The Dave Rotheray Podcast

CPI Archive 2008: Andrew Hamilton spoke to Dave Rotheray of The Beautiful South about his new project, Homespun.

IF 20 odd years in the music business has taught Dave Rotheray anything, it’s the importance of control. Since the summer of 1989, when Paul Heaton asked him to join the fledgling Beautiful South, Dave has been one part of a big team, a musical company-man. It’s the natural order of things. Bands by definition are often more about compromise and conciliation than full creative freedom. And in bands, more often than not, you’re going to lose more battles than you win — doubly so when you’re the chief songwriter in a a band with two chief songwriters. Now, as a resurgent Rotheray prepares to launch his third album under the Homespun moniker, he holds all the cards. Despite the presence of heavyweight musicians such as Tony Robinson (Super Furry Animals), Claire Mactaggart (Portishead) and Gary Hammond (the Nina Simone band), things are finally getting done Dave’s way. “It starts with me on my own. I have a mate called Alan, who lives down the street from me, and when I’ve written something new, I play it for him on tape or whatever. That tends to be the song. I get all the others up for a weekend and they get all their bits down, including the singing of course,” he says.

CPIArchive2008 · DaveR2021

The Drugzilla Podcast

CPI Archive 2008

In early 2008, Andrew Hamilton spoke to London based Lisdoonvarna musician, The Human Jigsaw, about the massive success of his speedcore outfit, Drugzilla.  

LISDOON is famous for a lot of things. There’s the wells, drenched in the slow sticky stench of sulphur and chalybeate. Then there’s the matchmaking, with its dancing and cajoling, and the sweet molasses scent of the porter in the taps. Then, of course, there is also the real festival — the one with Christy and Rory Gallagher, and yes, I suppose, its fair share of porter too. The latest shot at success to emerge from Lisdoonvarna, however, is flavoured with the sickly sweet taste of Buckfast, and despite already boasting a huge worldwide audience, has gone largely unnoticed in Ireland. In the 12 short months since Lisdoonvarna duo The Human Jigsaw and Manimal came together to form Drugzilla, the pair have collected a huge following through Myspace, and all this before they play a single gig or release so much as an EP. “The whole thing has been a huge surprise. We started it as a laugh to just see how things would go and then, the next thing we know, there are more than 20,000 friends on Myspace and 50,000 listens. It’s great. We just have to see how far we can take it,” says The Human Jigsaw.

CPIArchive2008 · Drugz2021

The Pier 19 Podcast

CPI Archive 2008

IT’S tough carrying the weight of a town. But that how it’s been in Galway of late. Ask any Galwegian (imported or regular) what the City of Tribes means to them and they’ll likely as not name two things; the craic and art (and yes, maybe also the Buckfast). Yet for a place so synonymous with the arts, the music scene in Galway has lived a fairly charmed life of late. In the dark days of the ‘90s and ‘00s, cover bands ruled the roost, and the Galway scene began to fade — being replaced by Cork, Limerick and even Sligo as the music capitals of the west. Though things have started to improve, the people of Galway still await their musical messiahs. With just the Saw Doctors and The Stunning (and we all know where they really come from) to show by way of mainstream success, each great new musical hope has been saddled with 20 odd years of expectation. One such band is Pier Nineteen. “The Galway scene has definitely bounced back in the last few years. There is some good stuff around, some really good local bands. It’s been the strongest it has been since the days of The Stunning,” said Dave.

CPI-ARCHIVE 2007 · The Pier 19 Podcast

The Ken Bruen Podcast

CPI Archive 2008

BREATHLESS, he pulls his bike to the curb and glances one way, then the next. No one had seen, he was sure of it. With a school-girl giddiness belying each of his 30 odd years, Ken Bruen has a single moment of doubt — six times is enough. A seventh would just be vanity. Yet heedless of his own warning, he mounts his bike and pedals his way back down London’s Charing Cross Road. And there, as he knew it would be, centred in the Soho vista, lies the giant arched windows of Foyle’s bookshop. A sublimity in glass. “Shadows of Grace, a novel by Ken Bruen, I wonder what that’s about,” says an elderly woman to her husband. In that moment, Ken Bruen knew he had finally made it. But good news can travel slowly, and back home in Galway his father had other ideas. “I wrote my first novel when I was 26 and I’d say it sold about five copies. I wrote two more mainstream novels after that, which got good reviews but didn’t sell.

CPI-ARCHIVE 2007 · The Ken Bruen Podcast

The Balcony TV Podcast (2008)

CPI Archive 2008

The first time I met Stephen O'Regan he was rushing around a Dublin Hotel, fuming, ready to confront the judges who had not seen fit to shortlist his project, Balcony TV, for a Golden Spider Web Award. Over the next few years, with little or no help from the Irish tech, music of government communities, he and his co-founders built Balcony TV into an international music phenomena. After beginning to broadcast from a small Dublin apartment, Balcony TV is now broadcast from 65 cities all around the world. In early 2008, Stephen O'Regan spoke with Andrew Hamilton.

CPI-ARCHIVE 2007 · The Balcony TV Podcast

The Other Voices Podcast (2007)

In 2007, Other Voices was just starting to emerge as a major force in Irish music. In November of that year, Andrew Hamilton spoke to programme creator, Phil King,  about the concept behind the programme and what makes St James' Church in Dingle such a special place for musicians. Sadly, the audio of this interview has been lost. The original text of the interview is available on the link below. 

The Phil King Interview

The Grand Pocket Orchestra Podcast (2008)

CPI Archive: 2008

Early in 2008, Andrew Hamilton spoke to Paddy Hanna from up and coming Irish indie band, Grand Pocket Orchestra.

IF all philosophical arguments were solved through the medium of thumb-wars, the battle between Alexey Pajitnov and Paddy Hanna would be the pollex-grudge-match of the century. Imagine the scene: Pajitnov, sat in the very red corner, removes his ushanka and strokes his gristly beard thoughtfully. In the slightly green corner, Hanna is looking confused; confused and liking it. On one side, a Soviet inventor who used his love of order and all things rational to bring Tetris to the world. On the other, a musician who, along with his band, looked confusion square in the face and decided it really didn’t look that bad after all. It’s all happened very quickly for Grand Pocket Orchestra. Having first come to notice at last year’s Working Class Heroes, the Dublin four-piece have started to carve out a home for themselves in Ireland’s emerging indie-electronic scene. Last Friday saw the release of their debut EP, Odd Socks. Sounding angry, happy, sad and enthusiastic, the aim is to be amusing and entertaining in equal measure. “Our EP, well as far as I know, is all about confusion and fear, but expressed in a happy way. It’s kind of like pulp philosophising really - everyone is happy but we are all very confused ultimately," said Paddy. 

CPI-ARCHIVE 2007 · The Grand Pocket Orchestra Podcast