Episode 1 - Dan Lang

Welcome to Episode 1 of Conversations with Paul Cervi, the podcast which aims to have straightforward, honest conversations with interesting people. From all walks of life.

Today, I have the pleasure of being joined by Mr Dan Lang of Dublin, Ireland who is a member of the Irish band The Scratch.

We discuss Dan’s music journey, the history of The Scratch from initial formation to current success and life on the road as a touring band.

I hope you enjoy the show.

Follow Dan and The Scratch:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lango_drums/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thescratchmusic/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6BCpGC485tSshwjemmeAmd?si=3AbbmVSWQHmUp_1C4f7Gng
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheScratchIRE
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheScratchMusic/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thescratchmusic
X: https://twitter.com/thescratchmusic

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Transcript

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Introduction

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hi guys, welcome to episode number one of Conversations with Paul Chervy, the podcast which aims to have straightforward, honest conversations with interesting people from all walks of life. Today I have the pleasure of being joined by Mr. Dan Lang of Dublin, Ireland, who is a member of the Irish band The Scratch. We discussed Dan's musical journey, the history of the Scratch from initial formation to current success and life on the road as a touring band. I hope you enjoy the show. Mr Dan Lang, welcome to the podcast. How are you? Good man, how are you? Yeah, not bad, not bad, not bad. Um I appreciate the the time joining the the first episode of the uh of the podcast. Um maybe just a disclaimer to the viewer that myself and Dan know each other for for decades at this point. We we grew up together, uh next door neighbours in uh in Dublin, so uh so we know each other, we know each other well. Um I think Dan, if we if we just start by by taking us back to your early, you know, your early years, how you got started in the music industry, your kind of early music genre um interests, and maybe just a personal anecdote before I start, uh, in that I remember vividly the day, the first day you brought your drum kit, your first drum kit back, uh, and we're pla was playing in the in the shed in the back garden and we could hear it in in our house. And that was definitely uh a topic uh at dinner in the Cherby household that uh that was daddy, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:27

Daddy's means the gaps are stuck together. Um exactly, yeah, yeah. Back gardens are obviously joining as well, and it was in my drunk kit was in a shed that was in no way sound treated. Um yeah, true. So God bless you all. These are all very patient.

SPEAKER_00 1:44

We got we got we got used to it after a couple of years. But um, but yeah. I wouldn't have the I wouldn't have like I'd be too.

SPEAKER_03 1:57

With the loving sport of uh yeah of the new clan.

SPEAKER_00 2:01

Exactly, exactly. But

Origins of Dan’s music journey

SPEAKER_00 2:03

um but yeah, take us back to those early years, um Dan. I mean what was your kind of what are your first memories of of music in general and when did it start becoming something that you you th you you thought you could kind of pursue as a as a passion and as a as a career?

SPEAKER_03 2:17

My first mu uh my first memories are of hearing music. I have like a memory of when I was I want to say two years old and my I was my my mum was studying in college and I was living in a like house with herself and like uh her mates who were also students and I remember her mate coming home and I remember just reaching out for her head. She had headphones on, and I remember just reaching out for them and she put them on my head and I remember just being like consumed by I remember like you know, like the concept of like I hadn't experienced the concept of like I hadn't experienced the headphone experience up until that so I didn't know when you put headphones on you can't hear anything else, you know. And I remember just hearing music and I was so you know, I like I was so con consumed by it and I was like, what is this? And and then I had a a child mind there back then who had uh two sons and one of them used to take me up to his room and show me his like CDs and stuff like that. I can't remember what the tunes I'd love to know what the tunes were because I remember resonating with them so much, but that is like my first like my first memory is of listening to music. And so I always loved it. I always loved music. Like I remember being five and hearing Earth Song by Michael Jackson and asking me, man, to buy me a Michael Jackson CD, and I rinsed that CD. And then like so it music was just always something that I really resonated with, and then somewhere along the line I just got mad into the idea of playing drums, and the folks got me a bower on when I was 12, or when I was eleven, and then after about a year doing lessons with that, I convinced them to get me a drum kit, and then that's where that's when the That's where it all started. The drum kit came back to the game.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

Yeah, and indeed um what what age were you when you brought that the f the the first full drum kit?

SPEAKER_03 4:25

What age were you then I would have been that that was my thirteenth birthday, so I started playing drums when I was twelve and I was going to lessons and I had just a little practice pad and the folks were like, look, if you if you keep this up, you know, we'll think about getting a drum kit. And then I just stuck with it, I was like, I'll do whatever, you know. I was willing to do whatever it took to get a drum kit, and so I stuck it out and yeah, that was it. I was 13, my 13th birthday. Went into Walton's music and bought a an SX five-piece drum kit, and uh had like two cymbals and yeah, just took it back to the gaff. And it was just something that like it was the first time I had something in my life where I felt like oh I could I feel like I I could excel at this, you know. Like up until that point, like not very academic, average sports person, you know, like not like just wasn't didn't have the interest to have the intelligence to to you know pursue sports at a higher level, and so I just didn't really care either. And the music was the one thing where I was like, I I love this and I feel like I could be good at this, and so I was just determined to make it happen, really.

First band/gigging experiences, early metal days

SPEAKER_00 5:41

Yeah. And then so when you were so around 13, when you were, you know, got that first full drum kit, how long did it take for you to feel like that you were actually proper, well able to you know play the instrument well, that you were confident in your own abilities? Because I think you formed the first band you formed was around 2009, right? So you would have been like still a teenager, is that correct?

SPEAKER_03 6:03

Or I would have so I I I formed a band with my mate who I still play with to this day. I'd say I would have been 14, 15.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 6:12

Well, like we weren't gigging, we were just jamming in his in his folks gaff, and we'd write tunes, and I think we had like a talent show in the school, and I'd say I would have been around 16 then, and that was around the time I started doing like all ages gigs. There was a thing called Blast, which was this promotion company that did all ages gigs back in the day, and so we managed to get on a few of them, and then beyond that, like it was back then as well, it was tough to be under 18 and get a gig because it was all you know they were all in pubs, so not much was happening in the way of actual gigs back then, but we were always jamming, and then when I finished school, that would have been 2007, that's when we were of age, and then we started going to oh did you ever go to Fibbers?

SPEAKER_01 7:05

Yeah, once once or twice, yeah, yeah, yeah. Once or twice back in the day.

SPEAKER_03 7:09

I lived in there for like from about 18 to 21, 22, and that's where I found a bunch of like myself and your man Doc who plays in the band with me now, the fellow I would have started playing music with and a few others, that's where we would have found our tribe, so to speak, you know, like that's where we that's where we kind of found a scene, you know, like a metal scene within Dublin. And then from there, you know, we were in this band called Red Enemy, it was a metal band, and we would put on our own gigs there, and we play we basically just played fibers all the time, um, and then some shows around the country and that.

