16 July 2009 (Music Interview)

Words: Alicia Coyle

Guinness are planning to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Aurthur Guinness signing the 9,000 year lease in some style come the 24th September. A number of gigs are planned across the world with the first one kicking off at 17.59pm here in Dublin with a mighty chin chin and a pint of the black stuff in hand. Tom Jones, Sugababes David Holmes and The Black Eyed Peas are among some of the International names taking part in this spectacular event.

I went along to the launch and had the pleasure of speaking with Niall Breslin and Aidan Lynch of The Blizzards, who will be playing in one of the 30 venues across the city on the day. Since getting together in 2004, the band have catapulted to stardom. Winning two Meteor Awards for Best Live Performance at Oxegen in 2007 and 2008, have put together two great albums, A Public Display of Affection and Domino Effect, and are now embarking on the UK. There seems to be no stopping these Mullingar based lads.


You played Oxegen mainstage on Saturday. I was there, it was an amazing gig and it's easy to see why you have won a meteor award twice. Do you think you could be third time lucky?

(Niall Breslin) The thing about us with Oxegen is that, when you are on the main stage, you are surrounded by acts with big lighting budgets and pyrotechnics and we don't have that luxury, so we have to make up for it with energy. You can have the interaction with the fans, but energy is our thing when we are on stage.

Playing gigs like that must be nerve-wracking so is it sometimes a comfort when you're in a venue like Whelan's for example?

(Aidan Lynch) It's good, I mean that was the first gig on that size of a stage that we felt comfortable. We had done it a couple of times before and it had been very daunting since we are more used to the smaller venues, but this time we were able to take control and enjoy it. For me, anyway, it was like that and I always thought that the smaller gigs were our comfort zone. I'd be more than happy playing gigs that size all the time (laughs).

(NB) We have got to get used to stages that size and I think this year we really felt that we belonged up there. We weren't there just for the sake of it, it was a great feeling. Before we walked out, everyone was very confident, we had just done a couple of big gigs beforehand, with the likes of AC/DC which was a really tough gig, so Oxegen felt almost like we were playing a pub gig. We had a brilliant crew, we are always well looked after and I think the reason we won our first Meteor was because it didn't phase us. Well, we didn't act like it did but, we were shitting it. The band have grown a lot and those gigs really help. Smaller venues are totally different, they are as enjoyable, but completely different. You know, you're sweating on people, they're sweating on you.

Did you get to see any other bands at Oxegen or did you even stay, are you anti campers?

(AL) God no, not anti campers, I just wouldn't ever camp there.

(NB) That's got nothing to with the fact that we are in a band, I just hate camping. When I was twelve and I was forced to stay in a tent in the garden, I'd sneak into the house and back to my bed. I hated it. I tend to go and watch a lot of the gigs but the problem is that a lot of them tend to be on later and people can be drunk and then they recognise you and because they're a little drunk, some feel they have the right to tear the head off you! Although, I went to see the Petshop Boys.

You supported Oasis at Slane and AC/DC, how was that for you, I take it your massive fans of AC/DC?

(NB) Oh yeah, huge fans, but we weren't on that bill originally, and when we first said yes to doing it, within an hour we said to ourselves 'What the F**k have we got ourselves into, seriously' (laughs) and then we were worried and said right, let's call a spade a spade, we don't belong on that bill, we are a commercial pop/rock act, not a hard rock band. But we knew that most of their fans had never seen us live and the promoter put us there because they knew we could handle it. After that we thought, right, this is a huge opportunity, whether we belong there or not, we're doing it. It's something I am so happy we did. It was the biggest test of character to date for the band.

(AL) Also, if it all finishes tomorrow it's something that we can always say we did. I think we gained a lot of respect for that. I was listening to the radio the next day, and there were AC/DC fans in talking about the gig and they started talking about us, and that we came across really well. So even in that I felt we earned a lot of respect for that alone.

(NB) When we went out, we didn't play our 'poppy' songs that are all over the radio, and I think the fans responded to that straight away. None of them know what's on the album, so we went out there saying to ourselves, we have good rock tunes of our own, we can push the amps up.

(AL) Also we were thinking, right ACDC are going to be listening to us here. We don't want to come across like idiots (laughs).

(NB) Actually I remember half way through the gig I turned around to see Dec and there was a train behind me. A real train. They were setting up for ACDC and I was like, "wow".
 For someone that doesn't do drugs this was mad, I didn't know what to do and Dec was saying "sing."

(AL) There was also a big bell, a real bell, over our heads, it was crazy!

That's crazy because you lads have nothing like that around you, just your equipment.

(AL) Although we've been on to our manager since (laughs) saying, "eh, I think we needs some trains on stage and a nice church bell."

