Weekly > Interviews
Substance
Around autumn last year a demo EP landed on my doormat from an affable Dublin outfit called Substance.
The three track demo oozed confidence and had a swagger and style to it that evoked the beauty and rock tradition of the early Stone Roses. Six months on, as things start to happen in camp Substance we caught up with Marc, Ian and Anthony to talk about gigs, record contracts and unstable drummers (not the current one might I add).
It seems like ages since you sent us the demo EP to listen to and review, what has happened to Substance since then?
Ian: We’ve been gigging a lot. We’ve definitely put our stamp down on the Dublin Scene and it won’t be too long before we show the rest of Ireland what we got. Hopefully we’ll be hitting the U.K soon too. So keep your ears big.
Anthony: We’ve also been spending a lot of time working on our songs…Getting them just right for when we get down to actually recording them.
Is anything happening label wise for you at the moment?
Marc: To be honest we haven’t even bothered to send anything to any record companies yet. We felt the last demo was good all right but that we also had a lot to learn. So we’ve been spending the time writing new songs getting more live experience and generally just becoming a bit more professional. We are currently in the process of recording our next demo/EP and when this is completed we’d be hopeful of getting a bit of label interest. In saying that if no major label interest was to come, we wouldn’t be afraid to release an EP independently.
What’s the reaction been like at the gigs you’ve been playing?
Ian: Every gig gets better and better. It seems like more people are getting into what we’re doing and venues we play are starting to fill up. There’s usually a good atmosphere at our gigs and people are starting to get a bit excited about us now.
Anthony: We get good feedback alright, and the bands people say we sound like are what influences us, so we know we are doing what we set out to do.
If you ever fulfill your promise of venturing over to the British Isles what can we expect from you as a live band?
Marc: Drunkenness probably!
Anthony: Fuckin rock n roll as it should be, as best as we can give it, so fuckin rock out with us!
Ian: Yeah with a lot of energy and chaos.
Marc: Expect to hear good music and expect to have a good time.
What’s the music scene like in Ireland at the moment?
Marc: There’s some really good things happening at the moment in my view. Just last night we played in one of Irelands top venues (The Temple bar Music Centre) and it was a great night, six very good bands. Loads of people there and the admission price was free. Just loads of like minded people having a great time listing to good music in non murky surroundings. There’s lots of stories floating around at the moment about certain Dublin bands heading over to London to make demos for Sony etc. so it seems there’s a healthy scene over here at the mo.
*Ireland has had a lot of famous artists who’ve had big success in the past, have they done
anything to help the music scene over there?*
Marc: No!
Ian: Well they haven’t helped me in anyway!
Have you found that the Internet has helped you spread the word about your music?
Anthony: Ye big time. We’re fortunate to have people from all over the world come to our site and listen to the songs…Being in a band is all about sharing the music you create and posting mp3s up on the Internet is one of the best ways for an unsigned band to do this.
What has been the hardest thing you’ve found so far in getting your band off the ground?
Marc: Probably just trying to get the five individuals that make up this band to all pull in the same direction. Sometimes it’s hard to co ordinate things with people all having lives outside of the band but we’re starting to get a bit of momentum going now so it’s getting a bit easier. It helps when there are targets to work towards like certain gigs or recording time etc.
Any tips for other up and coming bands that we should be looking out for?
Marc: A New York band called “Aerial love feed”. Dirty fuzzy rockin’ coolness…”Mainline” from Dublin are also pretty good.
IAN: The Bees, The Heard (from Waterford) are a good band….
What else are you all listening to at the moment?
Marc: The Rapture, Aerial Love Feed, Sofa Records class of 2004 [Which Substance feature on] and the Chemical brothers.
Ian: Reggae and Shaun Ryder’s ‘Amateur Night At The Big Top’ as well as Pink Floyd.
What first inspired you to form a band and make music?
Ian: I’ve always been big into music from an early age, all kinds of music. My parents were into a lot of different bands and artists. When I was around 12 or 13 I started scribbling down some songs, just messing around, until I went to my first gig which was the Verve in the SFX in Dublin. What a fuckin night, when I saw the way they performed and the way the crowd reacted to them I just said “ye I want some of that” and after that I always wanted to form a band. When I got the band together and when I saw the talent that the lads have and the good that was coming out of the things we were doing, I just got on it and haven’t looked back…..
Any funny incidents that you’ve experienced together as a band, or any strange characters you’ve met that you’d care to tell us about?
Marc: Hmmm strange characters, this is probably a good time to tell the story about one of our former drummers who was quite mental. The lad (best left unnamed) had just played his first (and last) gig with us (we’d only known him a number of weeks) and it didn’t go too well at all.
After the last song he dived over his drum kit and took the whole kit over with him and landed face first on the floor, followed closely by a bass drum and some cymbal stands. Blood pumping out of his head he just lay there for about 10 minutes then picked himself up and took to one of his toms with a blade. Once he had ripped the skins of his toms he then walked out the door of the venue with a tom under each arm, walked across the street and then launched his drums into the river Liffey! The whole venue was looking out the window at him in awe. He was truly mental.
If you would like to contact Substance or check out the newly refurbished website then click on the link below.
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