Wall Street

Try and do a little background research into Wallmark and you’d end up convinced that they were some sort of enigma, seemingly emerging out of nowhere to release their impressive debut album Everything, Something, Anything. As guitarist Dave Kennedy explains however, the band have followed the standard route since forming in Birr six years ago, recruiting (and losing) members along the way. “We’ve been gigging around for a long time but never really made a big splash,” he admits. “We took the time and wanted to make the album our way, so we raised the money ourselves.”

Along the way they’ve played with the likes of Damien Dempsey, Ann Scott, Paddy Casey and Hothouse Flowers – all well and good until you listen to the album and realise that they deal in fairly loud rock music and nothing even approaching what the above artists’ audiences might be expecting. “It’s very strange, it’s usually college things that we end up playing at. We got on OK but it is kind of hard. We’ll play to anyone basically, if there’s one person in the room listening then that’s worth it to us.”
Setting yourself up as a rock as opposed to an indie band over here these days seems to be something of a risky process, as Dave acknowledges. “It’s a question we’ve always been asked, what we saw ourselves as, and it’s always been as a rock act but after that I don’t really know. The indie thing has been thrown around a bit but I don’t think we’d be happiest being put into that. I listen to other stuff and it’s different for me at any rate.”
Which of course leaves the potential problem of your face not fitting into the current scene and the drawbacks that can bring. “I was talking to the owner of our record label and I was telling him that nobody in the Irish music scene really likes to see anybody else get on. That’s because loads of really talented and competitive musicians are fighting for such a small space. Bands like The Frames have got that sewn up and it’s very hard for other bands to come along and win people over. It’s a real good challenge though.”
For Wallmark the answer has been to set their sights further afield. Their record label, Crownn, has a roster that includes acts from Iceland, Germany and the US, and Dave and his colleagues are readying themselves for a year spent away from home. “We never really intended to stick around Ireland that long, even before we got signed. There’s more to music than just Ireland, even if it is a great place to be.”
One of the places the band are due to visit is the US, fitting given that that country’s music seems to have had such an influence on the band. “It’s weird because Joe and Padraig Digan (the brothers who formed the band) are massive Who fans and I’m a massive Led Zeppelin fan. We’re all big Pearl Jam fans but it’s fairly even between American and British bands. If some people can see some of that influence there it’s nice, but I don’t think that we pick anyone particular thing and go right, that’s where we’re going. A lot of bands are doing that and a lot of bands end up sounding the same. We set out to make a record of what we’ve been up to for the past year.”

Everything, Something, Anything is out now on Crownn Recordings