Sunday, November 18, 2012

EXCLUSIVE! We Cut Corners INTV!

Since the success of The White Stripes showing off what two people in a band can do, bands like The Black Keys, Blood Red Shoes, Cairo Knife Fight, JEFF The Brotherhood have all proven that two people can pack a serious punch. Ireland's We Cut Corners are no exception, they fall into the power duo category and in fact, began turning heads immediately, thanks in part to their 2011 debut, Today I Realized I Can Go Home Backwards, which was nominated for Choice Music Prize - Irish Album of the Year. While spending a majority of 2012 on the road, we spoke to the duo, guitarist John Duignan and drummer / vocalist Conall O'Breachain about coming from Ireland, their music and their raw power.


Coming from Ireland with a deep musical legacy thanks to U2, Bob Geldof, Bell X1 The Frames, Damian Rice and others, do you feel any pressure to live up to those bands or are you unfazed by it?  

Not at all. While Ireland's musical heritage is undoubtedly a very rich one, we're not trying to match or outdo anyone else's achievements.  We just try to write the best songs we can regardless of what has gone on, or what is going on around us. 

Hailing from Ireland, has the country’s recent shift in economics played a role or influence in your music? 

The economic situation pervades so many aspects of life in Ireland that music serves as welcome respite.

Are you influenced by where you come from?

 Ireland is a country with a singularly contradictory national psyche and, while we are not necessarily conscious of this when we are writing, it is undoubtedly echoed in some of of our songs.

How did the band come together? 

We met in an Early Education lecture, became friends and started writing songs which we've been doing ever since.

Who are some of your influences? 

We're devotees of the lyrical nous and musical ingenuity of Ryan Adams and, while we love acts like Titus Andronicus, Fionn Regan, St. Vincent, Pavement and The Walkmen, he remains our most enduring influence.

The band is very basic, just drums, guitar and vocals – like White Stripes and Black Keys. This trend seems to be ongoing in indie rock, do you find it to be a trend?

Not as such. For us, it's borne purely out of circumstance...as no doubt is the case with other 2-pieces!

How would you describe your style and sound to someone who has never heard of you before? 

Short songs on drums and guitar.

What was it like making your debut?

It was a really fun time. We recorded the album with Jimmy Eadie in Dublin, Ireland who, we feel, brought out the best in us. We spent a week tracking the album and a winter mixing it. 

You titled your debut, “Today I Realized I Could Go Home Backwards,” what does the title signify?

 The title alludes to making sense out of the mistakes taken in ones personal life.

There has been much buzz around the band, how are you responding to it?  

We've been very much unaware of anything of the sort up to now!

Given the name of the band, do you find you try and do everything easily? 

On the contrary, it's meant to be mildly self-mocking of how long it takes us to do everything.