Say what you want about three-piece rock band The Minutes, but they are certainly not the type to second guess themselves.
With a unique sound that stands out from anything else you’ll hear (“I’ve totally been mistaken for a bird loads of times!” says singer Mark), The Minutes are currently gearing up for the release of new album Live Well, Change Often and are hoping that the release will taking things to another level.
Recorded in Vancouver in just ten days, the follow-up to 2011’s Marcata is an unapologetic rock album but Mark Austin (vocals), Tom Cosgrave (bass) and Shane Kinsella (drums) believe that it will be more accessible than their previous efforts and hopefully bring their music to a wider audience.
Chatting to Her.ie in the cosy surrounds of The Library Bar, the band come to the conclusion that their progression has resulted in a sound that can be described as “pop with balls”. While many acts give the impression of having a shambolic approach that has somehow resulted in success, there is a steely determination evident when the three lads talk about their journey so far and their plans for worldwide domination.
Having self-produced their previous releases (enlisting Kevin McMahon as a co-producer on Marcata), the band handed over the reigns to GGGarth Richardson on Live Well, Change Often and revealed that it was far from a harmonious relationship.
Shane: If we went off on our own again, we’d probably make the same album as Marcata so we decided to work with somebody and maybe get their take on what we are like. We are a live band and the first album was live so, with this one, we wanted to do something a bit more controlled.
Tom: We’re very headstrong and we know what we think sounds good. We are a very opinionated band so we weren’t the sort that you could just go in and record. We think about the songs maybe more than we should!
Shane: It was a battle!
Tom: I mean, this guy has worked on a lot of big albums so we took his reputation on and said ‘we are going to trust you’. It was rocky for a while but towards the end of the process, we got there in terms of coming to something that we’re all happy with.
Shane: It’s hard to trust someone but you just have to, you know.
One of the main aims of enlisting a producer was to find a middle ground between The Minutes’ signature hard rock tendencies and a more radio-friendly sound. Aware that breaking into national radio playlists is pretty much a necessity to hit the big time in Ireland, the band are now happy that they’ve reached a more nuanced sound and the success of first single Cherrybomb suggests that they may have hit that one on the money.
Shane: It’s a more acceptable sound. With the first album, people either loved it or hated it. With this album, it’s us but it’s us contained in a nice little package.
Tom: I don’t think we’ve sacrificed any of that core energy.
Shane: With the first album, we were just constantly going back saying ‘turn this up’, ‘turn that up’ and the end result is just everything turned the f**k up. The radio stations were saying ‘we can’t play this, it’s just too heavy’. Now, we’ve refined all that and Cherrybomb is getting more airplay than all of our previous stuff put together.
However, the band are adamant that while they may have tailored their sound slightly, they have certainly not sold out. Having enjoyed success across Europe, selling out venues of 2,000+ on previous tours, it’s clear that The Minutes are anxious to gain similar momentum on their home turf but despite Ireland’s reputation as a notoriously difficult market for heavier rock outfits, the group will not be trading in their credentials to join the booming indie pop movement any time soon.
Tom: I definitely think the temptation is there because everyone wants to be successful and everyone wants to make money and the easiest way to do that is to get in with this radio station or blah, blah, blah but we don’t feel that on this album that we’ve sold out or anything. It is a progression and more accessible because we’re not in the business of playing to 20 people!
Mark: I used to be an absolute bastard and absolutely hate everyone who changed to become more successful. Now, I don’t really give a f**k about them anymore. It used to take up a lot of my personal mind but now I just get on with my own shit. People have to do what they have to do but I don’t think we’re going to do it.
Mark: I think it’s always going to be difficult [to be in a rock band] because it’s not the popular music – unless there’s a big sea change. We know that and we’re not expecting otherwise. At the moment, we are a rock band and we’re being played on the radio so that’s f**cking great! Like, in the 70s, it wasn’t the likes of Led Zeppelin that were popular. People liked the Bay City Rollers… and they’re shit.
The album will be released on May 9th and when asked why people should pick up the release, a lengthy discussion leads to quite a concise answer.
Mark: “It’s the combination of the three of us being totally, f**cking brilliant. You have to think that! F**k modesty! If you’ve modesty, you’re in the f**king bin! You have to think you’re the f**king shit.”
Before we go…
Hardest thing about being in a band?
Shane: It’s really hard. You have to sacrifice a lot of things. I’m sure all our girlfriends/wives at one point wanted to go off travelling or do what normal people do but we’ve put a lot of time into this and we can’t just walk away. We look at it as a road and we’re too far down that road now to turn back. Everybody is getting older and our lives are all changing so it’s going get harder to go out. But you’ve got to pay the f**king bills, you know. Bands don’t sell millions of albums anymore so the only way to sustain a living is to get out and tour. Ireland is too small to do that.
Secret to success?