(NB) Although, Lynch's got a cow bell beside him.

Being original with song writing is one of the key ingredients to being successful. Do you take observations/personal experiences or random drunken conversations into account?

(NB) I think you've got to accept who you are and what we try to do is stuff that is humorous, you know, it's certainly not poetry. If people listen to music they can relate to any kind of lyric. Some bands can get lost trying to be poets and something they're not. We know exactly who we are we know what we're not and that's what our songs are. A lot of people then relate to us. If I ever come up with something and in the first two lines there's no reaction from the band, then we forget about it.

A few months back you were granted with the highest honour a town can give in Mullingar with a civic reception, you received the Address of Recognition. That was pretty cool, does it mean you get special treatment or you can do what you like?

(Both) Yeah it was great!

(NB) We're allowed graze our sheep anywhere.

(AL) We were actually given a scroll each. So instead of paying for parking, we can put the scroll up on the dash.

(NB) Have you tried that?

(AL) Yeah, but I still got a fine, not sure what that was all about (laughs).

(NB) Ah, no, seriously, it was very important for our parents. That's where they live, where they brought us up and it's nice to be recognised because we are very proud to be from Mullingar. That's where it all started and people got right behind us.

Your album was made in America. When do you think you will head over there and set up camp for a long period of time and really try and get your feet in the door? I know that you have played a few gigs there, but it's one of the hardest countries to break.

(NB) We are going nowhere near there unless we get an American label behind us. One thing I realised when we were over there, on Sunset Boulevard, there's 26 venues, 8 bands playing every night. How are you going to stand out if there is no one pushing you? So, I am being realistic. It's way too big a country. We are concentrating solely on the UK at the moment.

Yeah, you're releasing Domino Effect in the UK. Are you going to add new tracks to that?

(NB) We were thinking about that and we will have to add one or two, but we have also decided to re-record Fantasy and put that into it, at the end of the day, that's the song that kick started us. It's all about radio play.

Do you find that very stressful, wondering if you will get the radio play that you need?

(AL) That's the only way that we'll get known in England. You just hope that DJs will take it and you do everything in your power to make it happen. You play the gigs with every ounce of enthusiasm and confidence, but there's an element of luck there too. It can be out of your hands.

(NB) At the end of the day, you look at songs that we have that we will release there, Trust Me was written for one reason and one reason only, not to become some deep and meaningful song, it was written to get radio play. You know, make good records or be dropped, and that's the reality, full stop.

Getting down to today itself, you are here to launch Arthur's day, celebrating 250 years of the black stuff. It's a world wide party essentially with some great acts like Black Eyed Peas taking part in New York, Africa and lots more. How were you approached for this and did you need much convincing?

(NB) No not at all. I mean if we had known that something like this was going on here and weren't apart of it, it would have been hard. It's massive, it's an international event and Guinness is one of the most iconic franchises in the world. We are an Irish band and it's great the way they're not concentrating on big international acts. It's going to be the same in other countries. It's a pleasure, it really is, to be involved. Plus, he owes me some for giving him some profits over the years! (laughs)

I have to ask this as I want to get your opinion on it. People are saying that the recession is hitting the music industry hard, others are saying that it is one institution that will stay strong because people need a release. What do you think?

(NB) No. The album sales have been suffering long before this. But you know what, in my opinion, and this might come across badly but it makes bands work that bit harder, if you do get crowds in, your going to work that bit harder to get the crowds in. Performing live costs a lot of money. Acts like U2 or The Killers will never have a problem, but we're in a position now where every gig that we do, we HAVE to work our b*****ks off to make sure everyone's enjoying it. At the end of the day... f**k the recession.

Do you have a lot of say on how you want your music videos to look or do you leave it up to the director?

(NB) You see, we don't have massive budgets to do videos. We give them an idea and then they just see what's feasible and what's not. The days of spending hundreds and thousands on making videos like they used to do is totally gone out the window, they're not even spending that on making the actual record so.

(AL) We did a couple of videos, but Postcards, the mood of the song was caught really well with thanks to the crew that made it. I just felt that they totally got where we were coming from. It's nice to know that you are working with people who have the same frame of mind as you.

(NB) We had said from day one, when Postcards was released, that we don't want it to be a morbid song, we don't want people to feel depressed listening to it. It's an uplifting song and the video was basically a chronological to that.

Finally, just so we can get to know you that bit better, what do you do to relax?

(AL) This might sound mad but I love playing and listening to music (laughs).  I mean I'm in the band because music is my past time. I do like going to the cinema though. God that sounds really Geeky!

(NB) Nah, I'm the same. I like playing golf though, I have to put every ounce of concentration on the game though, just 'cause I'm so shit at it.

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