SPEAKER_00 7:50

And then sorry to answer, j just in terms of the forming that Red Enemy band, obviously that was like heavy metal, the genre was heavy metal. Did were you when you were playing with um you know 1516 when you were jamming, was it always heavy metal that you guys were actually playing? Had the genre kind of crystallised at that point that that was the kind of style of music that you wanted to you wanted to play?

SPEAKER_03 8:14

100%. I didn't I didn't really give much time to anything else at that point. I was very, very much a metal head because it was it's such a a vast universe, that genre, you know, there's so many subgenres within it. I guess the same could be said for every genre, but metal was the one that I gravitated towards, and I'd say like it went from like offspring paparooch, you know, like limp disc pastry. You know, I walked into secondary school, you know, first year just like with papa roach in my disc man for about a year, and then I started meeting like I became friends with a couple of lads in school that were into heavy music, and then they started showing me things like you know, Metallica, yeah, um, Pantera, Slayer, all the classics.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

And I actually uh now that you're you bring up Limp Biscuit, I actually just got a m memory came back to me there of going into your house with like a Limp Biscuit CD, and I think I pronounced was a Fred Durst, is that the the lead singer? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I think I pronounced his name wrong or something. He's like, you were like to me, you don't even know anything about Limp Biscuit, man, or something like that.

SPEAKER_03 9:28

I was such a I must have been such a gatekeeper, a classic metal gatekeeper. Like exactly I remember I do I have a memory of uh I feel like what's funny is like I just wanted more people to like me, you know. Like I like because I also remember I feel like you were listening to Metallica at one point as well.

SPEAKER_00 9:47

I think I was in a bit of a f yeah, Limp Biscuit definitely, because Limp Yeah um and they were that was when like WWF at the time was big uh in our generation and they were playing some of the soundtracks for like some of the pay-per-views or whatever. I think that's how I got into Limp Biscuit. Metallica for a bit, I remember System of it Down when they were big back then, weren't they? I remember a lot of the lads that we grew up with were big into that for a while, but that phase kind of we we kind of I think you were probably the own maybe the only one out of that, like the guys that we kind of lit on our road who stayed with it. I think a a lot of us had a phase with it and then moved on maybe to other musical interests, you know.

SPEAKER_03 10:28

I remember I I know what it is now. It was Undertaker used to come out to American Badass by K R then I found out that Metallica had actually written the original version of uh like the music to American Badass is actually a song called Sab but True. And I feel like I probably went to use and was like, you know, Undertaker's introduction. That's actually Metallica, and then I showed you the track.

SPEAKER_01 10:51

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:52

Yeah, I don't think anyone else on the road was listening to metal. I remember like wearing you know metal t-shirts and like foo-boo jeans and just getting slagged relentlessly. Yeah, I remember that. I just couldn't let go of it. I I was so I was so captivated by metal music for whatever reason. I just love the aggression of it there. It was just it was very it was very abrasive and extreme, and it just I guess it just suited where I was at mentally, you know, back then. And I just got more and more into it and went further and further down that rabbit hole, and I just kept looking for heavier and heavier bands. And then so naturally, like when when I wanted to start a band, that's what I wanted to do, you know. And then back then, like the only place we'd find metal was you know Fibra McGee's or Brooks L's, which I never went to. Fibre's was our spot, and uh yeah. So to answer your question, yeah, it was just like purely metal. Like I did have interest outside of metal, but I was too embarrassed to admit that back then, you know. Yeah, okay. So then I started branching out into different genres, and you know, sure, I listened to anything now.

SPEAKER_00 12:08

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Red Enemy

SPEAKER_00 12:10

And um, so when you initially formed, how long was Red Enemy um like actually a band? It was a couple of years, right? Um couple of years you were in that band.

SPEAKER_03 12:21

We did we broke up, I guess we never really officially broke up, it just kind of fizzled out in around 2015. So we did we did it for like 10 years, and we managed to get a record deal which brought us over to LA for two months, and we recorded an album there, and then we went touring around the US in the back of a van for two and a half weeks, just sleeping in Walmarts and just the classic, the classic stuff, you know, uh playing to two people a night and all that crack. And then came back, did an album launch, did one more tour, and then it just fizzled out because we were got we were hammering away for ten years and we just ran out of steam, we ran out of motivation and drive to to keep going with it, and I think it was like that coupled with the fact that you know in hindsight I know we just took ourselves too seriously, and we were just too you know, we were we were more focused on trying to market ourselves than actually write you know the tunes to back it up, and so it was it was never gonna really work out, you know, um because of that. But yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:32

Were you still I mean, even like you mentioned maybe some things you would have done differently, etc. But you still found some success with Red Emmy, right? You were still getting on shows and touring, etc. There was still a bit of success that you found at that stage, right?

SPEAKER_03 13:48

Oh yeah, like I mean success would be I wouldn't call it success, but we were gigging, you know, and we were integrating ourselves into the scene and and networking and getting to know people, and all all the while, like it was they were really formative years because although maybe the tunes weren't good enough to get us to the next level, we were honing our craft as musicians. Yeah so off the back of it, you know, I learned so much about music and my ability to play the drums, you know, um it went up quite a few levels just from trying to because we were trying to write like really technical, difficult stuff, and so in order to do that you have to practice and kind of get yourself up to the level where you can play it. So it was really important, it was there were really important years uh for us as players, you know, and though what we learned as musicians uh during our time in that band really helped, you know, us as musicians going forward onto you know projects. So it was like oh, it was classic. It didn't it didn't work out the way we wanted it to, but like it was ten years of absolute crack and just meeting somebody like uh like so many of my friends this day are people that I bet you know playing gigs. Yeah and then Red Enemy was also a band that like I guess showcased me as a drummer. So I ended up like I was a drummer in a metal band, but I was also trying to make a living as a musician, so I was playing with anyone and everyone, like from pop artists to you know funk bands and like anything like any if if anyone reached out and I reckon uh and I thought I could play it, I'd play for them. Do you know?

SPEAKER_00 15:34

So So you so you never did you actually have a I mean you were able to sustain yourself financially through all that period via music, you never had actual uh quote unquote real job during that time.

SPEAKER_03 15:46

Yeah, I so I was doing I was in college doing mechanical engineering, dropped out of that, and then went and did another course in communications. I finished that and then but with no real no real drive or to to pursue it, you know, um or to pursue anything in that field. So I was after college I was working full time in a shoe shop and I was just just getting cash just to figure out what I was gonna do next, and I was miserable, really, like just not like I am not a good salesman. So it's just like doing eight hours of sales every day, Monday to Friday, it was just killing me. So I got to the point where I was like, I don't care, I'm just quitting this job and I'll just figure out a way to make it work. So luckily back then the recession was in full swing, and everyone on their auntie was on the dole. So it was it was just uh the doll was a great way for musicians to you know get by and pre-up time to write more music because the cost of living back then was painless, like rent was nothing, you know, true. So I was competing. The downside of everyone being on the doll was that like if you're under 25 you didn't get the full doll. So I only got I was 21 when I quit that job and I got a hundred quid a week, and I think my rent was like two fifty a month or two seventy a month.

