Weekly > Interviews
The Tunics
The Tunics debut album Somewhere In Somebody’s Heart will take a lot of people by surprise, it’s a first record that is brimming with confidence and classic songwriting with songs like The Way It Is, The Cost Of living, Fade Out and Whatever Happened? offering a striking example of how far this band could go.
I caught up with lead singer Joe Costello to find out how it felt to have their debut album out, if my comparison to early Oasis was fair and if they are ready for the rinevitable backlash with album number two!
Congratulations on getting your debut album out there, it must be a great feeling as a band?
It definitely is, it feels like we’ve finished something and we’re starting something both at the same time. Slowly but surely it’s becoming more and more recognised and people are starting to tune in, which is also a very good feeling
The tracks all have a classic song-writing feel about them, they just grab you straight away when you listen to them. Was that something you were aware of when you were writing them and when you were putting the music and lyrics together?
Yes, it can’t be denied that that is the song writing approach we take. We can’t help it, too many songwriters don’t seem to want to write great songs any more, a trilby hat and skinny tie is apparently enough to forge a career in this business, which isn’t the case. Though, we certainly don’t have a blueprint for writing music, we try to innovate, as much as possible. We’re all intent on learning new instruments for album no.2.
The album is available in a number of different ways if someone wants to get hold of it, what gave you the inspiration to do it this way?
Like Bob Dylan said, your old road is rapidly fading, please get out of the new one if you can’t lend your hand. It’s our way of lending our hand to those who have joined the online revolution, and if people want their album downloadable or in a bizarre jigsaw piece, then who are we to stand in their way.
Equally, if our fans want the classic 12 track album in a shop with artwork and all then we are more than happy to provide that too—with the same amount of hard work going in to both.
You’re a band that obviously like to do things differently, from how you’ve released your album, to the 2 track promos that eventually formed a set, to playing student towns, it’s a great way of getting yourselves noticed. How much into these and other promo things do you input as a band or does a lot of it come from the record label?
We tend to shout inaudible nonsense at the label, telling flying pigs to deliver our album to the door of our every fan, then the label take into account what our general philosophy is, then mould into something workable.
So it’s a group effort, though we take a band step on the business side – naturally.
I said in my review that early Oasis (when they used to be good) seems a definite influence on you musically, is that a fair comment and are there any other influences that have shaped your sound?
Definitely, from the day I was born my cousins and my older brothers indoctrinated me into the church of Liam. I don’t really remember any albums being released until Be Here Now, so I kind of missed the hay day. But early Oasis, is a big influence, real honest song writing, great lyrics and no Americanised rubbish.
Influences that shape my music are people like Rufus Wainwright, Thom Yorke, Pete Doherty, Leonard Cohen, Ray Davies and Lennon and McCartney. Nothing too out of the ordinary, just people who know how to write great pop music whilst always keeping things fresh and interesting.
You’ve got the great first album out of the way, how ready are you to work on the difficult second one and the all too predictable backlash?
We’re always writing, we could go into the studio tomorrow for a couple of weeks and have album no.2 on the shelf. Haha, bring on the backlash!!!
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Add to favouritesYou’re heading out on another tour, you seem to play a lot, despite being in the fairly early stages of your career (first album and all that) has the novelty started to wear off yet and do you ever reach a saturation point in playing the same songs over and over again?
We are only frustrated if a crowd isn’t responsive, if they liked it, we’d play The Cost Of Living 500 times over. The novelty has worn off in the sense that we aren’t phased by any thing and we tend to know what to expect. Though strange things tend to be lurking round every corner.
You got a score of eight out of ten when your album was reviewed here at The Beat Surrender which puts you in the running to make our top 50 album countdown, have you heard any albums this year so far that you think compare favourably with your own?
That’s great news, cheers. Radiohead – In Rainbows, was very special, if they don’t win the Mercury Music Prize, I’ll be very upset. To be honest, a lot of new music now doesn’t really seem to interest any of us, Scott bought the Wombats album, but I’m not really a fan, though, to have more than one album a year to really get your musical juices flowing, is a pretty darn good year.
We are bang in the middle of festival season at the moment, have you had chance to play any so far and what have your experiences been like at them?
We’ve played some smaller festivals this year, we’re playing Redfest, which is a cool one in Red Hill near where we’re from. It’s great playing outside, to bigger crowds, and the people are always pleasant at festivals, which is nice. Next year, we certainly hope to play some bigger ones, and generally more of them.
What is the one thing you’d like The Tunics to be remembered for in years to come?
A sex scandal – Then, if not for being a great band, simply
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