Vibrations Once Again

There’s something very familiar about the sleeve design for John D’Arcy’s new single – the stark white background; the typeface; the song title at the top; the performer’s name at the bottom. Oh, and then there’s the well-known label logo. Yes, ‘Get Over Yourself’ looks very familiar indeed.

“My mum and dad have all the old Good Vibes 7 inch singles, including the green vinyl version of ‘Jimmy Jimmy’, and I just went through them all looking for the best design,” reveals singer-songwriter and eternal fan-boy, John. “But you really can’t go wrong with ‘Teenage Kicks’. It’s really stark, really simple. I looked at it and thought: ‘I’ll have that.’”
‘Get Over Yourself’ is the latest release from the re-energised Good Vibrations. And with all due respect to the acts Mr. Hooley has been helping with a leg-up over recent months, D’Arcy is the one who would look most at home in a family snap.
Not only is the song – a galloping, barely there, two and a half minute wonder - a knowing distillation of much of the label’s finest work, but D’Arcy, himself despite being in his early twenties, is fluent in Good Vibes lore.
“There’s a real history with Good Vibes in my family,” he says, “and I’ve always known who Terri was – long before I actually met him. I eventually gave him one of my CDs and he was over the moon about it. He told me I was going to be bigger than Van Morrison and that we’d both go off and rule the world. I was writing a lot of acoustic stuff at the time, so I didn’t really follow it up, but then I started to write power pop songs, and it seemed like the perfect time to hook up with him. I’m not punk, but I think there’s a kinship there. Definitely. ”
If ‘Get Over Yourself’ displays an O’Neill/Wheeler-esque fixation on Garageland-style dynamics, you’ll hear no apologies from John. If anything - he’s proclaiming his lineage from the roof-tops. History may show that power pop is the North’s default musical setting, but good luck to anyone looking for it over recent years.
“No one is really doing it at the moment,” he proffers. “Everyone seems to be writing noisy, instrumental music, which is fair enough – but it’s not me. I try not to think too much about how I write, but I went to the Primavera Festival this summer and it had a huge impact on me. Just watching all those bands playing live – seeing what worked for me and what didn’t. I don’t really know how to describe it, but I came home and wrote 10 songs in a few days. And they were all power pop songs. I don’t know how it happened, but I thought I’d better run with this.”
In the three years since we last met up with the guy, quite a bit has happened to John D’Arcy.
“Yeah,” he laughs, “University, singles, gigs – a lot of growing up really. I think people started to talk about me when I was a bit too young. It’s been a tough one to shrug off – everyone still assumes I’m 17.”
Happily - unlike many facing a similar predicament - John’s quest for maturity hasn’t seen him jettison the very thing that made him so promising in the first place.
“I think I’ve been gradually developing an aesthetic,” he reflects. “Realising what I like and what I don’t like. I’m into fairly traditional, classic bands – melodies, choruses, great chord progressions. So, it’s all about The Beach Boys, The Kinks and The Beatles. In fact, I’m a bit of a Beatles’ obsessive. But I also love pop music. I mean I’d rather listen to Katy Perry than Mumford and Sons. At least you’re going to get some interesting chord progressions. Great pop songs - that’s what I want to write. I’m not all that bothered about writing an album – I’m happy just putting out songs as I write them. Maybe when I’ve enough, I’ll release a compilation.”

John D’Arcy plays hometown Belfast shows in HMV (November 5 @ 5pm); Auntie Annie’s (8 + Casiotone For The Painfully Alone); and No Alibis Bookstore (19)