SPEAKER_01 17:12

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_03 17:12

So I was living on nothing but what I'd do is just give drum lessons or just take gigs wherever I could. But like two weeks after I quit that job was when I got my first tour offer, which was like to fill in for this punk band and do three weeks around America. So once I got that, I just took it as a sign and I never looked back really. But to say I could like I made a living, uh just like a bit of a stretch with your reach, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Great boy, but I didn't care, I was so much happier, you know. Like I didn't like there was at no point was I like I should probably go back to the shoe shop, you know.

SPEAKER_04 17:51

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:52

Like I just I was determined to make it work, and it was just gradually, you know, building it up and getting myself into a bit of a more secure place, you know, over the course of the next ten years, essentially.

SPEAKER_00 18:03

But it's still it still requires a lot of like when you're when you're when you're that age and you know it the kind of traditional Irish, let's call it, career path or career advice is you know, you're always getting told, what are you doing with your life, you know, what are you doing education-wise, you need to get yourself a trade or a profession, etc. For you to at that age have that kind of mindset of, no, I don't want to do anything else, I want to dedicate my life solely to this, uh I think that requires a lot of lot of courage and a lot of kind of maybe single-mind, like a it's a kind of a very yeah, single I suppose, mindset shift of what the traditional kind of career path teaches you in Ireland, you know?

SPEAKER_03 18:45

Yeah, I was extremely single-minded, you know, and I think because I I knew what it felt like to have to do something every day that I don't want to do in that we're all forced to go to school until we finish at 18 or whatever. And I hated it, you know, like I just it really wasn't for me. I wasn't academic, and then I feel like when you're when you're when you're not academic and you're made go s somewhere like school for the first 18 years of your life, it's just it's not fun, you know, and it really but I think it was actually a blessing in disguise and that it made me realise that you know no matter what, like it like I I I I knew what it was like to yeah, I knew what it was like to just have to do something I didn't want to do. So I was like, I'm never doing that again. Yeah, I'm just never doing that again. And like, yeah, I I guess I it did result in a lot of friction and conflict, you know, with like people that care that care about me, like my family.

SPEAKER_00 19:55

I was just gonna ask that actually, in terms of your your parents. I mean, were they kind of were they coming down hard on you at at that point? Were they or were they more of the supportive um type or was it a mix of both?

SPEAKER_03 20:07

No, they didn't understand why I'd be so h hell bent on doing something that was so uncertain. And so yeah, it was definitely a source of a lot of conflict. And it wasn't them just being I guess it it's unfair to say they were unsupportive because if anything they were just trying to support me, you know, they were just trying to support me. But at the time I just saw it as you don't you don't get it, you know.

SPEAKER_02 20:32

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:34

But like I just was hell bent on making it work because I was like, I I just had I I just I don't know, like I just had this belief that I could if I just stick at it, I'll get there, I'll find somebody that I can do this with or I can I can I'll I'll just figure out a path. And also I was just having fun doing it, you know, like it seems on the outside like when you're living on a hundred quid a week and you can barely afford rent, you can't you can't, you know, you things like you can't you you know if you get sick you can't go to the doctor because 50 quid that's fucking half your wages, like you know all these things, all these factors that would stress a lot of people out, they just didn't matter to me. What what was what was more stressful to me was the idea of having to commit to something for the rest of my life that I didn't want to do. And so it was an easy choice for me. And and then like you know, you get to a certain age and certain things happen, you know, you you reach certain milestones, you know, like the likes of you know, just when when Red Enemy did get a label deal and we went over to LA, like that was I think a turning point for my folks to just be like it was more of my mom really because she's a she's a school teacher, so she just knows, you know, yeah how far education can get it, you know, and if you do if you do take the third level level education route and you know progress from there, she sees you know, she sees the potential. That where she couldn't see the potential and where the route I was taking, so naturally enough, it was stressing her out. But I think when I got to that point, you know, I was 25 by then, and she was like, Do you know what? Like, fair enough, you know, it's not a phase, and you obviously really care about this. And uh I'm sorry for giving you such a hard time for it. Like in a support, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:24

You know, like they're they're I think the O lad just God bless him.

SPEAKER_03 22:28

Like, I think he was he was more of the mind to just let me do my thing, you know, and just let me figure it out before that. By that time, like I think they saw the potential in it, you know. See, you you gotta understand as well, like it wasn't like I was playing cold play, it was like metal, and it wasn't like it wasn't even like you know, WWF metal, it was like really extreme metal. So they they and and for them it just like how could you know the idea of making a given off that just didn't compete. You know, like that's that was like I fair play to me.

SPEAKER_00 23:07

When I think back now, like they just yeah, they uh sorry, one no, I was just gonna say it's actually very a lot of what you're saying there is kind of very similar to you know, you know, obviously now Conor McGregor who talks about when he was rising up in MMA and no one at the time really understood what MMA was in Ireland, only it was a very niche sport. I think you can probably apply similar logic to what you're saying about metal in the sense that maybe if you were in a more kind of mainstream genre, you know, the people around you would have maybe understood it more. But metal in Ireland is is am I right in saying it's a pretty a pretty niche, pretty niche genre, and maybe they didn't a lot of people couldn't understand why you would go into that actual genre as opposed to more traditional, you know, mainstream types. 100%, yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_03 23:59

And as well back then, you know, the biggest goal was to just try and get a gig outside of Ireland, like a lot of a lot of you know Ireland swallowed up a lot of great bands because it's you know, yeah, the internet was around, but it just wasn't it wasn't it was a platform that wasn't utilised the way it is now, you know, it just it was a different landscape back then. So just trying to get people to know who you were outside Ireland was a huge uh was a huge graft. So to even get like a tour, gigging outside Ireland was just yeah, it was really it was uh it was very tough. And then like you know, back then I feel like Ireland and Irish music the nowadays is a lot more popular on a global scale than it was back then. Not to say that there was no Irish bands getting out of Ireland back then, but it was nowhere near on the scale that it is now, you know. So yeah, it just wasn't a viable career, you know. You were like people just think you're mental trying to be a metal, you know?

SPEAKER_01 25:10

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Forming The Scratch

SPEAKER_00 25:11

And then um so then take us then to when you when Red Enemy kind of fizzled out, and then what was the kind of time frame there when Red Enemy was kind of slowly fizzling out and then forming the scratch? Because I believe you formed the scratch with three the three of Red Enemy members, including yourself, went on to form the scratch. I mean, was that a a kind of seamless transition from one band into the next, or was there a big gap there in terms of the timelines or it was there was a bit of a crossover so around the end of Red Enemy's time, I was I just wanted to learn to sing.

