Saturday 27 June 2015

Interview with Irish duo 'We Cut Corners'

Interview with We Cut Corners

We Cut Corners are definitely a musical duo to be keeping an eye on in 2015 and a distinct name that you will be seeing over and over again in the coming months.

Consisting of two friends John Duignan and Conall O'Breachain who have known each other since meeting in University due to a shared obsession with certain musicians, these two guys simply say that the band came about as an extension of their friendship.

I recently chatted to the band in an exclusive interview for 'View from the Stands', who spoke about their career highs and lows, their progress on a new album, their Electric Picnic experience and much more besides!

Despite their notable success in the music industry over recent years with a rather unique sound, the guys have remained incredibly humble claiming:

"We have yet to what could be readily identified as a BIG BREAK, but the moment we felt we came of age as a band was on releasing our first record.
It represented the distillation of years of figuring out how to parlay our individual musical instincts and influences into a singular artistic voice"
The band are working hard on a third album and as a result have had little time to do any gigs either at home or abroad and they say the album will continue to be their number one priority. That said, last weekend they did manage to do a set and admit it was a pleasant change of scenery from the studio!

"We're deeply ensconced in the recording of our third album and until that is complete, we haven't any plans to tour in Ireland.
We emerged fleetingly from reclusion to play a show in Dublin last weekend which was a nice release from the more restrained environment of the studio!"

The work in the studio is certainly paying off for the pair however as they have played numerous festivals across Ireland in recent years but arguably none such bigger than Electric Picnic in 2014, to which they got an incredible reaction.

"Electric Picnic was a huge deal for us - it's really the jewel in the crown of the Irish festival season and one that we'd attended as punters for years!"

The band played in the Electric Arena, something that they were evidently thrilled about!

"For the festival to display such faith by handing us a slot in the cavernous Electric Arena, was very buoying and granted us a timely opportunity to show that our minimalist set-up can work in a very large setting."
John and Conall also spoke about their career highs and lows over the years, with the latter proving to be comedy gone wrong! Let's just say..... Well, I'll let the guys explain!

"The only low that springs to mind is playing a show in a dive-bar in New York - we were playing pretty aggressively and Conall hit his kit so hard that a cymbal flew off, and in doing so, disconnected my amp from the wall-socket (Why does America persist with the infinitely inferior 2-pin plug?) Instead of being a celebratory moment of slapstick high-comedy, it was a vacuum of spirit-crushing mortification, so we just walked off stage and had a beer!"
One positive that the guys can take from that is that their career highs far outweigh the lows. The aforementioned appearances in numerous festivals across the country certainly ranks highly with the lads but they believe their highlight involves their albums, and why wouldn't they? They're great!

"Having both our debut and sophomore albums nominated for the Choice Music Award is a stirring endorsement of our work and represents a career highlight of sorts."

As I said, We Cut Corners are certainly a name to watch out for especially with a third studio album on the way! Oh, and in case you're wondering where the name comes from....
"The name conveys the directness with which we set out writing songs, with a focus on maximalism in the lyric and melody counterbalanced with minimalist arrangement."
You can purchase any of the bands recorded music from the wonderful Delphi Label online store http://www.delphilabel.com/the-shop

Or follow them on Twitter @wecutcorners

EOIN!