It's been a hell of a summer for Dublin trio Fangclub, with the release of their debut album and a support slot for Pixies at the Trinity Series. It's been a long road to here for the lads, including recording their first set of tracks in a studio that, according to frontman Steven, was "definitely haunted. Every time we'd go to sleep, doors would creak open. Windows would unlatch themselves. The whole place was eerily quiet, away from the rest of the world, and we entered this dreamscape the whole time we were there."
They weren't signed yet at that point, and even haunted studios don't come cheap. "We'd done everything backwards- recording an album's worth of material before we did anything else- it meant that when we got approached by labels who'd heard some of our singles, like "Bullet Head", and asked did we have anything more, we'd be able to whip out what we'd recorded."
"We were carrying around all these blank CDs with our 25 songs on them," recalls bassist Kevin. "When we showed that to agents, they'd just gasp at us."
Since signing with Universal, they've brought in John Davies, famous for his work with such bands as Royal Blood and The xx. "We thought we'd heard the songs before then, but when they were mastered, it brought a whole new dynamic to it," Steven enthuses. "Blew things out of the water."
From there it was onwards and upwards, as the band supported Pixies at Trinity Summer Series. "That was incredible," drummer Dara exclaims. "They're like our favourite band's favourite band. We never thought we'd get to see them live, nevermind getting to play with them."
Fangclub's debut album drops this Friday, August 4. Read the full interview in our current issue with The Coronas.