SPEAKER_03 25:57

I was always curious to give it a go, but I was too afraid, I was too scared to even sing to myself. So Jordo, one of the lads in Red Enemy, was in a similar boat. He was like, I'm gonna learn to sing as well, but I'm also terrified of the idea of doing it. So we decided to we were living together at the time, and we decided to learn this song called Gold by oh I always forget the name of this, the International. Um it's not the international anyway, that doesn't matter. It was a it was a song called Gold, and it was harmonised the whole way through. So we'd be singing together the whole way through. And so we learned that and we started singing, started practicing singing, and then the guitar, the tuning. This is not to get too into the weeds about this, but like he had to tune the guitar a certain way uh to play this song, and so one day I just walked in and I just heard him jamming on this particular tune, and he was coming up with these nice riffs and stuff, and I was like, What's that? And he was like, I don't know, like I've just been noodling around, and so I was like, Here, give us a sec, and I just whipped out a cajon, which which I'd gotten as a gift uh a couple of years prior, and we just started jamming these riffs, and immediately we were like, Oh, there's something here, you know, and so we got we got the other two lads involved. Uh one of the other lads was in Red Enemy, and then just a friend of ours, Pete's, got them down jamming, and that's that's that's how the scratch formed essentially was in our kitchen. But red enemy were still we were still c we had like a couple of gigs left. So they were we were still technically a we were still a band. Um but then like once we once we discovered this thing um which became a scratch, we were just fixated on it. Um we started just kind of focusing on that. And then it wasn't a case where we were like, alright, red enemy's done now. It just kind of got forgotten about. We were just like, ah, you know, I'm way more excited about this.

SPEAKER_04 28:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:01

Let's just pursue this. And also it was just a lot of fun. It was really like it was well within our capabilities as players as well. So it was just a lot of fun. There was a lot of wiggle room to jam and improvise, and it was just it had all the elements of crack, you know.

SPEAKER_00 28:15

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:17

This is just what I'm after, you know.

SPEAKER_00 28:19

Yeah, but it's a bit it was it's a big I mean if if you listen to uh Red Enemy, you listen to a red enemy gig and then you go to the scratch gig. I mean, there's this it's quite it's quite different in terms of obviously you've maintained some of the kind of let's call it heavy metal slash punk rock, let's say, sound, but there's so much more a lot of the I mean there's a no drum kit, for example, you use a I'm sorry, can I just say this? How do you pronounce because it's a Spanish word, right? Cajonic, doesn't it? It means bot yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Or drawer or drawer, yeah. Um but when I saw it first, I'm like, should should I pronounce this on the episode as cajon or cajon? I'm not sure which uh which uh which Dan uh which pronunciation Dan uses. I'm gonna go with cajon.

SPEAKER_03 29:08

If you call it a cajon, then it that's because if I that's like me con uh going to the cafe and getting a flatweight and a croissant, you know what I mean? Like I just it's a croissant, a cajon.

SPEAKER_00 29:20

Exactly. Um but yeah, so obviously, yeah, the talk to me a bit about that in terms of changing from like changing the the sound and the genre from one to another. Was that a was that well maybe you've kind of answered it already in the sense that you just kind of stumbled across this particular sound and you really enjoyed it and and went with it.

SPEAKER_03 29:43

Is it is is it is it as as simple as that or yeah I think well it was a happy accident, but then we like when you're a metalhead, and this applies to any honour, like if you're this is my theory now, but like if when you're a metal head and all you listen to is metal, and then you start a metal band, you're quite you're you know, it's not that you can't be original, but you're you know it's it's more of an uphill battle because you're kind of putting a hat on a hat, you know. Whereas if we stumbled across this different format, uh you know, acoustic guitars and a cajon, and we just applied what we'd spent our whole musical careers up until that point. Uh we applied what we learned from that, you know, metal to the this this setup, and that's what was really exciting about it because it was just this fresh thing, you know. It wasn't like we'd spent 20 years listening to Damian Rice, and then we picked up the acoustic guitars and started trying to write cannonballs. Like, you know, it was just like, oh, we're a metal band, but we're playing these acoustic guitars. This is just mad, and to add to that, it was this uh specific tuning which just inspired uh this whole fresh thing that we'd never even considered before. So when we landed on it, we were like, Oh, there's something here, like we can apply, yeah, like essentially what I said, just yeah, a bunch of metal heads playing acoustic instruments, like something interesting's gonna happen there, you know, and it did. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And we and the other thing as well was our attitude towards it. We were we weren't motivated to make this big career out of it. We weren't trying to we weren't trying to get a deal or record an album, we were just like so excited about how much fun it was because it felt like we'd stripped all the crack out of being in a band by being in this metal band that we really really wanted to make work, you know. So we were we were so jaded with taking ourselves seriously that we were like, let's just like we had this motto where we were like, don't overthink anything, you know, we'll just take action. And you know, so the first thing we decided to do is like I'd done a bit of busing up until this point with like various other musicians just to make you know to add to my 100 quid a week, you know, and so I was like, We should go buskin, lads, it'd be really easy. Uh it's a really simple setup, it's just acoustic guitars um and a cajon. And so we started doing that, and we instantly started making money. Like big crowds started because like like all of us had like hair down to our shoulders at this point, so it was just a bit of a striking image in itself for long-haired scruffs on acoustic guitars, like playing this high-energy acoustic music. Like it just it really it attracted a lot of attention, you know, and and we were getting paid, you know. We were like, Yeah, yeah, we can do an hour on the street and we'll get 400 quid, you know. It was like we'd never we'd never um we'd never experienced that before. So we just ran with it, you know. We were just like, right, let's just go busking all the time. And so then we started like I had this old forward focus estate, and I'd just drive us to like we'd like drive out to Galway, or we'd you know, go to we'd just go to wherever, just set up and busk until we got shut down, or you know, or until you know we ran out of steam. And then we uh and then we went up to the I heard about I had always wanted to go to Rory Gallagher Festival. Have you ever heard of that?

SPEAKER_00 33:20

No, can't say that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:23

Yeah, yeah. So he he is there's a festival um hosted by up in Bally Shannon every year up in Donegal and uh basically just a bunch of bands playing Rory Gallagher covers. But somebody somewhere along the line told me, like, here you can go and busk there. So I was like, lads, let's just drive up there, go busking, and uh, you know, it'll pay for our weekend. So we went up and we, you know, uh set up outside this bus station, started busking, had great crack, like just start bus busked at interval, you know, various intervals all throughout the weekend, just to pay for the weekend essentially, and had the time of our lives, and

Momentum begins

SPEAKER_03 34:01

then came back on uh the following weekend, and then we realised somebody had taken a video and posted it on Facebook, and it was kind of going, it was you know getting a lot of attention. And then um from there, that's when we started getting approached for gigs, and then it just kind of snowballed from there.

SPEAKER_00 34:18

Yeah, really. What what what time what year would that um the Roy Gallagher Festival have been in?

SPEAKER_03 34:25

That was 2016.

SPEAKER_00 34:28

Oh right, okay.