Tom: If you don’t have motivation, you’re going nowhere. If you’re happy with your lot, it’s not going to work. That’s one thing that we obviously all have in common, we’re all very driven. Our friends would have been in bands when we started out and they’ve all fallen by the wayside but we’re still hanging on.
Most rock and roll moment?
Tom: It wouldn’t be a Minutes tour is something mad didn’t happen. Probably arriving into a venue on the back of a tow truck, while trying to look ‘rock and roll’!
Mark: That’s what we’re in it for – cans and craziness!
The Minutes will launch Live Well, Change Often with a gig at Whelan’s Live on May 16th, tickets priced at €15 are available from www.whelanslive.com.
Say what you want about three-piece rock band The Minutes, but they are certainly not the type to second guess themselves.
With a unique sound that stands out from anything else you’ll hear (“I’ve totally been mistaken for a bird loads of times!” says singer Mark), The Minutes are currently gearing up for the release of new album ‘Live Long, Change Often’ and are hoping that the release will taking things to another level.
Recorded in Vancouver in just ten days, the follow-up to 2011 Marcata is an unapologetic rock album but Mark Austin (vocals), Tom Cosgrave (bass) and Shane Kinsella (drums) believe that the release will be more accessible than their previous efforts and hopefully bring their music to a wider audience in their home country.
Chatting to Her.ie in the cosy surrounds of The Library Bar, the band come to the conclusion that their progression has resulted in a sound that can be described as “pop with balls”. While many acts give the impression of having a shambolic approach that has somehow resulted in success, there is a steely determination evident when the three lads talk about their journey so far and their plans for worldwide domination.
Having self-produced their previous releases (enlisting Kevin McMahon as a co-producer on Marcata), the band handed over the reigns to GGGarth Richardson on Live Long, Change Often and revealed that it was far for a harmonious relationship.
Shane: If we went off on our own again, we’d probably make the same album as Marcata so we decided to work with somebody and maybe get their take on what we are like. We are a live band and the first album was live so with this one, we wanted to do something a bit more controlled.
Tom: We’re very headstrong and we know what we think sounds good. We are a very opinionated band so we weren’t the sort that you could just go in and record. We think about the songs maybe more than we should!
Shane: It was a battle!
Tom: I mean, this guy has worked on a lot of big albums so we took his reputation on and said ‘we are going to trust you’. It was rocky for a while but towards the end of the process, we got there in terms of coming to something that we’re all happy with.
Shane: It’s hard to trust someone but you just have to, you know.
One of the main aims of enlisting a producer was to find a middle ground between The Minutes’ signature hard rock tendencies and a more radio-friendly sound. Aware that breaking into national radio playlists is pretty much a necessity to hit the big time in Ireland, the band are now happy that they’ve reached a more nuanced sound and the success of first single Cherrybomb suggests that they may have hit that one on the money.
Shane: It’s a more acceptable sound. With the first album, people either loved it or hated it. With this album, it’s us but it’s us contained in a nice little package.
Tom: I don’t think we’ve sacrificed any of that core energy.
Shane: With the first album, we were just constantly going back saying ‘turn this up’, ‘turn that up’ and the end result is just everything turned the f**k up. The radio stations were saying ‘we can’t play this, it’s just too heavy’. Now, we’ve refined all that and Cherrybomb is getting more airplay than all of our previous stuff put together.
However, the band are adamant that while they may have tailored their sound slightly, they have certainly not sold out. Having enjoyed success across Europe, selling out venues of 2,000+ on previous tours, it’s clear that The Minutes are anxious to gain similar momentum on their home turf but despite Ireland’s reputation as a notoriously difficult market for heavier rock outfits, the group will not be trading in their credentials to join the booming indie pop movement any time soon.
Tom: I definitely think the temptation is there because everyone wants to be successful and everyone wants to make money and the easiest way to do that is to get in with this radio station or blah, blah, blah but we don’t feel that on this album that we’ve sold out or anything. It is a progression and more accessible because we’re not in the business of playing to 20 people!
Mark: I used to be an absolute bastard and absolutely hate everyone who changed to become more successful. Now, I don’t really give a f**k about them anymore. It used to take up a lot of my personal mind but now I just get on with my own shit. People have to do what they have to do but I don’t think we’re going to do it.
I think it’s always going to be difficult [to be in a rock band] because it’s not the popular music – unless there’s a big sea change. We know that and we’re not expecting otherwise. At the moment, we are a rock band and we’re being played on the radio so that’s f**cking great! Like, in the 70s, it wasn’t the likes of Led Zeppelin that were popular. People liked the Bay City Rollers… and they’re shit.
The album will be released on May 9th and when asked why people should pick up the release, a lengthy discussion leads to quite a concise answer.
Mark: “It’s the combination of the three of us being totally, f**cking brilliant. You have to think that! F**k modesty! If you’ve modesty, you’re in the f**king bin! You have to think you’re the f**king shit.”
