Forming in a Dublin Festival tent back in 2010, Raglans have gone on to become one of Ireland’s most exciting new indie outfits.
The video for their single ‘Digging Holes’
recently got named one of the greatest of all time by the State.ie website and
the band are currently on their first headline UK tour. We caught up with
Stephen, Rhos, Conn and Sean for a quick chat:Your music is an unusual mix of folk and contemporary indie. Are Raglans a folk or an indie band, and was there ever a conscious effort to combine the two?
We really just like writing songs and
playing them the way we think suits them, if its indie, folkie, rock or
whatever. We appreciate anybody sticking us in a certain genre because I
suppose it means they are listening. We don't pay too much attention to fitting
in a certain category though.
You've been described as harking back to a ‘golden age of indie.’ Do you
think there is something missing in today’s guitar music? What do you think of
today’s pop music?
I'm not sure there's too much missing.
Maybe people just needed a break, after The Libertines and then The Arctic
Monkeys there was a constant stream of guitar bands ,some good , some not. We
reckon people have had a long enough break, but again we don't recall any ages
consciously. It's nice to hear though!
Dublin is a town renowned for supporting live music and independent artists,
has has the city affected what you do?
It's affected us greatly. It's given
us support since we started, from the people who attend gigs, to the promoters,
engineers and other bands who support us too. It's a good place to cut your
teeth.
How did it feel to have “Digging Holes” labelled one of the best music
videos of all time? Do any of you get recognized a lot from that video?
That was a bit mad, rubbing shoulders
with November Rain. Mental Craic. Very grateful. Ah, we get the odd back slap
and "digging hoooollllleeess" but I don't think we have any concerns
leaving the house just yet [laughs].
How is your first headline tour coming along? Is it a different experience
to tours you’ve done before? How are you finding the audiences?
We love the UK. People are very
receptive to new bands here and new music and this first tour over here has
been a resounding success to date, fingers crossed! Already planning our next
one. Excited.
What have you got lined up for the rest of the year?
We are recording our debut album,
starting at the end of the summer and then want to just get on the road and
play our songs to everyone who will listen. Simple enough, really.
Raglans will play Leeds, Cockpit 3 on 19th
July and York, The Duchess on 20th. Their Single ‘Natives’ is out
now.
Words by Joe Smith
Words by Joe Smith
Raglans are on the front cover of this weeks App edition available for free on Apple and Android.
