With the release of their debut EP ‘Monochrome Blue’ last year and a string of singles, Irish indie band Modernlove. are set to have a great year. We put some questions to Drummer Cian from the band to find out all about them.
Give us a potted history of the band
We started playing together super young, and myself (Cian) and Graham started jamming
together when we were 13. We didn’t have any grand ideas about becoming the band we are
today; we just wanted to have fun and play the songs we loved. When we realised that we
needed a singer we dragged Barry along to the shed we were practicing in, and I guess that’s
where the band really started. The three of us met Danny when were like 15 and that’s when
the band we are now started to take shape. We started writing and recording together
straight away and we haven’t really stopped since. We’re proud of how far we’ve come from a
small shed in the middle of nowhere to working with our record label Akira. We’re focusing
now on constantly making new music and playing as many shows as we can.
Who inspired you to start making music
I think we’ve all been obsessed with music since before it even dawned on us that we could
make a career out of it. All we ever wanted to do was just make noise together. I think when
we wrote our song Us in 2016 that really made us think that we were good enough to give this
band a proper go. It was definitely a catalyst for us moving forward.
And the one or maybe two records that inspired you artistically
Collectively I think we’ve all been the most inspired by the Cocteau Twins. We always end up
talking about the album Heaven Or Las Vegas as a huge influence on our band. Their blend of
ambient sounds along with their super catchy pop hooks is something that we always try to
incorporate into our sound no matter what style of song we’re creating.
If you’re trying to explain who you sound like to someone that’s never heard you, what do
you say
It changes every time we write a song, but I guess if I had to explain I’d say that it’s glitchy
ambient pop music. We love writing catchy pop songs, but we also love the production style
of artists like James Blake and Floating Points, and we never want our songs to be too straight
forward in terms of dynamics and soundscapes.
Tell us about your new single
Don’t Wanna is our new single, and it’s a song that came together quite quickly; Barry pretty
much had it finished before he ever showed it to anyone. It’s a song about lust and possibly
fancying one of your good friends. We recorded it in between Snap Studios and Pony Studios
in London with Tom Leech, who really helped us pack a lot of energy into the track.
Where can we get hold of it
It’s available on all streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music, and you can also watch
our video for the song on our YouTube page which was filmed during a recent weekend in
London. It was mad hectic but the video’s turned out great!
Tell us how you write
We’re not really a ‘jam the idea around’ kind of band. All of us write so we can all take on
pretty much any role in the band during the writing process. Usually what happens is one
person will come up with the main skeleton of the song – vocals, melodies, drums etc – and
then they’ll bring it to the rest of the band and we’ll all kind of fill in the blanks until it’s
finished. We have a great chemistry when writing together, and we never really disagree. We
all have an amazing trust in each other’s ability and judgment when it comes to writing.
Tell us about your live show and how much have you been missing it recently
We’ve always considered our live sound as one of our biggest selling points, and we love to
play live. I think it goes back to how we started as a band, just playing gig after gig wherever
we could get one. We’ve really struggled with not being able to play live over the last two
years. It’s not been great, we just had to bury our heads in the studio and write as much as
possible to get through it. Now that gigs are back, we’re so excited to take our live show out
to the world.
What can we expect from you in the near future
We’re definitely going to be releasing a lot more new music this year, and we’re going to be
playing a lot of shows in Ireland and the UK. I can’t go into specifics yet before anything’s
announced but there’s a lot of exciting announcements coming soon!
Tell us your favourite records that’s rocking your headphones / tour bus / stereo
James Blake – Friends That Break Your Heart
Yeule – Glitch Princess
Ethel Cain – Inbred
Floating points – Vocoder
Henry Earnest – Dream River
Check out the band’s video for the track ‘Follow You’, below:
Find out more about the band via their Facebook