SPEAKER_03 34:29

2016, and uh yeah. And we got like asked to do a gig in Wheelings. It was like, we'll give you 500 quid and it's free entry. And we were like we were hesitant to do it because we'd never gigged the band before, and it wasn't really set up, it was set up for buskin, it wasn't really set up for you know gigging in a venue. So we reluctantly said yeah, because we were like, who's gonna come, like you know? Wheelands is like a 450 cap venue, like why would we and up until that point, like we were paying in metal bands, so to the idea of trying to fill a 450 cap room was just like not even you know we we we'd never done that, you know. So we were like, why would we do that? That's that sounds insane. And then we played the gig and it was packed, and we we couldn't believe it. And then so then we were like, all right, well then you know, then the gear started turning, and we were like, alright, well maybe we should try and start keeping this then and yeah, you know, and that was

Transitioning from drums to the cajón

SPEAKER_03 35:36

it really.

SPEAKER_00 35:36

And what um just to go back to the the Cajon instrument, I mean in terms of you being able to play that, how quickly were you able to make that transition from you know full heavy metal drummer to playing that instrument? Because I know it's a let's call the form of a drum, right? But it's still a completely different I imagine it's a different requires a different skill set, etc. So did it take you long to make that transition so you're actually comfortable playing that instrument and as opposed to playing the the drums?

SPEAKER_03 36:09

There was like a lot of what you learn on drums can be applied to it. There's a couple of things like I guess that took a little bit of getting used to, but like if anyone anyone that plays drums they sit down at a cajon for you know a couple hours, you know, they'll get the hang of it. You know, it's not getting it's much more like yeah, it's a it's it's a lot more it's a lot simpler, you know, uh in that you're mainly you're just using your hands, so you don't have to deal with like you know um learning independence between all four of your limbs, you're just working with two limbs, you know. There's a couple of things that you know that take a little bit of getting used to, even just like yeah, using your hands, whatever, but nah, it's it's you know it's a much simpler instrument to play, really. You know, if you're a good if you're playing drums long enough, like you'll be able to play what you learned at home, no bother.

SPEAKER_00 37:02

And you you um because I've seen some of your like in some of your live performances, you're using like shall I use the word sticks to actually um play instead of that? How how do you actually what is the kind of thought process that goes into what you actually use, whether it's your hands or an actual you know physical object to hit the the cajone itself? It's say that again. So the what is what is the kind of thought process that goes behind you for one song you might be using your hands to play to play the instrument versus using an actual physical object like a stick or a mallet or something like that?

SPEAKER_03 37:39

It was early for practical reasons. I was playing with my hands, I'd say for maybe the first two years, uh maybe longer. Yeah. Maybe that yeah, the first couple of years anyway, and the thing with using your hands on a on a wooden box is that if you hit it wrong once you can bruise, you know, a part of your finger, and then from that point on you're just hitting a bruise over and over again. So you can it can just become really painful. I mean, if you're playing for a couple of days in a row or a couple of hours in a row, your hands just that was actually absolute King Charles hands, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 38:18

And yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:19

I just after a while I realized that I couldn't sustain it. And I was also hearing you know horror stories about like conga players not being able to hold a pen, you know, in later years, okay. Yeah, their hands were just going in. So I during a writing session, I started using these sticks because my hands were in bits, and then I realized actually maybe this is the way, and so I just started using sticks all the time from that point on. Okay, and you can whack the stick, you know, you can whack the drum with the stick a lot harder than you can whack with your hands, bare hands, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, I was like, I want to be able to use these things when I'm 50, you know.

SPEAKER_00 38:57

Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course, of course.

Impact of COVID 19

SPEAKER_00 38:59

Um, so then in terms of the scratches, am I right in saying that it was during COVID that you guys really I suppose moved on to the next level in terms of awareness and kind of general success? That would have been around the time that you released your your first album, right? 2020 2021 time, is that correct?

SPEAKER_03 39:20

Yeah, we were like COVID knocked the wind out of ourselves big time because that just before COVID, I'd say like, you know, the year leading up to COVID was when we really started kind of going for it. You know, we were like, we should try and really make this work. And we recorded an album, and then we were we were doing a bunch of Irish festivals, and then we'd sold out our first Button Factory, and that was like a huge thing for us. That was like in November 2019, and there was a lot of hype, you know, around the band at that point. Well, like for us, it it seemed like a lot of you know this is the most attention any of us have ever gotten in a band, you know. And so we were buzzing off that, and then off the back of the Button Factory gig, we'd we'd uh we uh announced a gig in the academy and it sold out in four days, and we were like, What you know, we couldn't believe it.

SPEAKER_00 40:22

We what was the capacity, what was the capacity of the the venue?

SPEAKER_03 40:26

I think the academy is 950.

SPEAKER_00 40:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 40:28

So we were like, this is insane. Like we this is so far beyond anything we've ever achieved before. And just the fact that it sold out in such a short space of time was just so we were like really excited. We just had recorded this album, we're set to put it out, and uh we and then lockdown happened, and then it just like just we did like a stream or two, but like um it just took the wind out of ourselves because we never got to do the Academy Geek. And then uh yeah, so it was like we were so close to just kind of like I think like in our minds we were like, alright, well then we'll do the economy, then we release this album, and then we'll just start touring internationally, and it's just gonna keep building. Because like you're on a you know, you you you get a wave and you just you want to be able to ride the wave, and it just felt like yeah, we we didn't get the opportunity or opportunity to, and then uh but then I guess COVID, you know, as as you know yourself, like they kept moving the goalposts, you know, every six weeks you'd be told, like, oh no, the restrictions are still there, and it just felt like this we were just like it just felt like we were never gonna get out of this thing, so we just you know, yeah, we just uh went on a bit of a a break just to see, you know, where this whole thing would end up, and then um somewhere along the lines coming out of COVID, we were like we went down for a writing session in um there's a place called the Beekeepers down in Clare, and we decided to go down there and just spend a week writing music, and then that was when the restrictions actually got lifted. And uh and then like it was a short time after that, that's when we decided to go full time because I think we felt like we'd lost two years and we were so like we were so eager to get back playing music and gigging again that we just decided to go full whack from that point on.

SPEAKER_01 42:19

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:20

Okay, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_02 42:21

And it was like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:24

And I I can imagine it must have taken you guys a lot of kind of strength to maybe be able to get over that because it's so many businesses went out of like a lot of startups and stuff went out of obviously went out of business during the restrictions. It's it's kind of one of those things where you think, why, why is this happening to me type of um type of thought, you know?

The Scratch’s first record deal, experiences with record labels

SPEAKER_00 42:45

Um so when did you had you signed so when was the first record um deal? When did the scratch sign its first record deal? Was that post-Covid?

