30 June 2009 (Music Interview)

Words: Lauren Murphy.

Young Dublin-based musician Patrick Kelleher has just released his debut album 'You Look Cold'. One of the more exciting Irish releases of the year, it showcases Kelleher's ambition and imagination as a songwriter as he uses a variety of instruments and implements to create an album that's slightly off-the-wall, but never conventional or boring. It's out now on Osaka Records; I spoke to Patrick earlier this week, to get his thoughts on stepping into the bullring of the music industry.

Hi Patrick. Firstly, congratulations on a fantastic album. For people reading who may not be familiar with you, can you give us a little background on yourself?

Thanks. I was born in the outskirts of a medium-sized town called Rugby in the UK and moved to Glendalough, Co. Wicklow when I was 8. My father is from Dublin and my mother is from Rugby. I now live in Dublin. I have 3 siblings, two of whom took up musical instruments as children, and my father took up the banjo and other stringed instruments around the same time.

Who was your first musical love, and what band or album made you want to make music in the first place? Is your taste as eclectic as your own music sounds?

I have early memories of my parents playing some nice records – The Beatles, Paul Simon’s ‘Graceland’, ‘The Singing Detective’ soundtrack, The Dubliners and some opera records. I started learning the tin whistle around 6 or 7 years old, because my brother was doing so, and I wanted to copy him. When we moved to Ireland, we started learning to play trad music and I took up the accordion. I started taking an interest in 1950s and '60s rock/pop music - as well as '90s pop that was on the radio - at around 11 years old, when my brother brought back CDs from secondary school.  He had a teacher who taught a ‘music appreciation’ class, I think that’s how he got into '50s and '60s stuff.  That is some of what influenced me when I was younger.  Now I listen to a lot of different things, all of which affect how I approach writing music. There really is too much stuff to mention.

You play a variety of instruments - did you have formal training in any of them, or are you just one of those annoyingly talented types?

I never did the grade system, or anything. I had some teachers, both at trad lessons which I took as a teenager and at school, who taught the basics of music theory, but I was never very good at it. I preferred learning by ear, and still do. Written music can help, though. I learned the guitar using chords and tabs. It’s easy to learn to play instruments if you hang around with people who play, which I did.

You also used things as diverse as 'hazelnut spread jars', djembes and baby accordions on the album. It must have been a case of 'anything that makes noise, goes'?

Yes, it was exactly that.

In that respect, the only other young musician I can think of who's doing something similar to yourself is Micachu and the Shapes (using hoovers as instruments, etc.). Have you heard their album yet?

I haven't heard their album, but I have heard a few tracks - Nialler9 was bigging them up. It's got a nice groove about it.



How have people outside of the indie circles in Dublin reacted to your music? Have you found that it's a bit of a battle sometimes, because people just don't know what category to put you in?

Most reactions to the album have been good. I think it takes some patience - on first listen to my music, one might be distracted by all the flaws, as people are accustomed to well-produced music. This is partly deliberate, as I would say the same about some of my favourite artists (Daniel Johnston, Ariel Pink, The Moldy Peaches, early Sonic Youth, Banjo or Freakout, IXCHEL, early Smog, A Faulty Chromosome, Panda Bear, Bonnie Prince). Listening to ‘lo-fi' music like these gave me hope, as they strike a chord in me more than a thousand bands who record in a studio. Not that I don’t like good production, of course. Yes, sometimes people don’t know what category to put my music in, but I say 'category be damned'.

'You Look Cold' is a brilliant achievement for something that was written, recorded and produced yourself. Why work alone? Is it that you don't trust your music and ideas in other peoples' hands?

It’s hard to explain, but I usually have a good idea of what sound I want to produce, and inspiration tends to come in waves.  Sometimes I will work on a song for months or years, because I know I will be satisfied with it eventually. I never felt the need to ask people to write parts for me. Maybe I will in the future. I play in a band called Children Under Hoof also, and the process there is quite different.

What's your favourite thing about the album?

I don't know. I’m quite happy, because think I achieved something like what I wanted to achieve - though again, I don’t really know what that is.

What are your ambitions for the next year? Is the album coming out in the UK, or is that something that'll hopefully happen further down the line?

I intend to release a single that I have recorded, and to self-release another EP, also pretty much finished, of recordings that are a couple of years old at this stage. Then I want to record a second album, which I have just about started. I want to play some gigs/festivals around Ireland, the UK or wherever will have us. The current album comes out in the UK and Europe on July 14th, on OSAKA Recordings.

Finally, you've bestowed some brilliant names upon your band in the past - 'The Cybill Shepherds', 'The Sick Fucks', etc. What's next?

We’re sticking with ‘Patrick Kelleher and his Cold Dead Hands’ for now, so as to avoid confusion. Not all the band names were my idea - Ger had ‘the Cybill Shepherds’ and ‘the Beauty School Drop-Outs’. 'The Sick Fucks' was mine, it's a ‘Raging Bull’ reference. No one gets it.

Thanks for your time, Patrick!

No bother.  By the by, Listen to DeclanQKelly if you haven’t already. He’s ridiculously good.

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'You Look Cold' is out now. For more information and live dates, see www.myspace.com/patrickkelleher.
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