The future is now

The day I meet Derry band Future Chaser at Dublin’s Pulse Studios, three of them have just received their A-Level results. Being the young rock stars that they are, however, they’re more concerned with whether the mixing of their new demos is going well. In the grand scheme of things, it’s not a bad complaint to have; the past few months have seen the young quartet as busy as ever, schooldays already a distant memory.
“We were supposed to be up in Derry to get the results,” lead singer Niall Doherty grins. “It’s supposed to be this big important thing, but we kept forgetting. Then when we got them this morning, we were like: ‘Great, yeah, results... oh shit, we’re late for the studio!’”
When Hot Press first talked to him a few months ago, a somewhat taciturn Doherty shyly told of his band’s journey through the 2fm School Of Rock competition, eventually being crowned winners at the ‘Battle of the Bands for school-goers’’ final in April. Today, sat around a table in the studio kitchen with his three bandmates is a confident and good-humoured young man who, by all appearances, is revelling in the rock star lifestyle.
“We’ve been working flat out, it’s been twelve hour days in here,” he claims when I ask how hard the quartet have been partying, “but fair play to us – we’ve got shitfaced every night. We rented out an apartment for five days, and it’s an absolute tip at this stage. Last night we ate out, and we thought ‘Is this just because we’ve run out of clean plates?’ When we go to leave, we don’t know whether we’re gonna clean up or just check out and run!”
“Nothing’s in its original position,” adds bassist Ryan McGroarty with a groan. “And Corn Flakes everywhere… So many Corn Flakes…”
If breakfast cereal and the odd drink remain the band’s only vices, they may well turn out to be the cleanest-living rock/punk act that this island’s ever produced – although they did have a chance to ‘live the dream’ when they brushed shoulders with the heavyweights at this year’s Oxegen festival. They drolly offer up anecdotes of sitting across from pop-punks Bowling For Soup in the catering area, watching them being offered bowls of soup.
“We got a good crowd,” Doherty proffers after the giggles die down, “but it was pretty scary, because there were about four people outside before we came on, so we thought ‘Oh shit!’. It filled up, though. It was a great experience.”
The Oxegen opening slot, like their recording time at Pulse and €5,000 to spend on equipment at Walton’s, was all part of the School Of Rock prize – and Doherty agrees that they’d recommend the experience to any young band thinking of entering. Indeed, the press inches and exposure in the Republic that they’ve received since their victory has proven invaluable.
“Northern bands like Fighting With Wire and Oppenheimer have been busting their ass for years, and they made it on their own steam,” he avers. “We’ve been very lucky – shit just keeps happening for us.”
“But we had no more advantage over anyone else,” differs McGroarty. “Anybody could have done what we did – there’s no magic beans involved or anything. The stuff that came out of the 2fm competition was great, but it was just as open to anybody.
One of the main changes it brought about was a name-change; the band formerly known as Organized Confusion are much happier with their new handle, which trumped suggestions like ‘Dead Cat Bounce’ and ‘Bucket Breath’.
“Our good buddy Smurf was upset, because he was owner of the one and only Organized Confusion t-shirt,” Doherty laughs. “We’re gonna bunch together and get him another one, though. Och, some people like it, some people think it’s crap. We’ve got a new problem now, though – people have started pluralising it or adding ‘The’ – ‘The Future Chasers’. We were playing a gig in Strabane and it made us sound like The Power Rangers on the poster, or something.”
For now, though, as Doherty and drummer Kieran Foyle prepare to leave for university in Belfast (the former to study psychology, the latter medicine – “Do you really want a man who infamously uttered the words ‘Med School is plan B’ as your doctor?,” laugh his bandmates), names are the least of their worries as their last summer of total freedom draws to a close. Is their new name to be taken literally, or will their rock dream collapse under a pile of textbooks and dorm parties?
“What we’ll probably do is start playing in Belfast more,” vows Doherty. “But it’s far from the end in terms of the band. Nope, it’s just the beginning, really.”

The 2fm School Of Rock 2009 competition launches live on 2fm on September 14 from 2 to 5pm. Future Chaser perform along with special guests The Coronas, and Larry Gogan will be giving full details on how to enter. For more see rte.ie/2fm/schoolofrock