Kasper Rosa headline The Empire tomorrow night (with Enemies, Psychojet and Go Wolf providing more than adequate support) but before that, here's J Ryan McCormick to talk us through what makes his band tick.
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The last record I got was actually by an instrumental band from London called Brontide. It's awesome. Steve and Dave just pre ordered both the new Intronaut album, 'Habitual Levitations', and Axis Of's 'Finding St. Kilda', respectively. They are both genuinely incredible. I think Tree just got his hands on some Rush vinyl too.
There were 2 gigs that made me want to actually be in a band, but the one that stands out was a set from Now It's Overhead. They were a cool little band from Saddle Creek Records who supported REM many moons ago. It turns out Tree was playing drums at the first show he ever went to, but I think seeing an old local band called Element support MUSE at the Ulster Hall made the whole notion of being in a working band feasible for us.
I think the last gig we went to see together was Porcupine Tree at the Mandela Hall. The four of us seem to bond over a plethora of different music, with the likes of Scale The Summit and Intronaut leading the charge. We're always getting introduced to awesome new music. Even from bands that don't exist anymore, it's still new to us. We're really digging an Australian three piece called COG at the minute.
People always seem shocked by our collective taste in music, on either end of the scale. We dig a lot of real heavy bands like Mastodon, Opeth, Baroness and Deftones, but we're actually really into some great electronic, hip hop and pop music as well. Dirty Projectors, Everything Everything, Boards of Canada, The Police and Peter Gabriel to name a few.
We're finishing off this tour with a massive show at The Empire in Belfast on Saturday the 13th of April, with some friends. It's an absolute honour to be able to play at such a prestigious venue, and we really can't wait.