SPEAKER_03 42:56

It would have been post-COVID maybe 2023 or something. Like we got we so we you know, coming out of COVID, we were just dying to gig, and we decided to go full time then and we started just going for it, and then we were writing music all the while as well, and then we started going into the studio um to put together another album, and it was just around that time that Sony approached us and they were like, Do you want to do I don't know, was it they were I feel I don't know if they were already you know sniffing around by that time or if they we'd recorded the album and they heard it and they were like we'd like to put it out. It was one of those two anyway. But I'd say twenty two twenty three.

SPEAKER_00 43:46

Okay. So that would have been the first album that they had listened to, or was that the sec had the second album?

SPEAKER_03 43:52

Okay, sorry, we we put out so we recorded our first album in the lead up to lockdown and then when lockdown happened would have been March 2020, wouldn't it? We just decided to put the album out. Uh just I guess as a yeah it was just like something for people to listen to while we're going through all this kind of thing was the was the idea. So that was the first album. We just we put that out ourselves. And then uh the second album was the one where we got signed and uh that would have been geez I can't remember more it must be like 2022 maybe. Yeah that would make sense 2022 or 2023 is when it came out.

SPEAKER_00 44:32

But um yeah and that must that must have been like when you actually signed the actually did Sony did they approach you like did you have like a manager or a kind of agent at that point or did Sony directly contact yourself and say you know we're interested in in signing the band?

SPEAKER_03 44:49

No so we have a booking we had a booking agent and a manager at that point. They came along around 2018 2019. Sorry the the manager he's been with us since uh he has been with us since 2017. Oh right and then uh an English booking agent flew over to see us in Belfast I want to say maybe 2018 and he he just came over and was like here look I just I think it's our class I just want to start booking his and we were like right sweet and then he's been with us since as well he's a legend he's just I guess yeah uh he's fought for us ever since to try and get us on various festivals around uh Europe and the UK and whatnot but like so we had a small team at that point and so Sony would have reached out to Amo our manager and Amo got in touch with us and he was like um Stony Ireland want to potentially sign his if he's interested and so you went in and had a meeting with them and we were like cool and then uh put the put the album out and what um I mean that must have been was that kind of a pinch yourself moment for the for you like personally and collectively as the band was that maybe the time where you thought to yourselves wow like we we are actually you know capable of making this work and becoming a you know a full on mainstream band I think we were more sceptical at that point because we weren't you know when we signed a record deal with Red Enemy back in 2014 it just kind of fell to shite and Roman was a bit of a he was a bit of a cowboy and so we had a bit of a bad taste in our mouth with regards labels and the industry as a whole which was kind of like the catalyst for starting the scratch so yeah okay it was actually like a bit it was met with more skepticism than anything we were kind of just like I don't know if it's plus these Sony like what can they really do like you know and so that um like they were like we'd like to put out the album on you know said date and we were like no we want to put it out here and they were like well we think it would be better and we were like yeah we don't care we want to put it out in this day we were just like flows off we were just like let's just use this label to help us distribute the album and not really weren't really open to their advice at all and and it didn't really do much to be honest.

SPEAKER_00 47:21

So then like the last time like uh we had a two album deal with them so the last album which we put out um by the time that came around we were like we'd established a relationship and a rapport with the labels and so we were like alright let's just listen to them and turns out you know what they're talking about you know yeah I was gonna say like Sony you know Sony is a bit is a massive I'm not sure like the link between Sony record label and you know Sony who actually manufactures equipment and all of that type of stuff but um it's obviously a very very mainstream name right so I'm kind of it's interesting interesting that you had that scepticism towards such a kind of um let's call it blue chip name in the in the music industry yeah we were we just had so much distrust for anyone outside our circle and I guess we had our reasons but we were also you know it wasn't it wasn't the smart move to not listen to the label you know and thankfully we learned that lesson you know that you know the first time around so that when it came time to doing the last album you know we were all ears and like we went along with decisions that we really didn't want it you know it like you know pushing things back I think I you know the a label will now there's there's bad there's good labels and bad labels but like you know if you're with a good label and they give you a certain timeline you know it's for good reason you know they need to set everything up they need to build a story around the album they need to you know if it's all if you're gonna put your heart and soul soul into an album over the course of a year two years whatever it is and then you just fuck it out it's a waste of time you know yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah you know you want to give you wanna give it the best chance it has and in uh you know so like so yeah it's it and that just requires time you know you have to be patient and if the labels are where they're solved like you know they'll make a good you know if the if the music's good as well you know the music has to resonate it's a win it's a win-win for both parties right if if the music is good and they can see potential in it then they're gonna work I imagine to the benefit of you guys and it's kind of a uh a partnership in that in that way you know yeah and they just you know over time we realise that I know they're sound you know yeah they're not trying to pull the root from under us you know like it's like yeah they they know what they're talking about it's worth listening to them let's just go with it you know are you still are you still signed with them now we just finished that contract so it was a two album deal I think it was anyway and but I know yeah so this next album we haven't started writing it yet but we're gonna we're open to you know another deal with them but we're also gonna see what else is out there you know as well like naturally like should they you know uh that's just how it goes you know we're we're gonna just see what but like I have to say like just the the relationship we built up with that label is is great you know they're sound um they're good people and um so I'd definitely be open to doing another deal with them you know yeah yeah yeah and do they manage I mean in terms of the actual production so the the album that you released this year do they is it them who organises all of the the the the production element and actual like the the shooting of the videos and all of that type of stuff is it is it principally those guys who manage that process or is there another organization that gets involved in that in that work um there so they supply a budget and then they look after distribution and they are also uh a source for you know um I guess it's it's the the people in their Rolodex you know like uh when it comes to when it comes to PR marketing and stuff like that. They just have they have the contacts that you need you know whether it be like on radio um what various media outlets you know so uh and it's like it you know the a label will I guess I'll not give you the keys that were but just like give you yeah like put you know link you up with all these people that will help you get this album to as many people as you can essentially budget distribution contacts you know so when when for example so I know you guys have been on the late late show um and any non-Irish listen well any Irish listener will know how big of a deal that actually is um it's the longest running chat show in the world I believe so that's uh interesting I think I I don't want to be 100% certain on that but I believe it is yeah longest running chat show in the world I think uh I hope I don't I don't I don't prove to be uh completely wrong there but I think it is um but um yeah in terms of like getting on that late late show I think you guys have been on it twice have you as I is that right twice on the late late show we did I think we did it what no we did the I I know we did the late late once on the last album I think this time around we did the Tommy Tieran show I think that's what I was okay okay okay yeah but in terms of enabling you guys to get on that and I know the Netflix series House of Guinness uses your like a your tracks in the in the show is that something that Sony will facilitate is that something that they kind of roles that they've unlocked for you guys as well is that one another benefit I suppose would be signed to such a label so Sony would have sorted RT yeah uh House of Guinness is done by publishing companies so we have a publishing deal with uh company called Evolving and they look after anything on the you know TV front you know like if you if you want to get synced for an ad or a TV show or a film that's through publishing so that's a separate entity.

