rose? Well, after playing a recent gig, Ian found himself in the venue’s toilet, listening in as a punter offered his own summation of the band.
“He was blocked and giving off,” Ian reveals, “And when he mentioned our name I was fearing the worst. But then he said to his mate that we were “a group that shouldn’t be good, but actually are good.’ And I thought: that’s actually quite a cool thing to say. I was made up.”
It may sound like a strangely backhanded thing to take pride in, but once you get to know their workings, it’s no surprise at all.
While Ian and Gerry have been writing songs together since 2002, and have been playing with a band under the Plastic Rose moniker for much of that time, it’s only since Christmas – with the recruitment of Troy Heaton and David Reid – that they feel a distinct identity has emerged. Listen to their latest Ben McAuley-produced EP, Photographs In Black And White (especially in comparison to their previous efforts), and you’ll get a perfect summation of their motivating ethic. Noisy, emotive, and with its heart beating and bleeding all over its sleeve – it’s a collection of songs that, while lacking dead-eyed cool, have no trouble convincing of their sincerity.
“People think we’re retro because we’re not ironic,” Ian reveals. “It’s apparently very 90’s to be into your own music. But that’s fair enough, we don’t mind. It quite nice being in opposition to that, I think. There are a lot of bands trying to be zeitgeisty, and everything about them – down to the haircuts – is calculated to be of the moment. We’re not bothered by that.”
“I don’t have the time nor money to buy clothes especially to wear on stage,” says Gerry. “I don’t know where a lot of these bands find the time. Any spare time we have, we’re writing songs. That’s why we look like we’ve wandered in off the street when we play live. I suppose we make people feel good about themselves.”
That the band could headline a gig at Belfast’s Stiff Kitten gives some indication that more and more people are hoping they’ll improve their mood. It also shows how well they’ve settled in their adopted hometown.
Do you feel like you’re part of the northern music community?
“Big time,” says Gerry. “It’s been wicked in so many ways. We’ve always felt a bit outside of things, certainly never thought we’d become part of a scene or anything like that. But there are just a load of good people, and a lot of great bands, you can’t help but get better being in the middle of it. I mean, we came here and saw Kowlaski, saw Panama Kings, saw The Good Fight – and it was a real slap in the face. It wasn’t just that they were better than us, they were younger than us as well.”
Ian agrees.
“I hate the attitude, ‘I’ll give it two years and then go back to college’. That’s not what I find up here. You look at the likes of Desert Hearts and Robyn G. Shiels, they’re prepared to do it for as long as it takes.”
So, career-wise you’re willing to play the long-game?
“Absolutely,” grins Ian. “We’ll both be happy working in coffee shops for years to come. Making a bit of money and putting it towards keeping the band ticking over. So, hopefully we can carry on doing that. Well, at least until the caffeine crunch hits.”

The Photographs In Black And White EP is out now. See www.myspace.com/aplasticrose