SPEAKER_03 53:51

Okay. Um yeah so they would have got House of Guinness so like I think they were yeah they would have been they would have been approached for House of Guinness and then what is it we've done yeah any kind of anything that we've been featured on would have gone through them.

SPEAKER_00 54:07

Okay interesting yeah yeah

Live experience of The Scratch

SPEAKER_00 54:10

um in terms of obviously one of like when I was just kind of preparing for this interview I've been watching a lot of the like gigs that are on YouTube live like you know short videos live um live performances etc and something that keeps coming up from like fans and YouTube comments for example is how how intense and energetic your live shows actually are that seems to be like the one of the big kind of um positive or one of the points that resonates a lot with fans and has been one of the real core reasons why you guys have achieved such such success. Is that maybe a kind of something that just was natural to you guys after the heavy metal days where obviously most heavy metal bands will have that kind of high octane energy in a in a live environment is that something that you think is has just come naturally from the the fun the kind of formative years in in Red Enemy?

SPEAKER_03 55:11

Ah 100 100% like the and then we were also throughout that whole period of uh Red Enemy sorry now lads coming in here throughout that whole period of Red Enemy we I was also playing in a bunch of hardcore punk bands uh in the scene as well and I would have been torn with them and like those gigs I don't know if you've ever been to one like have you ever heard of that band Turnstyle no unfortunately not no but like they they'd be one of the more mainstream hardcore bands these days but the gigs are insane it's like it's a sea of people stage diving and then there's like you know obviously a mosh pit but it's just absolute chaos and we spent all our you know we we we were just in that world for ten years prior to the scratch so then yeah we start a band you know naturally we're just gonna start yeah yeah yeah and um yeah it's just been something that we buzz off you know we really enjoy when people feel comfortable letting loose and what's interesting about the scratch is that you know we came from the hardcore punk metal scene where it was just a given that everyone would be going mental and motion and stage and stuff like that. Whereas then we started playing this music that was kind of accessible to you know people everyone from like metal heads to casual music listeners to like people in their 50s and 60s just all coming to the to our gigs and they're finding themselves in this environment where people are just you know there's certain people in there that you know that are from the metal and hardcore world and they're uh just going 90 in the crowd and then so it's kind of just like what it's what's what's lovely to see is how infectious it is like you see people who would have never been in a mosh bit in their lives like 10 minutes later with their top off swinging it around it and it's it's class to see. So something that we've it comes naturally to us because we've spent so long in that world but um yeah so it's just it I feel like it's it's just always going to be an element that's there.

SPEAKER_00 57:17

I feel like you know those gigs are just our favorite you know like the more chaotic the better you know and it's all it's all fun like it's it's just it's there's there's no um it's a place to let off steam like you know I think that the goal is just to have people leaving the gig feeling somewhat lighter mentally than they were when they went in you know and uh part of that is just getting the top off and jumping in off stage you know I need to yeah yeah yeah I need to get myself to one of these gigs I'm gonna have a look at your uh your schedule for the rest of the year I'll try and uh try and experience this live uh this live live uh gig experience that everyone is kind of um raving about would be pretty pretty cool um are you in how long are you in uh Vietnam for probably another two months or so I'd say um yeah depends on how it goes I'll see see how the rest of the next few months go but um I think are you are you in the UK and Ireland at all towards the back end I think I had a look at your tour you're in Europe right towards the the winter winter months is that right we're in Europe we're all out yeah like it'll be festival season uh this summer we're doing EP I think is the only Irish festival we're doing um and then we're doing a bunch of Irish headliners in September I believe okay uh we're doing our biggest Dublin headliner on July 4th in the Ivy Gardens and then the other Irish headliners are going to be September and then we're doing I think Europe after that but um yeah man if you're ever around yeah yeah definitely definitely definitely should buzz down

Physical challenges as a live performer

SPEAKER_00 58:56

yeah can I just ask a question just in terms of the um the actual stamina so when you're playing uh I mean how how how long would a your usual live gig last for an hour hour and a half hour and a half would be a headline set roughly you know we we kind of we love we love uh an hour and twenty hour and twenty five I feel like is the sweet spot but yeah hour and a half and in terms when you're obviously like when you're playing that uh cajon and you're you know it's such a intense activity the stamina actually go through a gig like that especially when you're indoors and you know it's a hot closed off venue is that something that you just build up over the course of playing that type of music for whatever it is 15 20 years um or is it something that you can actually that you need to prepare for when you're in the periods that you're not actually doing the the live gigs?

SPEAKER_03 59:52

I'd say there's an element of well I'm sure like spending my whole life playing this kind of music has definitely conditioned my body in some way but if we take two months off and I come back and I do the first the first show is definitely like I'm feeling it you know oh well okay yeah definitely have to like build the fitness back up. It's like it's like going to the gym and then you don't go for two months then you go in and hit the bench and you're like you're down five or ten kg or whatever like it's it's it's the same but you do I think maybe because I've been playing this for so long you know I'll build it back up quick enough. But yeah it's physically like it's a lot you know like there's some gigs where you know we're playing in hotter climates and it's like there was one gig we did in Melbourne and we were jet lagged like jet lagging Australia I don't know if you've been out that way I've never been but I can imagine yeah yeah log out that way is a different beast altogether and we were uh it was unbelievably hot and we were playing this called Howler and it was packed and I towards the end like I just remember just feeling so dizzy and lightheaded and I just called at tech to just bring over a bottle of coke I was like I just need to get sugar or something into it.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:06

Yeah yeah yeah yeah the last two tunes and I had I just bounced I had to go back and just go to bed so we're sometimes but like that was down to like bad diet bad sleep you know and like first gig of the tour it was just like the threat of uh you know bollocks and uh yeah I remember I was going through your Instagram the other day actually and I saw I don't know when it was a couple of years ago and you're well you were do you're playing the drum so it was probably during the red enemy days and uh your caption was something your top was off your caption was something like ran out of t-shirts on this tour or something else you just like completely dripping dripping with sweat you know what I mean no wonder you were fairly shredded in the actual uh in the actual picture yeah like ruining t-shirts like this sweat like you're a sweater like like that's yeah like and the thing is as well like you can't this is gross but this is just the reality of tour like I like I'll wear a t-shirt and I'll it'll be ringing wet and then I'll just hang it up on a hanger and go and put that t-shirt back on and say sweat on sweat so by the time you get to the end of a tour that thing is for the bin like you know it's just yeah yeah yeah but it took me a long time to realise that you know if you hang up the t-shirt if you hang the t-shirt up you can use it again the following night so I used to just like throw it in a pile in the in the in the corner and then pick it up like ring and wet teacher and just pull it back on the next day. Yeah so yeah

Life on the road as a touring band

SPEAKER_00 1:02:33

that actually that actually brings me on brings me on nicely to I think the the kind of uh one of the last topics I want to touch on j just in terms of like practicalities of life on the road like travelling the world as um as a touring band I mean the kind of the the I suppose idea in my head of the rock and roll the lifestyle party lifestyle on the road is that something that you guys partake in or maybe you know when you when you first started out you did more of or is it something that you have you become more health conscious in the last couple of years or talk to me a bit about that in terms of your experience living that lifestyle when you are um on the road yeah like definitely you know growing up watching bands watching their like tour DVDs and all that stuff you know it's all you know they're all sending it and it's great crack and it's just chaos so like you go in wanting to experience that as well and we definitely did like over the years yeah you'd be going for it you know and but then you get to a point where you're doing it full time and then you're doing like say like a five week tour you can't you know and like you're also you're getting older you know so you get to a point where like it's just not sustainable and you're not you're you you realize like the reality of living a life like that and the mental space that puts you in you know where you're waking up and you're like dreading the gig because you're so hungover or you're you're just you're feeling so weak or you're you're run down so you've got a cold and you've got like stress you know your your body's so run down it's screaming at you so you do get to a point where you're like alright you know yeah I'll there'll be like there's a day off on on Thursday the next day so I'll have a few beers with the lads and have the crack.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:24

But like beyond that like it's just not sustainable or enjoyable. And then somewhere along the lines well like you realize that you're not 21 anymore and you want to you want to start looking after yourself and like I was like as thin as a rake for so long because like I was eating fuck all and I was smoking cigs and you know drinking all the time and and like luckily I had the drums there for cardio on that like I wasn't yeah I wasn't I wasn't exercising and so then I got into the idea of just kind of like looking after myself and trying to eat right and then I started learning about you know learning a little bit more about nutrition and macros and then realizing how dumb I was you know to that point you know how little nutrition I was actually getting it in and how much better my life would be if I did just start paying attention and tracking things a little bit more.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:18

So I think like it's yeah it kind of went from like yeah let's have the crack and like I guess if if you're interested in that you want to get it out of your system as well but these days like uh you know I will have a few like you know there'll be casual beers here and there or not be like standing there every day and yeah it's it's interesting that you you kind of stumbled like you kind of arrived at that point because I imagine you know if you look at a lot of the the high profile rock stars of days gone by they end up as alcoholics or drug addicts or you know they have early deaths. It's it's very much similar to the the wrestlers back in the eighties and the nineties who you know like yourself are playing live shows and they're just getting Getting hammered or going out in between shows and getting no sleep, all that all that stuff adds up. So it's interesting that you've that you've kind of arrived at that point because I imagine that a lot of people that don't arrive at that point, or if they do, it's the damage is done and it's already too late, type of thing, you know.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:16

It's worth noting that I didn't have the money to live that lifestyle.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:20

Yeah, interesting.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:24

If I was a younger man and I was given like a million euro, you know, if I was 21, I had a million euro, like you're having a slow way.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:31

No, I don't think I would have had maturity to be able to rein it in at that age. But luckily I hadn't a pot to place in, so you know, it was like a couple of cans.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:45

That's sometimes the best night when it's when it's as basic as that, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 1:06:49

But that was the reality of it. It was just like that kind of lifestyle costs a lot of money, and we just didn't have it. So it wasn't it wasn't a possibility. Now we still had the crack, but like yeah, but do you know as well? Like I I'm lucky I had I've good friends, you know. We all like I've I've I've got good people around me, you know, and that would have been uh like that's important, you know. Like I think a lot of these people that we hear the stories about and stuff, you know, the people around them really. Like all my mates, yeah, we all have it like that we all have a wild streak, but like it was uh there was enough support there, like where if anyone did if anyone was to kind of go down a road you know that would harm them, one of them would be like man will step in, would it be strong, for sure. And of course luckily it never really got there. Like friends, I have friends who have yeah, have had to knock drink on the head, you know, like because I'm I'm in an industry where it's shirts just everywhere. So I do know lots of people that you know are are teetoters now, um, because they didn't fly too close to the sun, you know, but like no didn't happen to me, like you know, I didn't know.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:00

And um just in terms yeah, in terms of um like like saying I suppose do you are you guys seeing a lot more recognition like when you're when you're at these gigs, do you do you do you find that you're getting like mobbed by fans or that you're getting people are asking you for pictures and all this type of stuff? Is that something that you've it has taken a while for you to get to get used to that kind of notoriety notoriety or fame in the in the industry?

SPEAKER_03 1:08:30

Because we don't you know at gigs obviously everyone knows who you are, so they want a photo with you or they want they want you to sign something. But people that listen to our music are grand. Do you know what I mean? It's not like they're not scripty, you know, they're not you know, they're not they're not like pulling out of you, and you know, the worst you'll get is somebody just steaming drunk, burning the ear off you, and yeah, yeah. I don't really mind that because I've been that guy, you know. I I yeah, but beyond that, like the odd time you'll get like you know, someone shouting across the street and shit or whatever, like once in a minute, you know what I mean? It's like it's not it's not common, really. Like we're we just wouldn't be, you know, like King Fisher say, you know, I'd say they get a lot of it, you know, because they're massive. But like we're we're not that we're not big enough. And thankfully I wouldn't like that, you know. I don't think I I'm I like I'm like if somebody comes up and says your band's delish, I love that, you know. It's like I really I I appreciate it, you know. I like um I like being appreciated, you know. And so it never bothers me. But if it was a case where I don't know if you ever saw that video of uh Ronaldo having a cup of coffee in a cafe and literally every five to ten seconds somebody's coming up asking for another. That would be too much to be able to what I I'd hate for it to get to a point where I couldn't, you know, go for a point with the mate or something like that.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:57

So yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, and I don't think like yeah I don't want to Never say never never never say never Dan if the if the success continues you might have to get used to that stuff, you know.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:08

I think that would be that would be too much because I do like I do you know I do like uh I do like having anonymity, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:17

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:19

Uh I'm realising that's just that's a it's a lucky thing to have, you know. And uh

Conclusion

SPEAKER_03 1:10:25

man, I'm afraid I have to leg it because it's my bus is at quarter past eleven, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:31

No, no worries, man. That was uh that was really, really excellent. I thoroughly enjoyed that uh that chat, Dan. Um and I think maybe just to finish that, I just want to kind of congratulate you on all your success. It's very, very cool to see. I know we mentioned the the drunkid story when you were 12, um, and to see you go from that to actually it's an to an actual you know fully fledged touring producing band is uh is is great. It was very, very motivating for me to see someone uh who I grew up with to achieve that success. And uh yeah, I wish you continued success and maybe we can get back on and do another episode with the three other uh the three other lads. That'll be uh that'll be good crack. But uh but yeah, no, I appreciate the time, Dan. Thank you very much, and uh we'll catch up soon.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:15

Thanks for having me, man, and best of luck with the the podcast, you know? Yeah, cheers and best luck in Vietnam.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:21

I'll do for yeah. I need more luck in Vietnam than I do with the podcast, but anyway, yeah. Cheers, Dan. Take it easy. Bye bye, bye bye.